It's Not Just One and Done

# 292 – We are continuing a series on fasting. As we have seen, this spiritual discipline is not just for Old Testament believers. Last time we talked about the role of fasting and moving mountains. A man had approached the disciples and asked them to cast the demon out of his boy. But they couldn't do it, and Jesus reminded them that they needed to fast and pray in order to tackle such a big mountain. The disciples were perplexed. Had they not just gone out and healed people of their diseases and cast out demons….why couldn’t they do it for this father and his boy? And the answer is your spiritual victories of yesterday are not going to give you victories over your mountains of today. You can’t dwell on your past laurels.   Oh, they should remind you of the power of God and what He can do when it is released in your life. But in the matter of spiritual disciplines, you don’t just give to the poor once and expect that to carry over for the rest of your life. You don’t engage in private prayer once and think you’re finished. You don’t just fast once for victory and then forget about it.   These are disciplines. They need to become a regular part of your spiritual life.   Far too often, we Christians try these spiritual disciplines for a little while and if we don’t get our desired results, we throw in the towel. Or we may decide that we can manage our mountains in our own strength. We decide to co-exist with them……..or we decide the fights over, friend….that is rebellion.   The children of Israel were denied entrance into the promised land because they didn’t believe God would help them conquer the giants of the land, and God called their refusal, “rebellion.” (Numbers 14:9)  Got a mountain that needs to be removed? Don’t throw in the towel. Keep at it.   If you’ve ever tried to bust down a concrete wall  with a sledgehammer, you know full well that it doesn’t come down with the first lick.  You gotta hit it repeatedly. Wham! Wham Wham! And pretty soon some chips begin to fly. Wham! Wham! Wham! Pretty soon a hairline crack will show up! Wham Wham! Wham! And eventually that whole wall, that whole mountain will come tumbling down!   That’s the way it is with these spiritual disciplines. Don’t give up folks. Get started and keep at it, until you get the breakthrough. Use the tools God has given you! Purpose in your heart to practice the discipline of fasting. Praying with your body, in order to call God into your situation. Father, forgive me for those times I weary, grant me a persistent attitude against the mountains in my life.