What We Collectively Learn From Fasting

Well, good afternoon again, everyone. It's good to see you. It's certainly a beautiful day. And in a sense, a very wonderful day to be able to have a common goal, a fast day that we've been asked to observe by the leadership of the United Church of God. I want to start out in discussing the whole topic of fasting, or actually what we can learn, not only what we can learn personally and individually, but what we collectively learn by together beseeching God and asking Him for His help. Now, certainly, whenever we fast, we are weaker than usual. I know I usually feel quite a bit weaker in the afternoon, so I'm hoping I don't feel too weak here this afternoon. But it helps us focus on how limited we really are as human beings.

God has created us, placed us here on the earth, given us many, many blessings and in great abundance, as all of us enjoy here. And yet, we're also very limited. We find that we're sick, we get down fairly easily, and we find that, well, whenever we're fasting, that it focuses our attention on how limited we are. And I wanted to begin here in 2 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles 7, because you have an example. You have a number of examples throughout the Bible. Eric mentioned several of them. Daniel is the primary one, at least I think you could say that, from the amount of information that's there. And yet, here in 2 Chronicles, you find that this is at a time when David has put together all of the great abundance of stuff that's needed, all of the materials, the construction materials that would be needed for the temple. And yet, God did not allow him to build the temple. He said, your son Solomon will. And so Solomon built the temple. He did what God had asked him to do. And at the dedication of the temple, you see in chapter 6 a long prayer of Solomon dedicating the temple, asking for God's blessing, asking for his direction, thanking him for such a wonderful place to be able to come and worship God. And it says in chapter 7, as he continues to dedicate the temple, it says in chapter 7 verse 11, Solomon finished the house of the Lord in the king's house, all that he had planned to do in the house of the Lord, and in his own house he successfully accomplished. This is what David had wanted to do, but God didn't permit it. But he did say, Solomon, you should do it. Now, in verse 12, you see God passing on some information to Solomon. It says in verse 12, the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night, and he said to him, I have heard your prayer, and I have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. But then he goes ahead and makes what you might seem to think is maybe a somewhat of a predictive statement. In verse 13, he says, when I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain, and when I command the locust to devour the land, or when I send pestilence among my people, you know, that sounds somewhat dreary. That sounds like, you know, calamity and collapse has come upon the nation. And yet, down a little later, a few verses later, we won't even go through all of those. He just says, if you obey, if you serve me, if you honor me, then I can bless you, but if you don't, then calamity would come. And here he's saying, you know, I'm pretty sure calamity is going to come, knowing the way people are, knowing the way that they don't have a focus, they don't stay focused on God and on His purpose and on His plan. So he said, whenever I send those difficulties on the people, in verse 14 is a verse that we need to consider. He says, if my people who are called by my name, humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will forgive, I will hear from heaven, I will forgive their sins and I will heal their land. See, that particular statement, of course, points out, you know, what God's instruction work. He says, I'd like for you to obey, I want you to obey, but when you don't, you know, there's a calamity that might come. And when that calamity comes, what you need to do is to turn to God. What you need to do is to seek God's face.

He says, I will hear and I will respond. I will react. And I want to just say, you know, as I mentioned, it's a wonderful blessing for us today to be able to draw close together, draw close to God, be able to fast. And I'm not really aware of ever any huge calamity that is, you know, the church is right now facing. I know that there have been times when there have been in the past financial issues or difficulties that we've been trying to address, or even, you know, church major crises as far as a division or something that, you know, was really terrible.

And so those things, you know, they are difficulties for the church. But right now, I don't know of anything particular that the church is facing that you would be considering a crisis. But it is never a wrong time for us to do what verse 14 says, to humble ourselves, to pray to God, to fast, to seek God's help. And I think I see in the writing that Mr. Cubic and Dr. Ward sent to us, you know, they are wanting us to realize that, you know, they see as individuals that have been given responsibility in serving the church, either as the Council of Elders, as Dr. Ward is the very chairman, I guess it is, of the Council of Elders. And then Mr. Cubic is the president of the church. He's in charge of the administration, trying to get the things done that we need to do. We see what the world is like. We see the calamities that are coming.

And if we could just figure out what to do, that would be great. But in a sense, that's kind of relying on ourselves. Instead of beseeching God, and that's what we're doing today, beseeching God to show us what we can do, how we can do better, how we can do even differently, because we're striving to do the mission, to do the job that the church has to do. And we certainly want to accomplish that job in the way that He directs it to be done. And we've driven the pattern, you know, what we do after what we see is in the New Testament, and what we see is in the old, at times as it directly applies to what we're doing, of finishing the work, of doing the job. And yet, you know, we want to know how it is that God wants the work directed. And as I think one of the letters mentioned is a verse there in Samuel about God is able to do His work with many or with few. Now, we would like to be more than we are as far as number, but that's up to God. God's the only one who can change that. He's the only one who can bring or convert or transform human hearts. But how we preach the gospel, how we proclaim the message, how we reach out to others, how we understand even the communication difficulties that Eric was talking about, you know, there's a different kind of language, different communication efforts, different approaches that people seem to have today than what you might think of as what I commonly think. I grew up in the 60s and 70s. You know, it was quite different than what we see today. And certainly how to relate to people with technology items. I don't even know what Snapchat is. I've heard of it, but I wouldn't know what it is. Anyway, I doubt that they really are going to ask me. That's not going to be something I know anything about. But, you know, are there other things that we need to know? Are there other things that we need to, you know, be directed to? And all of us believe, because it's certainly clearly written in the New Testament over and over again, that Jesus Christ is the living head of the Church of God. He's the one that we look to. He's the one that we want to direct the work. He's the one who want to guide. And yet, as we have today, we have an organization that needs guidance. And so we certainly want to beseech God individually, but then collectively, that He would give whatever guidance we need. And I hope to point that out in the sermon today. We also have written that, you know, we want to do have this fast, have this fast day for the entire membership. We want to do that not trying to get something, but trying to give. Now, what was meant by that statement?

Drawing together collectively and fasting, not trying to get, but trying to give. How is it that each of us can achieve that objective?

I think it's good for us to, you know, to look at the examples we have here in the Bible about people who were fasting, who were drawing close to God, who were beseeching God.

They wanted answers. They wanted help. And yet, I think you'll also see, from what I go over today, you know, that people did that in order to get direction. They did that in order to get guidance that is needed in order to give the gospel to the world. See, we want to be able to give.

We want to be able, and there's two different aspects of that, giving the gospel, giving the message. We have a message. It is a message that is unique. It is a message that is outstanding. It is incredibly wonderful. It is absolutely fabulous. It's portrayed throughout the Holy Days and as far as the meaning that they have. But it's a message of a kingdom that most people don't identify with. It's a message of a rulership that's going to come, and that is, in essence, begun at least as we are a part of the Church of God today. But see, each and every one of us need to give ourselves to God.

That's a part of what each and every one of us can do. Fasting is a voluntary act of submission to God, to His work in our lives. You know, it's something that you can say, well, I just go without food and water for 24 hours.

You know, what good does that do me? Well, it may not do any good because in Isaiah 58, we're told the bad type of fast and the good type of fast. And if we're doing a bad type of fast, just going through the motion, just putting in our time, and we may not learn anything, and we may not be closer to God than we were before. But then he talks about the right type of fast, a fast that is acceptable. And he says that's a fast that is being done with your whole heart, a fast where you are looking to see your sins and turn from sins that we identify.

Of course, we've been thinking about that, talking about that during the Days of Unleavened Bread. But our fast today is to give ourselves in service to our great God and to better give the gospel to the world. See, those two things, I think, can be thought of in the category of give. And of course, as you see here in this verse we read about the Israelites being told, whenever, you know, you find yourself in trouble, you know, this is what you need to do.

You need to humble yourself. You need to seek my face. And that's actually exactly what we see Daniel doing. Let's look at Daniel chapter nine again. Eric read through part of this, but he didn't have time to read through the whole thing.

There's a lot here. And yet, I would say, anytime we might fast, we probably would read through Daniel nine and see what we could learn. See what it is that the Word of God shows, or even the reasons why someone might fast.

But here in Daniel chapter nine, and I don't know if Eric mentioned it, but it is obvious from the book of Daniel. If you read through the book of Daniel, you know that Daniel is a captive. Now, even though he had quite a prominent role with Nebuchadnezzar and with others there in Babylon, he and his friends and his people of Judah are there in captivity. Jerusalem has been overthrown. It's been a number of years. And he's trying, actually he's been given favor because of what?

Well, because of God. God gave him favor to be able to explain some dreams and to interpret the dreams, not just to tell him what it was, but to tell him what it meant. And so obviously he had a connection with God that was extraordinary. And yet Daniel was here in Babylon. He was in captivity.

And as we read in the first few verses, he figured out by reading Jeremiah, it's in Jeremiah 25, verse 11 and 29, verse 10, Jeremiah mentions a couple of different places where God had predicted to the people of Judah.

Even before they went into captivity, you're going to be in captivity for 70 years. See, Daniel figured that out by studying the Word of God. But what I want to point out is in connection with us seeking God's face that this was really, this was exactly what Daniel was doing. When he fasted and when he made his prayer and his petition and his thanksgiving even to God, he was doing that with his whole heart. And if we look in chapter 9, verse 17, he says, now therefore God, listen, listen to the prayer of your servant. Please listen to his supplication for your own sake, Lord.

Let your face shine upon your desolated sanctuary. See, what was he saying? He was seeking God's face. He said, let your face shine upon your sanctuary and climb your ear, O God, and hear. Open your eyes and look at our desolation in the city that bears your name. We do not present our supplication before you on the ground of our righteousness. He said, we're, you know, we're out of luck in that category. You know, we're obviously wrong, and we're in captivity, and we're not pleading with you on the ground of our own righteousness, but we're pleading with you on the ground of your great mercy. O Lord, in verse 8-19, I guess it is, O Lord, he says, hear, O Lord, forgive, O Lord, listen and act, O Lord, do not delay for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people bear your name.

See, he was pointing out that, look, I'm not in charge here. I'm simply a captive. You're in charge. You're the one who designated Jerusalem as your capital. You're the one who deals with your people. And he was appealing to seek the face of God. And if we drop down to verse 13, you see Daniel in different things that he said here in this prayer. He says, just as it is written in the law of Moses, this calamity, talking about the fact that they were in captivity, he was a servant in Babylon, it says, just as it is written in the law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us and we failed. We did not entreat the favor of the Lord our God, turning from our sins, our iniquities, and reflecting on his fidelity.

See, he was actually coming to see, well, you know, we're the ones who made the mistake and need to turn around and go the other way. We need to beseech God's face. And that's why I think you see that statement back in 2 Chronicles. And so, I want to cover three different things here that I hope can help us today. And I hope we can apply them not only in our past today, but even in our days ahead, in days that we may fast, even on our own, because it is a wonderful blessing to have enough information here in the Bible to show us the need to fast, to show us the benefit. But in this case, obviously Daniel, and perhaps even some of his friends, maybe others of the people of Judah, maybe they were beseeching God too. But we have Daniel's recorded for us, and I think you'll see that there's a very important reason why that's the case. First of all, I want to just say that fasting involves our personal devotion. It involves not just going through the motion, as I said, that Isaiah 58 does describe, just going through the motion and wondering why God doesn't help us. It involves our heartfelt devotion, and it involves a desire to see ourself and to change our mindset. Now, here in Daniel 9, verse 20, he says, while I was speaking and praying and confessing my sin and the sin of my people, Israel, and presenting my supplication before the Lord my God on behalf of the holy mountain of my God, while I was speaking in prayer, Gabriel answered. You know, that would be incredible. And yet, as we're going to see, there's a lot of information here in Daniel 9 and 10 and 11 and 12 that are really incredible messages that God was giving to be written in the Word of God for our benefit.

And yet, clearly, he says he was confessing his sins but also acknowledging the sins of the people. Now, I think you see that the focus that he had there, he actually mentions this earlier, that, you know, he had sinned, and he understood that, that he had refused to obey, and he was acknowledging that. And yet, the people, as a whole, they were also ignoring God. And so, what he was doing was truly humbling himself. And actually, I want to jump over to chapter 10, because you see in chapter 10, another time looks to be a little bit later. This was a time when Daniel is apparently fasting for 21 days, which is not something that most of us would ever do. And yet, he said he was mourning in verse 2. He had been mourning for three weeks. He had eaten no rich food, no meat or wine, had entered his mouth. I had not annoyed myself at all for three full weeks. This was actually a very crucial thing that he was coming into. And what I want to point out is down in verse 10. Let me just jump down to verse 12. As he was fasting in this way, he was being answered again by God through a messenger, an angel, and it would appear to be Gabriel, who was also answering him in this way. And he said to me in verse 12 of chapter 10, don't be afraid, Daniel. For from the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words have been heard, and I have come because of your words. See, now, as remarkable as that would be, what was it that Gabriel told him he was offering? Well, he says you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God. See, that obviously is one of the reasons why we fast. We fast not just to say we're humble, because often, you know, if you see people saying that they're humble, then you wonder, well, how humble really are they if they have to say they're humble? But it's really a matter of, you know, our outlook, our demeanor, our ability to be you know, our outlook, our demeanor, our action that shows a level of humility that God is seeking. And here in James chapter 4, I just want to focus on, you know, Daniel was looking at himself. He realized the captivity he was in. He understood the extent of the problem. He even came to understand how long we're going to be here, but he said, I still want to humble myself before God. And that, of course, is what all of us can do. That's what we are doing as we humble ourselves before God at this time. So here in James chapter 4, it says in verse 6, James chapter 4, verse 6, God opposes the proud, but he gives grace to the humble.

Submit yourself, therefore, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.

Draw near to God, and he will draw near to you.

Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep. Let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy into dejection. Humble yourself before the Lord, and he will lift you up. See, now that's a directive, of course, to all of us. It's a directive to seek a humility before God, to recognize our limitations, to recognize how much we need God's help. And yet, I know whenever I quote verse 8, which is one that I think we all should memorize, where it says, draw close to God, and God will draw close to you. That, of course, seems to be kind of the gist of what he's saying there. And yet, I often don't remember the rest of that verse, where it says, cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. Lament and mourn and weep. He goes on into the next verse.

See, I think it's important, as we think about humbling ourselves through fasting, coming to see our sins, coming to see ourselves, coming to recognize our limitations, coming to desire to be used by God. We want to draw close to God, and we do that. Fasting is one way we do that. And he says he will draw close to us, but he also continues to say, cleanse your hands and purify your heart. Now, that talks about transformation. That talks about a willingness to change. That talks about, and maybe fasting is a good time to remember, or to recognize the limitations that we have, that we are simply dirt. We are simply the dust of the ground. You know, we find here in Romans chapter 9 a statement that I thought we ought to tie together with what we read here in James. Romans chapter 9, we went over Romans here in the last several months, but we didn't focus on anything in too detailed a way. It was mostly an overview of Romans, but in Romans chapter 9 you see an example of the potter and the clay.

And so we fit the category of the clay. And here in Romans 9, he makes a point, verse 20, Who indeed are you, O human? Who indeed are you to argue with God? Will what is molded?

Say to the one who molds that, Why have you made me this? As the potter, no right over the clay to make out of the same lump one object for special use and another for ordinary use?

You know, Paul was obviously talking about the grand scheme of things and the, you know, biblical understanding of the people of Israel and the gentile world. And, you know, that was a very expansive discussion he was going to have. But see, he clearly just brings up the idea of the potter and the clay. And I know whenever I think about that, and I've seen a one at least that I recall, a potter who was spinning a clay, a piece of clay, a lump of clay on a wheel, and then making it into some type of vase. Or maybe it was a bowl or a pitcher. And I often thought, well, you know, they can make it into whatever he wants. He can make a short vase, he can make a tall vase, he can make a fancy vase. And yet I also got to thinking, well, since we're understanding our limitations and since we're really needing God to give us guidance and give us insight, he tells us there in James what we read about draw close to God and God will draw close to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts. See, is God not able to direct as he's the potter and we're the clay, is he's not able to direct what the work of our hands is? And is he not able to purify our hearts if we are really pursuing that from him?

I think he's very able to do that. I don't know that I'd thought about the need to purify my heart and to cleanse my hands or to direct what work I do with my hands. That's kind of the reference used. And yet that's exactly what I think we need to be reminded as we fast before God. We do this in a collective way. But first of all, we understand that fasting is a personal and has got to be a heartfelt involvement. And we have got to want God to cleanse our hearts and to clear or direct our hands. Now the second thing I want to mention is this goes back to what we see in Daniel 9.

Daniel was receiving some incredible information. We have to say in Daniel 9, when you read through the entirety of this chapter, he is beseeching God. He's appealing for help. He's wanting to know what to do. He's wanting understanding. He's wanting to be guided. And God sends a messenger to give him that information. But what I want to point out here is in verse 21, he says while I was speaking, Gabriel was sent, whom I have seen before in a vision, and he came to me in a swift light at the time of the evening sacrifice. And he came and he said to me, Daniel, I've come out to give you something.

The reason why I've come from the throne of God is to give you, I think the King James says, skill.

Other translations say wisdom and understanding. At the beginning of your supplication, a word went out and I've come to declare it for you are greatly beloved. And so then he was going to explain to him a vision of the 70 weeks, which is actually going to be a prediction of when Jesus would come to the earth, of when he would be sent as the atonement for our sins and the sacrifice that would take away the sins of the world. That was a pretty important message. And yet what I want to focus on is simply what Gabriel said was, I have come to give you wisdom and understanding. See, clearly God knew what he needed. Daniel was asking for help and God was able to provide it. He was able to provide wisdom or skill and understanding. Now I want us to go back to James chapter 3 because James chapter 3 also has a section on wisdom. And it's very clear, it's very clear whenever you read this section that you know there are two types of wisdom, or at least two types of wisdom. I think we probably could add some other. But here in James chapter 3, it says in verse 13, who is wise in understanding among you? Show by your good works or by your good life that your works are done with gentleness, born of wisdom. And so he's pointing out if we want to be wise, if we want to act wise, then we're going to have to project that in our actions. But he says in verse 14, he says, if you have bitter envy and selfish ambition in your heart, don't be boastful and false to the truth. Such wisdom doesn't come from above, but it is simply earthly. It is unspiritual. It is devilish.

For whether it is envy and selfish ambition, there will also be disorder and wickedness of every kind. So here he describes a wisdom that he says is earthly wisdom that just comes from whatever man happens to think, whatever a man might come up with. Basically, you know, what is described here is envy and strife, selfishness and anger. And yet, he says that's not the wisdom that comes from God. But he goes on in verse 17, the wisdom from above is first pure and then peaceable and gentle and willing to yield and full of mercy and good fruit without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy. And a harvest of righteousness is sown in peace for those who make peace. He says the wisdom from above projects in quite a different way. It produces the peace of God. It is wisdom that man does not have on his own.

See, whenever we read and we've had this quoted, so I won't go to it right now, we've had that written in several of our letters, you know, that man's ways and God's ways are quite different. He says, my thoughts, my ways are not man's ways. And so you need to seek God's ways. And of course, that's what, you know, the wisdom that Gabriel was giving to Daniel, that was God's. That was from God. That was direction from God. That was an understanding of maybe something that was going to be done several hundred years from then. And Daniel was, of course, not going to be alive at the time, but he was going to write it down and it would be in the Bible for us. It would be a part of the biblical record. And yet wisdom from above is what Daniel needed.

See, he didn't need his own wisdom. He couldn't figure out what I need to do. I need to have God's help. And see, that's the same thing, not only with us personally, but it's the same thing with the Church. See, we live in a time that may be unprecedented. We have angry nations all over the globe. We have a Middle Eastern area that is ablaze.

We have conflict we have even here in this country. Half the people who hate the other half of the people. That's basically the way that society is right now. And yet, what we need is to have wisdom from God. What the Church needs is wisdom from God to know how to do His work, because His work has to be done. His work of proclaiming the Gospel of the Kingdom and proclaiming Jesus Christ as the King of the Kingdom, which is our mission. It is our job. Without that job, you know, we're just playing church. Without doing the work that God has given us to do, then we're just coming to church. And we may learn something about the Bible, and we may happily go on our way. But we need to be engaged in the work that God is doing. And we certainly need to be asking that God will direct, that He will give understanding. As I mentioned, you know, the organization, the corporate organization of the United Church of God uses a council of elders, elders selected to, in essence, serve and lead in that way. But are they, you know, do they know everything? No. They know a good amount. But they know, they know what God will help them understand. And others of the elders and others of the membership will be given blessing and guidance from God if we are seeking it. But certainly, the church needs to know. You know, we try to proclaim the gospel to the best of our ability, whether it's through the television program or on the internet and through many different outlets there, whether it's in the magazine, whether it's through all kinds of booklets. We have more information available than anybody could ever want to know. But right now, it doesn't, it seems like Satan is doing a great job of distracting people. Distracting people into all kinds of conspiracies and confusion and things that are only going to keep them sidelined from an understanding of the real plan of God. And so we want to know how to do our job better. You know, that's actually been something that I know you saw written in one of the letters that we were sent. We need to know what we can do better and maybe even what we can do differently to be able to do the job better that God wants done. And so, as Daniel was given wisdom, we want to seek that wisdom from God that God will grant an understanding to the church and to the leaders of the church to be able to know, you know, in essence, as we go to an annual meeting, you know, we often are going through, you know, some necessary items that have to be done just to function. And then there's sometimes other things that we're having to discuss about, you know, what can we do? Where can we go? How can we reach out? Those need to be inspired. Now, they need to be better than what I have, you know, just on top of my head. That's something that we're seeking God would grant us wisdom. And also understanding. Let's go back to Daniel. And I want to point out something to you here in Daniel chapter 10. Here in Daniel 10, I mentioned this to you earlier that this was a little bit of a later time. And Daniel was, again, beseeching God and he was fasting before God. And again, Gabriel was sent. But it says in verse 12, he said to me, don't fear Daniel, for from the first day that you have set your mind to gain understanding. See, that was what in this case Gabriel said, not only wisdom and understanding, but you set your mind to gain understanding. You set your mind to know what it is that God wants done. And he says your words were heard and I've come because of your words. He says, I was delayed.

And yet he goes on to say in verse 13, the prince of the kingdom of Persia opposed me 21 days. And so that's why he was saying he was delayed. So Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me. So in this case, Michael, another one of the archangels, as well as Gabriel, he came to help me and left him there with the prince of the kingdom of Persia. And I have come to help you understand what is to happen to your people at the end of days. He says there is a further vision for those days. See, the information that Daniel was being given, the information that was from God through this angelic messenger, was a message about what was going to happen in human history in the hundreds of years following this and then all the way down to the end of the age.

You know, we believe that we live at a time that would be considered the end of the age. We live at a time that has all of the descriptors to show that we're at the time of the end of the age. But here, Daniel is being told that when you set your mind to gain understanding and humble yourself before God, then God would provide help to understand what will happen in the end of the days. See, and what we read in chapter 11 is a long prophecy, I guess the longest prophecy in the Bible, about many different details of kingdoms of rise and fall and things that would happen. And yet, ultimately, it describes a king of the north and a king of the south, and in a sense, a final conclusion that we read about here in chapter 12. It says, at that time, Michael, the great prince, the protector of your people, shall rise, and there shall be a time of anguish such as never occurred since nations first came into existence. But at that time, your people shall be delivered, everyone who is found written in the book.

Now, we can read that, and I can read that, and yet, I kind of understand or see what that is pointing out that God is able to protect his people. He is able to give us his oversight, his protection, and yet, how is he going to do that? I think we'd all like to know. I'd like to know. I'm pretty sure people at a home office would like to know, how is God going to do that? And, if we drop down to verse 3, it says, those who are wise will shine like the brightness of the sky, and those who lead many to righteousness like the stars forever and ever. But you, Daniel, keep these words secret, and the book sealed until the time of the end. And so, even though Daniel was going to write this down, and Daniel was even going to admit on over in verse 8 of chapter 12, he says, I heard, but I didn't understand it. And I said, my Lord, what is going to be the outcome of these things? And he says, Go your way, Daniel, for the words are to remain secret and sealed until the times of the end.

Now, who knows what the end times are going to be like better than God?

Who knows what he's going to want done? Who knows what he's going to be doing with his people? How he's going to protect? How he's going to work with those people? See, I know that we can read and see that, well, that protection will be there, but we don't know exactly how God is going to do that. So I think it's good for us to consider that we should certainly desire wisdom from God, wisdom from above, and desire understanding, and certainly that the church will have understanding regarding how do we do the work? How do we complete the job? Because we know that's what Jesus said. He says, my food is to do not only the work of God, but to finish that work. He wanted to complete what his task was while he was here on earth, and yet we want to do the same thing. The last thing that I'll mention is not only is it a personal devotion for us whenever we are fasting, but we're seeking wisdom and understanding. And finally, fasting helps us see more clearly the spiritual battle that we are in. See, Jesus understood that quite clearly in Matthew 4 and Luke 4. You can read about his temptation by the devil, and yet he was fasting at that time as he faced the opposition, the evil opposition was there. But what Paul tells us in Ephesians 6, what Paul tells us is that we need to be perceptive. We need to have spiritual vision. And here in Ephesians 6, in verse 10, he says, finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power.

Put on the whole armor of God so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. And so here, this whole section, as I think we've often read, talks about the armor of God. It talks about the helmet of salvation and the breastplate of righteousness and the belt of truth and the shield of faith and having our feet involved in preaching the gospel of peace. And yet, what does it say in verse 12? It says, our struggle is not against flesh and blood.

It's not against enemies of flesh and blood, but against the rulers and authorities and cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in heavenly places.

Our battle is against Satan's insidious attacks, his infection of the society, his promotion of sin, and of course, maybe even our involvement with self.

Those are things that we are on guard against, and yet, Satanron is the author of that, and it says he's like a roaring lion going about seeking whom he may devour. We don't want to be on the edge. We don't want to be on the edge of the flock, easily picked off, easily out of connection with the shepherd. We want to be seeing our spiritual battle very clearly. And finally, if we back up to chapter 5, we certainly want not only individually, but collectively as a church, we want to know what God wants us to do. We want to know what work needs yet to be done. Where do we do that? Is it right here? Is it somewhere else? Is it some other part of the globe? We have people in different parts of the world, around the world, actually, in many places. And yet, we want to know what the will of God is. And so he says in verse 15 of chapter 5, verse 15, he says, Be careful how you live, not as unwise people, but as wise.

Making the most of the time or redeeming the time because the days are evil. Don't be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. See, this is what Gabriel said he was offering Daniel. I'm giving you wisdom. I'm giving you understanding. From the time that you set your mind to seek understanding, he was given incredible insight into what God wanted him to write down at that time, but what would extend even to the end of time or the end of the age here at the end of time for us. And so here he says, Be wise. Don't be foolish, but understand what the will of the Lord is. Don't get drunk with wine, which is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit singing hymns and songs, making melody, giving thanks to God, the Father of all times, and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. See, that is, in a sense, the direction that God gives us. That he wants us to be motivated. He wants us to be uplifted. He wants us to be encouraged. He wants us to be excited about the spiritual battle that he has drawn us into, and that we, with his help, can be victorious.

Like I said, we were asked to pray as far as the Church is concerned. You know, what can we do better? What can we do differently? And we need to pray that, because we need God's help as never before. You know, we may be approaching a time that you would say is the time of the ends. The time of the end that is going to be far different than what we've gone through over the last 20 or 30 or 40 years. In essence, things have been somewhat calm over the last 40, 50 years, and yet that may not be the case here in the future, and so we need to be prepared. I want us to close here with what it says in Isaiah chapter 58. We had this chapter referenced in several couple of the letters that we've been sent recently, and we should have a at least a growing understanding of what this chapter is about, because, as I said earlier, it talks about the fast that was really considered ineffective, and it's described in the first five or six verses. Five verses, I guess it is, and it describes a fast where people just go through the motion, and they're not really involved, and they're not really. Their hearts are not involved, and God just simply says that I'm not interested in that kind of fast. But then he says in verse eight, or excuse me, verse six, is not this the fast that I choose?

One to where you loose the bonds of injustice and undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, to break every yoke. Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, to bring the homeless poor into your house when you see the naked to cover them, and not to hide yourself from your own kin? See, here he describes several things that are focused on in a proper fast that God accepts showing love for other people, focusing on the needs of other people. And actually, from the standpoint of the church, we can read in Matthew 25 how that feeding the poor, clothing those who need that, that can be done individually. That is something that's good for us to do, but we need also to give them the spiritual nourishment that the gospel provides. We need to make that available. He says in verse, the latter part of verse 9, if you point the yoke, if you remove the yoke from among you, the pointing of the finger, the speaking of evil, if you offer your food to the hungry and satisfy the needs of the afflicted, he says that is the type of effect that God wants on his people. And then he says what he'll do. He says if we approach God, and see the fact is God does know our hearts. Back in 2 Chronicles 6, maybe we could look at that. 2 Chronicles chapter 6. This is actually during Solomon's prayer of dedication.

He says in verse 36, if you, if we sin against you, or if they sin against you, if there's no one who does not, for there is no one who does not sin, and you are angry with them, you take them in as an enemy so that they're carried away captive. And then in verse 37, they come to their senses and repent. See, this is what he's describing. But what I want to point out is, down in verse 39, he says, then hear from heaven, hear from your dwelling place their prayers and their pleas, maintain their cause, and forgive your people who have sinned against you. Because, you know, God knows what's in our hearts. He knows what it is that we are struggling with. And maybe I was thinking, I actually wanted to point that out, but if we jump back up then to verse 30. May you hear from heaven your dwelling place and forgive and render to all whose heart you know according to their ways, for only you know the human heart. That was what I was trying to reference and was a little below it. But, see, that's what God knows about us. And if we have the type of heartfelt repentance, the heartfelt fasting, that God will hear and he will answer. And he says here in Isaiah 58 in verse 8, then your light will break forth like a dawn. This is what we're seeking. This is what we'd like to see from the standpoint of the church. This is what each of us need individually. Your light shall break forth like dawn. Your healing shall spring up quickly. Your vindicator will go before you. The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. Then you will call and the Lord will answer. You will call for help and he will say, here I am. And in verse 11, the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your needs in parched places and make your bones strong. And you shall be like a water garden, like a spring of water whose waters never fail. See, that's where God points out that, you know, the fasting that I'm wanting is one that is heartfelt, one that is sincere, one that is engaged and involved with his work.

And so if we seek God in that way, then we can ask in verse 11 that God will guide us continually. We need to seek his face. We need to set our mind to gain understanding. But we need to seek his face and we need to ask that God will give direction to us as a church, because we need that. We need not just what people can think of, but we need more so what God wants done. And as we do that, you know, then we can fulfill a mission. We can fulfill the commission that the church has of proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom of God, and then hopefully very, very soon Jesus Christ can return to the earth.