Sometimes, Losing is Winning

“The Lord of Heaven’s Armies sent me this message in reply: “Say to all your people and your priests, ‘During these seventy years of exile, when you fasted and mourned in the summer and in early autumn, was it really for me that you were fasting? And even now in your holy festivals, aren’t you eating and drinking just to please yourselves?” Zechariah 7:4-6 NLT

I read somewhere that: the result of a fast might not be what one has gained, rather what God removes.

I read that during a fast. And I admit, at the time, I wasn’t ready to accept that answer. Because, during that fast, I lost something that was precious to me. I lost something that meant a lot to me. I lost something that was never meant for me.

While I prayed and fasted, Not my will, God, but Your will be done. I learned the hard lesson of those words.

The desire of my heart is not my will, but God’s will for my life.

Something that I learned, during that fast, is that all too often, when we fast, sometimes we fast, needing, wanting God to do something for us, rather than fasting for God. What I mean is fasting to get closer to God, to get in right standing, or right relationship with God. I’m not saying that we can’t – or even shouldn’t fast to get direction or what not.. But how often do we fast to simply draw closer to Him? And maybe it’s just me…

The more I seek Jesus, the more I find Him. The more He reveals Himself to me in new ways. The more I want to be like Him in new ways.

Sometimes fasting isn’t about what He can do for me or give me… rather, what needs to be uprooted and removed to bring me closer to God.

*Original image courtesy of A.B. ☀️🤍🌺