We've been learning about the continual fast that Jesus walked and God calls His "chosen" fast, from Isaiah 58. This fast God prescribes for His people, is not a fast abstaining from food or drink and isn't the prescribed days of fasting under the old covenant. This chosen fast is based on the cardinal law under the old and new covenant and is based on love.
This fast isn't for the mourning over our sins or a day/week of repenting for our trespasses, but is a continual fast or lifestyle that is based on love for God and our fellow man. Jesus Himself walked and taught this lifestyle to His disciples. He never taught it as a fast, but as the new way of living for His new creation, the Church.
Jesus came to "seek and save that which was lost," according to Luke 19:10. This was of course to bring God's lost family (mankind) back into Himself, born again unto life with the new birth. Jesus also came to restore the intent of man's purpose on and in this earth. Man wasn't the only thing lost in the fall of Adam. We read in Luke 4:5-7 (Amplified), "Then the devil to a high mountain and showed Him all the kingdoms of the habitable world in a moment of time (in the twinkling of an eye) And he said to Him, To You I will give all this power and authority and their glory (and their magnificense, excellence, preeminence, dignity, and grace), for it has been turned over to me, and I give it to whomever I will; Therefore if You will do homage to and worship me (just once), it shall all be Yours."
The only way of bringing back, "seek and save that which was lost," was restoring the love that was turned into lust for things and self. This love would restore man's heart back toward God and one another. Jesus was here to restore the God given authority back into the hands of His family He created by the first Adam. Man was to rule, under God his Father, and have dominion over all things, except man himself. We were to walk, guided by the Spirit of God Himself, and tend the Garden of Eden.
Without God, man fell under satan's dominion, which perverted the love of God into selfishness, greed resulting in poverty for millions, as well as sickness and disease that spread throughout the whole earth. By his walking God's chosen fast, man could once again be connected with Him and the provision that the poor and needy would be given to sustain them, because God Himself would provide for those who would walk this fast. God would ensure that the ones would this fast would always have enough to give and enough for them to live on too.
Many people, both saved and unsaved, have tried doing these things throughout the years, but mostly in their own strength. Many charitable organizations have reached out to the poor and needy, but have been unable to end their suffering. Don't misunderstand what I'm saying. All of these things are good, but there is a place for us to deal with and to walk in this chosen fast for ourselves.
Many charitable organization are continuously giving, but I remember a time when we somehow didn't qualify for help. Agencies determined who would receive and who wouldn't receive their donations and somehow we failed to qualify for the things we greatly needed. We often went without food and heat while growing up in southern Illinois, even with these organizations being established. We got lost in the "big picture" of sending food and clothing by the truckloads to other countries. It's good to give to these charities, but please, don't let your fast end there. Do like Jesus did when He "sought that which was lost." Many times your neighbor can fall upon hard times and need your help. Don't allow what we do in large portions of giving, stop our personal giving and helping.
You might know people who need help, but are unknown to large charitable organizations. We always reach out at such times as Christmas, to assure every child has a gift. Like many churches, we have an Angel Tree, which allows others to buy gifts for local children. These things are good things to do, but what about the remainder of the year?
While walking this fast, God will not only supply our needs, but what we need in order to give. God will use our giving as an opportunity to bring those people to Himself. He can meet their needs and cause them to give of what He gives to them. Our giving becomes a way of delivering others out of their poverty and has made them a living fast to others. Now, God is their source and not you. Now, they've become productive to the Kingdom of God.
There was a woman who worshiped Jesus, just before Passover, in Matthew 26:7-13 (Amplified), which say, "A woman came up to Him with a Alabaster flask of very precious perfume, and she poured it on His head as He recline at the table. And when the disciples saw it, they were indignant, saying, For what purpose is all this waste? For this perfume might have been sold for a large sum and the money given to the poor." Verses 10-13 go on, "But Jesus, fully aware of this, said to them, Why do you bother the woman? She has done a noble (praiseworthy and beautiful) thing to Me. For you always have the poor among you, but you will not always have Me. In pouring this perfume on My body she has done something to prepare Me for My burial. Truly I tell you, where ever this good new (the Gospel) is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will be told also, in memory of her."
This woman's action was a fulfillment of what God called for in Isaiah 58:10 (Amplified) which says, "And if you poor out that with which you sustain your own life for the hungry, and satisfy the need of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in darkness, and your obscurity and gloom become like noonday."
Her "obscurity" and "gloom" certainly became as "noonday." She isn't mentioned by name in the Gospels, but her fame (which was given her by Jesus), certainly lives on in the Word of God. She recognized in Jesus, that which His Own disciples didn't see, His coming death and burial. The disciples were caught up in the "business" of giving to the poor, while she became caught up in the personal attitude of fasting.
Jesus said that, "You always have the poor with you." In other words, Jesus said, "You will always have the opportunity to give to the poor, for all time." This woman had only one chance to do this work of love. God has exalted her because of this one work and has given her public recognition to all who read the Gospels.
The Word doesn't say she was wealthy, but it does say that the perfume she anointed Jesus with, was very expensive. She could have used the money for her own self, but instead she offered it to the "afflicted." If she had or hadn't done this, with God's chosen fast in mind, God chose to see it that way. You might think that what you do in secret will never be seen in public, but God always honors His Word.
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