THIS IS TABLE ROCK FELLOWSHIP – PASTOR RYAN LADEN (DEVOTIONALS)
| Spiritual Disciplines In the services this last weekend we began a series of messages looking at some of the core building blocks of our maturity and growth in the Lord. These building blocks are often referred to as “spiritual disciplines.” These disciplines are the layers of strength that make up the solid foundation upon which our faith can grow. The discipline we are looking at this week is known to us as fasting. In the service, we defined fasting in the following way: To fast is to: Intentionally deprive yourself of a normal part of your everyday life that will be missed. And during this deprivation, we devote ourselves to spending time with God through prayer, worship, and scripture reading. Food The most common form of fasting we find in the message of the Bible is that of depriving oneself from common foods for the period of one day. Typically, this fast was conducted from sundown of one day until sundown of the next day. Other While fasting from food was the norm in the Bible, we know that the Apostle Paul referenced a kind of fast that married couples might engage in, so as to dedicate themselves fully to the Lord for a short period of time (1Corinthians 7:5). The point we are making in this focus on fasting as a part of our spiritual discipline before the Lord, is that we can, and should, consider using this kind of physical deprivation as a springboard to help us more fully focus on the Lord during our times of dedicated prayer, study, and personal worship. Jesus Jesus Christ spoke to his disciples about the way that they were fasting as one of their spiritual disciplines in the passage that follows: “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 NIV11 Assumption Jesus makes an assumption of his disciples in this teaching. He assumes that they are familiar with fasting as an expression of devotion to the Lord, and that they were routinely engaged in this discipline. Jesus does not command fasting, nor does he give any sort of guidelines about how to fast, or from what the disciples should deprive themselves. But it is telling that this kind of worship through deprivation was common and widespread amongst the earliest believers. What about you? Have you ever considered a fast as part of your expression of worship and devotion to the Lord? If you were to fast, what would you like to set aside so that you could fill that space with devotion to the Lord? Humility One of the messages we hear from Jesus over and over is a call to be humble in our walk with God (reminiscent of Micah 6:8). In this teaching, Jesus challenges his disciples to not be like those hypocrites who like to show off their various expressions of worship and devotion. How might this type of showy faith be seen in our lives?How can we follow the call of Christ to reject such shallow expressions of our devotion to the Lord? Reflection If you are willing, consider the following:Will you try out the spiritual discipline of fasting this week?If so, what will you fast from?How will you fill the empty space created by your choice of deprivation? In Christ, Ryan Laden |
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