Rend Your Heart: Time for a Reset
We fast for several reasons: to show our love for God, to press in for a breakthrough in our lives, to devote ourselves to prayer, and to increase our faith. However, we can sometimes become skewed in our outlook and we forget the reason we started. Today, God wants to do a spiritual reset. First, why does God call us to fast?
Isaiah 58:6-12 ESV
6 “Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of wickedness,
to undo the straps of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry
and bring the homeless poor into your house;
when you see the naked, to cover him,
and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?
8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up speedily;
your righteousness shall go before you;
the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.
9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer;
you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’
If you take away the yoke from your midst,
the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry
and satisfy the desire of the afflicted,
then shall your light rise in the darkness
and your gloom be as the noonday.
11 And the Lord will guide you continually
and satisfy your desire in scorched places
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters do not fail.
12 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt;
you shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
you shall be called the repairer of the breach,
the restorer of streets to dwell in.
Fasting is about the heart. God was never concerned with having sacrifices piled up in the Temple simply for the sake of an outward show. He was concerned with the hearts of His people and that they had a way to be reconciled to him. Obviously, the cost of sin is very great, so great that we could never pay it. No amount of bulls or sheep can cover that cost. Only the perfect Lamb could do that. In the same way, God was never concerned with people’s outward show of fasting and devotion. He was concerned with the heart.
Fasting for Freedom
In Matthew 17, we read a story of a boy who was healed from demon possession. This story gives us some keen insights into the reason for fasting:
Matthew 17:14-21 NKJV
14 And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.”
17 Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour.
19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”
20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
Fasting increases our faith. It is to release freedom, as Isaiah the prophet talked about in Isaiah chapter 58. Some things only shift and move in the spirit realm with prayer AND fasting. Isaiah wasn’t just talking about an outward show of fasting, which is so easy to slip into. We as humans want so badly to look good in front of others, but we often miss the heart of the matter in our pursuits. Our hearts grow cold and hard, riddled with concern over “looking righteous”, all the while, we become “white-washed tombs”.
Perhaps you think this harsh. It is a slow fade from being passionately on fire for God and cold and dead on the inside. What must we do to make sure our hearts are in the fasting?
Fasting to Reset Priorities
Joel 2:12-14 ESV
12 “Yet even now,” declares the Lord,
“return to me with all your heart,
with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning;
13and rend your hearts and not your garments.”
Return to the Lord your God,
for he is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love;
and he relents over disaster.
14 Who knows whether he will not turn and relent,
and leave a blessing behind him,
a grain offering and a drink offering
for the Lord your God?
In ancient times, when a person was in mourning, they would rend—or rip—their clothes to show the depth of their emotion. It was an outward sign to others that they were grieving. The people of Israel could show all the outward signs of mourning and grief over sin, but their hearts were “far from God” (Matthew 15:8-9). In Joel 2, God was pleading with the people to return to Him with their whole hearts, not just with offerings of religious duty. Actions truly do speak louder than words, but when the actions are disconnected from our hearts, they might as well be empty words. When we fast, we must make sure our hearts are connected. If you stray, simply ask the Lord to reignite your passion and focus for Him. Fasting is for Jesus, as an act of worship to Him. So, rend your hearts and not your garments comes with a connotation of true, devoted, passionate worship for the Lord.
Fasting as Worship Him
You don’t have to say a word to anyone that you are fasting. It is to be a private, set-aside worship for Him and Him alone.
Matthew 6:16-18 NKJV
16 “Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
When we purpose to set ourselves aside for the Lord, we are storing up a reward. Do you know the amazing thing? Jesus is our reward! We are storing up the treasure of deeper, more intimate relationship with Him. He is our first love! Fasting resets our hearts to look to Jesus first, and to love Him with all our hearts.
