2011/ Day 6: A Test Between Feelings and Faith!

Let’s be honest!  Somewhere over the past six days, you’ve said to yourself (because you wouldn’t dare want people to think you’re not spiritual), “This is CRAZY!”  Now, before you think I’m just writing words, I’ll tell you, I’ve said it too!  OK, there you have it. I may not be as spiritual as you think, BUT I am honest.  I fight my feelings and faith big time, just like you.

So what do we do when our feelings and faith start fighting?  Remember the very foundation of why we started this fast in the first place.  I didn’t do this to diet; that’s a wrong motive.  I didn’t do it because a lot of others are doing it; that would just be religious.  This isn’t some hollow religious exercise; my God is personal and has purpose for all of His directives. 


I entered this season of fasting because I believe God’s promises.  Have you read 2 Peter 1:3-4 lately?  “His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.  Through these he has given us his very great and precious promises, so that through them you may participate in the divine nature and escape the corruption in the world caused by evil desires.”

E.M. Bounds, the great prayer warrior of a century past, said, “Without the promise, prayer is eccentric and baseless.  Without prayer, the promise is dim, voiceless, shadowy, and impersonal.” 

Now, what’s that got to do with you and me?  Everything!  As you spend quiet time today in prayer and continuing your fast, I want you to remember ALL the promises God has made throughout Scripture to His followers:  Abraham, I’ll make you a father.  Hannah, you will give birth to a son.  Nation of Israel, you will see Jerusalem again as your own.  World, I’m sending the Messiah.  Church, you will receive power from the Holy Spirit. 

But let me leave you with a promise from Ezekiel 36, as the prophet speaks to a people with spiritually hard hearts:  “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws.  You will live in the land I gave your forefathers; you will be my people, and I will be your God” (Ez. 36:26-28). 

Your fasting will be attacked by your feelings, but don’t give up.  There’s something great at stake as you pray for family, friends, jobs, finance, the church, power, hope, encouragement, peace; and the list goes on and on.  You’re going to get the promise of a new heart and the Holy Spirit’s power.  That should be enough to win the battle between feelings and faith. 

Keep fighting, Soldier of the Cross…VICTORY is ours in Jesus’ Name!

I’ll meet you at the Throne…

Pastor George