While reading about God's chosen fast in Isaiah 58, we discover the difference between man's idea of a fast and God's idea of a fast. Man fasted as a way of obtaining God's attention to petition Him for whatever they needed. Walking in and living in God's chosen fast would result in His always hearing our prayers. Man fasted to gain an audience with God.
The Lord has always been involved in taking care of His children, man though, has not. Our helping others is God's way of revealing His heart to people and bring them to Himself. God has always been involved in bringing the lost into covenant with Him.
When God brought us into covenant with Himself, we were to show forth His mercy to the unsaved, in order to reveal His love for them. We were to minister from our abundance of His provision, to those who had need and bring them into covenant with Him. Then, as the people saw God's love through us, it would cause them to believe and receive His covenant. We were never to show partiality between poor or rich, old or young, male or female. We were to show His love to all, just like He did for us. Everyone was to be brought into His love and brought to see Who He is. The only exception in God's impartial fast, was that we were never to receive their gods into our lives.
There are those in today's world system, who don't understand this kind of fasting or loving. The acceptance for others that we're to have in this fast, doesn't not include bring their gods and idols into our lives, but bringing them to our God and His covenant. Many in the world's system believe that we are preaching a Gospel of hate, because we do not accept their gods and their way of living into our covenant.
The world will never cease from persecuting the Church, as long as we remain firm in our "One Way Truth." The love walk found in Isaiah 58 is the showing God's mercy. God's chosen fast though, means loving Him first and foremost. Today, the world is pushing hard for the Church of Christ to accept all other ways and to present all other gods as being equal to our Jesus. This is not what God's love is all about. God says that, "You shall no other gods before Me" and "Jesus is the Only Way to get to heaven." Our walk is for bringing the unsaved to Jesus, through our love for them. And, we're not to compromise our walk with God and make Him just "another god."
The world's idea of love includes the acceptance of all religions. God's love is the only way that can save mankind. God would have brought even the Egyptians out in the Exodus, if they had received Him. This is clearly seen in Exodus 22:20-21 (Amplified) which says, "He who sacrifices to any god but the Lord only shall be utterly destroyed. You shall not wrong a stranger or oppress him; for you were strangers in the land of Egypt."
As Christians, we are not to "oppress" the unsaved, because we were once unsaved too. But, we are not to accept the gods of the unsaved or their way of worship, in our walk. The world is trying its best to say that Jesus is "just another way" instead of His being THE WAY. When we walk in the world's idea of love, we lose the truth of what Love really is.
I've heard many sermons taught today, about how we should "accept anything and everything, regardless of who or what is believed." That's the world's idea of what love is and not God's It's true that God will accept any and all who will receive Jesus as the Lamb slain for the forgiveness of sin and to restore us back to the Father. No other god can do this and no other god is true. The "accept everything" message that's being preached and accepted in many of today's churches, is not really the Good News, but is a lie being perpetrated to remove Jesus as being "The Way, the Truth, and the Life" and the Only way to the Father.
We must abide in God's way of love and not be caught up in the world's way of love. Man continues to try becoming his own redeemer without God, like Adam did in the Garden of Eden. This might sound good to man's carnal ears, but it isn't what God has called us to.
We have so misunderstood the love of God and have missed what and why, He has set certain things into motion. Although we are no longer under the Law, but under grace, doesn't mean we overlook and dismiss the things of the old covenant. When God made stipulations concerning His people, He did so for a reason and He did so out of love. God brought us into His life, by separating us from the world's gods, because any other way led to man's death and destruction.
The Isaiah 58 fast meant separating our walk from the world and not compromising with the world. We are to reveal that God is the Only True God, through our love in this lifestyle of fasting. We're not to be like the world, but to who them Who God is, through our walk. Jesus didn't pray to take us out of the world, but to "keep us," while we are in the world.
God made some stipulations for His people in Leviticus 20, that we have seemingly ignored. These stipulations concerned such things as abortion, marriage, familiar spirits and other gods, but many in the Church consider these things as being insignificant or have no bearing for today. We, the Church, are supposed to be the light and salt to the earth and not to refrain from what God said, only to do things our own way.
We wonder how America got to be in the mess she's in today. She got that way because the Church hasn't done what God intended for it to do. A single atheistic woman took prayer out of our schools, while the Church remained silent. We crafted excuses for being impotent in our authority over the darkness. We've even preached from the pulpits, that "Christians don't get involved in political things because they are worldly." It was supposed to be the Christians who made the Laws of the Land that were based on God's Word.
The Church has been so involved with infighting over doctrines and traditions, and hasn't been constructive in revealing Jesus, in His truth, to the world. Jesus said that, "A house divided cannot stand." We've allowed the world to divide His Church by denominations, doctrines, religions. We've been arrogant, ignorant and prideful, to the point where the world makes us a laughing stock.
It's true that we are growing out of some of our baby Christian ways and are waking up. We have a job to do in these last days and are facing things that haven't been seen before, but we're to usher in the return of Jesus, in great power and glory.
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