I'm selfish! That's right, I'm selfish. I must confess, I'm really ashamed of myself, BUT I'm so glad the Holy Spirit has brought it to my attention so I can make this confession and get it resolved.
I became aware of my selfishness yesterday while preparing for the Oasis gathering. I was sitting quietly when the Holy Spirit prompted me to read Isaiah 58 and boom...there it was. Has that ever happened to you--your eyes opened to something you weren’t expecting to see? God spoke to me through the prophet's word to Israel, telling the people why their fasting was not acceptable to Him. But I had to read it in the Message translation… (please stop and read Isaiah 58 right now.)
It wasn't so much the directness of God's accusations, but the fact that I have only thought of fasting as something personal. I think you know what I mean: what was the fast going to do to change me? What did the Spirit want to reveal to me for my betterment? Was I going to come out of my fasting stronger and more powerful?
Isaiah 58 changed all of that! When you read it, did you see what I saw? God was saying to Israel, “I want you to take action to change certain things”. It wasn't about sitting and waiting in God's presence, but getting involved in changing society.
I confess I haven't done that and I'm NOT proud of myself. I've expected God to do the changing, but He has chosen you and me to involve ourselves in cultural transformation.
Today, I've been asking the Holy Spirit to show me where I must take action in one of the eight directives given. Will you join me? Let’s turn our fasting into acting on what concerns the Heart of God!
I'll meet you at the Throne,
Pastor George
That's good Pastor George. WOW!
ReplyDeleteI like your insight here George. Come to think of it a lot of my spirituality has been self centered.
ReplyDeleteThanks for pointing it out.
Phil McCutchen