Matthew 4:4 NKJV
Deuteronomy 8:1-3 NKJV
Hebrews 5:8 NKJV
Psalm 116:1-2 NKJV
Listening Series
When Jesus went into the wilderness for 40 days to pray, he devoted all His time to prayer. He fasted the entire time. He fasted so He could devote all his time to hearing God. He was also showing God that He completely depended on Him. Jesus wanted every part of Himself to rely on God.
Jesus knew that nothing accomplished complete reliance on God better than fasting.
There have been times in my life, as I’m sure there have been times in everyone’s life when you long to hear God but you’re not getting an answer. While getting an answer is a ‘thing’ the bigger issue is our relationship with God. I have fasted, and I have read a lot about fasting. I learned that when I fast and pray, God is close at hand.
I could hear clearly.
I knew God was with me.
I knew I would be protected.
Since fasting brings us closer to God, Satan hates it when we fast and pray. While I was tempted, I was also protected when I fasted.
Jesus knew that as He fasted and relied on God the Father, He would be protected.
Jesus, even God’s own Son set aside time to fast so He could be with God.
While Jesus fasted in the wilderness, Satan tempted Him. We learn when Jesus was tempted in Matthew 4:4, “he answered then and said, “man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.” In the wilderness, Jesus was quoting Deuteronomy 8:3 to the devil. Jesus was using scripture to battle Satan. Quoting scripture is a powerful protective means when we feel tempted or weak.
In Deuteronomy 8:1-3, Moses reminded the children of Israel, “Every commandment which I command you today must be careful to observe, that you may live and multiply, and go in and possess the land of which the Lord swore to your fathers. And you shall remember that the Lord your God led you all the way these forty years in the wilderness, to humble you and test you, to know what was in your heart, whether you would keep His commandments or not. So, He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.”
While the children of Israel were in the wilderness, God was teaching them humility, who they were as a people, and how to follow His commandments. They needed that time to be set apart from the world.
Even though He was God, when Jesus fasted, it was the same. He was humbled, He was tempted which connected Him to God His Father, and He listened.
We learn in Hebrews 5:8, “though He was a son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered.”
Even the Son of God, learned to obey as He fasted and prayed in the wilderness. The word obedience in Greek is hupako’e which means to obey, to submit, or to HEAR.
As He fasted in the wilderness, as he suffered, Jesus learned (in His earthly form) to HEAR.
Fasting is a way to ‘make space’ so we can hear God clearly.
When I was younger, I did not know about all the connectors in scripture about fasting. While I read books about fasting, none of the books made a strong scriptural case for why we fast. Still, in my heart, I fasted because I longed to hear God clearly.
I wanted to be closer to God.
I wanted to HEAR from God.
I believed God would speak to me and I wanted to hear the message clearly.
I am still a student who longs to hear God clearly. Every day when I write, take a photograph, draw an illustration, and study scripture, I listen. I know that nothing I write, nothing I draw, nothing I study is because I am clever or knowledgeable.
I’m just not.
I never wanted to be.
Knowing that, I have always wanted to hear from God.
When I teach and preach about God my reliance on God is complete.
I’ve said before that I did children’s sermons in church for 20 years. Every week on Monday I would start praying about what God wanted me to say the next Sunday. I prayed all week about it. Time after time, no message came but I continued to pray about what God wanted me to say. There were a few times, a very few times, when I knew before church started what God wanted me to say. For many years, I also taught adult Sunday School classes, so I wasn’t able to pray about what the Children’s Sermon should be about. Most of the time, I was walking toward the front as the children came forward when God “gave” me the words He wanted me to speak.
Most of the time, when I stood up to walk up front, I would say to God, “so God, NOW would be a really good time for You to tell me what You want me to say.” A few times, I walked up front, sat down, looked at the faces of the children, took a deep breath, and THEN (and only then) did the words from God come.
But, here’s the thing. They ALWAYS came. God did not EVER fail me.
I learned through that 20 year time period what the Psalmist wrote about in Psalm 116:1-2, “I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my supplications. Because he has inclined His ear to me, therefore I will call on Him for as long as I live.”
I prayed and I waited.
In HIS time, God answered. It really has been my experience that God was never early, but He always provided. I prayed and waited. God provided.
Today’s Spiritual Practice is: Pray and Listen
If there is something you are struggling with or you want to know from God, pray about it and listen. It may take time, but God WILL answer.
In God, Deborah
acrazyjourney.com
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