Lent and Fasting Help Us to Walk with Jesus on His Road to the Cross and His Resurrection While We Reflect on Jesus’ Time in the Wilderness

Lent and Fasting Help Us to Walk with Jesus on His Road to the Cross and His Resurrection While We Reflect on Jesus’ Time in the Wilderness

MESSAGE SUMMARY: Today, we begin the season of the Season of Lent. Lent is the period that the Church has set apart for Followers of Jesus to examine themselves spiritually and to get themselves right with the Lord. Fasting is one of elements of personal self-denial in Lent, and it is the voluntary self-denial of food and drink for a specific period of time. The idea of fasting is to say no to the physical appetites of the body while bringing these appetites under the direction of the Holy Spirit – fasting is saying no to the flesh so that we can say yes to the Holy Spirit.

Fasting is Biblical, in Matthew 6:16, Jesus tells us not “if you fast” but “when you fast”: “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.”. When we fast, our Spiritual life will be aided. Biblically, fasting means: 1) a time to dwell in the Lord; 2) denying oneself – the Bible, often, uses “denying” and “fasting” interchangeably; 3) regarding one’s sin -- repentance, and fasting makes it possible for God to reveal our sins to us; 4) receiving direction from the Lord; and 5) releasing the power of the Holy Spirit in our life situations – In Matthew 17:21, Jesus tell His disciples that some demons are so powerful that: “this kind never comes out except by prayer and fasting.”. Also, there are internal benefits for Followers of Jesus from fasting: 1) there is a new sensitivity to the Holy Spirit; 2) clearing our minds so that we can think clearly; 3) building into our lives righteous convictions; and 4) strengthening our will. Additionally, we receive some physical benefits from our fasting which include: 1) rest for our gastrointestinal organs; 2) aid in the detoxification of our bodies; 3) facilitation of our body’s healing; 4) help for improving our energy levels; and 5) aid in the development our personal discipline.

We should fast because fasting is Biblical, with both internal and physical benefits to us. Our fasting helps us to walk with Jesus through the season of Lent and to reflect on Jesus’ time in the wilderness before He died for all our sins.

 

TODAY’S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that, because I am in Jesus Christ, I can do what He asks of me. (Philippians 4:13). “I can do everything through Him who gives me strength.”. (Philippians 4:14).

SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Matthew 6:16-18; Psalms 91:1-16; Deuteronomy 10:20; Leviticus 23:27; Mark 8:34; Matthew 17:14-22.

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THIS SUNDAY’S AUDIO SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach’s Current Sunday Sermon: “As Followers of Jesus, We Will Face Difficult Circumstances; but We Are Comforted to Know that God Will ‘equip you with everything good that you may do his will’", at our Website: https://awtlser.podbean.com/

WEBSITE LINK TO DR. BEACH’S SERMON VIDEO – “We All Need “Hope” in Today’s World of Fear, Doubt in Our Faith, and Feelings of “Hopelessness”; and God Is this “Hope””:  www.AWFTL.org/watch

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