One Desire Fast is HMCC’s annual fast so we can start off the year hearing from God, both individually and as a church. This year’s theme is Locked In.
We are approaching the end of the second week of our fast. This is when the things we gave up probably start to feel more apparent. We either start to realize that we didn’t need it to begin and maybe even make peace with that, or it’s also possible that with each day we miss it more and more, and the last week of fasting seems all the more daunting.
In a season of depriving ourselves of food, distractions, and other things, it can get difficult to see this as a season of gain. But first, we have to evaluate what we actually see as gain in our lives. As a child, you have probably received gifts that you did not appreciate, be it comfortable clothing, insightful books, or gift cards of any value. And maybe now, as you’ve gotten older, you would appreciate receiving those things from a gift exchange. The thing is, the intrinsic value of those gifts did not change, but what we value did because of the experiences that we went through and the growth in our mindset.
In the same vein, the apostle Paul also had a radical shift in what he values by encountering the Gospel firsthand on the road to Damascus (Acts 9). He went from persecuting Christians for their beliefs to considering everything that he had as loss compared to what he may gain in Christ (Philippians 3:8). The value and gain of the Gospel never changed.
Just like Paul, we need to be able to grasp what the gift of a new identity in Christ means for us, or we will remain oblivious to it. Take some time to pause and reflect on how your life has changed after encountering Christ. Do you imagine yourself being on a very different path? Was there anything you were delivered or set free from? All of these things we experienced are gifts from God, but they can’t stop there. Just as we have received this Gospel, we are called to also freely give (Matthew 10:8).
As Paul had this shift in understanding what he considers gain, he served and sacrificed so that others may see the same. The same way we experience God’s gift is the same way God is calling us to be a blessing to others. Let’s give just as we have received!
Reflection & Next Step
- How have you experienced God’s love in this past season of fasting? What character of God did you take away from that?
- Plan for the last week of ODF. How do you want to be a blessing to others? Are there avenues for you to give the same way you have received?
Prayer Requests
- Thank God through prayer for the gift of salvation and knowing Him! Spend some time praising Him and remembering all that He has done.
- Pray for the blessings and lessons of this past few days fasting to take root in your heart, to be able to give freely out of all that you have received, and to have faith that God will continue to sustain you.
- Pray for generous people to be raised up so that people of all tongues, tribes, and nations would come to know Jesus! And that we might play our part in building God’s kingdom and global missions.
Click here for full devotional link and other pre-fasting materials!