Sunday, December 8, 2019

When self-denial and fasting don't please God

When Self Denial and Fasting Don’t Please God
I have talked quite in depth with a handful of swami’s (Hindu male religious teacher) just about Jesus and about the truth, and what I have found is swami’s are ten times as spiritually confused but spiritually deep as most Christians you will find.  That is not to say that a swami is father away from finding the truth then a Christian who is well indoctrinated in their lies.  But, they seem to have seen into the spiritual realm much more than Christians.  They are much more engrained in what they believe, they have seen the powers of evil, of darkness.  And they have been taught to believe that Jesus is only the first step, or He is only a base-level god, whereas their gods are like a 7 or a 9 compared to Jesus being a 1 or a 2.  So, they believe they can receive spiritual enlightenment and spiritual power, spiritual authority by leaving ALL, denying themselves, taking up what is their sort of “cross” in their religion, fasting, praying… all these sorts of things that we also do as Christians, to an extent, they do to an extreme.  So, the question would be, why don’t they find the truth if they are practicing all the same practices, practically, that Christians practice; prayer, self-denial, picking up your cross, reading the scriptures, they even know about Jesus as much as many Christians do because they are taught to seek, or to search rather many religions of the world, not JUST their own. 
But the problem is BOTH Christians here in America, and swami’s in India THEY DON’T KNOW JESUS CHRIST HIMSELF, THEY SEEK AFTER RELIGION AND KNOWLEDGE, SCRIPTURE… Seeking after scripture will never save you, and also seeking after self-denial; things such as fasting, giving up a job where you made a lot of money to live in a 10 by 10 studio apartment, just receiving the needs you absolutely need to sustain your life.  ALL of these extremes that religion may call us to do does NOT give us an inheritance in heaven.  Many Christians are under this same impression, that they can twist God’s arm or tweak His ear by their extremeness; extreme fasts, extreme staying up at night or whatever you think is extreme that you can do as a religious man or women.  But the truth is, if you are NOT hearing from JESUS the source of LIFE, you are NOT growing more spiritual, you are not growing closer to eternal life, and you are not doing yourself a favor. 
There is one story in our Christian bible about the first King of Israel who was King Saul, and when he was going into battle, he had a son named Johnathan, and this King Saul, he called a FAST, and he told all his men that they needed to fast, and I am sure that he thought he was doing this to be spiritual (for God) so that he could overcome the enemy, (and as a Christian all of us think if we do a fast then we will please God, we will be able to twist His ear to listen to us.)  But what ended up happening, because this King Saul WAS NOT PLEASING TO GOD, but doing his own will, when he told all the men to fast, they all became weak so that they could not fight the battle against the enemy.  Because Jonathan did not take the fast, because he did not know, he was able to climb and stand FIRM against the enemy and fight off the enemy with the strength of his food that he had eaten and the POWER OF GOD!  But when his father came and realized he had not partaken in the fast, his father was angry with him and upset that he had not fasted.  And Jonathan became upset with his father saying that; “If you had not told the rest of your men to fast we would have been able to defeat them by now.”  God was NOT with him (Saul) even though he was fasting. 
It is very important that if we do a fast or if we are denying our self, that it is in the way that JESUS has called us to deny ourselves, to take up our cross and to leave all.  Many people’s of the world, much more than just in the Christian religion, deny themselves, take up their cross and follow after their religion.  Many men are VERY extreme for their religion.  But this does not mean that they are inheriting eternal life, that they are in a right relationship with their Father in Heaven. IT DOESN’T MEAN ANYTHING.  IF WE ARE NOT HEARING FROM JESUS CHRIST, WHO IS THE SOURCE OF LIFE, WE DO NOT HAVE LIFE. 
It is better to eat pork, it is better to eat every day, 3 square meals a day, and to sleep like a baby at night, and to be hearing from JESUS and RIGHT WITH HIM, than to be abstaining from all these sorts of foods that the Jews and the Hindu’s and EVERYONE who is against these certain sorts of foods abstains from, thinking that we are spiritual, abstaining from sexuality, abstaining from marriage, abstaining from all the pleasures of the world, but NOT TO KNOW JESUS AND TO RESIST HIS WILL.  It is true that you can gain certain powers in the spiritual realm (false wonders/miracles/signs etc.)  But they are from the demonic side, and at the end of your life, even if you had many possessions (physical or Spiritual gifting’s) and were very blessed, your life will come to an end and then you will have to hold an account BEFORE JESUS, NO MATTER WHAT RELIGION YOU WERE, of everything that you said and you did. 
Will you have been pleasing to Jesus at the end of your life?  Will you be found as a man of God who honored the Lord Jesus?  Or will you be found as a man who was just religious, who denied himself, who fasted, who chose not to have relationships with the opposite sex, who abstained from all these sorts of foods, or whatever… will you be found purely as religious and on your way to hell?  Or will you be found as a man who found the TRUTH.  JESUS IS THE TRUTH, HE IS THE WAY, AND HE IS THE LIFE!  AND He is the ONLY way to the Father, there are not multiple roads, the way to Him is not through fasting, it is not through denying yourself (in the false religious sense), but the way to Jesus is through PRAYER.  He may call you to fast, or He may call you to deny certain friends, or to leave your job, BUT YOU NEED TO HEAR THAT FROM JESUS, not taking up a cross that the world calls you to take up (false yoke) or some other people that are Christians or swami’s.  Rather, you need to be hearing from JESUS the SOURCE OF LIFE in order to know how to deny yourself properly (Meaning ALL for Jesus not religious works).  It doesn’t matter if you are the most humble person in this world or the most gluttonous person in this world.  You are still on your way to the Lake of Fire, Everlasting TORMENT if you do not repent of your sins and put on righteousness, finding the truth of JESUS, WHO IS THE AUTHOR OF OUR SALVATION!  Will you accept Jesus?  Will you receive Him?  Or will you go the way of the religions, looking like you have put on humility, looking like you are denying yourself, looking like you are holy because you fast and because you give up so much for your religion and your church?  Do you want to just appear to be holy before MEN?  Or do you want to actually BE holy and pure and on your way to everlasting life BECAUSE YOU ARE CONNECTED TO JESUS CHRIST THE SOURCE OF ALL LIFE!  May the grace of Jesus be with you.