Fasting Devotional January 18

“Day 18: God Is Your Rock

God doesn’t want you to worry. He wants to be in control of your life and guide you through your daily challenges. As you are fasting and giving God your body, give Him your spirit too.

Someone once sent me a mustard seed from Israel. Just to put things into perspective, a butter bean seed is about four hundred times bigger than a mustard seed, but it will yield only a small bush. On the other hand, a common mustard seed is only about one millimeter in diameter, and it grows into a small tree. The more common mustard plants are perennial, growing back year after year and developing deeper root systems each season. You could try to pull one of these little trees out of the ground, but the stems would most likely break, leaving the roots to regenerate a new plant.”

“That is the type of faith we are to have! Jesus put the emphasis on how great our God is, not how great our faith is. With only a tiny bit of faith, like a mustard seed, we can move mountains, and nothing shall be impossible.

As Christians, we need to stop measuring our faith by the size of the problem. We need to start looking instead at how great our God is. We need to plant that seed of faith—no matter how small—into whatever mountain stands in our way and believe it will be moved, because Jesus said it would.

When Peter tried to walk on water, he made it only a few steps because he took his eyes off Jesus, and fear dragged him down.

When he began to sink, Jesus lifted him up out of the water and said, “You of little faith” (Matt. 14:31). Peter did have little faith because that is what it took to walk on water.

If he could do that with just a little faith, imagine what will happen when that faith increases!”

“In the closing chapter of the Book of Hebrews, the writer tells us, “Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith” (Heb. 13:7, NIV). As I asked before, if our Lord fasted, why would we think that we should not fast? There is no record of Jesus ever healing anyone until He returned from the forty days of fasting that launched His earthly ministry. Jesus said we would do even greater works than He did, because He was returning to the Father. If Jesus did not begin to minister before fasting, how can we?

Satan gets disturbed—and defeated—when you decide to do more than be a Sunday-morning Christian. The devil knows that fasting releases God’s power.

On your eighteenth day of fasting, remember:

• Pray and stay in God’s Word.

• Continue to journal your experiences.

• Meditate on what this fast means to you.

Thoughts for your journal:”

“(Write your thoughts in a separate journal.)

Examine any areas of unforgiveness and bitterness that the Lord is asking you to surrender to Him.

Prayer Focus Day 18: Binding Oppression and Fear

There may be times in your life when your enemies or circumstances seem to be so large and so powerful that they are all you can see. In Psalm 69, David is crying out that he was sinking in “deep mire” (v. 2) and the floods were overtaking him. But his heart turned to worship despite his circumstances. When you worship, you not only magnify God, but you also reduce the size and power of everything else around you. God will hear you when you set your heart to worship Him. When you magnify the Lord, you shrink the supposed power of your enemy, the devil. The greatest thing you can do in the midst of a battle is to magnify the Lord. “I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify Him with thanksgiving” (Ps. 69:30).”

“What areas do you need to magnify the Lord in today?

(Write your answers in a separate journal.)

Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together. I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears.

—PSALM 34:3–4”