Welcome home. Welcome to The Upper Room. So glad you made it.
Happy Thirty-Eighth Day of the Lenten Season.
We continue with our meditations in The Book of Daniel. We are on verses 2 and 3 of Chapter 10, The Daniel Fast. It reads,
"In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three full weeks. I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled."
We continue with our meditations and discussion on "A Fasted Life" compared to "Intermittent Fasting," as we dissect Isaiah 58. We move to verse 8. It reads,
“Then your light shall break forth like the morning,
Your healing shall spring forth speedily,
And your righteousness shall go before you;
The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard."
I know we spoke somewhat on the third and fourth parts of verse 8, yesterday, but I believe it is worth still dedicating a day to. Jesus tells us in Matthew 6:33,
"But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you."
The "but" says a whole lot about the prior discussion. "But" pretty much zeros off the discussion before. It says the things after are the right way, while those before are not. Jesus is here teaching, "being worried and anxious" are not the keys to life.
The key to life is "obedience." Wholehearted obedience. [Isaiah 1:19] Just imagine the pilot on a transatlantic deviating from the standard flight instructions. The consequences are fatal. So, why do we think we can have a different outcome when it has to do with piloting our own life?
The Creator has laid down the manual - the flight manual. We are either going to follow it and make good a success of our flight, our life, or not follow it and crash. The choice is ours. Always has been, is, and always will be. God presents to our life and death, but will NEVER force either on us.
When we follow God's ordination for a fast that pleases Him, we key into LIFE, and LIFE gives us its bounty. The challenge is, we presume we can beat God at His own game. We suppose we have to eat our cake and have it at the same time.
Unfortunately, religion does not help us. It sells us baloney, and we buy it hook line, and sinker. It lies to us we can separate the sacred from the secular. We can come to church on Sunday, then do our things from Monday to Saturday.
Religion tells us, we can fast for 40 days of the lenten season and we can do our own thing the rest of the year. Really? To who? For what purpose? To a dead god, the golden calf, or demons? God wants every day of our week, every day of our year.
All is sacred and secular. There are no dividing lines. He wants us to take Him with us when we go to work, and spend the evening with the boys and or girls. He wants us to practice and honor His presence. There is no separation.
We are spirits. God is spirit, and He wants to worship Him just as we are. No masks. That is the worship God seeks and accepts. He is tired of your masks. He wants you, you in you. That is what causes the earthquake and fires. That is what excites God.
When the sweetness of the aroma of that offering reaches God, He causes your righteousness to speak for you in the city and outside the city. He becomes vested in your interest. You become the apple of His eyes. He backs you up because you bear His name, His glory.
The Saint.
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