Don’t Miss the Opportunity
Objective
Seize the opportunity to give yourself wholly to God.
Scripture(s)
Joel 2:12, Matthew 6:16-18 {Scripture from New King James Study Bible}
As we continue to take this time for self-evaluation and to draw closer to God, how many opportunities would you guess that you miss on a daily basis to be in God’s presence with your whole heart? Joel 2:12-13 says 12) Now, therefore, says the Lord, Turn to Me with all your heart, With, fasting, with weeping, and with mourning. 13) So, rend your heart, and not your garments; return to the Lord your God, For He is Gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness; and he relents from doing harm (NKJV). As I looked deeper into this Scripture, my study Bible breaks down verse 12 as an opportunity for repentance, remorse, and renewal that was offered to all people. Verse 13 goes on to tell us that God wants us to give our hearts not our garments. The study Bible breaks it down like this, God is not satisfied with outward acts of repentance. Tearing of one’s garments was a customary way of expressing grief or remorse. However, like all outward acts, the tearing of garments could be done without true sorrow or repentance. God required more than mere external words or actions, he wanted a change of heart and sorrow over sin. Furthermore, the Bible Believer’s commentary, by William MacDonald, says, even now, the Lord calls the people to repentance. It is not too late to return to him. But it must be more than outward ritual. Their turning must be with all their heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.
If we place so much emphasis on the things we have going on in our lives, shouldn’t we place even more emphasis on the time that we give back to God? Afterall, this Scripture shows us that he is giving us the opportunity once again to return to him with a whole heart. In order to give your whole heart, something will need to decrease. Priorities will need to shift. What is it that you may need to give up? Is there anything you need to ask forgiveness for, or do you need to forgive someone? Do you need a renewal of mind, body, and spirit? If we are to seize this opportunity, we can’t treat prayer and fasting as just another task that we have to put somewhere in our busy schedules. Your full attention is necessary. If we are going to return to God through prayer and fasting, we need to minimize distractions and set some boundaries.
We all have heard of fasting from food or drink, but what about other things that are pulling your attention away from connecting with the Father? What about Social Media, TV, games on your smart devices and so on. Are you willing to put those things away for a moment to give your undivided attention to the Lord? This is about your personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ not an opportunity to make sure everyone knows that you are fasting and praying. Matthew 6:16-18 says 16) Moreover, when you fast do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 17) But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18) so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly (NKJV).
Our personal alone time with the Father is critical in the totality of our lives. Take your smart device for instance. Depending on how much you are using it throughout the day, eventually it will need to be plugged back into the power source. The more you utilize it without charging it, the faster it will drain. So, the same thing goes for us. We must connect back to our spiritual power source that charges our entire being.
If we place so much emphasis on the things we have going on in our lives, shouldn’t we place even more emphasis on the time that we give back to God? Afterall, this Scripture shows us that he is giving us the opportunity once again to return to him with a whole heart. In order to give your whole heart, something will need to decrease. Priorities will need to shift. What is it that you may need to give up? Is there anything you need to ask forgiveness for, or do you need to forgive someone? Do you need a renewal of mind, body, and spirit? If we are to seize this opportunity, we can’t treat prayer and fasting as just another task that we have to put somewhere in our busy schedules. Your full attention is necessary. If we are going to return to God through prayer and fasting, we need to minimize distractions and set some boundaries.
We all have heard of fasting from food or drink, but what about other things that are pulling your attention away from connecting with the Father? What about Social Media, TV, games on your smart devices and so on. Are you willing to put those things away for a moment to give your undivided attention to the Lord? This is about your personal relationship with God through Jesus Christ not an opportunity to make sure everyone knows that you are fasting and praying. Matthew 6:16-18 says 16) Moreover, when you fast do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 17) But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18) so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly (NKJV).
Our personal alone time with the Father is critical in the totality of our lives. Take your smart device for instance. Depending on how much you are using it throughout the day, eventually it will need to be plugged back into the power source. The more you utilize it without charging it, the faster it will drain. So, the same thing goes for us. We must connect back to our spiritual power source that charges our entire being.
Prayer
Father, with a whole heart, we thank you for giving us yet another opportunity to come to you in prayer. We will be sure to give our full attention with all of our heart and not just a pile of torn garments. We thank you Lord for your kindness. We are thankful that you are Gracious, Merciful, slow to anger, and do not intend harm on us. We now understand the importance of a personal relationship with you as we come to you in our secret place. We are mindful not to be seekers of attention from people when we are fasting and praying else that will be our reward. We thank you for your word which is the spiritual food we survive on. In the name of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior, we pray unto you Father, AMEN!
written by: John C. Jones III
Posted in Too Busy Being Busy