On my end of the month fast this is what I have learned from Isaiah 58 the fasting chapter. I hope you learn something too...
The purpose of Fasting:
1. To loose the Chains of Injustice
2. To untie the chords of the yoke, to break every yoke
3. To set the oppressed free
Things to do if I want my fasts to be effective
1. Feed the hungry
2. Shelter the homeless
3. Clothe the naked
4. Help my family
5. Be careful not be an oppressor
6. No finger pointing, blaming or accusing
7. No malicious talk
8. Meet the needs of the oppressed
9. Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy
10. Do not speak idle words (Words that are contrary to God’s word)
11. Do God’s will not what I please
Results of doing the above things:
1. Your light will break forth
2. Your healing will quickly appear
3. Your righteousness will go before you
4. God’s glory will be my rear guard
5. You will call and God will answer speedily
6. The Lord will guide you always
7. He will satisfy your needs in a sun scorched land (Gen 26)
8. You will be like a well watered Garden
9. A spring whose waters never run dry
10. You will rebuild the ancient ruins
11. You will raise up the age-old foundations (Ps 82:5)
12. You will be a repairer of broken walls
13. You will be called the restorer of streets with dwellings
14. You will find your joy in the Lord
15. You will ride on the heights of the land (Head and not the tail, above only and not beneath Deut 28:1 & 13)
16. You will feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob (Gen 17, Gen 12 – This is Covenant Deut 8:18)
Thursday, February 28, 2008
Monday, February 18, 2008
What's God got to do with it?
Everything. God's got everything to do with it. Even when we think he is not concerned he is. I am learning that God wants to be involved in everything I do, and I mean everything even the none important stuff.
I have always been big. A big girl growing up and now an even bigger woman. Well, at the end of January I finally decided to come up with a weight loss plan that would get me down from (O Lord!) 236lbs to 150lbs. Well, guess what? When I was done putting together my plan, I realised that the Holy Spirit within me was grieved. I began to pray and ask him what had grieved him and he revealed to me that my plans had been made in the flesh. God wanted me to lose weight and he was glad I was finally getting pro-active about it, but what was up with me leaving him out of the plan. I realised that in a lot of my plans, I just go ahead and make them then ask him to bless them so they actually give the desired result.
But what if God wants to accelerate my plans so that I acheive more quicker? What if he has a better, struggle free plan? That threw me for a loop. So I started to pray for a God plan instead of my plan. The Lord said to me "This year you need to come out of the flesh and do all things supernaturally." The following are the steps he took me through:
a) Binding the strong man - You cannot have success unless you bind the strong man so you can spoil his goods. For me the strong man was a crazy menatality that I was supposed to be fat all my life, and also the spirit of Gluttony.
b) He led me through a prayer in which I commanded each and every cell, organ, body part to be made whole and to perform in the perfection for which it was created.c)
c)I made prophetic declarations over my body which included commanding all the excess weight to leave my body, speaking out the weight I wanted to become and declaring that from then on, I only eat when trully hungry.
Then he gave me a very simple plan. He said:
a) Drink lots of water
b) Eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full
c) Walk everywhere instead of driving (of course within reason)
Guess what? In three weeks I have lost 11 lbs effortlessly. I have not had to struggle and sweat and starve myself to death. And I feel great. Now he has said that I will have to lift weights and do other things as we progress, but I will share all this with you on "Skinny Friday"
I will chronicle my progress and if you have any questions please feel free to ask and I will do my best to assist. I'm loving the progress made and I can't wait to take off all the weight.
Bottom line is, we need to let God be God of all areas of our lives including eating. I will discuss all this with you as we go on. In the meantime... Have a skinny day won't you?
I have always been big. A big girl growing up and now an even bigger woman. Well, at the end of January I finally decided to come up with a weight loss plan that would get me down from (O Lord!) 236lbs to 150lbs. Well, guess what? When I was done putting together my plan, I realised that the Holy Spirit within me was grieved. I began to pray and ask him what had grieved him and he revealed to me that my plans had been made in the flesh. God wanted me to lose weight and he was glad I was finally getting pro-active about it, but what was up with me leaving him out of the plan. I realised that in a lot of my plans, I just go ahead and make them then ask him to bless them so they actually give the desired result.
But what if God wants to accelerate my plans so that I acheive more quicker? What if he has a better, struggle free plan? That threw me for a loop. So I started to pray for a God plan instead of my plan. The Lord said to me "This year you need to come out of the flesh and do all things supernaturally." The following are the steps he took me through:
a) Binding the strong man - You cannot have success unless you bind the strong man so you can spoil his goods. For me the strong man was a crazy menatality that I was supposed to be fat all my life, and also the spirit of Gluttony.
b) He led me through a prayer in which I commanded each and every cell, organ, body part to be made whole and to perform in the perfection for which it was created.c)
c)I made prophetic declarations over my body which included commanding all the excess weight to leave my body, speaking out the weight I wanted to become and declaring that from then on, I only eat when trully hungry.
Then he gave me a very simple plan. He said:
a) Drink lots of water
b) Eat when you are hungry and stop when you are full
c) Walk everywhere instead of driving (of course within reason)
Guess what? In three weeks I have lost 11 lbs effortlessly. I have not had to struggle and sweat and starve myself to death. And I feel great. Now he has said that I will have to lift weights and do other things as we progress, but I will share all this with you on "Skinny Friday"
I will chronicle my progress and if you have any questions please feel free to ask and I will do my best to assist. I'm loving the progress made and I can't wait to take off all the weight.
Bottom line is, we need to let God be God of all areas of our lives including eating. I will discuss all this with you as we go on. In the meantime... Have a skinny day won't you?
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Year of New Beginnings
It's been wonderful since God healed me of those aweful fibroids and allowed me to be free. My doctor says I will not be completely healed till after six months but I feel totally healed now and I am claiming that already. In October of last year I shared how amazed I was that God was speaking to me about this year already. Well he started making some serious changes in my life all through my recovery and more so since last month.
When God wants to change your life the first thing he says to you is "Come up Higher" needless to say I was challenged in my walk with him most of all. The first change he has made this year was to call me into a life of prayer and fasting. He asked me to fast one day a week to seek him and to draw nearer to him which I must say has been phenomenol. Bondages I had never even seen have been revealed to me and the word of God has just come alive for me in a greater way.
On my prayer life, he called me to pray for at least an hour every day as the Spirit leads. I used to go before God with a list of all the issues I wanted to bring before him and then labour through prayer for 20 min max, and then I had nothing further to say. He began to really speak to me about praying as the Spirit led and not as I wanted to pray. Since I started listening to the leading of the Holy Spirit in Prayer, my prayer life has become incredible. The hour flies by and I am in danger of getting late for other commitments.
The other thing God renewed in me was praying in tongues more. It is so important to pray in tongues and there is so much power in praying in tongues. No wonder the devil does all he can to fight tongues and also to ensure that we as believers do not pray that much in tongues in our private prayer time. But that devil IS A LIAR! I just bubble away in the Spirit and I have realised that more and more lately I am beginning to get the interpretation and then declare what the Holy Spirit is saying and doing in the Spirit realm.
Additionally, I felt led to start faithfully attending Watch Nights at my church which we call "Friday Night Encounters" and God has moved in my life. We pray for hours at a time. No hurry, just you and the Holy Ghost! I have seen such a great change in my life since then. God has just been downloading new ideas straight from the throne of Heaven and I am getting ready to have a Joseph type manifestation myself.
I praise him for he is good and his mercies endure for ever. I praise him and I do not forget all his benefits to me. Surely he has not said "serve me for nothing" No. God is doing a new thing in my life. Now it springs forth. A way in the wilderness, a might river in the desert. I will bear much, much fruit to the glory of his name.
How about this for a verse to speak over the year 2008:
"You crown the year with Your bounty and goodness, and the tracks of Your [chariot wheels] drip with fatness." Psalm 65:11
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