Saturday 22 September 2012

Isaiah 50:4 « The Sovereign Lord has given me a well-instructed tongue, to know the word that sustains the weary.  He wakens me morning by morning, wakens my ear to listen like one being instructed. »

Today we come to the end of the second week of our Daniel Fast.  God has done some amazing things already in our lives during these two weeks.  And I would like to call your attention to our email address; please send us your testimonies so that we can rejoice in what God has done in your life.

Isaiah talks about his training as a prophet.  He didn’t say that God gave him an anointed tongue; but rather, God gave him a well-instructed tongue.  Consequently, Isaiah had the means to sustain the weary with an appropriate word.  But how did Isaiah get this well-instructed tongue?

Every morning, God would awaken him.  And once Isaiah was awake God would awaken his ear so that he might listen as a good student.  It is because Isaiah remained faithful to wake up, and listen to the voice of the Lord, God always sustained him with an appropriate word.

When Jesus gave us the model prayer He talked about thanking God for our daily bread.  He didn’t call it our weekly bread, or our yearly bread.  This idea of daily bread reminds us of the days in the time of Moses when Israel lived in the wilderness for forty years.  Every single day the people had to go out and gather the bread necessary for that day.  They could never gather a crumb more.

One day a preacher friend from the US visited us here in Paris.  He said to me, “Wow, you really need to pray a lot here to get a break through.”  I found his comments fascinating in the light of a recent study showing that pastors in the US prayed an avergae of 18 minutes a day!

Friend we should not pray in order to get something from God.  Prayer should be the natural expression of our passion for God and our love of His presence.  Rather than seeking His anointing, seek His heart.  Rather than asking for a “touch,” ask for His presence.

Can we honestly believe that God would bless our nation when the morality inside the church is no different than the morality outside of it; when we find greater pleasure in our games than we do in our prayer closets?  Perhaps the worst curse imaginable for a Christian is a happy life NOT built out of intimacy with God.

Dear friend, you must allow God to awaken your heart daily.  Do not allow yourself to go back to the dark days when you no longer could hear His gentle voice in the early morning hours.  Ask Him to awaken your ear to hear Him.  Learn to love Him, His presence, His voice.

As we set out in this final week of prayer and fasting we want to encourage you to seek to develop a good habit of meeting with God every day.  Purpose in your heart that this week you will develop the habits that will carry you through the rest of the year.