Jentezen Franklin: God’s Coming to Dinner?
If we are not careful we can allow life to get us into the same old ruts and routines without even realizing it. Our relationship with the Lord can suffer the same fate. When we don’t do what it takes to stay sharp and sensitive to the Holy Spirit, our praise, worship, offerings and even preaching can become heartless routines to God.
As a believer, you can pray, read your Bible and go to church week after week and still be losing sight of your first love. It is not that you don’t love the Lord, but the busyness of life can bring you to the point of losing your freshness, your enthusiasm, and your sensitivity to His Spirit and what pleases Him.
My mother was an excellent cook. But if she had gotten so caught up in other things that all she ever put on the table for us was meatloaf every night of the week, I don’t think it would have taken long for me to find somewhere else to eat. The disappointing sound of comments like, “Aw, Mom, meatloaf again?” would have been common at my house.
What if God were hungry and all we have to feed Him is our same dull religious routines day after day? Just like ending up with meatloaf on the table every night, I can just hear our heavenly Father sighing, “Religion again?”
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Out of the Religion Box
That’s why God said to Israel, “If I were hungry, I would not tell you; for the world is Mine, and all its fullness,” (Ps. 50:12). God owns the cattle on a thousand hills. He does not need our routines. He does not savor heartless activity. He does not want our “leftovers” when He can get “fed” elsewhere. True worship that comes from our hearts feeds Him and satisfies Him; it is something He desires—and deserves. Our religiosity of going through the motions once a week does not please Him as much as our obedience to His Word.
The reason this subject fits in a book about fasting is simple: fasting is a constant means of renewing yourself spiritually. The discipline of fasting breaks you out of the world’s routine. It is a form of worship—offering your body to God as a living sacrifice is holy and pleasing to God (Rom. 12:1). The discipline of fasting will humble you, remind you of your dependency on God, and bring you back to your first love. It causes the roots of your relationship with Jesus to go deeper.
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There are dimensions of our glorious King that will never be revealed to the casual, disinterested worshiper. There are walls of intercession that will never be scaled by dispassionate religious service. But when you take steps to break out of the ordinary and worship Him as He deserves, you will begin to see facets of His being you never knew existed. He will begin to share secrets with you about Himself, His plans, His desires for you. When you worship God as He deserves, He is magnified.{eoa}
To learn more about the spiritual impact fasting has on your life, click here!
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