"The Kingdom of Heaven is Like..."

"The kingdom of heaven is like"...........a buffet restaurant, where everything you think you like to eat is so perfectly done that you are willing to TASTE EVEN THOSE DISHES THAT YOU THOUGHT YOU WOULDN'T WANT, and. because you couldn't possibly taste EVERYTHING OFFERED on any one day, you go back DAILY.


Now that my family is done laughing due to my affinity for buffet - style restaurants, we may proceed. For sure, physically and spiritually healthy people eat!

"I now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and FILL UP IN MY FLESH what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ, for the sake of His body, which is the church." (Colossians 1:24) Yep, just what I was thinking about when I received salvation to God through Jesus Christ- "filling up in my flesh the afflictions of Jesus Christ" for the sake of others!   No, I was interested in helping ME with what I thought was GOOD. It is imperative to understand that we christians CANNOT help others with what we have not partaken of.

I heard a minister say, "we must be willing to believe what we read, not read what we believe."
(John Bevere, Messenger International)

He Chooses The Fast

 Isaiah 58:1-14; 59:1,2; Revelation 3:17-19

"Behold, the Lord's hand is not shortened, that it cannot save; nor His ear heavy, that it cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; and your sins have hidden His face from you, so that He will not hear........."(Isaiah 59:1,2)

"Cry aloud (God commands Isaiah), 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.

 

 'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls and You take no notice? 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 the fist of wickedness. YOU WILL NOT FAST AS YOU DO THIS DAY, TO MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD ON HIGH. Is it a fast that I have chosen," (paraphrase) for a man to choose how he fasts?

"Because YOU SAY, 'I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing - and DO NOT KNOW that you are wretched, miserable, poor, blind and naked - I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten. Therefore be eager and repent (in the fast that God alone chooses)".


The words capitalized above represent the understanding Israel's children had regarding their approach to God - and the words written sound good. They thought they knew the way, which resulted in their questioning of God as to why He wasn't noticing. They needed the eye salve only He can bring. If you fast, by your order, you become the lord of your fast - ending it when you think it's over, or, you may compromise to escape your fast. The fast that He chooses won't end until you hear what He is saying and are willing to surrender: with it He "looses the bonds of wickedness, frees us from oppression, breaks every yoke. He shows us how to do things His way: how to "hide not ourselves from our own flesh".

When we have received what He wants us to understand through the fast that He chooses, "your light shall break forth as the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, your righteousness (in Christ Jesus) shall go before you, the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard".

When you find yourself in an uncomfortable place, cry out to Him in the faith He has given you. You are in the fast that He has chosen.