Category: Devotions

“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” Matthew 6:16-18

God has blessed me since the day I was born, but its a special kind of blessing I have received since December 29th of last year. These are blessings of being in His will, being in relationship with Him, and allowing God to move in your life as you step back. That day, I began my first fast, only intending to fast 6 days. God had me run into a booking on fasting by Jentezen Franklin, and as I read that I immediately extended my fast to 40 days. I wanted to end and begin my year honoring God by giving up something I struggled with. I gave up sweets and fried chicken, doing a modified Daniel fast, and some days a full Daniel fast. I wanted to receive God’s vision for my life for the year, and make a permanent change in my life and family tree. And I can truly say that God has done nothing short of that.

I received the vision only 28 days into my fast. It helped to solidify that I would never start another year without fasting. I would never end another month or begin another month without fasting and praying–and giving, giving Him those days in prayer, praise, and worship. It was God’s vision that I get a new car, and so I fasted 3 days before going to the dealership that God move major mountains for me to get a car. And sure enough…I had that car home that Saturday. It was officially my car on Monday by signing the dotted lines. God saved me over $4500 on a brand new car. And now, I started fasting this past Saturday, but beginning my fast for my needs on Sunday. ONLY 5 days into my two-week fast if I include Saturday, God answered everything I came in prayer to Him for–over and beyond my expectations. He even had my neighbor apologize to me for wronging me last year. I’m gonna keep going because I want to receive everything He has for me.

Fasting does three things: 1. It stretches your faith by expanding your vision. You don’t see what you want to see in the natural only, but God enlarges your sight by blessing you and revealing to you the secret things. In the scriptures above Jesus tells us that God honors what we do in secret!! 2. It draws you into deeper relationship with God and teaches you to rely on Him in expectation of your prayers. God had my good friend and soror Jasmin to text me Saturday before I went to work and so I sent her my email address. When I went on my lunch break and read her testimony…it reassured me of God’s faithfulness to our obedience and the grace that He gives us in between. 3. It forces you to witness His goodness! I don’t know any person that has been blessed in the midst of a fast who does not share it with someone. I’ve told every person I know about the blessings I have received from God, but more importantly, I am a living testimony in every area of my life. From my health and healing, relationships with family, friends, and loved ones, to finances, and everything you can think of, God has continued to make provision in excess of my expectations.

God is calling us to be a nation of people who honor Him in every area of our lives. Fasting helps us help God because we consecrate ourselves through going without to gain from Him. It helps us help God because we essentially step out of our own way and let Him get to work. I can’t wait to see what else He has in store for me. He has already opened up more ministry opportunities for me–I have a weekly bible study with my brother in Christ and *ministry partner* (calling things as though they were) that I have been greatly blessed by, and just having my own domain to make sure I reach many. Fasting pretty much pulls the string on the bucket to tip the waters over into your life like a flood. This is one thing I know that works, and if you don’t believe me, trust His word that tells us to test Him out! Try God and see that you won’t be greatly blessed when you fast!

“I will make them and the places around My hill a blessing. And I will cause showers to come down in their season; they will be showers of blessing. Ezekiel 34:26 NASB

Here a great number of disabled people used to lie—the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” John 5:4-6

Right before I had my kidney transplant, I talked with the management of the apartment complex I live in because I knew it would be difficult for me to walk very long distances for a while during my recovery. Their solution was to put a handicapped sign in the parking space in front of my apartment. So while I recovered, my mom or whoever else drove me around would park in that spot, making the burden of my care a little easier. Fast forward 3+ years now, and the sign is still there. I long realized I should stop parking there, but I had grown accustomed to the convenience; sadly, I had gotten used to using my ‘handicap’–my transplant–as a crutch for me and as a means for seeing myself as ill. I would be livid at any person that parked there, because it was my spot. It was designated for me. It was not until the new management of the complex chose to make some renovations with not so great implications that God revealed to me that all of the illnesses I have fought over the years have served to handicap me mentally–and even more sad, spiritually.

As it dawned on me last week, I had been asking God why I had not received the manifestation of my healing in some of the other illnesses I had faced, and it was this very mindset, the mindset I shared with the man in the scriptures above, that had served to cripple me. This man had spent the last 38 years of his life, just one step away from his healing, but because he was crippled, he could not reach the waters in time. You see, at this pool, every year an angel came down to trouble the waters, and the first person in at the troubling of those waters would be healed and delivered. So he had been laying there for 38 years crippled, even more crippled by the physical reality of his illness. I’m sure it had to be heart-wrenching for him, to be in the presence of healing power and to not have the means to attain it. And I think about myself, I have been confessing my healing since the day I was diagnosed. Some things I have been able to conquer, but some things I have not. For those things I have not, I have allowed that handicap sign to keep me crippled, in some way things reminding me of the reality of the things I face.

Last week, the new management instituted a fine for parking in that space without a handicapped tag or permit…so I have to park my car elsewhere now. It clicked for me too and I realized that I had been imprisoning myself because of the reminders; I had conditioned myself to see me as ill, sickly, and incomplete. With that threat of a fine came an eye-opening realization: I had to tell myself to get up and walk like Jesus told this man.(John 5:8-9) Tonight during bible study, I spoke of fortifying your mind. It had taken a threat of a fine for me to realize that I allowed the realities of the illnesses that attacked my body to take root and cause me to lie down in defeat. I had forgotten who I am in Christ.

Many things, not just physical illnesses, come to handicap us, knocking us down in the faith fight. Sometimes we stay down longer than we need too. But when Jesus tells you to get up…have the faith and trust that He will never leave you there if you simply believe what He has already told you.

Now a man crippled from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them. Then Peter said, “Silver or gold I do not have, but what I have I give you. In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, walk.” Taking him by the right hand, he helped him up, and instantly the man’s feet and ankles became strong. He jumped to his feet and began to walk. Then he went with them into the temple courts, walking and jumping, and praising God. Acts 3:2-8