This is the Kind of Fast Day I'm After

To be honest, sometimes I post things before my thoughts are even complete on what I'm posting.  That's what I'm doing today, I'm sharing some thoughts that may not be tied up nicely by the end of what I'm writing here.

Going into the first of the year, I felt very strongly that I needed to fast.  Denny and I have started the year like that a couple of times in the past.  We would fast the first 21 days of the year.  So, I started out doing that again this year.  I actually started it on Monday, January 3rd.  On that day, I did not eat, and I prayerfully considered what God wanted this fast to "look" like.  You know, do I go without food for one day, three days, seven days, and then what do I do?  Do I then go into the "Daniel fast"?  Which you can google if you'd like to see what that is.  After one day of fasting, to be honest, I felt God's presence more than I had in a long time, but I still could not settle on a direction of what this fast should "look" like.  Because I couldn't "settle" on a direction, I went ahead and ate the 2nd day, but kept praying about the fast.  THEN, I had this thought, "maybe this isn't supposed to be a food fast at all, maybe this is supposed to be a complaining fast."  Meaning, for 21 days, I'm not going to complain.  At all.

So, I told my co-worker, Cathy, about that.  Later that day, I said something to her that one might consider a complaint and I quickly followed that up with "shoot!! I am not supposed to be complaining!!"  Then a little later I said something again, that one might consider a complaint, and I said to her again, with disgust, "ahhhh....I am NOT suppose to be complaining!!!"  Which she replied, "you suck at this fast!"  Her words exactly.  That TOTALLY cracked me up!!

So, all week I have been seeking God, and to be honest, I have been finding Him, just not regarding the fasting information...until this morning.  I sat up and took notice as I began to read what God says in Isaiah 58 (The Message):

Do you think this is the kind of fast day I'm after; a day to show off humility?  To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black?  Do you call THAT fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like?

This is the kind of fast day I'm after:  to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts.  What I'm interested in seeing you do is:  sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families.

Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once.  Your righteousness will pave your way.  The God of glory will secure your passage.  Then when you pray, God will answer.  You'll call out for help and I'll say, Here I am.

If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people's sins, if you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down and out, your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight.  I will always show you where to go.  I'll give you a full life in the emptiest of places...

This is the kind of fasting he's after.  How well am I doing these things?  There are many that I'm not doing well.  So I go without food, but my heart is corrupt? What good does that do?  He is after life change.  Do I have a heart like His, am I concerned about the things that concern Him?  That's what I need to ponder.

 When we fast what we should be after is more of Jesus in our life.  More of Jesus in our circumstances.  And when we "get" more of Jesus, we "become" more like Jesus.  As He lays His heart over our heart, we become concerned over what concerns Him.  We reach out to people that He wants us to reach out to.  We lend a helping hand where He calls us to lend it.  We give where He directs us to give, we begin to move as one with Him in the direction that He calls us to go, within every area of our life including our marriages, finances, and relationships.

Maybe as you read this you feel that you too want more of Jesus.  That you want to be His hands and feet in this world.  There are so many ways that the Lord might direct you to give.  One way He has directed our family to help people in poverty is through Compassion International.  We, just last week, sponsored our 2nd child.  Her name is Patricia.  And the Holy Spirit has already begun to entangle our heart with her.

Denny is a children's advocate for Compassion.  So he gets information fairly frequently on children who need our help to be released from poverty.  Children who need us to be Jesus to them.  We recently received information on three children who need sponsors.  Children who are waiting on someone just like you to reach out and help.  Again, there are many ways you can help the poor, but if you feel like God is calling you to help one of these children, please leave a comment here with your contact information, or send me an email at melissa.milbourn@gmail.com.  Would you please prayerfully consider these children:

Pogiri from India

Birthday July 5, 2003

 Miriam from Peru

Birthday:  April 12, 2004

 Ocen from Uganda

Birthday November 26, 2001

You can change a child's life for just $38/mth.  If you're interested we will give you more information on the child, and how the program works.  And we would need to know by January 13th.

Or if you're the one who feels down and out right now email me and I will pray for you.

I Saved Two Lives Today

Home alone, I heard a LOUD KUR-THUD come from upstairs.  So loud that I seriously almost ran out of the house because I thought there had to be an intruder.  And then, for some reason, this thought came to mind, "I bet the crazy dog was trying to drink the goldfish water and knocked them off their stand."  So instead of fleeing the house, I ran upstairs, and that is exactly what had happened.  I ran into Maren's room (they are Maren's fish) and the bowl was on the floor.  Water and rock from the bowl were everywhere, and the dog was licking her chops. 

I thought, "If she ate those fish, I'm going to hurt her badly."  Ha, I totally forgot about the whole "don't repay evil for evil" concept in that moment.  After I tossed the dog out of Maren's room, I began to look for Cosmo and Wanda, and I found them...totally lifeless.  No flip flopping or nothing.  I couldn't believe how much I cared for these fish all of a sudden, when up to that point I couldn't have given a flip flop about them.  So I gave them mouth to mouth, and started yelling "stay with me!!"  kidding.  I hurried up and put them into the bowl, and RAN to the bathroom and began putting water back in, and as soon as the water hit them, they began to swim.  YAY!!!! So far, so good.  I hope they make it through the night and survive the stress of all that!

Right after that happened, and things calmed down, I was reminded of an analogy that I heard someone use just recently about how fish were made to swim, and when you take them out of the water they can't do anything.  And they related that to our God given gifts.  That's the way we are too.  When we operate within the realms of how God has gifted us, we swim beautifully, just as the fish do in water.  But when we operate outside the way God has gifted us, we tend to struggle within that, and often lose our joy.  I looked like the fish out of water the time I tried to teach the three year old class.  LOL.  I was not really operating within the realm of what I'm good at, or how God has gifted me.  And I'm pretty sure it wasn't good for the three year olds either!!

If you're struggling with knowing what your "gift" is, then send me a message.  We have "gift tests" at the church that I can hook you up with.