Improving our Walk with God

Hello Everyone,
The attitude that we can "earn" answers to our prayers because we have gone through the religious motion of fasting is shallow on our part.It’s as if we’re saying God should stop and take notice of our super piety. When we behave this way we have our halos on too tight!What an insult to God! We believe we can "earn" His blessings by our effort.

Here’s what actually happens when we fast and pray for the right reasons. (Fasting and praying is like every other dimension of worship.)

1. We desire a deeper relationship with God so we choose fasting and prayer as one of the options available to us to accomplish that goal.
2. We disassociate ourselves with other things for a while so we can focus more on God. It’s as if we’re saying, "God, I don’t even care about food right now I want to desperately walk in your presence."
3. That’s when we develop a closer walk with God. We begin to "see His face" - which is the way the Word describes our relationship when we draw close to God.
4. Walking more closely to God brings about a transformation in our character. Fasting and prayer doesn’t change God - it changes us!
5. We’re now transformed to the place God can bless us with answers to our prayers.

Where before we weren’t able to receive certain things - now we are!

We were like a bucket that had a hole in it but it has been repaired and now it can be used to carry something.When we walk and talk with God great things happen in our lives!Our relationships with others improve.

That’s because as we walk with God we become more like Him who treats others right.This wasn’t happening in Isaiah’s day.And it wasn’t happening in Jesus’ day either.

"How terrible it will be for you teachers of the law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are careful to tithe even the tiniest part of your income, but you ignore the important things of the law - justice, mercy, faith. You should tithe, yes, but you should not leave undone the important things." (Matthew 23:23 NLT)

Jesus could have said the same thing about fasting. [After all Jesus said, "When you fast", not "if you fast." (Matthew 6:16)]

"You should fast, yes, but you should not leave undone the other important things."
· It’s important to help the needy.
· It’s important to treat others fairly.
· It’s important to be kind to others and try to get along with one another.

How can we improve in these areas? We can improve in these areas by improving our walk with God.

All for Jesus
Phil