Well, we have almost made it a week. I am excited about the Lord's work and want to encourage all of you, at whatever level you are fasting to be strong! I am currently in North Carolina at school for the weekend. It seems to be a little more difficult away from home to stick with the fast, but I find the more I focus on the Lord, the less I think about food. I am so blessed to be His child. I want to draw nearer to Him day by day. I don't want to waste a day where I was not moving closer to my Lord and Savior.
I was reading in Matthew 7 again today and I was struck with how strongly Jesus deals with religiosity in this passage. If you remember, religiosity is one of the strongholds we are praying against over these 21 Days. Its the idea of having some form of religion, but having no living relationship with Jesus Christ. It's trusting in my works to save me or my church attendance record or my good moral upbringing. Religiosity leads to legalism which leads to ostracizing those not like you which leads to hate and hostility.
Religious people many times have logs in their eyes. I believe that log is their high view of their own works, their religion, their pride. They are experts on pointing out specks in the eyes of others. They love to put others down for their shortcomings. Their blinded by their log of pride to the reality of their situation.
The cure for religiosity is humbled brokenness before the Father. Seeking Him wholeheartedly and not trusting in anything we have done or think we can do to obtain His favor. We must lay ourselves out before Him so that He can save us and transform us.
Brad