The power of fast done right | Pr Stephen Kong

You're listening to a message to go from acts church.

We hope this message will light up your day.

I'm gonna share with us today about the power of

a fast done right.

Okay.

And when I say the power of the fast done right,

that means there is actually a good way. Oh, I

should say, that's actually a right way to fast, and

it's actually a wrong way to do it, okay. And

we can actually find some clues in the Bible.

Okay. You will find it there in the Bible, okay.

And we're gonna draw from two portions, which is Isaiah

chapter fifty eight and Joe chapter two.

Is that okay? All right?

Okay, So if you have a Bibles, if we turn

to Isaiah chapter fifty eight, are you there there?

Say? Yeah? Okay.

Let's read a few verses for the Isaiah chapter fifty eight.

It says, quite a loud 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

that 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. Verse three, Why have

we faster?

They say?

And you have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls?

And you have you take no notice? I'll stop there

for now. Three verses. Now, if you read it, you

read these three verses. Uh, it starts off quite you know. Uh.

When I read it, it sounds very good. What did

averse say? You know? It says that they seek Me daily? Wow?

How many of us seek the lot daily? Here?

Don't raise your hands because maybe someone's maybe a shame

of faith, you know, but I woul to encourage you

seek the lot daily. So now the people of Israel,

you know, they they seek God daily. The Bible says,

you know, they seek Me daily, and they delight to

know My ways. Wow. Not only did they seek the

Lord daily, they delight to know his ways. And as

a nation that did righteousness, wow, quite good. Sounds good, right,

a nation that did righteousness, and they did not forsake

the ordinance of their God.

Wow, sounds very good.

No, friends, okay, they did not forsake the ordinance of

the God. They take delight in approaching God.

Wow. So this is how it starts off.

Right, that the people are fasting, and they seek God daily.

They take delight in his law, they take delight to

approach him, and there are nation that practice righteousness. But

yet they have a complaint to the Lord, and they said,

why have we faster than you have not seen or

taken no notice?

Isn't that surprising that the people who seek God.

Daily and yet they find that God did not take

notice of their fasting. So let's see what went wrong.

Let's read two more versus. In fact, in the day

of your fast you find pleasure and exploit all your laborers. Indeed,

you fast for strife and debate, and to strike with

a face of wickedness. So basically, what this means is that, yes,

although they are fasting, yes although they are praying, and

yes or dough, they're seeking God daily and delight to

those to know His ways and to do His ways.

But what this verse tells us is that they are

fasting and praying for their own gain in a sense

whereby they can still be arguments and dispute and debate

among themselves. But yet right they might be fasting and praying.

That is God, I'm wrong, peace time, So I'm right,

peace time. That he is wrong, God Please proved to

him that I'm right, so I can win this debate.

God, please change him. You know I can't.

I can't take it. I can't stand him. Please change him.

That's what the worse is telling us. You know, ouch,

you're not fast as you do this day to make

your voice heard on high? Is it a fast that

I've chosen a day for a man to afflict his soul?

He said, to bow down his head like a bulrush,

and to spread out side cloth and ashes. Would you

call this a fast and then acceptable day of the Lord?

And so it's like they are fasting in a sense

whereby others will see it. They make it public and

publicly known, so that people will see it and appreciate

that fast thing. Maybe they will, they will give some

pity on them. And of course, if you read the

entire chapter you will see a lot of other things

that they did wrong. They oppressed their laborers, you know,

they did not, you know, break the yoke, they put

on heavy burdens. Do not share the brave with the hungry. Okay,

so on, So far is very long. Okay, I won't

go to all of it, but you can read it.

But here's the thing. Sometimes we can do something so

well and so many times that it looks so right,

but yet missed the point.

So true. Story.

Someone told his story once that he saw a person

packing his car, and as he packed his car, he

got down his car to look at his packing car

to make sure that he got it right.

He packed it well, not blocking anyone.

He went back to the car, mixed some much start adjustment,

and got down his car again and see, And after

he was satisfied, he walked on his way and left

for his destination. And while this guy was tearing at

this man adjusting his car, and as he left the car,

satisfied with his packing, he actually packed two parking lots.

Don't you think sometimes you're like that.

We can do it right again and again and again,

and yet still missed the map or missed the point

of what was supposed to be achieved.

Right. Uh, you know you can.

I don't know ready, if you have happened to you before,

Wherever you park in a lot, you're not supposed to park.

And you paid for packing, you said, God, I park.

In the bucking lot. I paid for bucking.

But then you gotta find because you're pucking. Okay, lot

well you're not okay you or you're parking a bomba

loot or whatever it is. You know, And sometimes we're

like that. You know, it's true, it's true. Sometimes we're

like that. So we can think that we've done everything right.

I pack inside the lot, I'm not rocking somebody else.

I pay my packing ticket. But yeah, this is the

wrong packing lot. We missed the whole point. And so

that's what happened to the people in this in this

passage of scripture in fifty eight. They could have done

everything right in the eyes of the others, everything else right,

but yet missed the point. And they wanted to make

the fasting known to people. And so I share your

true story that happened to me. And so you know

that the Bible of God was against them because they

they will make their fasting so publicly known to people.

But you know the Bible she tells us why when

you fast, right, Uh, it tells you to annoy your

hate with oil?

What else? Wash your face?

Well, I find a washing washing your face a very

particular for fasting, because it happened to me recently. Because

so one of the fast I'm doing is I'm fasting lunch,

and on top of my lunch fast, I'm fasting sweet

drinks or anything sweet. Okay, Now, if you know me,

I have a sweet tooth and I need to drink

something sweet every day that gives me the energy and

the boosts of the rush of energy because I'm very

outgoing and know to do what I need to do

for the day. And so it happened to me in

our face while I'm fasting lunch. Now to me, I

find right, fasting lunch is not so difficult, but fasting

sweet drinks right even harder for me personally, because that's

where the energy comes from. But first thing will put

you in a position whereby the question is is your

dependency on the need or is it on the Lord?

Really will so I's a fasting right. I find it

very difficult to focus in the office. I find it

very difficult to stay away, and I was getting very steep,

so I had to get up. I went to the toilet.

I thought myself, oh my goodness, like, can you looking

at this? You know I can't. I can't imagine my clicks.

I need to come to me and say Stephen, you're okay.

To thea You're not not well to Rea, what happened now?

So I cannot imagine? No.

Sorry, I go to the office.

I slap myself few times, you know, just kidding, you know,

I wash my face. I said, Lord, I need strength,

I need strength, you know. I don't want to rely

on the strength of the of the the natural or

the sweet drinks that I drink or the food that

we eat. I need your supernatural strength today. And so

I need to fashion out myself. So I look well,

and three people don't know. Now, listen, it's not it's

not a secret in the sense whereby you can't tell

anybody they're fasting, because during this corporate fast, all of us,

in fact, most of us are fasting, okay, and we

know that that's okay, all right. The point is that

we're not meant to go around and tell people or

to make it knows that people know that you are fasting,

because the Bible says the Lord who sees in secret

will reward you openly.

Amen.

And so if your friend happens to ask you why

you're not eating, like, please don't tell them a lie.

No I'm not hungry. No no money, I sayd no money.

You know, I don't epithet you eat. No, no, please,

don't lie to them. You know, it's nothing I'm telling

them if they ask you. Right, But the whole point

is that how they used to do it in the

Bible in those days was they put on set cloth,

put our.

Ashes so that people can see.

It's very be publicly known as though you wrote a

sign board and put on your on your I'm fasting lunch,

so don't ask me, you know. So that's not how

it's supposed to be. Okay, that's not what it's all about.

Because my first point is is God is after all

of our hearts at the end of the day. Right,

He's not after the act of fasting in himself, but

he is after our hearts. And he used the word

all all our hearts because I will show you the

scripture in the world. Okay, but before I go there,

let me just give you four quick points. What is

fasting not about. Number One, fast thing is not legalistic,

so it's not by law or flesh. But prayer and

fast thing should be led by God. So that is

why when we praying fast, I encourage you to seek

the Lord. Ask the Lord, you know for something that

will challenge you.

You know that will have to say.

That will push your faith, you know, and today you'll

be led by the Lord because God is really after

our heart more than the legalism of fasting.

Listen to that.

Very important okay, very important. Number two, it's not a challenge.

When I say, it's not a challenge, meaning it's not

about how much.

We can affect ourselves. That's what I mean. But not

a challenger.

So we don't go around asking your neighbor a what

your fastinger and someone says, oh, I'm fasting meat, or

you're fasting meat, Okay, okay, our fast one meal? There

you go, ask that guy he say, This guy said,

I'm fasting lunch. Oh you fasting luncher. Okay, first lunch

and dinner. There you go as the guy. That guy said,

and fasting breakfast. Okay, okay, you know our first all. No,

it's not a challenge. It's not okay. It's not about

how much we need to suffer. It's not about how

much we're affecting our soul at the air of day.

It's about how surrendered our heart is to the Lord.

And if you want to be challenged, be challenged by

the Holy Spirit to encourage you to do a fast

that relies on him, surrendered to him, not about a

competition or a challenge among others on a tree. It's

not a competition. It's not about who can fast more

or longer.

It's not.

We don't want to get into that. And number four

is not about forcing God's hand. Now this is very

important because the next phrase on the next quote will

say fasting is not a means of twisting God's It's

about bending a will to his. Did you get that?

It's bending our will to his. We are basically saying,

not my will, but yours be done. That's essentially what

we are doing during this season of prayer and fasting

because we cannot fit God into a box. That means

we gotta be very careful when we pray and fast

and ask God for an answer, because he is such

a big God. And sometimes we prefer or we want

God to answer in a certain certain manner. And it's

very dangerous to put God in the box because you

and I know that he's bigger, and he is the

biggest of all, he's the greatest of them all. He

cannot be put in the box. And so sometimes we

tend to think that prayer and fasting is asking God

for something that we want. Although, yes, that's correct, but

we're not twisting God's arm. Listen, we're not twisting God's arm.

We're saying we're being surrendered to his will. Instead, we

want to catch his heartbeat your fasting and mind fasting

does not earn us an answer to our prayer because

God cannot be blackmailed by our effort. But listen to this.

God wants to answer our prayers. He wants to, but

he will answer out of grace, and fasting will simply.

Prepare us for what's to come. Amen.

So it's not about twisting God's arm. It's not about

putting him in a box. It's not about expecting him

to answer in the way that we expect it to be.

But it's about surrendering our heart, all of our heart

to him.

Amen.

So then the question will be this, if I shed

you all of the things that it is not, then

what should it be? The question is how should a

fast from the heart look like? So now let's turn

to Joe chapter two. First, shelf Joel chapter two. Joe's

quite a small booker, so it's quite hard to find.

You can find. Yeah, I just filed a few pages back. Okay,

after Ezekiel, after Joseiah, and then Joe is a very

small book, just three pages of mine, I think, so

no more than that five wages. Okay, so I'll give

you some time. Let's turn to Joe chapter two. Let's

look at how a fast should be like from the heart. Okay,

I still here, the page is turning. Okay, that's good.

Flip our Bible is good. Amen, All right, worst chef,

are you there? Worse chef says now, therefore says the Lord,

turn to me with all your heart. Somebody say all

your heart. Turn to me with all your heart, with fasting,

with weeping, and with mourning. So rend your heart and

not your garments. Return to the Lord, your God, for

his gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness,

and he relents from doing harm.

So that's the first thing that we need to do.

Turn to him with all our heart, because God wants

all of our hearts. And so if you look at

this context of this posture scripture, the word fasting there

in the original word is actually some as you am assume. Actually,

I think that's how to pronounce it. Okay, and it

actually means to abstain from food. So I thought about it. Yeah,

I think it's very logical. In those days, they don't

have social media, they don't have TV, they don't have Netflix,

they don't have phones, they don't have what else that

we have today. Okay, so yeah, they abstain or they're

fast from something that was in need. Right maybe today

many of us Instagram might be a need. So that's

why we tend to fast something more than just food.

Although food is the basic accommodation unless for some reason

you can't fast, and sometimes we tend to add on

something more than just food fasting of food. Okay, but

that's what it actually means. That the original meaning of it. Okay,

it means to abstain from food. And this word rn okay,

it means to tear in pieces or to tear away

or out.

That's what it means. Run your heart and not your garments, because.

Ultimately God is looking after our heart and not our

outward appearance.

Imen, God look at our appearance.

He looks at our heart, and you and I need

to turn to God with all our heart and not

just with ou outer garments. And that's why in the

Book of Isaiah I read to you earlier. God was

not pleased with that fasting because they may have done

everything the outside, but yet missed the point on the

inside with their hearts. And so you and I we

ought to run our heart to him, to turn, to

tear in pieces, to expose, to open it up, to

allow God to see what's on the inside. And that's

why the psalm is in Psalm nine two intree says,

search me, oh God, and know my heart, Try me

and know my anxieties, and see there is any wicked

way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

And so to rent our heart is not just feeling

sorry or feeling bad or feeling sorrowful, because that will

not change anything. But listen, It's about changing our hearts

and our minds. It's a change of mindset, because God

ultimately looks at our hearts. And to be sorry. You

can be sorry but not have changed. You can be

sorry on the outside but yet not have your heart touched.

But to repent in repentance there is always transformation, always transformation, Amen,

and change not just in our hearts but also in

our minds. And you were translated into our attitude. And

so there are three stages of you know, of learning,

if they call it right. The first one is the

chances of knowledge, and even as you read the Word

of God, it's in your mind and you're aware about it.

Now you know what's the right way to do it

and what's the wrong way to do it. Secondly is

the transfer of skill. Right, we learn how to do

what is right. And the third one is the attitude.

Not only are we knowing how to fast, we know

how to do it right.

We go on and do it what is right.

And the third one is also the attitude ultimately is

about our attitude to the Lord. What is really on

our hearts and on our minds? Is there a change

of our attitude towards the House of God, or towards

the Bible, or towards worshiping Him, towards spending time with Him,

our quiet time, our devotion in the morning. Ultimately, that

transformation must happen in our attitude towards the Lord, because

God is ultimately after our hearts.

Can I hear good? Amen?

Palm fifty one, verse sixteen says, for you do not

desire to sacrifice, or else I would give it you

do not delight and burn, offering the sacrifices of God,

a broken spirit, a broken and contrite heart. This is,

Oh God, you will not despise. So even as we

come to Him with all our heart, even as we

tear our heart open in repentance and ask God to

search our heart and to know it, there's any anxiety,

any doubt, any insecurity, any shudder in our hearts.

We asked a lot to take over and were surrender

to him.

Because God is UTTI many first, after our hearts, not

just after our hearts, but all of our hearts, because

the Bible says, turn to me with all your heart.

My second point to us today is this God is

after our attention. That's the second Agally, God is after

our attention, or another word for that is focus, because

it says return to the Lord your God. That's what

the Bible says, Wichapter two, verse thirteen, return to the

Lord your God. So God is after our attention, is

after our focus. Because today, in this busy time and age,

a lot of things take our focus and time a lot.

Really.

I don't know about you, but I also personally find

it very difficult to be still and to be quiet

that's for me because I'm always about and moving and

doing things right. And sometimes when I sit down and

just be still, I close my eyes for a while

and I rest. My mind is running non stop. I

don't know whether you're like me, but really I'm always

I always remind my spirit in my heart and my

mind be still and know that I am God. You know,

the Bible says I will be exalted among the nations.

So I also need to learn how to be still

before the Lord. Because God is after our attention, and

you and I will give our attention and our focus

to things that matters the most to us.

Right, does that make sense to you?

So when you have an exam coming on, you will

spend all your focus and your time and your attention studying.

If we all understand that, you recognize that, but listen

to this fast thing will not change God. It will

change you. That's what it does. Because when we are fasting, right,

it changes our focus on. The person who actually changes

is not God, but it's actually us. Then we begin

to wonder, Wow, suddenly I feel closer to the Lord. Wow, God,

maybe you have come closer to me. Actually, no, it's

actually we have come closer to him because God has

never left. It's weally have gone astray. We have come

closer to Him. And so the one that is being

changed and the one is being transforms us, you and me.

Because God is the same, yesterday, today, and forever more.

He's the same, He remains the same. His love for

you and for me has never changed and will never change.

Amen even never change by this earth, you and I

that are being changed and being renewed in the process.

And another quote I have for you is this, I

feast when I first or when you hear that it

sounds contradicting. What I mean by that is this, we

feast on the word of the Lord, feast on the

word of God. So I find myself during this time

of prayer and fasting, and I pray it You'll be

the same for you even as you set aside things

that distract you and take your focus away. It could

be Netflix, could be YouTube, Instagram. Because I must confess

to you, I also have a problem with this. Okay,

I have a big issue of scrolling my Instagram. You know,

I don't know whether you have the same issue, but

I think many of us have this issue today. And

I think somehow today, in today's day in age, right,

social media is so powerful that he has a hook,

you know, and he can hook you from one video.

To another to another.

It never stops, and I can keep scrolling Instagram and

then after I realize one hour has passed and I'm like,

what in the world happened to my time? And that's

why we completely on no time, you know. And I

tell you, right, the time that I most distracted is

when I'm preparing message because I realized, right, maybe the

devil is trying to tell me, is it?

Yeah, That's when I'm most distracted.

Now, So when I'm preparing until late at night, eleven o'clock,

trave o'clock out of blue, I'm always tempted to type YouTube,

always going in.

Such a YouTube. Just watch a few videos, I say, I.

Tell myself, okay, okay, Lord, give me a five minutes break.

Five minutes.

Five minutes become ten minutes, ten minutes become twenty minutes,

twenty minutes become one hour. And so now when I

fast these things, right, something that I realized that it

was so much time?

Are you like me?

And so I began to feast on the word of

the Lord, So I remember I did this every you turn.

Actually I still remember today. Actually, I will begin to

memory scripture because it's not easy to memori scipture.

No, it takes time. You know.

I actually take a book and I actually handwrite the

scripture so that I memorize it.

I memorize it.

And I said, Lord, I want to learn how to

memorize scripture because recently I had an encounterwhereby when I

when we went to minister to a sister and to

pray for her, I was trying to look for a scripture. Now,

I was trying to look for the story about the

woman who was healed with the issue of.

Blood for years. And I was.

I was, and of course I felt like, okay, Lot

told me read this forstial scripture. Okay, okay, I'm very

familiar with the scripture. I know where to find it.

When I opened a scripture, I couldn't find it. You know,

I couldn't find it. I went from Matthew, I'm like,

I'm very sure it's here. I couldn't find it.

I said.

I thought to myself, are you calm firm, God, I

turn to look. I cann't find it. I went to Mark,

I can't find it. And then I decided to take

out my phone, and I saw used to be right,

take out a phone and you google the worse or

no line.

Yeah. And so I was.

Flipping, flipping, flipping, pipping for good thirty seconds. You know,

I can't find a cicture. I'm like, Lord, you give

me this word, but I can't find a scripture. I

turned to my wife, your phone, call liner, God, go gole.

It's socially search for me. And I found it.

You know, I couldn't find the worse.

You should know that the story of the healing of

the woman with the Issue of Blood, it's not a

passage by itself, but it was sandwiched in the middle

of another story. So I was looking for the subtitle,

you know, the the heater woman.

In the Issue of Blood.

Here.

I cann't find it. It was a girl here, actually

not a woman. It was a girl, same gender but different,

same thing but different. I couldn't find it. Then in

that moment, I had a conviction. Now, oh said Lord,

please don't ever put me in this situation again, because

I can't imagine. And I go for missions into the

jungle or when you're praying for a colleague in the

middle of a moment.

You can't say your clique. Wait, let me say to google.

And then.

So I said, Lord, help me to memorize the script

especially those important ones that we use, you know, to minister,

especially those important ones that you share the Gospel with.

Memorize them. John three sixteen to seventeen Roman streets. When

the three sixteen and three memorize them, you know, I can.

I can go on and on.

And I've learned not just also to memorize the verse,

but I learned to memories the reference also the reference

as well.

And so I want to.

Encourage you when you find us, learn to feast on

the word of the Lord, and if you can memorized scripture,

because the Bible actually tells us right that I think

it's in Psalm hundred and nineteen. You know your word

I've hidden in my heart. And why do we hide

the word? Have got in our hearts? That I may

not seeing against you, And that those moments when you

have troubles and tribulations and struggles, the Holy Spirit will

remind you the word of the Lord that you have

planted in your heart and hidden in your heart, that

you will be able to draw from the well in

your heart and you'll be encouraged. So I encourage you,

you know, spend during this season, spend less time on

things that destruct you, and learn to fix your attention

and your focus on Him, and learn to spend more

time reading His word, memorize scripture, hide it in your heart. Amen,

because God is after our attention, after our focus. And

my last and last point is this, God is preparing

us for an answer. That's my third a answer. First

thing will prepare you and I for the answer that

He has for us. Remember I said that he will

prepare us for the answer that he has for us,

not our own answer, not our own ways, but his way.

In fact, as you say to you, the Lord is

the answer, the Lord himself that you are seeking, that

you're praying to.

He is the answer. The Lord is our exceedingly great reward.

He is the answer. Amen, Here is the answer that

you're looking for. He's founding him. Because sometimes you and

I can get very busy chasing the blessing, we can

get very busy chasing the gift. But the very person

that we need to seek is the giver, the Lord himself.

So I want to say to you, the Lord is

the answer. He is the answer that you're looking for.

And so I'm going to turn back now to Isaiah

chapter fifty eight. Okay, we're gonna go back to the

to the verse that we read earlier, Isaiah chapter fifty eight.

I'm going to give you.

I'm going to show you now what the Lord answered

to his people Isaiah chapter fifty eight, Verse eight to

nine and eleven.

Oh. Sorry, actually I went ahead already. Okay, I come

to that in a moment.

So basically, what I wanted to say is that even

as you're praying and fasting, as the Lord prepares us,

he prepares us for the answer, which is him, and

he prepares the answer our prayers as well. And sometimes

he may not answer in the way that we expect

it to be. Sometimes the answer could be wait, the

answer could or even be no, or the answer could

be I'm with you, And that's all they we need

to hear. Because we have come, when we have prayed

so much and then we have surrendered so much, we

have come to a place whereby we have surrendered everything

onto the Lord that it doesn't matter anymore.

The answer will not matter anymore.

All it matters to us is to know that God

is with you in that situation.

God is with you.

And so I remember very clearly the time when I

prayed and faster for my wife back then by the

time was girlfriend. Yeah, she knows it, she knows this,

didn't I'm going to share the story. I still remember now.

You know, I surely believe that when we have something

very important in our lives to do or to make,

especially especially major decisions, we are to praying fast.

Actually I really believe it. I do.

For example, when you're changing job, when you're praying to

move on from a job went on, when you're praying

for a live partner, and many of you see that

here one day you will pray for a life partner

and it's a very important decision.

And so I prayed.

I told my back then passed ronson or he's still

my heart of today. I told him, I'm gonna you know,

he knew. He journeyed with me through the entire time.

I've been praying for months. But the time come that

I was ready to share my feelings with her or

to confess to her, is what we used today. You know,

A way him the language confess, so I said, okay,

I declared praying the fast for seven days. And then

as I was praying fasting right half way, I felt

like the answer was not coming, you know, so I

told past the answer one day, Yeah, I feel like

maybe I need longer.

He encouraged me, No, if you.

Decided and dedicated the fast for seven days, to stick

to it because the Lord will give an answer. And

after seven days, true enough, the answer was guess what

the answer is? Okay, there was no specific answer, but

the Lord gave me his peace. That is why I

say that the answer is the Lord. The Lord is

serve is an answer. So after seven days I had

so much peace in my heart that I could go

on with it, not because I knew the answer was yes,

but because I had already surrendered everything and the ouk

and the final outcome to the Lord so much so

that I was okay with the outcome, whether it's a

yes or even a no. And that's when we know

that our hearts are fully surrendered. And after the seven

days of playing fasting and I went on with it,

and the rest was history. Of course, after I confessed

to her, I gave her time to also pray and

to seek the Lord about it. And eventually she came back. Yes,

and today we are happily married, and Amen, praise the Lord,

and Gi've got all the glory and our first baby

is about to pop very soon.

Amen.

So I encourage you, if you're, you know, making major

decisions in your life, you know, pray, praying, fast, and

ask him for his for his direction, because it could

be anything, you know, it could be anything in your life.

And even as you have prayed and fastest so much,

you come to a place of surrender, surrender to his will,

surrender to his plans.

And you say, not my will, but yours be done. Amen.

And so as I close.

As I close, I started by saying to you that

this is the power of the fast when it's done right,

the power of the fast when is done right. And

we can see the answer here in Isaiah chapter fifty eight,

verse eight to nine, and verse eleven. Isaiah chapter fifty eight,

verse eight 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 rare God. Then you shall call come

and listen to this. Then you shall call, and the

Lord will answer. You shall cry, and he will say,

here I am to me. These very words, here I

am to me is the best answer you could ever

get from the Lord.

To me. This answer here I am.

Is sometimes and oftentimes even better than a yes or no.

Because in our lives, when we pray, and sometimes God

says to us, yes, go for it, that's my will.

We oftentimes think that everything else will go on smoothly,

you know, But that's not the case. To me, knowing

that God is with me in this situation is more

important than anything else. Because the Bible reminds us in

some of the training tree, I think it's virstually. Here

do I walk through the value of the shadow of death.

I will fear no evil. Your rod and your staff,

for you are with me. Your rod and your stuff

they comfort me. So knowing that the Lord is with

you is more important than anything else. Knowing that you're

not alone. The God is there with you, and he says,

here I am.

And I'm going to close.

In verse eleven, he says, the Lord will guide you continually.

Come on, the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy

your soul in drought strengthen your bones. You shall be

like a watered garden, and like a spring of water

whose waters do non fail. So that is the power

of the fast. When it's done well and done right

before the Lord, like a watered garden, and the water

will not feel the wad will strengthen your bones, satisfy

your soul.

He will guide you continually.

We hope you've been blessed by this message. For more

information on our church, please visit aschurch dot org. We

are also active on Facebook and Instagram. We're believing that

this week is going to be a good week.

I hit for you.

God bless