21 Day Fast Day 5

Today is day 5 of our 21 Day Fast, January 12, 2024. I believe God is about to do something amazing! As we’re fasting and praying we must always fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith. It’s easy to get distracted and fall back into old habits or even complacency, but we’re in a new day and we’re seeking the Lord for what he wants to accomplish in us and through us. As we’ve been saying, “Let’s not sell ourselves short.” We need to press on to see what God has in store. There was a scene from The Patriot where the two armies were face to face in the battle field. As the battle was raging, the men began to panic and started running away. A soldier yelled out, “the line is faltering!” Mel Gibson hears that and runs to a soldier carrying the American flag. He takes it from him and begins to wave it back and forth running and loudly shouting, “Hold the line, Hold the line.” While the film is brutal and not for the faint of heart, I found it inspiring as people found that internal courage to fight for their families and their freedom.

We are in a battle. The enemy is real and is doing a number on the foundations of our time-honored rules of law and truths in the Bible and in our society. Many people who want to hide from this fact and act like it will just pass are sadly mistaken. It won’t! God has called us to be the Watchmen on the wall; to be the dispensers of the truth with the light of the Gospel. We can falter on the line if we take our eyes off the call we have. Fasting isn’t easy, but “Hold the Line!” Stick with your fasting plan, unless you feel like you need to do more.

I was just listening to an established prophet who was saying that we shouldn’t be looking for another revival like it was in the past. God has something new and ready to break forth. He brought out a great spiritual nugget from what Jesus told his disciples in Luke’s Gospel. Luke 17:20-21; 28-32 (NIV) 20 Once, having been asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God would come, Jesus replied, "The kingdom of God does not come with your careful observation, 21 nor will people say, 'Here it is,' or 'There it is,' because the kingdom of God is within you." (I skipped 6 verses for space. Read it all in your Bible.) 28 “It was the same in the days of Lot. People were eating and drinking, buying and selling, planting and building. 29 But the day Lot left Sodom, fire and sulfur rained down from heaven and destroyed them all. 30 “It will be just like this on the day the Son of Man is revealed. 31 On that day no one who is on the roof of his house, with his goods inside, should go down to get them. Likewise, no one in the field should go back for anything. 32 Remember Lot's wife! (Lot’s Wife turned back longing for what she had. She didn’t want to embrace the new life God was leading her to. It’s the same for us. Let’s keep pressing ahead.)

Love in Christ,
Pastor Ray
 
(Keep reading these verses. They’ll get inside you and be part of your arsenal.)
 
Deuteronomy 31:6 Be strong and courageous

Proverbs 3:5-6 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding

Psalm 34:6 Taste and see that the Lord is good

Ephesians 6:2   "Honor your father and mother"

Philippians 4:1 I can do everything through him who gives me strength.

Romans 12:2 Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.
 
Philippians 4:6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.