Believers' Prayer Meeting with The Saint | R 15 W 6 D 2.

Welcome to The Upper Room. So, glad you came.

Happy Fourteenth 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" as compared with "Intermittent Fasting," as we dissect Isaiah 58. Next, we look at verse 4. It reads,

"Indeed you fast for strife and debate, and to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, to make your voice heard on high."

Does this ring a bell? The issue was not abstinence from food and possibly water. The issue, we repeat, like a broken record, was where their heart and soul were. Yes, they had various types of intermittent fasting, but for what purpose?

God said, "indeed you deprive yourself of food, but for and to what purpose? This brings to mind Paul's observation of the reason(s) people preach the gospel. [Philippians 1:15-17] He wrote,

"Some indeed preach Christ even from envy and strife, and some also from goodwill: The former preach Christ from selfish ambition, not sincerely, supposing to add affliction to my chains; but the latter out of love, knowing that I am appointed for the defense of the gospel."

Replace the words "preach Christ" with "fasting" here and the truth will not be lost. Some people fast out of "envy, strife, debate, and to strike with the fist of wickedness." Yet they expect God to somehow answer their prayers. If this is not madness, I don't know what it is. Yet it happens in our midst.

They are overwhelmed by their ability to abstain from food and thus think themselves to have attained something. Yes, amongst men, but not before God. They are the Pharisees of old. Their religion is before and unto men. They seek control of the men's hearts not for God, but for themselves.

They are just like their father, the devil, yet profess themselves, in delusion, to belong to the Most High God. "You will not fast as you do this day, to make your voice heard on high." Again, more like a broken record, we reiterate,

"The Fasting that pleases God is the one which is "an affliction (calming, humbling, sobering, quieting) of our soul." It is not sheer or mere abstinence, but one with the focus, purpose, and intent of addressing the soul, the inner being, in such a way that it turns and gives place to God."

This is the mark. You either fall in and line up, or you fall out and go find something else to do, rather than wasting your time. 

Let us pray.

The Saint.