Monday, September 11, 2017 Fasting Facilitates Transformation (The Discipline of Fasting, Part 4) (Inspired by Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster)
Monday, September 11, 2017
Fasting Facilitates Transformation (The Discipline of Fasting, Part 4)
(Inspired by Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster)
Scripture:
Psalm 69:10
...I humbled my soul with fasting….
Devotional:
In my time of study today, I loved the passage on personal transformation that Pastor Foster shared. As I studied the Scripture he suggested, I was moved deeply at the parallels to the struggles many of us with children with strong wills experience. Psalm 69 takes us to the place of David’s great struggles with his enemies. His deep despair at times mimics the cries of mamas and dads I get the pleasure of walking with through this challenging journey. I have included the full Psalm at the end of the devotional today, and I strongly encourage each of you to read it, and turn it into a prayer that applies to your own challenging situation.
The beautiful thing about David’s life was his vulnerable heart to cry out to God with all his stuff. He was not afraid to be raw, open, real and ugly with God. There have been times when I have inwardly cringed when I read these agonizing words, feeling that surely there must be some kind of consequence for being so confrontational in his conversations with the Lord about his enemies. While parenting our strong willed children most of the time isn’t the same as being pursued for our lives by bloodthirsty armies as David was, the truth is that there are those times when it is very distressing to walk through some of the painful stages. We worry, struggle, wrestle with children and with God over the hurts we experience with our children or resistant spouses in the difficult, God given task of parenting them. Friends, God wants to transform us from the inside out and equip us for this journey. He is not going to force us to come to Him with our stuff….but he certainly CAN TAKE IT. He can handle the real, ugly, raw emotions and hurt, frustration, anger, and resentment we struggle with. He can handle my unrealistic expectations about parenting, “wifing,” and “adulting.” He can make me new inside – if I will give it to Him.
“When I humbled my soul with fasting.” Fasting in this light is the means to transformation, to opening up my heart and allowing God His way in the secret, murky, wounded and festering areas of my heart so that I can receive from Him the ministry needed to be transformed into the woman of God I so long to be. In His presence, humble and bowed before Him, my chains break off and I am released from their bonds. He is faithful, friends. He is just and desires our wholeness more than we do.
Prayer:
Thanksgiving:
Father, I am continually amazed at the beauty and power of Your Word! Thank You that You have blessed us in this day with Your real, amazing, truth-giving Word so that we can be transformed into Your image! You are amazing, God, and You have such good plans for us all.
Confession:
I give my heart to You today. I confess (name an area of struggle or sin that is holding you back. I take time to be truly vulnerable here. My area today: Lord, I confess a desire to control my circumstances, and the tendency to try to control my family to make my circumstances line up. I ask that You will remove this from me, and heal it. I ask that You will help me to also confess and ask forgiveness of my family so that we can move forward, and that they would feel they have permission to let me know when this is hurting them. Help me to manage our home and schedule Your way. Inspire me to be better and create in me a flow that is pleasing to You and blesses them.)
Supplication:
God, I ask that You will help me as I fast to become more like You. Transform me inwardly so that I can navigate this world and fulfil the call You have on my life in Your time and by Your power. (Bring personal needs to the Lord at this time. Mine: God, I ask that You will heal my body and help me to be able to manage the tasks of our home as I am healing. Help me to slow down and not keep pushing too hard so that my body has a chance to heal. Help my children to be patient while I am recovering. This week, my daughter is hitting a growth spurt and with it is a fresh round of pushing boundaries. Tantrums are a struggle again and I am so tired! Help me not to lose patience as I carry out discipline with her in a Godly way.)
Intercession:
God, my children, my home, and my family are yours. I lift each person in my family to You today. It is in this place of prayer that You cause real change. I thank You that You give supports, encouragement, strategies, and ideas for how to handle my children and to be the best parent I can be, but I recognize that those strategies only work under Your influence and power. Lead and guide our home in what is needed. I lift up (take time to name each child individually. Pray for specific needs, struggles, and sin. Ours today: Chloe is throwing tantrums again. Please work in her heart to calm her as she walks through this growth spurt. Comfort her at the deepest level of anxiety that is causing these outbursts. Christian is starting to inappropriately use his hands and feet to get his way because of his inability to speak. Help him to use his functional communication instead of his body. Help us to nip this in the bud so that it does not escalate to violent tendencies.) (Journal needs, progress, and victories.)
Optional:
Pray through Psalm 69 (below), applying it to your situation.
Thanksgiving and Consecration:
Lord I give this time and these needs to You. Help me to leave control in Your hands. I bless You, Lord, and thank You for working in our home!
In Jesus’ Name I pray, amen.
Psalm 69
1 Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.
2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.
3 I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.
4More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; many are those who would destroy me, my enemies who accuse me falsely. What I did not steal must I now restore?
5 O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.
6 Do not let those who hope in you be put to shame because of me, O Lord God of hosts; do not let those who seek you be dishonored because of me, O God of Israel.
7 It is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that shame has covered my face.
8 I have become a stranger to my kindred, an alien to my mother's children.
9 It is zeal for your house that has consumed me; the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.
10 When I humbled my soul with fasting, they insulted me for doing so.
11 When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.
12 I am the subject of gossip for those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me.
13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me. With your faithful help
14 rescue me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters.
15 Do not let the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the Pit close its mouth over me.
16 Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
17 Do not hide your face from your servant, for I am in distress—make haste to answer me.
18 Draw near to me, redeem me, set me free because of my enemies.
19You know the insults I receive, and my shame and dishonor; my foes are all known to you.
20 Insults have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.
21 They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
22 Let their table be a trap for them, a snare for their allies.
23 Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually.
24 Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them.
25 May their camp be a desolation; let no one live in their tents.
26 For they persecute those whom you have struck down, and those whom you have wounded, they attack still more.
27 Add guilt to their guilt; may they have no acquittal from you.
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.
29 But I am lowly and in pain; let your salvation, O God, protect me.
30 I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31 This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.
32 Let the oppressed see it and be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
33 For the Lord hears the needy, and does not despise his own that are in bonds.
34 Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them.
35 For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah; and his servants shall live there and possess it;
36 the children of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall live in it.
Fasting Facilitates Transformation (The Discipline of Fasting, Part 4)
(Inspired by Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster)
Scripture:
Psalm 69:10
...I humbled my soul with fasting….
Devotional:
In my time of study today, I loved the passage on personal transformation that Pastor Foster shared. As I studied the Scripture he suggested, I was moved deeply at the parallels to the struggles many of us with children with strong wills experience. Psalm 69 takes us to the place of David’s great struggles with his enemies. His deep despair at times mimics the cries of mamas and dads I get the pleasure of walking with through this challenging journey. I have included the full Psalm at the end of the devotional today, and I strongly encourage each of you to read it, and turn it into a prayer that applies to your own challenging situation.
The beautiful thing about David’s life was his vulnerable heart to cry out to God with all his stuff. He was not afraid to be raw, open, real and ugly with God. There have been times when I have inwardly cringed when I read these agonizing words, feeling that surely there must be some kind of consequence for being so confrontational in his conversations with the Lord about his enemies. While parenting our strong willed children most of the time isn’t the same as being pursued for our lives by bloodthirsty armies as David was, the truth is that there are those times when it is very distressing to walk through some of the painful stages. We worry, struggle, wrestle with children and with God over the hurts we experience with our children or resistant spouses in the difficult, God given task of parenting them. Friends, God wants to transform us from the inside out and equip us for this journey. He is not going to force us to come to Him with our stuff….but he certainly CAN TAKE IT. He can handle the real, ugly, raw emotions and hurt, frustration, anger, and resentment we struggle with. He can handle my unrealistic expectations about parenting, “wifing,” and “adulting.” He can make me new inside – if I will give it to Him.
“When I humbled my soul with fasting.” Fasting in this light is the means to transformation, to opening up my heart and allowing God His way in the secret, murky, wounded and festering areas of my heart so that I can receive from Him the ministry needed to be transformed into the woman of God I so long to be. In His presence, humble and bowed before Him, my chains break off and I am released from their bonds. He is faithful, friends. He is just and desires our wholeness more than we do.
Prayer:
Thanksgiving:
Father, I am continually amazed at the beauty and power of Your Word! Thank You that You have blessed us in this day with Your real, amazing, truth-giving Word so that we can be transformed into Your image! You are amazing, God, and You have such good plans for us all.
Confession:
I give my heart to You today. I confess (name an area of struggle or sin that is holding you back. I take time to be truly vulnerable here. My area today: Lord, I confess a desire to control my circumstances, and the tendency to try to control my family to make my circumstances line up. I ask that You will remove this from me, and heal it. I ask that You will help me to also confess and ask forgiveness of my family so that we can move forward, and that they would feel they have permission to let me know when this is hurting them. Help me to manage our home and schedule Your way. Inspire me to be better and create in me a flow that is pleasing to You and blesses them.)
Supplication:
God, I ask that You will help me as I fast to become more like You. Transform me inwardly so that I can navigate this world and fulfil the call You have on my life in Your time and by Your power. (Bring personal needs to the Lord at this time. Mine: God, I ask that You will heal my body and help me to be able to manage the tasks of our home as I am healing. Help me to slow down and not keep pushing too hard so that my body has a chance to heal. Help my children to be patient while I am recovering. This week, my daughter is hitting a growth spurt and with it is a fresh round of pushing boundaries. Tantrums are a struggle again and I am so tired! Help me not to lose patience as I carry out discipline with her in a Godly way.)
Intercession:
God, my children, my home, and my family are yours. I lift each person in my family to You today. It is in this place of prayer that You cause real change. I thank You that You give supports, encouragement, strategies, and ideas for how to handle my children and to be the best parent I can be, but I recognize that those strategies only work under Your influence and power. Lead and guide our home in what is needed. I lift up (take time to name each child individually. Pray for specific needs, struggles, and sin. Ours today: Chloe is throwing tantrums again. Please work in her heart to calm her as she walks through this growth spurt. Comfort her at the deepest level of anxiety that is causing these outbursts. Christian is starting to inappropriately use his hands and feet to get his way because of his inability to speak. Help him to use his functional communication instead of his body. Help us to nip this in the bud so that it does not escalate to violent tendencies.) (Journal needs, progress, and victories.)
Optional:
Pray through Psalm 69 (below), applying it to your situation.
Thanksgiving and Consecration:
Lord I give this time and these needs to You. Help me to leave control in Your hands. I bless You, Lord, and thank You for working in our home!
In Jesus’ Name I pray, amen.
Psalm 69
1 Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my neck.
2 I sink in deep mire, where there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters, and the flood sweeps over me.
3 I am weary with my crying; my throat is parched. My eyes grow dim with waiting for my God.
4More in number than the hairs of my head are those who hate me without cause; many are those who would destroy me, my enemies who accuse me falsely. What I did not steal must I now restore?
5 O God, you know my folly; the wrongs I have done are not hidden from you.
6 Do not let those who hope in you be put to shame because of me, O Lord God of hosts; do not let those who seek you be dishonored because of me, O God of Israel.
7 It is for your sake that I have borne reproach, that shame has covered my face.
8 I have become a stranger to my kindred, an alien to my mother's children.
9 It is zeal for your house that has consumed me; the insults of those who insult you have fallen on me.
10 When I humbled my soul with fasting, they insulted me for doing so.
11 When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them.
12 I am the subject of gossip for those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me.
13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love, answer me. With your faithful help
14 rescue me from sinking in the mire; let me be delivered from my enemies and from the deep waters.
15 Do not let the flood sweep over me, or the deep swallow me up, or the Pit close its mouth over me.
16 Answer me, O Lord, for your steadfast love is good; according to your abundant mercy, turn to me.
17 Do not hide your face from your servant, for I am in distress—make haste to answer me.
18 Draw near to me, redeem me, set me free because of my enemies.
19You know the insults I receive, and my shame and dishonor; my foes are all known to you.
20 Insults have broken my heart, so that I am in despair. I looked for pity, but there was none; and for comforters, but I found none.
21 They gave me poison for food, and for my thirst they gave me vinegar to drink.
22 Let their table be a trap for them, a snare for their allies.
23 Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and make their loins tremble continually.
24 Pour out your indignation upon them, and let your burning anger overtake them.
25 May their camp be a desolation; let no one live in their tents.
26 For they persecute those whom you have struck down, and those whom you have wounded, they attack still more.
27 Add guilt to their guilt; may they have no acquittal from you.
28 Let them be blotted out of the book of the living; let them not be enrolled among the righteous.
29 But I am lowly and in pain; let your salvation, O God, protect me.
30 I will praise the name of God with a song; I will magnify him with thanksgiving.
31 This will please the Lord more than an ox or a bull with horns and hoofs.
32 Let the oppressed see it and be glad; you who seek God, let your hearts revive.
33 For the Lord hears the needy, and does not despise his own that are in bonds.
34 Let heaven and earth praise him, the seas and everything that moves in them.
35 For God will save Zion and rebuild the cities of Judah; and his servants shall live there and possess it;
36 the children of his servants shall inherit it, and those who love his name shall live in it.
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