SYMPTOMS OF BACKSLIDING: NOT FASTING

 Scripture: Isaiah 58: 3          

“Wherefore have we FASTED…. Wherefore have we AFFLICTED our soul…”

Isaiah 58: 3

Fasting keeps the believer from backsliding. In the Bible the word associated with fasting is affliction. The word affliction can be interchanged for fasting.

“Be AFFLICTED, and mourn, and weep…”

James 4: 9

“Before I was AFFLICTED I went astray: but now have I kept thy word.”

Psalm 119: 67

How do you afflict yourself? According to the psalmist, one way you can afflict yourself is by fasting. He said that before he fasted he went astray, but when he fasted, he was able to keep God’s Word and stay on track. Then in Psalm 119: 71, he says, “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn by statutes.” Do you think that God is saying it is good to have sickness and disease? Affliction in that sense is not sickness. In this context, God is saying that it is good for the Christian to fast.

Another word that is associated with fasting is humility. In James 4: 10. the word of God says, “ Humble yourself in the sight of God and He will lift you up.” When the psalmist fasted in Psalm 35: 13, he said, “ I humbled my soul with fasting.” Carrying your pastor’s bible, speaking softly, or walking slowly are not signs of humility. God says you can humble yourself by fasting.

During a fast, especially when you have not eaten for several days, you experience extreme weakness in the body. This kind of suffering in the flesh sobers you. It makes you humble. And if there is anything we need in this modern age of Christianity, it is humility. Remember that pride comes before a fall, and fasting will take away the pride that leads many to a fall.

 

Credits: Excerpts from

Backsliding: Develop staying power

Bishop Dag Heward-Mills

Comments

  1. Irene19 December 2023 at 06:54

    Amen! Fasting enables us to keep God's Word and stay on track. Lead me O Lord into fasting in my life as a christian.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Nina orwa19 December 2023 at 08:21

    you can humble yourself by fasting

    ReplyDelete
  3. Agnes19 December 2023 at 08:32

    Fasting will take away pride in our lives.Fasting humbles many people.Fasting also enables us to keep God word and stay on track.Amen

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

REASONS WHY YOU MUST REDEEM THE TIME - PART 4

Scripture: Psalm 90:9-12 Topic: You must redeem the time because that is the only wise thing to do with your life. Unfortunately, many people do not treat time and opportunity as a special commodity. Time is something rare and precious, which God gives to all of us. It is the only thing you cannot regain or get back. When it is gone, it is gone forever. God’s admonition to us is to use the time we have on earth to do as much for Him as possible. We must work while it is day. The only wise thing to do with your life is to redeem the time for the work of the Lord. "For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.  Who knoweth the power of thine anger? Even according to thy fear, so is thy wrath. So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts un...
Read more

THE POWER OF BEING THANKFUL - PART 6

Scripture : Romans 1:21 Topic : Unthankfulness in a person is a door to many evils.  "Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, NEITHER WERE THANKFUL; BUT BECAME VAIN IN THEIR IMAGINATIONS, AND THEIR FOOLISH HEART WAS DARKENED..."  Romans 1:21 The scripture above shows us clearly that many of the evils and perversions in this world came through unthankfulness. When men discovered more about the creation and discovered the beautiful earth that God had made, they were not thankful.  When they discovered planets, when they discovered the moon and when they discovered the stars, they were not thankful to God. And because they were unthankful, they became vain in their imaginations. Your imaginations become more vain, the more unthankful you are.  When people are unthankful they become almost mad. Their unthankfulness is a form of insanity. Why would you not be grateful for the oxygen you breathe, the air you breathe, the water you drink, the life t...
Read more

WHY PRAYER IS MYSTERIOUS PART 3.

WHY PRAYER IS MYSTERIOUS PART 3.  Scripture: 1 Thessalonians 5:17.  Topic: Why Prayer is Mysterious Part 3.  Prayer is mysterious because God is mysterious! God is mysterious and there is nothing we can do about it! If you think you will ever know everything about God then you must think again! God is not a man and we cannot know everything about Him. It is precisely because of the mysteries surrounding God that a lot of people do not pray.  In this series of our quiet time we will see the mysteries surrounding prayer and we will learn that these mysteries should not keep us from prayer but rather draw us closer in search of answers. 3. Mysteriously, God seems to want us to keep asking about the same things even though we have asked Him before.  "Pray without ceasing." 1 Thessalonians 5:17  If God did not know about our problems on the first day, He must know our problems and our needs by the third day of our prayer. If He knows all things so well, why does...
Read more