Fasting Part 7

In preparation for the Easter fast coming up this weekend, I am continuing this series on fasting. I hope it will be informative and encouraging for you and that you will join me and others in abstaining from food following the Good Friday worship service and continuing until after the Easter morning worship service. (Coffee and water are acceptable)

As we look into the spiritual discipline of fasting, especially a church-wide fast, it would behoove us to take a little spiritual inventory.

How are we doing as individuals and as a church in our spiritual walk with the Lord?  Where are we falling short?

In a proper fast we invite the Holy Spirit into the mix, imploring Him to show us our sins, so that we may confess them and repent of them. This is the sackcloth and ashes portion of fasting and praying.  Don’t blow this off! Take as long as necessary! Use the Ten Commandments and the Word of God as a measuring stick for you and your church.

To make the point, let’s spend some time looking at the fast found in the first two chapters of the Book of Nehemiah.

First, a little background for you.. The Jews had been carried off into captivity by Babylon for 70 years. When Persia defeated Babylon, king Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild  the temple in the year 536 B.C.  Now they once again had a place to worship.

But guess what? 70 years is a long time without a church and the people didn’t know how to worship. They didn’t know how to live in accordance with the Word of God!  So, a second wave of exiles returned,  led by a man named Ezra in 457 B.C. who had “set his heart to study the Law of the Lord and to do it and to teach His statutes and rules in Israel.” ( Ezra 7:10)

Evidently, Ezra’s message was not received whole-heartedly and by the year 444 B.C. the city (let’s call it the church) was a mess. The believers, their religion, and by inference, their God had become a laughingstock to those around them,  and that’s where we pick up the story.

In Neh 1:3, we read that the wall of Jerusalem was broken down and it's gates destroyed by fire.”  Hmmm, what are city walls and gates for? Well, the walls are for protection from any and all enemies, and the gates are a way of controlling who enters the city and who doesn’t. And they were gone, broken down, burned with fire. This meant that the people of Jerusalem had no protection from the influences of the world.

We don’t like to talk about this but in many ways, the church of Jesus Christ today has become like this city of Jerusalem. The walls are down! There is no separation between the world and the church, and who needs gates, when we buy into the mantra of the world which says, “all roads lead to God.”  How dare anyone insist that Jesus is the only way to salvation!

The church has in many ways become the influenced, rather than the influencer. The salt has lost it's saltiness.

I know this kind of examination is painful, but come on folks! Look around! The walls are down! The gates are burned!  There’s not much difference between the church and the world. Doesn’t this bother you?

How much does it bother you? Does it bother you as much as it bothered Nehemiah? Does it bother you enough to give up lunch? Does it bother you enough to fast in order to invite the power of God into the situation? 

How did Nehemiah react to the broken down walls and gates? Look at Neh 1:4,   “As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven.

In this Easter fast, take some time for honest personal and corporate examination of our behaviors. And where we fall short. Let us confess, repent, and pray! Ask God to help us rebuild our walls and strengthen our gates, so that we once again become that “city on a hill,” and a “light unto the world.”

Father, open our eyes stir our hearts, come and help us rebuild the walls and gates of Your church for Your glory!