Offering Ourselves to Jesus.

So if you have your Bibles today, you can pull open to Isaiah 58. That's going to be our anchoring text.

Today we are starting a new series. Amazing. Here's my notes. Wow, yay for iPads not crashing. Otherwise we might have been here for two hours just chatting away. But okay, so we are starting a new series today on fasting as offering ourselves to Jesus. And as we enter into this series on fasting, it's to prepare us for the season of Lent that is coming up in just a few weeks. Lent is the 40 days leading up to Easter, and this is something our church has practiced for many years.

I wanted to take some time before we get there to talk more specifically and intentionally about the practice of fasting. For some of you, this may have been part of your practices growing up in church. A lot of churches do this at different times of the year, or maybe this is something that's brand new to you. And wherever you're at with that, I want to invite you, even this morning, as we look at the text, as we look at what God's word says, what Jesus said, what Jesus did, to just be open, and to even now say, Holy Spirit, I'm open to you. We sang about that and prayed that this morning, saying we want to see heaven come in us and through us, and we want more of you, God.

Let's just be open to what the Lord might be inviting us into today. You're going to hear us talk about things like our rule of life here at New Culture. We talk often about this idea of practice, practicing the ways of Jesus, because we believe that when we say yes to following Jesus, that's just the beginning of this lifelong relationship, this process of transformation into becoming more and more like him every single day. So the invitation today is for us to be willing to start somewhere, to say, God, what might you have me do today, and to show up and practice that.

We have a few different resources for these next few weeks. We're following along with some resources from Practicing the Way, and we have some printed guides out there, but we're also going to have a QR code that will link to the one online. We're following this series because they have incredible resources on different ways we can practice fasting together. So if you're at New Culture College, or if you're in community groups, this is what we're going to be talking about for the next few weeks, practicing fasting together as we prepare to fast for a longer period during Lent. Sound good?

So as we talk about fasting, this is one of my love-hate topics to talk about, if I'm being completely honest. The idea of fasting, I'm like, yes, this is amazing, and also I still hate it to this day. There are moments where it's so good and so powerful, and practically it's really, really hard. When I first started fasting, my church would do it usually at the beginning of the year. We'd do the first 21 days of the new year as fasting and prayer, all this stuff. And to be honest, my whole life I did things and then later I'm like, man, I was just dumb in the way that I did things, because fasting to me for so many years was, okay, I'm going to pick something that I'm going to go without. And then I would just be miserable for 21 days.

I think this is where a lot of people get stuck with fasting: if we only see fasting as a way to starve our flesh and we neglect to also fill our spirit, we're just being stupid. That's just lame. That's not going to get us anywhere. We're just going to be miserable and we're going to hate the practice of fasting even more. Fasting is both starving our flesh and feeding our spirit.

Fasting is a practice where we go without so that we can grow our hunger for the Lord. It is not just starving our flesh from food or social media or TV or whatever that might be for you, but it's an intentional time to say, God, we are choosing to go without so that we can grow our hunger and grow our dependence on you, Jesus. That's what we're talking about today. So we're going to get into the practicals. But before we do that, I want to read from Matthew 6, verse 16, where Jesus talks about fasting.

This is in the middle of chapter six, where he's talking about seeking first the kingdom of heaven, about prayer, and all of these things. And then he addresses fasting directly. He says:

When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen, and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Matthew 6:16-18

This is going to be one of our anchoring texts for the next few weeks, the long one that we're going to read today. If you have your Bibles, pull open to Isaiah 58. This is going to be where we center a lot of our conversation, because Jesus is talking at this time to his disciples. He's talking to people, and when he says "when you fast," not "if you fast," it's because fasting was part of their practices. Not only for the people who were there at that time, in first-century Judaism, but this was something in the Old Testament as well.

True fasting, in Isaiah 58

So in this text here in Isaiah 58, it's titled in my Bible "True Fasting," where God is addressing, through the prophet Isaiah, saying, this is the fasting that I'm looking for. So, deep breaths, a long passage. Holy Spirit, speak, because this is a gift we get every time we open the word of God, to hear his voice. So Lord, would you speak through this text today. We want to hear you, God. Isaiah 58 says:

Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. For day after day they seek me out, they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. Why have we fasted, they say, and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed? Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter, when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear. Then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer. You will cry for help, and he will say, here am I. If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always. He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations. You will be called repairer of broken walls, restorer of streets with dwellings. If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord. And I will cause you to ride in triumph on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Isaiah 58:1-14

Can we do this today? Can we take a moment and just stand one more time? As we go into this text, if you're comfortable, just hold your hands out in a posture of willing to receive. I just want to invite the Lord to speak through this text today.

So God, we just thank you so much for your word. We thank you that as we read this today, we know that you are speaking to us. And so God, as we stand here with our bodies in this posture of surrender, we do surrender to you, Jesus, to your Holy Spirit. Would this text just speak? Would it move us closer to you, closer to your heart, closer to your kingdom? You are so welcome here, Holy Spirit. Holy Spirit, would you come, in Jesus' name we pray, amen.

You can be seated. There's so much to this passage of scripture, so much in the words we just read, but it all comes back to this idea: these people were fasting, but there was something missing from their fast. Fasting should always be a way that we are, first and foremost, offering ourselves fully to Jesus and to his mission. In order to do that, it means we are laying down everything else, any agendas we have, any desires we have. Fasting is one of the ways we join Jesus in offering our bodies to God as a sacrifice of praise, a sacrifice of worship. When we look at this passage, fasting is both this ancient practice, but also something incredibly formative.

Fasting reveals what we depend on

I want to give a brief overview here. The first time we see fasting really mentioned is in Exodus, with Moses. Moses has this encounter with God, and he fasts for 40 days on Mount Sinai. Then God invites all of Israel to fast on the Day of Atonement. Throughout the Old Testament we see that Moses had times of fasting, David had times of fasting, Esther had times of fasting. This is a very biblical, formative practice all throughout the Old Testament.

We see this pattern, and as we enter into Lent, we are modeling that Jesus spent 40 days in the wilderness fasting. People at the time would have known this was modeling what Moses did, spending 40 days fasting. We read about Jesus in Luke chapters three and four, at his baptism. It says heaven opens up, the Spirit descends on him like a dove, and then he is led into the wilderness to fast and pray and seek the Father. So we fast because, well, Jesus fasted, and we want to be like Jesus. And then he tells us to fast.

All of this models what we first see in Moses, in Exodus 24, and again in 34, where Moses ascends the mountain and the glory of God falls on him. So he has this encounter with God, and his response is to offer himself and fast. But before we dive even deeper, I want to be clear that when we talk about fasting, there are some things fasting is not.

Like I mentioned earlier, it's not just starving ourselves of something, and then saying, whoa, I went 40 days without TikTok. That's great, but what else? Fasting is not just a way for us to get more jewels on our crown, or badges. I did grow up in a church where we got badges for doing things, and it was awesome, but sorry, we don't have a badge at the end of this. It's a way for us to offer ourselves to God. It's not a punishment. It's not a way that we earn God's love. It's not a test of spiritual toughness, can you do it. It's not just going without. But fasting does reveal a lot of things for us. Fasting reveals what we depend on.

Fasting reveals where we run and turn for comfort. And more than anything, fasting is going to reveal to us what controls us at the end of the day. This is one of the most powerful things we see as we fast: we notice what we depend on. What is holding control over our hearts, over our minds? I want to dive a little deeper into some psychological definitions of dependence, and what this looks like in our lives.

When we think about dependence, it's referring to this pattern of relying on anything outside ourselves for comfort, to regulate our sense of safety, to give us a sense of identity. That's what we're talking about when we talk about dependence. So if you decide to go without social media, or if you go without food, you become well aware of what your body depends on. If anyone here is a coffee drinker, you learn pretty quickly, when you're in a space where you don't have coffee, what your body depends on. I remember the first time, years ago, I was like, I don't have an addiction. I don't have an addiction.

You've probably heard me say this before if you've been around, but my mom, one of the things we've maybe gotten in the biggest fight about in our life, I was like, you have to stop saying this. We'll literally be out in public places, and she'll say, we have to get going, Abbie has an addiction we have to go take care of. And I was like, Mom, you can't say that.

What she's referencing is, I need coffee. I was like, you cannot say that, Mom, you can't just tell everyone I have an addiction. Until I realized, when I don't have coffee one morning, I was like, oh shoot, I have an addiction. I have a dependence on something my body feels it cannot survive without. So since then, we go through periods of going without, so we're no longer dependent. But this is the idea: when you remove something like that, you learn pretty quickly what you depend on once it's removed from your life. Dependences are things that regulate us, that control us, that stabilize us, that give us a sense of identity.

And there's a difference here. There are so many things in life that God designed for enjoyment, that we then turn into dependence. This is why fasting is such a crucial part of our apprenticeship, our walking with Jesus, our being formed into the likeness of Jesus. There are so many things. You'll also hear me talk about how I think food is one of the greatest gifts God has given us, to delight in food, to delight in the deliciousness of flavors coming together. It's beautiful. But even food, anything, should be an addition, something for us to enjoy, not a dependence we need to get through our day-to-day life.

So we have to be careful and cautious. This is why fasting is such a formative practice for us: going through seasons of denying our flesh things so that we can continue to grow our dependence on Jesus and what he has for us. Fasting reveals dependence.

Here are some things you can expect when you fast, especially from food. Some of us have been doing this together for years, where if you show up to my community group on a Tuesday night, we're all coming into the kitchen saying, is it time to eat? Is it time to eat? A little more irritable, like, I'm so angry right now, give us the food. Fasting reveals that irritability. All of a sudden you might feel anxiety surfacing. These cravings are intensifying. It's revealing to us all the ways that we depend on different things. And that discomfort, it's information for us. The discomfort is always telling us something. It shows us what has been carrying more emotional weight than we even maybe realized.

Offering ourselves as a living sacrifice

So our takeaway, I mentioned this: fasting is the way we follow Jesus, offering ourselves to him and his mission. This is a way we're following Jesus and offering ourselves to him and his mission. So fasting, when we offer ourselves to Jesus through fasting, it's saying, Jesus, you are my source. Jesus, I trust you. Jesus, I want to grow my dependence on you alone.

In Romans 12, Paul writes:

Offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God.

Romans 12:1

I think even today, why I just feel like we need to stand for a moment, is because this practice of fasting is such a bodily offering to God. It's something where we are engaging our whole selves in this process of saying, Jesus, I want to relate to you, I want to be close to you, I want to deny my flesh so I can make more room for you. It is a way for us to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice.

Notice Paul doesn't say, offer your prayers, as a sacrifice. He doesn't say, offer your beliefs, as a sacrifice. Because there comes a point in our walk with Jesus where our thoughts and beliefs are just not enough. Fasting is something where you will grow closer to God internally. But even as we'll continue to see in Isaiah, it was never meant to be just for personal transformation.

Just like Jesus, he didn't just come to walk with people for a short time, but to offer himself as a living sacrifice, so that people could experience the fullness of his presence for the rest of eternity. So when we're fasting, we're offering ourselves to Jesus, and Jesus is going to meet you. You are going to grow closer to him. But the internal transformation is just the start, and should always lead to justice. It should always lead to the kind of fasting where we are laying down our lives for other people.

It's an all-in offering to the Lord as we fast in this way. Whenever we talk about things like this with Paul, there are these big statements, like, offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, and if you just read that out of context, you think, what does that mean? If you didn't grow up in the church world and you're still new to scripture, you're probably thinking, what does it mean to offer our bodies as a living sacrifice? Well, with everything, we don't look at Jesus' life and interpret it through scripture. We interpret all of scripture through the life of Jesus.

Paul lived after the days of Jesus. He's writing this, and we interpret it through the lens of Jesus. Paul is referencing what Jesus did, where Jesus physically laid down his life. Jesus prayed for people. He believed all the things, right? He was Jesus, fully human, fully divine. But more than that, he offered his body as a living sacrifice.

When we step away from comfort, step away from what might be easy, the things that might sustain us in the moment, we are stepping more into who we were created to be, sons and daughters, children of the living God, created to bear his image and continue his mission on this side of eternity. But here's the reality of fasting, and over the next couple weeks we're going to go more into it. We're going to talk about growing in holiness and all these beautiful things. But here's the thing: fasting doesn't always feel good, but fasting doesn't create weakness in our life, it really just reveals it. It reveals the ways we are desiring more of the Lord. It reveals the ways we are lacking intimacy and connection. And that's good, because if we don't know, if we just keep trying to numb the pain and ignore it, it doesn't mean it doesn't exist, it just means we can't see it. And if we can't see it, if we can't name it, if we can't bring it before the Lord, how are we going to expect it to change, and for us to be transformed?

So part of this process is us taking a step back and denying our flesh, to say, what's going on here? God, would you reveal the discomfort? Would you reveal the ways I am trying to numb the pain, the ways I am acting avoidant, the ways I keep trying to fill myself with anything else other than you, so that I know the areas I need to surrender, and I need to let you come in and change and heal and restore. That's what we're doing. Fasting is also going to align us with the kingdom.

Aligned with the kingdom

It's going to align us with the kingdom. I love some of what we see here at the end of Isaiah, where it says we'll be called repairer of broken walls, restorer of streets with dwellings. Verse 13 says, if you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way. That line right there, by not going your own way, and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, is one of my favorite things.

One of my friend's churches told me a couple years ago, they did a week where part of their fasting practice was saying, this week we're going to fast from any idle words, talking negatively, any negative thinking, any negative talk. Can you imagine what that would do for us, if we said we're going to go a week not just avoiding gossip, because I think we all know we shouldn't do that, but any negative thoughts, any negative talk, just, no, we're not doing it. We're giving it up. This is what the Lord is saying: I don't want your fasting if you're also going to stay in this negative mindset, if you're also talking idle and living falsely, if you're also gossiping, if you're not honoring all the other things. He wants it to be pure and holy. Then you will find your joy in the Lord, and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and feast on the inheritance of your father, Jacob. This is what God is talking about here.

As we fast, we will be aligned with the kingdom. We're choosing kingdom over comfort. We're choosing God's people and seeking his justice over any temporary pleasures, choosing to sacrificially love rather than just consume and consume and consume. This is alignment with the kingdom. This is what Jesus is talking about here. It comes to the point of saying, okay, we can have the best beliefs, we can even be doing all the right religious practices, but if that's not leading us to repentance, leading us to kingdom alignment, where we're now being people who are restoring the streets with dwellings, then we've missed it. We've just starved our flesh, gotten more hangry and irritable, the anxiety bubbling, and we've missed the point. God is concerned not only that we fast, but how we fast.

In Isaiah, he's talking to people who are already fasting. So we're beyond the question of should we, as Christians, fast. Yes. Jesus too, he's talking to his disciples who are fasting. The question isn't should we fast, but how do we go about fasting so that we're not just going without, but growing closer to Jesus and more in alignment with his mission. Here's what was happening in Isaiah 58.

They were fasting while ignoring the injustice happening around them. They were fasting while neglecting the poor around them. They were fasting while their priority was protecting their comfort. Can I remind us again, on this side of eternity our goal is not just to be comfortable and feel peace at all times. Our call is to know that because of Jesus and the Holy Spirit within us, we can step into discomfort and bring peace. We can step into dark places and bring light, because we recognize we are not the source of it, so we don't have to stress, we don't have to carry the anxiety, we don't have to feel the weight of the pressure. There's a lightness that comes with it, but there's also an authority and a call and an invitation: we're not supposed to just be comfortable all the time, but to intentionally step into those uncomfortable, unjust places, and be the people of peace, the presence of Jesus, and the hope of eternity that lives within us.

This is our call today. This is what the people were missing. And this is what I don't want us to miss as we go into this season of fasting. 1 John 3 says:

When Christ appears, we shall be like him. All who have this hope in him purify themselves.

1 John 3:2-3

The purifying, this hit me in such a tangible way. I was in a conversation with a friend, and all of a sudden it hit me. This is the difference: when we see ourselves as the source, if we rely on ourselves, there's so much pressure. If I know I have to fix things, I have to do things, there's so much pressure. But when I see myself as the vessel, and I just need to stay pure, stay empty, there's a lightness that comes with that, because I know there is a source I can trust, and my job is to get all the nasty stuff in my life out of the way, to practice repentance and walk more closely into the likeness of Jesus. And as we do that, his Spirit is going to flow through us. We are not the source. We are the vessels. Fasting is a way we practice removing anything standing in the way of the Spirit of God flowing through us, so that we can see his kingdom come.

We can stand and say we are the repairers of broken walls, the restorers of streets with dwellings, that his presence is going to flow through us. This is the type of fasting God chooses: loosen the chains of injustice, set the oppressed free, share your food with the hungry, provide shelter for the poor, clothe the naked. Biblical fasting is never just about giving things up. It's always about giving ourselves to God.

A practical invitation to fast

If fasting only turns us inward, it hasn't gone far enough. I'm going to invite the worship team to come up as we get ready to close today. As we look at this, so much of fasting is following the mission of Jesus, when he called his disciples and said, now go and do likewise. This is what we get to do, we get to not just be passive observers, but active participants in seeing his kingdom come.

Fasting forms us into people who don't just believe the gospel, but are ready to embody it. And there's a difference, because a lot of people can say, yeah, I believe in the gospel, and that's one thing, and it's a very important thing, but it's a whole other thing to say I'm willing to embody it. And that is the hope we offer the world.

As we prepare for Lent, and we have some time, so we'll keep you posted, one of the things I really felt pulled toward for us to do as a community: yes, we're going to talk about going without, and this is a plug that if you're in a community group we'll be talking about this together, or if you have a forum partner, someone you meet with every week to talk about your practices and becoming like Jesus, talk about this. If you're not in either one of those, grab someone next to you and say, hey, can we practice this together? It doesn't have to be complicated, but I want us to fast with intention. One of the ways, as I've been sitting in Isaiah 58 with this idea of what is true fasting, what does true fasting look like, is that it's not just going without, but growing in our likeness to Jesus, offering ourselves to him.

One of the practical things we're going to do, it's open now, so if you want to start practicing and trying fasting this week, do it. One of the first steps we encourage everyone to take is to pick a day of the week, usually Tuesdays, since that's the day we meet in communities and break the fast together, and go without food, sunup to sundown, if you're physically able. I know there are a lot of health things, so if you're not able, do something else. But there's something so special about physically feeling the hunger, going without, growing your hunger for the Lord.

Start small. Think, okay, what's one day I can do this? As you think about what you're going to go without, also think, how am I going to fill my spirit as I starve my flesh? Maybe you intentionally, over that meal time you're skipping, pray, read the Psalms, intercede, practice the daily rhythms, midday, take a break, pause, intercede, pray for people. And the thing that's added this year, you'll notice on our giving tab, we have a little Feed Our Neighbors tab.

I'd love for us as a church to also be committed, as we go without, to intentionally give to the poor, the hungry, those who go without in our community. We have several local organizations and pantries we partner with, so think of whatever you'd be spending on a meal, five bucks, ten bucks, whatever it is, and give that weekly to those who are hungry. If you live on campus, maybe there are people you know who need food, and there's something else you want to give, do it, but let's also be generous in this bodily offering of ourselves to Jesus.

So those are some of the practical things. But in Matthew 6, where we read earlier, Jesus is talking about seeking first the kingdom of heaven above anything else, and this is one of the ways we do that. Because fasting isn't about becoming less human, it's about becoming more like Jesus, recognizing that's what we were created to do, to be like Jesus.

Closing invitation

So I'm going to invite you to stand today, and let's close in a time of worship, listening and praying and responding, recognizing this is one of the clearest examples of a practical thing, how do I become more like Jesus. I know all of us today walk into this room with different backgrounds, maybe this is something you're familiar with, maybe it's not, but start somewhere and say, God, what does it look like for me to grow my dependence on you? What does it look like for me to offer myself to you? Is it picking a day and starting to fast, and talking to someone, let's do this together? Is it being more generous to some of these justice initiatives we're doing? Pray, and be in a space that says, God, I'm willing, and recognize that as we purify ourselves as his vessels, he is going to flow through us.

I want to give us this space, because I know even this can be like, should I do this, should I not, what does this look like. And I just want us to end this time praying and worshiping together, where it says:

Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare to my people their rebellion and to the descendants of Jacob their sins. For day after day they seek me out, they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. Why have we fasted, they say, and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed? Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter, when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear. Then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer. You will cry for help, and he will say, here am I. If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves on behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always. He will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations. You will be called repairer of broken walls, restorer of streets with dwellings. If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the Lord's holy day honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you please or speaking idle words, then you will find your joy in the Lord. And I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.

Isaiah 58:1-14

Closing prayer

Holy Spirit, you're welcome here.

God, we just declare all over this place, with our bodies just in this posture of surrender, to say that here we are as your living sacrifice. And so God, I just pray right now that as we begin to practice fasting as a community, as we begin to just say less of me and more of you, God, would you remind us every single day that you are our source. God, when we feel that discomfort, when we feel that even suffering and that hit, would we not be tempted to run away, but to run towards you as our source? Would we be reminded of the discomfort and the pain that you endured on the cross for the sake of all of us so that we can be with you in perfect unity for all of eternity? And God, I pray just the scary prayers of saying truly, would it be less of us and more of you, God?

As we go hungry, would you truly come and grow our hunger for you and for your kingdom and for your mercy, and for your justice, and for your compassion. God, I know that there are people in this room today, that there are people groups, that there are places that you have put on our hearts. And God, I pray that even when it feels overwhelming, and we look at things that feel impossible, would we be reminded that you are our source, and that we are the vessels. God, would we not run from it, but would we run in prayer and intercession? Would we trust you, Jesus?

God, I pray just for even more sleepless nights where we are just thinking of people that you have, that you want to love, that you want to reach, that you want to know. I pray that we will continue, because we know that is your heart, for all people to know you and to experience your goodness and your mercy and the fullness of your kingdom right here on earth as it is in heaven. So God, would we be people who are willing to say, let it flow through us, let heaven come through us, that we are willing to sacrifice in this bodily form, and so may fasting grow us closer to your likeness, Jesus. Would you fill us, would you help us to feast on you, delight in your presence as our source, as our delight, Jesus, because that is who you are. And so God, I thank you for your word. I thank you for your Holy Spirit that continues to speak to us. I pray that as we go throughout our weeks, you would continue to remind us of your presence, of your glory, of the ways you want us to experience your kingdom, and that you want it to flow through us.

So Jesus, we are yours. We love you, Lord.