Is your faith rooted in yourself or have you set your heart firmly on God? Is your faith truly grounded in God? Or do you still try to manipulate God in order to get what you want? Today God is calling us to examine our hearts and minds. Who does rule our hearts?

Then Samuel said to the whole house of Israel , “If you are turning to the LORD with all your heart, then get rid of all the foreign gods and the Astartes you have. Set your heart on the LORD! Worship him only! Then he will deliver you from the Philistines’ power.” So the Israelites got rid of the Baals and the Astartes and worshipped the LORD only.
Next Samuel said, “Assemble all Israel at Mizpah. I will pray to the LORD for you.”
So they assembled at Mizpah, and they drew water and poured it out in the LORD’s presence. They fasted that same day and confessed, “We have sinned against the LORD.” Samuel served as judge of the Israelites at Mizpah. (1 Sam. 7: 3-6, CEB, emphasis added)

We are called to repent anything and everything that takes our focus off God.
We are called to a deep repentance, fasting can help us to abandon the worldly ways.
Do we respond to the call for repentance as the Israelites with fasting and repenting?

Too often we ignore the spiritual discipline of fasting as something legalistic. We should not fast just because we ought to. We are free to do what we want. Fasting does not save us. But the spiritual discipline of fasting as preparation for meeting with the Holy (as seen in 1 Sam. 7:6) is very old.

Fasting helps us to concentrate in the needs of the soul. Too often our bodies are overfed and our souls are starving. Lent provides us an opportunity to fast not only from food but also from habits that are harming our souls.

Fasting helps us to see our dependence on God. Fasting helps us to see that “people don’t live on bread alone. No, they live based on whatever the LORD says.” (Deut 8:3,CEB). We need God. Much more than we’d like to think.

But the more we worship only him, the more we hear his voice.
The more rooted we are in God, the less spiritually malnourished we are.
The more focused we are on God, the more blessed we are.

 

Gracious God,
Thank you for calling us back to you.
We fast and repent. Forgive us!
Set our hearts firmly on you!
Feed us with your Word!
Rule our hearts!
In Jesus’ name,
Amen

Q4U: Who does rule your heart?

Be blessed, my fellow pilgrim, as you make your home in God’s heart!

Giving thanks today for
#171 a chance to repent
#172 the spiritual discipline of fasting
#173 spiritual nourishment for the soul
#174 God who wants us to live in Him
#175 the Bread of Life we have in Jesus
#176 being personally known by God
#177 God’s plans for each of us
#178 lengthening days
#179 the promises of God
#180 the forgiveness of sins

Image courtesy of Marian Trinidad. Linking up today with