“The Lord’s Fast” - Pastor Scotty

Alrighty, if you got a Bible, I'm gonna talk about fasting. Isn't that a

glorious thought, fasting? Us Americans like food. But, Beins, we kind of called

for a fast and obviously Steve mentioning us being on life support. You

know, as I look back and you know just hearing all the all the stuff, you know,

you hear from both camps, Republicans, Democrats. But I do have to say that for

me, what I've seen in the last four years from this administration is the most

pathetic thing that I've ever, most pathetic style or place of leadership

that I've ever seen in my life. I mean it is pathetic. The two of the biggest

things are the withdrawal from Afghanistan. It turned my stomach. I mean

to leave all of our billions of dollars worth of equipment over there and just

pull out like it was absolutely sickening. And then to

pull back the restrictions on our borders and to let people flood in. It's

almost like it was a declaration of war on America. What other country would let

that happen? Nobody would do that. In fact, my daughter and I were talking the other

day and because of what we see Israel going through, I said, "What would happen

if Israel pulled back and just let anybody come across the border they

wanted to? How long would they be a nation?" And Cheyenne said, yeah, Cheyenne said,

"They wouldn't last a day." And so I think they should be held

personally accountable for the deaths of Americans that were murdered at the

hands of people who came into this country illegally. So yes, we're in

trouble. Yes, we need to fast and pray as a country. Now individually, I'm

cool. I mean I have to agree with the Apostle Paul when he says,

"Whatever state I find myself in, I need to learn to therefore be content."

If I'm in the deep, possibly gonna die from a shark attack or if I'm

gone broke or if I'm having, you know, if my family is

killed or whatever, no matter what state I find myself in, in my relationship with

God, I'm comfortable with that. But what I'm not comfortable with is the

the future that I'm gonna leave my grandkids. And I'm just like, "Oh, Lord." So we gotta fast,

we gotta pray, we gotta vote. And if that fails, I'll pick up that subject later.

I've seen this little voter guide. I gotta credit Dave Kirby for posting it.

And because, listen folks, we need to vote. It was shocking to me the

amount of Christians that don't vote. But this says, "How I will

vote in November." Some of you saw this. It's pretty good. It says, "I will vote for

the most pro-life candidate because God hates the shedding of innocent blood."

Right? He also says, "The nation that does that will not go unpunished." Proverbs 6

17. "I will vote for the most pro-Israel candidate because God blesses those who

bless Israel and curses those who don't." That's a good idea, right? Genesis 12 3.

"I will vote the most pro-debt reduction candidate because the borrower is servant

to the lender." Proverbs 22 7. "I will vote for the most pro-work candidate because

God says if a man don't work, he don't eat." Yes. 2 Thessalonians 3 10. "I will

vote for the most pro-marriage candidate," that, may I clarify, man and woman,

"because God is for marriage as defined in Genesis chapter 2 verse 24. I will

Genesis 2:24

vote for the candidate who most closely believes government's purpose is to

reward good and punish evil." Romans 13. "I will vote based as close as I can on

God's Word." 2 Timothy 3 16. So, yes, do we vote for the lesser of two evils? Yes. In

most cases, yes, because the Bible says, "Let God be true in every man a liar," and

that colludes politicians. And that is a true, true saying. But we've called for

this fast thing, and in one of our staff meetings we kind of got to talking

about it, and I thought, you know, that is it's a good idea to maybe just talk

about this. And this passage that I'm going to look at is found in Isaiah

Isaiah 58 · chapter mention

chapter 58, and it talks about fasting and why we should fast. Because it's

really something that the scripture talks about, though we don't see it much

in the law. The only fast that we see in the law is on the Day of Atonement, and

they just were just coming off of that feast there in Israel, and they would

afflict their souls. And so we're just going to kind of jump into this. I

don't know if I'll get through the whole chapter, it's just 14 verses, but we'll

read, we'll start by reading the first five verses. Would you pray with me?

Father, thank you for your Word, and God that it brings clarity to things that

we have questions about, Lord, in our lives and concerning spiritual

things. Lord, I pray that you would, Lord, that you would just take us to a level

maybe that some of us have never been before, and I know, Lord, I need to go

deeper with you, and just pray that you would somehow do that, Lord. Show

me as if Psalm has said, "Search me, O God, and know my heart and see if there be any

wicked way in me, and lead us in the way everlasting." And so I pray that

you would do that as we look at these verses here about fasting, and

what seems to always be coupled with that is prayer. Prayer and fasting,

seeking the face of our God, and realizing, Lord, that this life isn't

about us, but it's about others, and it's about your will for our

lives. And so teach us, Lord, as we look at this, and Lord, we just humbly

ask for the presence of your wonderful Holy Spirit that can show us

marvelous things from your Word. In Jesus' name, amen. And so he says, the

book of Isaiah is...he's a prophet. Shortly before, Israel is taken captive by

Nebuchadnezzar. There in 585 BC, Nebuchadnezzar comes in and begins to

take the known world, a very powerful man, seemed to be a pretty wicked man as you

read through the book of Daniel and get some insight into who he is, and so

he comes in and he takes Israel, and Isaiah gives some serious warnings to

Israel that this is coming, and it's because they refused to heed many of the

warnings of the prophets, and they were worshipping idols, and they were doing

things that God had promised them. If you do this, I'm kicking your hind ends out

of the land, right? You're gonna be spread throughout the whole world, and I'm not

gonna put up with it. And so that's what he did, and so he's kind of

with that in mind as we read this, it says, "Cry aloud, spare not, lift up your

voice like a trumpet, tell my people their transgression and the house of

Jacob their sins, yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways. As a nation,

they did righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They

ask of me the ordinances of justice. They take delight in approaching God. Why have

we fasted, they say, and you have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls and you

take no notice? In fact, in the day of your fast, you find pleasure and

exploit all your labors. Indeed, you fast for strife and debate, to strike with the

fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, to make your voice heard

on earth. It is a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul. It

is to bow—is it to bow down his head like a bull rush and to spread out sackcloth

and ashes? Would you call this a fast?" And so the Lord right off the bat, he's

checking these people, their spiritual condition, right? That they're just

hypocrites. He, it's like he exposes it and Isaiah, he tells Isaiah, "Cry with a

loud voice, spare not, lift up your voice like a trumpet. Tell my people there's

transgression, there's sin. This is what you're doing and it's wrong." Those of you

in the basement playing video games. But, but their sin seems to be gross

hypocrisy, right? They have got hypocrisy down to a science. Now, Jesus talks about

this in Matthew chapter 15, right? In verse 8, he says, "These people draw near

Matthew 15 · chapter mention

me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from

me, and in vain they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men."

Right? So this is, this is really nothing new, but their religiosity, they connected

it to their relationship with God. I have a relationship with God because I go to

church, because I have a dollar bill in my pocket that says, "In God we trust." I

mean, people think that. They think that they're okay with God because of that.

Right? I know people that think they're okay with God because they've never had

a drink in their life. That means I'm right with God. Now, they cheat on their

wives, they commit adultery, but because they've never had a drink of alcohol,

they think they're right with God. That God looks at them and sees this goodness.

Not. And so he's saying here, you know, "Yet they seek me daily." Right? They were into

the daily sacrifices, they were doing the letter of the law, so to speak. You

remember the Apostle Paul? He thought he was all that, and began to persecute the

church. And this is the Pharisees that Jesus is talking about here, and

Matthew. But God first described the appearance of their spiritual life on

the surface. It seemed that God's people loved him and were devoted to him, and

they had the reputation of a nation that did righteousness. They had this

reputation that God had... A lot of the countries, when they had crossed over,

right, the Red Sea, and later, and when they crossed the Jordan, and the

nations had heard the works that God had done in this nation, and many of

them feared. But there was nothing to fear in these guys, because they were so...

They were so wicked, and yet they showed up every Sabbath. And how many people do

that? Right? They go to church, it's just something they check the box. Not really

to really hear anything, maybe hear a cool song, or maybe see a pretty girl. I

don't even know why some people come to church. They'd be maybe better off if

they didn't at all. But he's saying here, he says, "For they seek me daily," verse 2.

Right? Seems to... It seems to, as he goes on, and he says, "And delight to know my ways.

As a nation, they did righteousness and did not forsake the ordinance of their

God. They ask of me ordinances of justice. They take to light in approaching God."

It's almost like, because we know that the hypocrisy is so terrible, it's like

they think that God is their boy. How many people, even Christians I have met,

that think God is their boy? You know what I mean by that, right? That God is

their slave. That God is bound to do what they tell him to do. For me, that's just

like, "Are you serious? This God with the breath of his mouth, he could like turn

you into a little ash heap?" You know? And yet they treat him like he is bound,

right? There's just arrogance in all of it. "And delight to know my

ways as a nation, and did righteousness and did not forsake the ordinances of

their God," or so they thought. They went through the motions, but their hearts... I'm

gonna start preaching here in a minute. Fly off my stool, sorry. This is, you know,

this is expressed also in the first part there of verse 3, where it says, "We have

fasted, they say, and you have not seen. Why have we afflicted our souls? And you

take no notice." What are you doing, God? You're not listening to us! You're supposed to be

doing what we tell you to do! Is that ridiculous? That is ridiculous, but that

is what people think. I know people in church think that. And God is not bound

by us in the slightest, right? God rewards faith, but our faith is in Him. It's not

in us. My faith isn't in my faith. My faith is in Him, right? And so God is

not bound to agree with us. We are bound, listen, to agree with Him, right? We

are bound to agree with Him, not the other way around. And that's the idea

that Isaiah comes at these people, clear back in chapter 1 of Isaiah, where it

says in Isaiah 1 18-20, "Come now and let us reason together, says the Lord,

though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow, and though

they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool. If you are willing and obedient,"

right? To who? To God, right? That's us agreeing. "You shall eat the good of

the land, but if you refuse and rebel, you shall be devoured by the sword, for the

mouth of the Lord has spoken." Right? So I heard this one time that the word

"repent" means to agree with God. Agree with God about yourself. And I hope you're

agreeing with God today, right? Please don't expect Him to agree with you. I

mentioned it, that scripture, right? That "let God be true in every man a liar." So

we need to agree with Him about ourselves. And so the second part there

of verse 3, it says, "In fact, in the day of your..." This is actually God's

rebuttal. "In fact, in the day of your fast, you find pleasure and you exploit

all your labors. Indeed, you fast for strife and debate and to strike

with the fists of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day to make your

voice heard on high. Is it a fast that I have chosen? A day for a man to afflict

his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bull rush and to spread his sackcloth

and ashes? Would you call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord?" God's

sin. Your religious, you know, show is nothing, is absolutely nothing. He really

lets them have it. He says you exploit, right? That means to drive hard or to

overwork. You're driving hard, you're overworking your people, you debate and

argue. You just, all you want to do, you're fasting because all you want to do is

prove somebody wrong. What kind of hard is that? Or they're just wanting to or

actually were punching people in the face with your fists, there's fist

fighting. I haven't been in a fist fight in a long time, it's not that I'm totally

opposed to that. But it's not something I should do on a regular basis or try to

get my way. And he says you have struck with the fists of wickedness.

You put on this religious show by bowing down in sackcloth and ashes and you

think it's acceptable? It's not. It's not acceptable. These are those that Paul

mentions in Titus chapter 1 where he says, "They profess to know God but in works

Titus 1 · chapter mention

they deny Him, being abominable, disobedient and disqualified for every

good work." Hypocrisy on steroids. And who doesn't hate hypocrisy, right? Ought not

we all hate hypocrisy even in our own selves? I don't know about you but my

hypocrisy is nasty. It's ugly. And this is what Isaiah is pointing out to

these people. He said, "This isn't a fast that I require of you. This

isn't a fast that I'm gonna bless and do a work." So and then the Lord tells them a

fast, talks about a fasting, a fast that He's chosen. Now before we get there a

few points I want to make about fasting. We see it throughout Scripture, right? In

fact if you want to look at the so-called heroes of the faith, here's a

list of some of them who fasted. Moses the lawgiver, David the king, Elijah the

prophet, Esther the queen, Daniel the seer, Anna the prophetess, prophetitist. I get

a little tongue-tied on that one. Jesus the son of God and Paul the apostle.

These are people who fasted, right? They went without food. And a fast is usually

without food. That's what it's, people try to say, "Well you can do this or you can

know we're in our world you can fast from electronics." And yes you can do that.

But primarily a fast is talking about starving your flesh from food. That's

what it's talking about. And so there were occasions throughout Scripture for

fasting. Some of those were, they fasted when loved ones died, right? They would

fast when a war or a threat was coming their way. Possible. They would fast when

they sought God's forgiveness, right? We see them there. Ahab fasted and prayed.

Ahab. And God honored it. He repented. He fasted about his sin and he was

forgiven, to be forgiven. Now he went on and did some pretty hideous things after

that. I don't know if we'll see Ahab in heaven or not. His choice of a woman was

not very good. Jezebel. Fasted when loved ones were sick. You remember David fasted

when his little one was sick and then died. And they fasted, and this would

probably apply to us, they fasted when there was impending danger. I think these

elections could pose maybe some impending danger. And so I think it's

an occasion to fast and pray. Not this coming week, the following week. And so

the nature, thirdly, the nature of fasting, right, it means abstaining from all food

but not water except for in a couple cases, right? And that was Elijah and Moses.

Moses fasted for 40 days and 40 nights from food and water. But it had to have

been supernatural, right? God divinely protected those two as they did this, but

Moses received the Word of God. And what does Jesus say? "Man shall not live by

bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God." The very

presence of God kept Moses alive those 40 days and 40 nights. And he kept Elijah

alive because he had to talk to him at the end of the 40 days. And so that we

see partial fasts. How long do you fast? Some people have never fasted. Some

people maybe can't fast because of for health reasons. I don't know. But there

were partial fasts. We see Daniel, right? He purposed in his heart not to

defile himself with the delicacies of the king. So he ate vegetables and

water for ten days. And the overseer there of the eunuch said, "You can't do

that, dude. The king sees your countenance and sees that I haven't

been feeding you right, man. He's gonna kill me." And Daniel said, "Well, let's

test it. We'll do it for ten days. And if we look like we're all drawed down and

all ganted up, right, then whatever. But let's put it to the test." And what did

it say? They were more fatter. God honored, God blessed that fast of Daniel

and his cronies. And so we see Queen Esther, right? She fasts on behalf of the

nation of Israel and called others to do so. The length of fasts, some fast for one

day, some fast for three days. We got occasions of a seven-day fast. We got an

occasion of a 21-day fast and a couple of 40-day fasts. Three, actually.

Moses, Elijah, and Jesus. I personally know two men who have fasted for 40 days and

40 nights. Interesting. It was a good weight loss program. But people just

wanting to seek the Lord, denying themselves, right? It's a great practice.

It's a great discipline because Jesus said when he calls us to himself, what

does he say? "Deny yourself and pick up your cross and follow me." That's just a

great way to practice that. Just some practical ways of fasting. And

notice, it's like a law. No, if you got to do a fast, you got to do it

for three days. If you got to do a fast, you, sorry, 40 days or you're not a

true faster. No. Now some people fast meals. Some people fast morning and

noon and eat at the evening. They'll break their fast and that's okay.

But I think to get the full effect of it, and years ago when we were in the

school we did what they call the 30-hour famine, right? That you would fast for 30

hours. Go 30 hours without eating. Have you done that? You ever done that?

A lot of people, "Well no, why would I do that? That's stupid. We're in America. We got

all kinds of food. Why should we go without?" Well the Lord talks about it

here. Check this out. Verse 6, it says, "Is this not the fast that I have chosen? To

loose the bonds of wickedness? To undo heavy burdens? To let the oppressed go

free? And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry?

And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out when you see the

naked that you cover him and not hide yourself from your own flesh?" This is

what it's talking about. This is what the Lord is saying that you should do.

The reason you should fast. And really it's to be victorious.

And not only that, but to be free. To have freedom. Notice the first thing, freedom

from. Freedom from. You want to be set free from something? Get serious with the

Lord. Get on your face, right? Go without food. Seek Him. And you want to be set

free from something? God will. That's part of what Isaiah says. Come, let us reason.

Let's talk about this. How serious are you? How serious are you about your

relationship with God, right? Can you not do this? So the first thing is a freedom

from. Freedom from wickedness. Freedom from burdens. Freedom from oppression.

Every yoke broken.

And so it kind of is reminding me of Acts chapter 15 verses 8 through 11 when it

Acts 15:8–11

says, "So God who knows the heart acknowledged them by giving them the

Holy Spirit just as He did to us and made no distinction between us and them

purifying their hearts by faith. Now therefore why do you test God by putting

a yoke on the neck of the disciples which neither our fathers nor we were

able to bear? But we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we

shall be saved in the same manner as they." This yoke, this heaviness that you

can never measure up. You're never gonna be good enough. And that's,

he's speaking specifically about the yoke of the law. That the yoke of the law

was never to be born because we can't bear it. It's too much. I've sinned and I

fall short of God's glory. I can't attain to that. That's why the grace of the Lord

is what I trust in and I put my faith in Him. But yoke, the idea of a yoke

means you're tied to something, right? You're tied to something. I used to work

a team of horses and in the morning I would get them. It was Leo and Lucy was

our names. And I would yoke them together. Leo was kind of a lazy dog. He was a lot

bigger than Lucy but he never pulled near as hard as she did, right? He'd always

kind of lagged back. But they were tied together, right? Wherever she went he had

to go even when it was hard. And that's the idea is being tied to

something. And the Bible says that here when you enter a fast, something

that's probably tied to you that is not healthy, it can be broken. To break it. Get

it away from you. Or like Paul told Timothy, "Flee youthful lusts." Break it off.

Maybe you got things in your life you want broken off. They control you. What

controls you? Technology controls our society in a big way. A really big way.

And to me it's a fearful thing. But if you want to be set free from that,

if you want to have the freedom from these things, right? Then draw near to God.

Enter a time of prayer and fasting. A day, two days, a week. You're not gonna die. You

might feel like you're gonna die, right? But it's a great discipline. Actually the

health benefits that people are coming out with now with fasting is

pretty interesting. The studies they've done if someone will fast three days a

month, three days a month, it's amazing the health benefits from that. But that's

not why we do it. We want to see more to be purposeful, right? We want to

seek the Lord. So secondly, it was a freedom for something. So first it's a

freedom from wickedness, burdens, oppression, every yoke. And secondly it's a

freedom for, for what? For others. It frees you up to minister to others, right? It

helps free you up from your own selfishness. You're freed to minister.

Notice he says, "To feed the hungry, to house the poor, to clothe the naked."

God's, when we purpose in our heart to seek the Lord in this way, it's like, "Oh, I

can work with that. That's some pliable clay in my hands that I can

mold into what I want you to be." And then God will present those things that

He'll set you free for. And I don't know about you, but notice it says, "And not hide

yourself from your own flesh." In other words, when you see people in need, you

don't ignore them, the needs of the people around you. Does this ring a bell?

Right? Jesus, in Matthew chapter 25, where He says, "Then He will also say to

Matthew 25 · chapter mention

those on His left," this is talking about the sheep and the goat judgments, and it

says, "Then He will also say to those on the left, 'Apart from Me, you cursed

into the everlasting fire prepared for the devil and his angels. For I was

hungry and you gave Me no food. I was thirsty and you gave Me no drink. I was a

stranger and you did not take Me in naked and you did not clothe Me sick and

in prison and you did not visit Me.'" So here's some people with a, maybe a very

religious, or the thing that people like to say that, "I'm a very spiritual person."

Really, have you been born again? Then your spirit's dead. If you haven't been

born again, your spirit's dead. You need to be quickened and made alive by the

Holy Spirit of God. So God says this fast, it should free you from something

and for something. Verse 8, it says, "Then your light shall break forth like the

morning. Your healing shall spring forth speedily and your righteousness shall go

before you. The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard." Your relationship

with the Lord, it's right. You're right. You're experiencing true freedom. The

Christians that I've talked to who have really got a taste of this lately, just

it's just so refreshing to my soul. They're going, "I'm free! I mean, I thought I was

free before to do all these things, these bad things that I was doing, but I wasn't

free at all. I was a slave to them." Right? And Jesus says that, "Whoever sins is a

slave to sin." And yet, true freedom is found in that place of communion at

konia with God's Holy Spirit. You're just not going through the motions

anymore, but it's actually real to you, this relationship with God. That's

what this country needs, you guys. Right? They need to be quickened. They need to

have an experience like the Ninevites did and be broken before the Lord

and realize that God has a plan and He wants our light to shine. Notice, "Your

healing shall spring forth speedily." When there's no hindrances between you and

the God of heaven. You don't have any pent-up sinfulness in your heart that

you haven't brought before Him to be forgiven of, and God goes, "Yes, I can bless

you now."

Your righteousness will go before you. Matthew 5 16, right? Jesus says, "Let your

light so shine before men that they may see your good works and glorify your

Father in heaven." It reminds me we have access to the Father through the Son. "Let

us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace that we may obtain mercy and find

grace to help in time of need." Hebrews 4 16. Have you come before the Lord?

You let Him know you're serious.

You can do that by maybe just implementing your own little personal

fast. And that's why we're gonna do this week coming up here in a week from

Monday. Just to give you an opportunity. I don't monitor that. I'm not

gonna call you, "All right, I was looking through your window. I saw you eat that

biscuit. Sinner!" Like we're hiding anything from the Lord. You know how

hungry you get sometimes when you're fasting.

But when we come to that place, right, and we're free from those things and we

fast and we pray and we seek the Lord and we're released from those things, God

hears us. He hears that prayer of repentance. But Psalm 66 18 says, "If we

regard iniquity in our heart, the Lord will not hear." How many people is God not

listening to? Because you refuse to repent of something in your life that's

got its hooks in you. God doesn't hear you, "I'm sorry." You feel like your prayers

are just bouncing off the ceiling. It's because they are. The first prayer that

God's gonna hear is a prayer of repentance. "Forgive me, Lord, a sinner."

Isaiah 59 1 through 3 says, "Behold, the Lord hand is not shortened that it cannot save, nor

his ear heavy that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from

your God, and your sins have has hidden his face from you, so that he will not

hear. For your hands are defiled with blood and your fingers with iniquity.

Your lips have spoken lies and your tongue has muttered perversity." The United

States of America, that is us right there.

But God is so drawn to somebody who will humble themselves, right? And when you

fast you get low. But Jesus said, "Listen, don't let your left hand know what your

right hand is doing. Wash your face. Don't tell people you're fasting." It's like you

got your reward. Oh well, aren't you spiritual? There's your reward right

there. No, don't tell people you're fasting, right? But wash your face, the

Bible says. Let your light shine, be cheerful, and the Lord who sees in secret

will reward you openly. I want to just remind you of a story in Luke

Luke 18 · chapter mention

chapter 18. I love this story about two men, right? And I'm just gonna read it

to you. It's found in Luke 18 verses 9 through about 14, and it's about the two

Luke 18:9

men that came before the Lord to pray. Because fasting, folks, is almost always

coupled with prayer. It's fasting and prayer, right? Why? Because you're

drawn near the Lord. You talk to the God of heaven when you fast. And so it

says this, it says, "He also," this is Jesus talking about Jesus, "He also spoke this

peril to some who trusted in themselves." How many times have you heard that phrase?

"You gotta believe in yourself!" I hear coaches tell kids that all the time. No,

they don't! They gotta believe in Jesus, right? Now, there is something to have

confidence with the giftings that God's given you and recognizes that it's God

that's done it. Good gracious, don't believe in yourself. That is pathetic.

God's so much bigger than us. He's so much better to believe in than ourselves.

Those who trusted in themselves, that they were righteous and despised others.

Doesn't that just sound like the people we just read about? Two men went up to the

temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other tax collector. The Pharisee stood

and prayed thus with himself, "God, I thank you that I'm not like other men,

extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this tax collector. I fast twice a

week. I give tithes of all that I possess." And the tax collector standing far off

would not so much as raise his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, "God, be

merciful to me, a sinner." I tell you, this man went down to his house justified,

rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he

who humbles himself will be exalted." This week coming up is just, it's just an

opportunity to just be hummable for the Lord, right? And he so loves humility. God

loves it. And so then we question, "Does God love us? Because I know I don't have

much humility. So I have to constantly humble myself before him and realize on

Sunday mornings I get up and I say this little prayer. It's a little too weird

prayer. It's profound. You ready for it?

Excuse me. I don't count very good. It's three words. "Jesus, help me." I pray that

earnestly every Sunday morning when I get out of bed. The last weeks or so I've

added another word. "Lord, Jesus, help me walk." But notice this man would not even

lift his eyes up. He knew what he was, but he was humble before the Lord. "Lord,

forgive me a sinner." And he said he went, he went down to his home. He was justified.

You ever broke that word down? Such a cool word. Justified. Just if I'd never

sinned. Just if I'd never sinned. So I'm gonna finish reading this this chapter

real quick. There's only a few more verses. But it's such a powerful

passage of Scripture and just the results of somebody who would humble

themselves before the Lord and be blessed and be set free. True, bonafide

freedom. Verse 9 says, "Then you shall call and I the Lord will answer. You shall cry

and will say, you shall cry and he will say, 'Here I am.' If you take away the yoke

from your midst, the pointing of the finger and the speaking of wittiness, if

you could extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your

light shall dawn in the darkness and your dark shall be as the noonday. The

Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your soul in drought and

strengthen your bones. You shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of

water whose waters do not fail." Didn't it just make your mouth water? "Those from

among you shall shall build the old waste places and they shall raise up the

foundations of many generations and you shall be called the repairer of the

breach, the restorer of the streets to dwell in. If you turn away your foot from

the Sabbath from doing your pleasure on my holy day and call the

Sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable and shall honor him, not

doing your own ways nor finding your own pleasure nor speaking your own words,

then you shall delight yourself in the Lord and I will cause you to ride on the

high hills of the earth and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.

The mouth of the Lord has spoken this." Amen? Amen. We just need to do this prayer

and fasting thing with the right heart this week. Just do it with the right

heart. Lord, I just want to seek you. You know, start with with a prayer of

repentance. Oh Lord, you can even pound on your chest. That's when it's

acceptable for the Lord. Not in the end zone. It's like, "God, oh you got your

reward, dude. You just pounded your chest in the end zone. You think you're cool?"

Whatever, right? But we just need to do it with the right heart. Let's pray. Father,

I pray that you would have your way in us and just knowing that when we humble

ourselves before you, Lord, we own our own wickedness, our own sin, our own falling

short of your glory. You can work with that, Lord, then so as you have your way

in us and we yield to you, Lord, and we we do what you've called us to do, just

knowing that the the rest is going to take care of itself. So Lord, may we find

ourselves walking in your ways, Lord, as we prepare for this week of fasting, just

lifting up our country to you. I'm so concerned, Lord, for the future

generations. I know my generation is going fast, Lord, but these generations coming

after us, Lord, I pray for an outpouring of your Holy Spirit, Lord, that you would

empower them to be these who let their light shine and shall break forth

like the morning, Lord, that your healing shall spring forth speedily in these

young people's lives, Lord, and your righteousness shall go before for them,

Lord, for truly it's your righteousness and that you would be their rear guard.

Lord, we love you. Thank you for the hope that you give us as we read these things

and, Lord, they're so simple to apply to our own lives as we humble ourselves

before you. Have your way, Lord. Pray that you would be right in the middle of all

the crazy stuff going on in our country and in our world, praying for the

peace of Jerusalem, Lord, and your hand upon your people. Lord, we just

have great confidence in our God, Lord, and that we can actually sleep at

night because of who you are. And so, Lord, give us your spirit and give us a boldness,

Lord, in these days to speak in the name of Jesus to a lost and dying world that

needs to hear the truth of who you are. In Jesus' name, amen.

Let's all stand.

you