Many times we believe that as we “serve the Lord” we just have sort of “grin and bear it”.  We believe a lie that we should never expect that God would give us something.  But, if God promises us a reward, it’s unbelief if we don’t expect and receive the rewards that He DOES give!  

 In the sermon on the mount (Matthew 5,6,7), as Jesus is teaching about how to live as His follower, He consistently tells us that when we come before Him genuinely, the Father WILL reward us.  He is good and loves to give good gifts!! J   So, as we draw near to 504, let’s set our minds to expect it to be a two-way street that as we give to the Lord, He is going to give to us as well.  I’d like to share with you some of the rewards of fasting.  These actually have been taken from a book entitled “The Rewards of Fasting”.   

1. Fasting sensitizes us toward God.  It puts us in a place where we become more sensitive to His Spirit within us.  We hear Him more clearly.  We feel His Presence stronger.  It positions our heart, mind and spirit to receive more from God. 
2. Our Desires change.  We will find that we have a stronger desire for righteousness.  Whereas many times in life, we feel a strong pull toward sins that we have to resist, fasting will actually cause us to feel pulled towards holiness.  It will be easier to say “no” to sin! 
3. It changes our perspective; big things get big, small things get small.  Sometimes we get so focused on little things and wrong things that we miss out on the REAL things.  We need our perspective realigned.  Fasting will do that.
4. Fasting releases a Sprit of revelation on our minds.  We need the Spirit to give us understanding as we read the Word and as we even go through life, to know what He’s doing and what He’s saying to us and those around us.  
5. Fasting strengthens our identity in God.  We reaffirm that we belong to Him, He reaffirms that we matter, we bear his name, we are called by His name for His purposes on the Earth.
6. Fasting equips our bodies to experience God.  I don’t think I can say it better, so, here’s a quote from the book:

Our bodies are a vehicle through which we experience God, and what we do with them dynamically affects our spiritual lives. Our capacity to experience intimacy with Him is either enhanced or diminished by our physical actions. This is important to understand. God’s design is brilliant. When righteousness reigns in our physical appetites, our ability to experience Him is enhanced. The opposite is also true. Although we may pursue God hard, if we fill our emotions with trash and let our physical appetites get out of rhythm with the Holy Spirit, our ability to experience His life will be quenched.  Well, if those few rewards (and yes, there are surely others) don’t excite you, you’re clearly not awake. 🙂  Let’s look forward to meeting the Lord in a fun and powerful way in 2010!

The dates of our “504” (21 days = 504 hours) are January 10th-31st.  

-Jessie