I am just hours away from completing my 3rd week of fasting (one week each month) with my church. This, like the times before, has proven to be a time where God really spoke to me.
Every time I fast it is a totally different experience. I never used to fast, and now I feel like I am fasting all of the time, not that I am complaining, I'm thankful that God calls me to do so. Fasting is especially important for me as I struggle with not only gluttony, but a weight control issue. Fasting has taught me that I cannot let food and weight gain/loss affect my mood. The scale can no longer control me and neither can my appetite. I never fast for weight loss purposes, only spiritual ones, which is good because I never lose weight after a week of fasting.
This week God revealed to me that I still occasionally struggle with making snap judgements about people upon meeting them based on their appearance. I also shy away from people that I really should embrace. This revelation brings shame to my heart. I didn't realize that I was still doing that, on a much smaller scale of course, but still doing it none the less. This is baggage that must go, and I pray that God will continue to give me ample opportunity to meet and embrace people that I would not have in the past.
I also realized that some of this judgement comes from me seeing pieces of the old me in the new person I am meeting. Maybe its the way they dress, inaproprtiate by my standards, and yet how many times did I leave the house in the past dressed completely disrespectful and inappropriately and yet had no idea at the time because my eyes were veiled. Whatever the reason, I am sad that these thoughts even come into my mind. I am thankful that God showed me this remnant of judgement that I still carry in the depths of my heart and I have fully confessed to Him and ask Him to shape me and mold me and make me knew in thought.
There are so many things going on in our hearts and minds that we may not even notice on a normal day, and yet when we ask God to reveal them to us He is very quick to bring them to the surface. I have made many mistakes, I have sinned plenty in my past, and I will continue to stumble, but I refuse to allow things like this to remain in my life. I refuse to accept these wrong thoughts, I refuse to let my flesh win this battle. I was bought and paid for by the shed blood of Jesus which means I am not my own. My thoughts need to be his thoughts. I need to be his love and compassion here on this broken planet.
"Love is an action verb. If you love others, you do things for them. To hate (in a biblical sense) is to do nothing or to turn away." Battlefield of the Mind ~Joyce Meyer
Ephesians 4:32
And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
Every time I fast it is a totally different experience. I never used to fast, and now I feel like I am fasting all of the time, not that I am complaining, I'm thankful that God calls me to do so. Fasting is especially important for me as I struggle with not only gluttony, but a weight control issue. Fasting has taught me that I cannot let food and weight gain/loss affect my mood. The scale can no longer control me and neither can my appetite. I never fast for weight loss purposes, only spiritual ones, which is good because I never lose weight after a week of fasting.
This week God revealed to me that I still occasionally struggle with making snap judgements about people upon meeting them based on their appearance. I also shy away from people that I really should embrace. This revelation brings shame to my heart. I didn't realize that I was still doing that, on a much smaller scale of course, but still doing it none the less. This is baggage that must go, and I pray that God will continue to give me ample opportunity to meet and embrace people that I would not have in the past.
I also realized that some of this judgement comes from me seeing pieces of the old me in the new person I am meeting. Maybe its the way they dress, inaproprtiate by my standards, and yet how many times did I leave the house in the past dressed completely disrespectful and inappropriately and yet had no idea at the time because my eyes were veiled. Whatever the reason, I am sad that these thoughts even come into my mind. I am thankful that God showed me this remnant of judgement that I still carry in the depths of my heart and I have fully confessed to Him and ask Him to shape me and mold me and make me knew in thought.
There are so many things going on in our hearts and minds that we may not even notice on a normal day, and yet when we ask God to reveal them to us He is very quick to bring them to the surface. I have made many mistakes, I have sinned plenty in my past, and I will continue to stumble, but I refuse to allow things like this to remain in my life. I refuse to accept these wrong thoughts, I refuse to let my flesh win this battle. I was bought and paid for by the shed blood of Jesus which means I am not my own. My thoughts need to be his thoughts. I need to be his love and compassion here on this broken planet.
"Love is an action verb. If you love others, you do things for them. To hate (in a biblical sense) is to do nothing or to turn away." Battlefield of the Mind ~Joyce Meyer
Ephesians 4:32
And be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ forgave you.
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