I am a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain

A meditation on Song of Songs 4:12, 15

“You are a garden locked up, my sister, my bride; you are a spring enclosed, a sealed fountain…You are a garden fountain, a well of flowing water streaming down from Lebanon.”

Jesus, my Beloved, my Bridegroom – I want to be a spring enclosed and a sealed fountain^a that is kept pure and undefiled for you.  I desire to be a vessel for the living water that comes from your throne^b, a jar of clay that contains the treasure^c of the presence of your Holy Spirit within me^d.  As I drink deeply of the water that you offer me, would that same spring of living water well up in me to eternal life^e.  As your bride and as your wife, I long to be one whom you can come to and drink deeply of the fountain of my heart and that it would satisfy you and give you joy^f.  I desire that the well of my heart would be deep^g and rich and abundant, bringing you great pleasure and delight when you taste its water. 

Would you help me to, above all else, guard my heart, since it is a wellspring of life^h.  Help me to keep my heart pure and untainted by the mud and pollution of the worldⁱ.  Jesus, I desire for the wellspring of my heart to flow with righteousness and holiness, uncontaminated by sin or compromise.  May my fountain be yours alone, never to be shared with other lovers seeking to take a drink and steal what belongs to you^j.  Would you place a seal upon my heart and a lock that only you can open – a sign that I am yours and that you are jealous for me with blazing love^k.  Would you also seal any cracks or points of weakness that hinder me from being able to keep your presence in my life^l – make me like a spring whose waters never fail^m, a woman who is in constant communion with your Spirit and continuously being filled with your lifeⁿ.

Jesus, would you give me understanding^o and wisdom^p, would the words of my mouth drip with purity and righteousness^q, and may I have the fear of the Lord so that I could be a fountain of life^r.  Help me to see my heart as the rare treasure that it is, as a sweet, refreshing spring for my Beloved, so that I would guard it rightly and keep it pure for you.

a Song of Songs 4:12
b Revelation 22:1
c 2 Corinthians 4:7
d John 7:38-39
e John 4:13-14
f Proverbs 5:18-19
g Proverbs 18:4
h Proverbs 4:23
i Proverbs 25:26
j Proverbs 5:15-18
k Song of Songs 8:6
l Jeremiah 2:13
m Isaiah 58:11
n John 10:10
o Proverbs 16:22
p Proverbs 13:14
q Proverbs 10:11; James 3:9-12
r Proverbs 14:27

Jealousy Is A Husband's Fury

In the past several months, I have had a recurring dream where the main theme is relatively the same and the details are just slightly different each time.  In these dreams, I am being approached by a man who begins to flirt with me, flatter me with nice words, tries to make physical advances, and even speaks poorly about my husband.  My response to these men varies – sometimes I listen to what they’re saying, because their flattery sort of makes me feel good, sometimes I react with violence and physically assault them, sometimes I just try to run away, and at other times I have called out to my husband to come to my aid.  My husband’s response was also varied – he was often nearby, but just out of earshot or line of sight – seemingly unaware of what was happening.  In one dream, he approached me and the man who was flirting with me and he began to speak words of love to me and kiss me.  In another dream, he firmly took the man aside and warned him to stay away from me. 

Since I believe that the Lord speaks to me through dreams, I have begun to ask Him what He is trying to say to me, since apparently I’m not getting the message, as He’s having to repeatedly give me the same dream to try and get through my thick skull!    To be clear, I don’t believe these dreams are literal and I don’t think the Lord is trying to warn me about committing adultery against my actual husband – I love my husband dearly and am committed to stay true and faithful to him for all of our days.  What I believe these dreams are, is a picture or analogy for my relationship with my heavenly Bridegroom, Jesus.

In Proverbs, it says that “jealousy is a husband’s fury” and in Hosea, the Lord talks about how he will jealously win back his adulterous wife, Israel, and block her path from going after her other lovers.  In Hosea, Israel’s other lovers were wealth, food, possessions, and worshipping other gods, forgetting her first love.  I think I can often be tempted to console myself that I am not committing adultery against the Lord, because I don’t think I’m being unfaithful or completely giving myself away to other loves.  Yet, what I believe these dreams are suggesting, is that I need to be wary of not just committing adultery, but also of even listening to the flattering words of these other loves that would seek to steal my affections from my Husband, if even for just a moment.  It may seem innocent, but in reality, it is very dangerous.  I don’t know much about what people have experienced when they’ve gone through unfaithfulness in their marriage, but I’m sure it wasn’t a sudden decision to go and commit adultery – it probably began with simply listening to someone’s flattering words. 

I’m beginning to realize that I don’t just want to avoid committing adultery against the Lord – I don’t even want any suitors!  I don’t want to even allow them to whisper their alluring words in my ear.  I want to respond to their flirtation in the same way I would respond in real life if a man approached me.  I wouldn’t stand for it!  I would definitely tell my husband about it and I would clearly let the man know that his advances were unwelcome and to stop, because I’m a married woman!  Similarly, if I think about the things in my life that distract me from the Lord as suitors who are trying to steal my affections from my Husband, I think it would help me to respond to them with a greater severity and sobreity.  These things – whether they be television, surfing the internet, busyness, even doing good things when I know I need to spend time with the Lord – are all trying to flatter me and flirt with me and tell me how much they want to be with me and that I’ll enjoy their company more than my Husband’s.  They try to convince me that they will bring me more joy and satisfaction and that He doesn’t really care about me that much anyways.

Well, if I think about the way my husband would respond if a guy was making advances at me, he would definitely take action if it was required and come to make his claim of me clearly known!  In the dream where my husband came and began to kiss me and tell me he loved me, I felt so affirmed and reassured in his love and it was like a slap in the face of the suitor who had just been trying to convince me that my husband didn’t really care about me.  In the dream where my husband forcefully dealt with the suitor and told him where to go, I was extremely relieved and felt like he had rescued me from a situation where I was feeling weak and not handling it well on my own.  What I believe the Lord was trying to show me is that, if I let Him, He wants to demonstrate His love and affections for me in such a way that it will shatter all the lies of my suitors and will leave no room for doubt about His feelings for me.  He wants to erase any misgivings I may have about His commitment to me and His passion for me.  He wants me to have experiential knowledge of His love for me so that I will never be tempted to find my satisfaction anywhere else.  And He is just waiting for me to ask Him to come to my aid - as my heavenely Husband, He will gladly deal with any suitors and show them that I belong to Him and Him alone!  He will jealously display His Husband’s fury on my behalf and scatter them before me.  All I need to do is look to Him and He will run to my rescue, displaying to me His passion to possess my heart entirely. 

So, for example, if I’m in the very face of temptation and I’m feeling the urge to go rent a movie (I’m not saying watching movies is wrong – only when I know that I need to spend time with the Lover of my soul & to watch a movie would mean choosing to be entertained over intimacy with my heavenly Bridegroom), I could in that moment, lift my voice and say, “Jesus, this movie is flirting with me and trying to steal my affections from You.  I know that it cannot satisfy me and that You are exceedingly superior, yet it’s alluring words are tempting me to be unfaithful to my commitment to love You wholeheartedly.  Jesus, would You come and demonstrate Your jealousy and passion for me right now!  Would You fight for me and speak to me Your words of love so that I will be able to violently resist this suitor and rediscover confidence in Your affections for me.  You are my Husband and I do not want to even listen to the flattery of this suitor.  You are my first and only love.  I am Yours and You are mine!”

Weep Between the Porch and the Altar – Part 3

Welcome to the third and final part of this series! I would encourage you to read Part 1 and Part 2 to get the background and setup for this concluding piece. However, to briefly recap…

In Parts 1 & 2, we are introduced to the verse in Matthew 23 where Jesus says to the Pharisees, “upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar.” I then go on to explain the differences in opinion on which Zechariah Jesus is referring to and my reasoning behind choosing the Zechariah found in 2 Chronicles 24 who we find was stoned in the temple court. We then linked this with the verse in Joel 2 where the prophet sends forth a call to the priests to “weep between the temple porch and the altar” – the exact same location as Zechariah’s brutal murder. We see the strong connection between the sins of our forefathers and the need of the present generation to acknowledge, repent for, and turn from these sins.

For the Pharisees that Jesus was talking to, they honored the prophets of old whom their forefathers had killed, believing they would have acted differently had they lived in those times, not recognizing the darkness of their own hearts and the spirit of murder within them which would lead them to crucify Jesus. Yet Jesus promised them that they would be proven guilty and that the state of their hearts would be exposed as he sent them prophets and teachers whom they would persecute and kill, thus filling up the measure of the sin of their forefathers. This would seal their judgment for eternity and would occur in response to the cries coming from the blood of every righteous person slain. So how does this apply to us today?

I have found it quite significant that recently a billboard advertising campaign has been launched across Canada that is bringing attention to the issue of abortion in our nation, asking the question, “Have we gone too far?” AbortionInCanada.ca is putting this issue in front of our eyes, reminding us that we cannot ignore this injustice in our land, for currently the unborn have no protection from being aborted right up into the 9th month of gestation! According to AbortionInCanada.ca, “more than three million unborn babies have died from abortion since 1969, when abortion was first decriminalized in Canada”with the annual average being somewhere around 100,000 abortions. On Wikipedia’s article for Abortion in the United States, they quote the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) as saying “there were 854,122 legal induced abortions in the US in 2003″. The Bound4Life website says that in the USA “an estimated 48 million babies have been aborted since 1973. Approximately 24% of all U.S. pregnancies end in abortion”.

Is it possible that the same thing Jesus was rebuking the Pharisees for is occurring today in North America? How many prophets, teachers, evangelists, worship leaders (or to sum it all up – prophetic messengers of all types) have been sent to us by the Lord to preach the message of Joel 2, “Return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning”? And how many of these messengers have been killed before they even saw the light of the sun or said one word? How many millions of aborted babies and aborted destinies are crying out for justice, even as Abel’s blood cried out from the ground, and are testifying against us in our perceived innocence? How can our generation think we are any different than our forefathers who condoned slavery and persecuted and killed out of racist hatred, when at our core we are just the same – maybe even worse – for on our hands is the blood of countless babies?

But if their blood is crying out for God’s just judgment to come to our land, what is our hope? Can we escape or lessen the judgment that is surely coming? Can we appeal to the heart of Jesus that longs to gather us under his wings, if only we were willing? As he said, “O Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, but you were not willing.” (Matthew 23:37) Can we touch the heart of God who declares Himself to be “gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and [who] relents from sending calamity”? (Joel 2:13) I believe we can.

The message of Joel is for us today – both the church and unbelievers are being called to return to the Lord with all our hearts, with fasting, weeping, and mourning, to rend our hearts, to gather in solemn assemblies, consecrating and purifying our hearts (Joel 2:12-16). Yet we as the church are called specifically, as priests (for we are a “royal priesthood” – 1 Peter 2:9), to weep and mourn in the place of identifying with the sins of the shedding of innocent blood. Between the temple porch and the altar, where a prophetic messenger was slain, the priests were to cry out to God, “Spare your people!” (Joel 2:17) In the same way that Nehemiah wept, mourned and fasted on behalf of Israel, confessing the sins of his forefathers, his own generation and himself personally, appealing to God for mercy, we can stand in the breach between our nation and God’s wrath (Psalm 106:23).

While we may or may not be able to go directly to the location of the abortion clinics, we can go there in the spirit and operate in this priestly function, interceding for our nation and taking a stand for life. We can ask the Lord to give us the spirit of travail and to impact our hearts with this burden, that we would be able to weep and mourn with the heart of Jesus over these lost lives and destinies. For “the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express” (Romans 8:26). Even as Nehemiah was praying before the Lord day and night, this is the kind of response Jesus is looking for to the injustice in our land, for he said in Luke 18:7, “And will not God bring about justice for his chosen ones, who cry out to him day and night?”

Some of you may have a feeling or know that this is something you are called to do full-time, to be a priest that ministers before the Lord in the temple – or in more modern-day terms, to function as an intercessory missionary in a house of prayer. This is just one of the ways God is raising up the prayer movement across the globe, but regardless of whether you are being called to this kind of role in a full-time capacity, we all have a responsibility to pray and be willing to be a voice on behalf of those who cannot speak for themselves. A simple way to start is to make the Bound4Life Covenant to Pray, Vote, and Obey.

1. PRAY – There is a simple 22-word prayer you can pray whenever the Lord brings this topic to your remembrance, or whenever you see the LIFE bracelet, should you choose to get one. The prayer goes like this: “Jesus, I plead Your blood over my sins and the sins of my nation. God, end abortion and send revival to [your nation]“.
2. VOTE – Covenant to vote for candidates that are actively pro-life. We cannot pray for abortion to end and promote those who support it.
3. OBEY – Covenant to obey God as He leads you into works of compassion and justice. We must always be willing to be the answer to our own prayers.

For me, this has become very personal lately, being pregnant with my first child, whom we have chosen to name Justice (you can read the story of how we chose this name here). It feels so real and there is such a conviction in my heart that this little one could be one of these prophetic messengers that the Lord is sending to my nation to call the people to return to Him. This has put such a resolve and a fight within my spirit to pray for the protection of the unborn from the spirit of this age that would seek to “kill, steal and destroy” (John 10:10) these precious lives. So will you join with me? Will you weep between the porch and the altar?

(For more resources on the issue of LIFE and ideas on how you can get involved through prayer in the courts of heaven or through action in the courts of the earth, check out some of the sites in the LIFE category on my Links page.

Weep Between the Porch and the Altar – Part 2

If you haven’t already, I would recommend first reading Part 1 of this series, but to briefly recap, in Matthew 23 Jesus was rebuking the Pharisees for their hypocrisy and their false belief of their own innocence in regards to the slaying of the prophets of old. He then prophesied judgment, saying that they would persecute and kill the messengers he was going to send them, as a way of filling up the measure of their forefathers’ sin “and so upon you will come all the righteous blood that has been shed on earth, from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah son of Berekiah, whom you murdered between the temple and the altar” (verse 35).

I have chosen to relate this to the story of the priest Zechariah in 2 Chronicles 24 who is described as having been murdered “in the courtyard of the Lord’s temple” (verse 21), but as I mentioned in Part 1, it could also be referring to the prophet Zechariah, although we have no record of him being killed in this manner.

After reading this passage in Matthew 23, I was immediately reminded of Joel’s prophecy in chapter 2 verse 17, which says…

Let the priests, who minister before the LORD,
weep between the temple porch and the altar.
Let them say, “Spare your people, O LORD.
Do not make your inheritance an object of scorn,
a byword among the nations.
Why should they say among the peoples,
‘Where is their God?’”

To me there appears to be an obvious connection between this verse and our story of Zechariah, as Joel is calling for the priests to weep “between the temple porch and the altar”, which is the exact same location of Zechariah’s slaying. Now, depending on which view you take on when the book of Joel was written, as well as which Zechariah you believe Jesus was referring to, this can affect how we interpret this passage and connect the dots. Again, as I mentioned in Part 1, I have chosen to take the standpoint that Joel was writing just prior to the Babylonian invasion, which puts him between the two different Zechariahs.

Now, regardless of which of the 4 viewpoints you take of when Joel was written (from the early 9th century BC to the same period as Zechariah the prophet), if we were to go with the view that Jesus was referring to the prophet Zechariah, then it’s possible that Zechariah would have been familiar with Joel’s writings. Also, as was mentioned in Matthew Henry’s commentary, if he was taking sanctuary in the court of the priests from his persecutors, he could have been in the very act of intercession, “weep[ing] between the temple porch and the altar”, crying out for mercy upon Jerusalem just before he was murdered. This is powerful imagery if you were to preach on martyrdom and praying even for your enemies as Jesus did on the cross or as Stephen did while he was being stoned. However, there are a lot of “ifs” in this scenario that don’t make for a very strong connection in this way.

If we take the story of the priest Zechariah from 2 Chronicles 24 who was stoned in the temple court, then again, regardless of the 4 viewpoints of when Joel was written, Joel’s prophecy would have probably come after Zechariah’s murder. In this case, there is a strong reason to believe that this call to intercession was closely linked to the need for repentance for the sins of their forefathers. It seems very symbolic and significant that the Lord would call the priests to weep and mourn and cry out for mercy in the exact location that a brutal act of injustice occurred. This also ties in with what Jesus had against the Pharisees – they were able to acknowledge the sins of their forefathers in slaying the prophets, but they could not identify with them or realize that this same darkness was in their own hearts and acknowledge their need for repentance. Nehemiah was a great example of someone who was able to see the sins of his father, his nation and himself personally, praying…

…let your ear be attentive and your eyes open to hear the prayer your servant is praying before you day and night for your servants, the people of Israel. I confess the sins we Israelites, including myself and my father’s house, have committed against you. (Nehemiah 1:6)

The Pharisees however, perceived themselves to be innocent of the blood on their forefathers’ hands, blind to the fact that they were about to crucify the very son of God and many of his followers and apostles. In fact, Jesus would ensure that they would be proven guilty and that the state of their hearts would be exposed by his promise to send them prophets and teachers whom they would persecute and kill, thus filling up the measure of the sin of their forefathers. This would seal their judgment for eternity and would occur in response to the cries coming from the blood of every righteous person slain. In Genesis 4:10, the Lord says to Cain regarding the murder of his brother Abel, “Listen! Your brother’s blood cries out to me from the ground”, and Zechariah, as he lay dying, cried out, “May the Lord see this and call you to account” (2 Chronicles 24:22). This is not unlike the prayer in Revelation 6:9-10 of those who had been murdered because of the Word of God, who called out in a loud voice, “How long, Sovereign Lord, holy and true, until you judge the inhabitants of the earth and avenge our blood?”

So how does this apply to us? The answer to that question is coming in Part 3…

Fasting for those who can't fast – Part 2

For Part 1 on this topic – click here!

So as a follow-up to my first post on this topic, since I’m currently pregnant, this has presented a challenge for how I can still participate in the gift of fasting. I’ve been thinking about a few different options and got some ideas from others, and I also had the opportunity to ask my doctor a couple questions. So here are some suggestions on things you might want to consider trying if you are in a similar situation to me.

1. Fast Facebook or Myspace or any other networking, bloggy, time-eating site.
2. Fast email – this one isn’t too practical for me, since it’s pretty crucial to my day-to-day life and work, but it could be good to try!
3. Fast T.V. and/or movies – since we don’t even have our T.V. set up, this one isn’t too helpful for me personally, but if you have a bit of a T.V. addiction, then this could be the fast for you! When my husband & I still had T.V. in our house, we went on a 40-day T.V. and movie fast and it dramatically shifted the atmosphere in our home and I definitely felt the difference in my times with God during it! (This fast should also include watching videos via the Internet)
4. Fast blogs – fast reading your list of 50 favorite blogs – I’ve noticed it can take quite a chunk of time to keep up with everyone’s writings!
5. Fast other media/entertainment – reading a great fiction novel? Just bought a new magazine? Love video games? Try fasting them for a day or more!
6. Fast a particular type of food or drink – fast meat for a day, fast the tasty carbs (breads, pastas, rice, potatoes) for a day, fast all sweets for a day, eat only soup for a day, fast coffee or sodas (caffeine). Be creative and try fasting something that you actually really enjoy eating, since the pleasure of food is often the thing we crave more than the sustenance we get from it – so, if you’re me, fasting mushrooms and pineapple would sort of defeat the purpose, since I hate these anyways! Also, I ran this idea by my obstetrician, and she gave me permission to do this, but you should check with your doctor to see what is okay for you.
7. Fast talking – yikes! I’ve not really tried this one yet, but I think it could be a great one.
8. Fast sex – obviously this would be one for the married folks and you need your spouse to agree to this, since the Bible is clear that we are not to deny our spouse the fulfillment of their sexual needs unless both are in agreement, and then to do it only for a short time. But this is a totally valid way to set aside another desire of the flesh in order to focus on the Lord.

I’m sure there’s more than this, but it’s a start. So, I’m going to try implementing a couple of these ideas as well as some other strategies to help me. For example, I like to read the occassional news article online, but instead of fasting this, I’ve decided that I can’t read an article unless I’m going to pray about it. This helps in the area of ensuring that I’m not just fasting, but also praying! Another thing is that even though I may still be eating meals, I will prioritize and make sure I spend some time in prayer before eating on my fasting days. As I mentioned in another one of my blog posts on fasting, I’ve set some clear guidelines for my fasting and also made a prayer plan, with specific topics I want to pray about on my fasting day and a scheduled time to do so. I’m excited, because I don’t want to allow myself to get into a rut where fasting isn’t a part of my lifestyle, even though I’m pregnant, and it’ll make it so much easier to start fasting food again once I’m able to, if I’ve kept my heart in an attitude of fasting. I hope this helps!

Making Ready a People Prepared

Lately I’ve been reading and meditating on Isaiah chapters 61 to 63 which contains several scriptures pertaining to the coming of the Messiah, both His first coming and His second.  The verse which stuck out to me recently though was Isaiah 62:10 which says, “Pass through, pass through the gates!  Prepare the way for the people.  Build up, build up the highway!  Remove the stones.  Raise a banner for the nations.”

Prepare the way for the Lord
I believe this verse has many layers of meaning, but it’s especially important to view it through the lens of Jesus’ return to the earth.  This is quite clear from the following verse where the Lord instructs Isaiah to proclaim, “See, your Savior comes!  See, his reward is with him, and his recompense accompanies him.”  The Lord desired for Isaiah to preach a message that the Savior was indeed coming, bringing with Him both a reward for His people and vengeance for His enemies.  Yet, before this message could be proclaimed, obstacles needed to be removed and the path built up and prepared so that the people would be able to receive the message.  This a similar calling to what was given to John the Baptist who was a forerunner that was to ”pass through” ahead of others and go before to prepare the way of the Lord… 

A voice of one calling in the desert: “Prepare the way for the Lord; make straight in the wilderness a highway for our God. Every valley shall be raised up, every mountain and hill made low; the rough ground shall become level, the rugged places a plain. And the glory of the Lord will be revealed, and all mankind together will see it. For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”  Isaiah 40:3-5

Make ready a people prepared
In the case of John the Baptist, a key aspect of preparing the people’s hearts was to call them to participate in the baptism of repentance.  For them this was an outward act to demonstrate the inner response of their hearts to turn from their wicked ways and return to the Lord.  But what is the Lord saying to the forerunners of today?  What do we need to do to prepare both our own hearts and also the hearts of those who God desires us to proclaim this message of His return to?  How can we remove the obstacles in the way, the things that are hindering us and them from being ready on that day?  How can we do what is necessary to “make ready a people prepared for the Lord”?  (Luke 1:17)

Watch and pray
I think a key component to being prepared for the Lord when He returns is found in Jesus’ talk with His disciples in Matthew 24 and 25.  After warning them of the signs of the end of the age, Jesus exhorts them to be like the faithful and wise servant who was found watching and waiting for his master’s return and the five wise virgins who kept oil in their lamps and were ready when the bridegroom appeared.  Among other things, I believe this speaks of prayer, for when Jesus was in the garden of Gethsemane, he implored the disciples to “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation”.  (Mark 14:38)  Prayer is one of the most strategic ways that we can keep our hearts alert and on guard, full of oil and lit with the fire of passion for Jesus, as opposed to slumbering and being caught unaware when He returns. 

Remove the stones
Intercession on behalf of others is also critical for the removing of the obstacles in their way – we need to be watchmen on the walls of our cities that are never silent day or night (Isaiah 62:6-7), warring for the demonic influences over people to be taken out and for the blinders to be removed so that they are able to “see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God” (2 Corinthians 4:4).  I believe this is one of the biggest stumbling blocks for people – that they are unable to see Jesus for who He is and that He is the express image of the Father.  Many, including myself, do not have a correct view of Jesus or the Father and we need to intercede for wisdom and revelation to know Him better (Ephesians 1:17) and also preach about who He truly is, tearing down the wrong mindsets and ideas of what He’s like and how He feels about us.

Return with fasting and weeping
Another passage of scripture that contains several instructions on how to prepare our hearts for Jesus’ return is Joel 2:12-17.  There’s too much here to go into great detail on each item, but the Lord calls for the people to return to Him with all their heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.  If we desire to be prepared and desire to make ready a people prepared, then repentance, fasting, and mourning need to be an essential component of our daily lives.  If we do not want our love to grow cold (Matthew 24:12) then we need to turn from our sin and turn to the Lord wholeheartedly – holding nothing back.  He wants our whole hearts – He desires for us to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength (Mark 12:30).  I believe that adding fasting to your repentance is an incredible accelerator to the process, as you are choosing to kill the desires of your flesh and live by the spirit (Romans 8:13-14).  Also, when we are able to connect with the reality of how our sin grieves the Holy Spirit and we can mourn over our spiritual condition and the condition of our cities and nations, our hearts will be tenderized and the gift of weeping and groaning will allow us to enter into partnership with the Spirit in intercession (Romans 8:26).

Raising forerunners
So what does this have to do with raising forerunners?  As a soon-to-be mother, I have been impressed on my heart with the importance of my calling to make ready my children to be ones who are prepared for the Lord’s return and who will also be forerunners that will prepare others.  Imagine what it was like for Elizabeth, realizing the destiny of the child she carried within her and how vital it was for her to raise him as the Lord had commanded and teach him the ways of God, instructing John about his destiny to prepare the way of the Lord and ready the hearts of the people for their coming Messiah!  I feel this same urgency, this same weight of responsibility.  I know that the child in my womb has an incredible destiny and purpose and it is my role to disciple them and prepare them for it, with the help of Holy Spirit.  I certainly cannot do this on my own and sometimes the thought of it overwhelms me, but I also must trust that the Lord has given this child to us and will equip us to train him or her in the way they should go.  I have a new appreciation for the story of Samson’s parents, who when told of the special calling on their unborn child’s life, cried out to God, “O Lord, I beg you, let the man of God you sent to us come again to teach us how to bring up the boy who is to be born.”  (Judges 13:8)  God answered their prayer and as I make this prayer my own, I believe He too will come and teach my husband and I how to raise this little forerunner in the making.

Tips for Fasting

Fasting is often difficult (thank God for the times when its easy!) and the enemy will do just about anything to keep you from it.  Now you may not struggle with the same hurdles that I’ve encountered, but if you’re anything like me, than hopefully you’ll find some of these tips helpful.  Here are a couple things I discovered recently in my attempts at fasting:

1. Set clear guidelines

Almost every time I do a fast, if I don’t set very clear guidelines for the type of fast I’m going to do (and even when I do), I am always tempted to bend the rules or make excuses to get out of it.  For example, I know that I want to fast in some way on a particular day, but I am indecisive about what kind of fast I’ll be doing – will I go on water only?  Will I allow myself to drink juice?  Will I say no solids, but any type of liquid?  Will I say just fruits and vegetables? No sweets?  One meal?  etc.  If I don’t make a clear decision on what I’m doing, I’ll end up fasting nothing!  Or, if I say I’m going to fast and I start off thinking I’ll do water only, by mid-morning I’m allowing myself some juice, by lunch I’m having a milky, sugary, caffeinated latte, by supper time I decide I’ll let myself have a bowl of soup and then by the end of the day I’m having a big plate of nachos with cheese and salsa before bed!  Now, there is always grace and this is not a regimented religious exercise where you have to follow strict rules – it’s about your heart – but you’re really cheating yourself of entering into the voluntary weakness of fasting if you don’t give yourself clear boundaries for your fast and seek to do your best to follow them.

2. Have accountability

Now, we know we’re not supposed to broadcast our fasting to the world and the general rule is that it’s between you and God and nobody else needs to know about it.  By flaunting your fast to the public, you are receiving your reward on earth for a few moments, but losing your eternal reward in heaven.  At the same time, I believe it is super helpful to have one person, like your spouse or a close friend, that you tell what kind of fast you are doing and then ask them to keep you accountable!  If my husband has no idea that I have intentions to fast on a certain day, I am 100% more likely to break my fast than if I know that he knows.  Even if he’s not around to see me, it’ll be in the back of mind that he might ask me how my fast is going and that might be just enough to keep me from eating that ice cream sandwich.  Now hopefully we would fear the Lord more than man and fast with the knowledge that He is always watching and sees everything, but if you need that extra little help, I would suggest telling just one person and give them permission to ask you about it!

3. Have a prayer plan

I remember the first time I heard teaching on fasting as a youth where the speaker said that “fasting without prayer is dieting”.  While I believe there is still value in fasting when you’re just gritting your teeth through it and prayer is farthest from your mind, this is definitely not God’s highest for fasting.  Fasting without prayer is mostly starving yourself for no reason.  The goal or purpose is to spend the time you would normally give to preparing food and eating and use it to sit at Jesus’ feet in communion with Him.  How this looks will be different for everyone – perhaps you’ll read your Bible and simply meditate on the Word, perhaps you’ll do a study on a certain topic in the Bible, perhaps you’ll spend time in worship and adoration, or you might like to focus that time on interceding for the needs of others.  Whatever it looks like, there should be some form of prayerful communing with God.  But for me, the same as having clear guidelines for the type of fast I’ll be doing, if I don’t have a plan of action for my time with the Lord, chances are I’ll play games on my computer while I’m skipping lunch!  Not having a plan makes me feel a little lost, so it’s often a good idea to have a scripture picked out that I want to read, or a specific topic I’ve been wanting to study, or a list of needs I want to pray about.

That’s it for now – if I come across more stumbling blocks to fasting (which I’m sure I will), then I’ll be sure to write about what I find helpful to overcoming them in a future post!

Urges, Cravings & Impulses

What is a fasted lifestyle?
Living a fasted lifestyle is about much more than just fasting food, it’s also about living a surrendered life in the areas of food, our finances and our time.  Fasting is voluntary weakness – choosing weakness on our own accord for the sake of love.  This can include fasting food, or it could mean living a simpler life financially so that you are able to give more money away or so that you are able to work less and give more time to prayer, or it could mean choosing to give up the time you spend watching your favorite TV show in order to spend time reading your Bible.  All of these are forms of living a fasted lifestyle – making choices to live our lives by the Spirit which will surely cause us to feel weak (in other words – grumpy, hungry, or discontent) by not satisfying the desires of our flesh.

“Yield”
In this post, I wanted to talk about one way to live a fasted lifestyle, which is to be wary of giving in to urges, cravings and impulses.  In life, you will both need & desire certain foods, possessions and activities.  Yet it takes discernment to know when these are the growling of the flesh.  This is definitely not an easy thing to discern since our desires can often overpower our ability to hear the voice of the Holy Spirit clearly. Lately however, this topic has really come to the forefront in my pregnancy, since as a pregnant woman, you are constantly validated in your cravings and encouraged to satisfy them.  This is so tempting to listen to!  I’m essentially being told to give in to whatever whimsy or fancy I have for any type of food at any time!  I truly don’t understand the logic in this, when it’s clearly not healthy or beneficial for my well-being or the baby’s (unless I’m craving vegetables)?  Yet this mindset is prevalent throughout society in ALL areas!  We are constantly being told to give in to our urges and impulses for that big juicy steak, or that big screen TV, or tickets to the latest popular event.  “Eat, drink, and be merry!  Spend, spend, spend!!! Relax and enjoy yourself for a few hours – you deserve it!”  I have an especially vivid memory of a huge McDonald’s billboard with a gigantic picture of their irresistable fries (my personal favorite) with one simple word – “Yield”!

“Their god is their stomach”
But how do we combat these messages that bombard us on a daily basis??  I think a part of our answer lies in Philippians 3.  In verses 18-19, Paul mentions those who are enemies of the cross of Christ – now, this may mean unbelievers, but earlier in the chapter he talks about sharing in the sufferings of Christ, so I believe it could also refer to believers who aren’t willing to enter into the fellowship of His sufferings – and goes on to describe that “Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is on earthly things.“  So, if we don’t want our stomach to be our god or the desires of our flesh to control us, then it is imperative that our vision be fixed on what is eternal and not what is earthly.  In this same chapter Paul speaks of where he has chosen to focus his gaze – “Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.”  He is looking to Jesus and looking to heaven – to that which is eternal and lasting – instead of the temporary and fleeting pleasures of that Big Mac I crave, or the newest fashion trend I itch to have, or the urge inside to waste my time with the empty fascination of a television show.

It’s a battle
There is a spiritual battle being waged for my heart and I feel the pull of these things hourly!  Where will I choose to give my energy, money and time?  Will I give in to the urges, cravings and impulses of my flesh?  On what and on whom will I choose to fix my gaze?  Will I live for what it fading away or for what will last forever?  The spirit fights against the flesh and right now, the flesh is winning out.  This needs to change and I need to get a violent zeal within me that will scream “NOOOOO!!!” to the world’s command to “Yield”.

Fasting for those who can't fast!

Unable to Fast?
As much as I sometimes hate fasting and find it very difficult to do, I also think it’s one of our most precious gifts from the Lord for tenderizing our hearts and helping us to draw near to Him.  So when I became pregnant and fasting became a big “no, no” for the baby’s health & safety, I felt like I was missing out!  Part of me was rejoicing that I had an excuse not to fast while the other part of me was mourning the loss of it.

Someone Help Me!
So here I am, several months pregnant, and wishing I had some moms to talk to and give me advice from their experiences.  I have so many questions, like “Did you fast anything while you were pregnant?” and if so, “What kinds of fasting did you do?” and “Did you feel like it had the same impact for your heart?”  I want to know if there are ways that I can fast while pregnant or breastfeeding, whether involving food or not, that will still allow me to enter into the benefits for my heart that fasting provides.  Should I fast computer time?  Should I fast sweets?  Is it okay to do a Daniel type fast, eating only fruits and vegetables for a day?  What have other pregnant women done who wanted to still have an element of fasting in their spiritual lives?

Forging a new path
I expressed this to my husband and he reminded me of a sermon we had once listened to where the speaker was exhorting the people in the audience who were looking for a spiritual mentor to consider that God may want them to be one!  Could it be, that while I am wishing I had someone to show me the way that the Lord would actually want me to forge a new path?  Instead of waiting for someone to tell me how to do it, perhaps I should seek the answers myself and be a voice to others with the same questions as me!  This definitely challenges me, as I wish there was an easier way, yet I’ll get nowhere if I just sit and wait for someone else to seek God and then share with me what they found!  I have a few precious months left in this pregnancy to allow God to teach me new things in the area of fasting and I don’t want to let them go to waste.

Share your ideas
At the same time, if you have found your way to this blog, I’d love to hear any thoughts or suggestions that you may have on the topic!  Go ahead and leave a comment & perhaps I’ll try your idea!