| “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide yourself from your own flesh? Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard.” (Isaiah 58:6-8) Calvary greetings of Christ love to all our distinguished and regular visitors to our site. And if this is your first visit, you are most welcome to ‘Heaven on Earth platform’ of AIMUFUA WORLD OUTREACH. Why ‘Heaven on Earth platform? Because it is one platform that teaches the way to have a blissful life on Earth. You would enjoy Heaven on earth if you knew that it is within your creative power. You know it’s so easy for many to shy away from using their God given power to manifest their goods. They would rather prefer to pray and pray and pray to God to give to them what God has given them power to create. And when nothing happens, they would change the gear to fasting. When three days dry fasting does not bring desired results, they would switch to seven days, then to twenty-one days and so on and so forth until somewhere along the line, some compromise their health through protracted fasting in the name of looking for ‘Heavenly bliss on earth. Is fasting bad then? Not at all? As long as it helps you to identify your power in God. Fasting is not an end but a means to an end. For example, fasting cannot put food on your table. But it can help you to come to terms with yourself to know what to do about putting food on your table. If you doubt me take a fast of twenty-one days. Then lock yourself in after, doing nothing but just sleeping and watching movies and expecting manners to fall from heaven. In 99.1% of the cases such a fast is wasted because only 0.091 is left for supernatural intervention. However, if during a fast you are able to connect with God and you get a rhema in form of a direction, a strategy, an idea, an understanding or a spiritual knowledge, that becomes your power for creating your ‘Heaven on Earth.” That way fasting becomes a means to an end and not an end in itself. In which case you have 99.1% to create your blessings while leaving the 0.091 to supernatural intervention which is only God’s prerogative. In other words God will not give you a blessing He’s already given you the power to create. WHAT THEN IS THE REAL DEAL ABOUT FASTING? Again, let’s read the Scriptural text above from the Message Bible: “This is the kind of fast day I’m after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. What I’m interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families. Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage.” (Isaiah 58:6-8) MESSAGE BIBLE. My beloved, the scriptures above are explicitly comprehensible, thanks to the Message Bible. They reveal a dimensional shift in fasting. While the fast most people are used to is more on the physical plane, that is denial of the body of food for a specific period of time, this other kind of fast is one that boarders on the sacrifice given that will immediately lighten up a distressed person. It is a most selfless kind of fast because at the point of the fast you are losing something while the recipient is gaining something, hence it is a sacrifice. When you do the ‘deny the body food’ kind of fast, it’s all about solving your own problem. But in this other kind of fast you are concerned about another whose need you are ready to meet not minding the inconveniences the action may cause you. While the regular fast is geared towards solving your personal problems, this other kind is geared towards solving God’s problems. Yes! God has problems: The deprived sick people, the deprived old folks, the suddenly demobilized as a result of accident, the orphans, the widows are all God’s problems. Unfortunately, God cannot reach them one on one because He is a spirit. So what does He do? He looks around for people He can trust to make channels of blessing. Jesus threw more light on this phenomenal shift in fasting in Matthew 25:31-40: “When he finally arrives, blazing in beauty and all his angels with him, the Son of Man will take his place on his glorious throne. Then all the nations will be arranged before him and he will sort the people out, much as a shepherd sorts out sheep and goats, putting sheep to his right and goats to his left. “Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Enter, you who are blessed by my Father! Take what’s coming to you in this kingdom. It’s been ready for you since the world’s foundation. And here’s why: I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was homeless and you gave me a room, I was shivering and you gave me clothes, I was sick and you stopped to visit, I was in prison and you came to me.’ “Then those ‘sheep’ are going to say, ‘Master, what are you talking about? When did we ever see you hungry and feed you, thirsty and give you a drink? And when did we ever see you sick or in prison and come to you?’ Then the King will say, ‘I’m telling the solemn truth: Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me—you did it to me.” (MESSAGE BIBLE) When Jesus said “I was hungry and you fed me, I was thirsty and you gave me a drink, I was hungry and you gave me food,” etc He was summarily saying “I had a problem and you solved it.” In my own opinion this kind of fast, solving problems for others is superior to the regular type of denying the body food. Why, you may want to ask? Because God condemned it in Isaiah 58:2-5 But they also complain: “why do we fast and you don’t look our way? Why do we humble ourselves and you don’t even notice? Well, here’s why: “The bottom line on your ‘fast days’ is profit. You drive your employees much too hard. You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight. You fast, but you swing a mean fist. The kind of fasting you do won’t get your prayers off the ground. Do you think this is the kind of fast day I’m after: a day to show off humility? To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black? Do you call that fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like? (MESSAGE BIBLE) It is clear from the scriptures above that God’s children became hypocritical about the regular fast, to “fulfil all righteousness’ as Jesus would say. My dearly Beloved, it’s time for a paradigm shift for the natural fast of denying your body food to the supernatural fast of denying yourself some comfort and convenience to solve someone else’s problems. This is a more profitable fast. It is affordable and possible. The beauty of it is that it is not always about money. Outside of money there are so many other things to share: time, care, love company, food, clothes and so on and so forth. This is what we know in Aimufua World Outreach that passionately drives us. I invite you to join the train. Let’s do the much we can do while we have the time. The question you must ask yourself daily is “Have I done any good in the world today? You may also want to join force with us in cash or in kind. Feel free to do so through our contact. Until I have another message to share, keep adding new colors to the world around you and you the light giver will shine ever brightly brighter, in Jesus Name. Amen. God bless you. Pstraf. |
| Pastor Raph |