Fasting & Praying GuideSample

Most of us probably think we don’t test God in this way very often. The truth is that we do it all the time. We grab hold of our autonomy and justify our self-centered ambitions with idolatrous conceptions of God. Not your obvious, turning-away-from-God-to-follow-pagan-gods idolatry. Most idolatry is more subtle than that. Like the Israelites in the wilderness with their golden calf (Exod 32:1–8), we plaster the name of God on images in our lives that promise safety but cannot save. These images can be religious, political, national, or ideological.

We do this because we prefer a familiar god to the free one, a predictable god to the powerful one, a domesticated god to the disruptive one. We want nothing more than a docile deity who can support the objectives we set for ourselves. The last thing we need is a God who inconveniences our plans and priorities by disrupting our lives and calling us into the hard and narrow way of the Kingdom, especially when that way leads us into the uncertainty of the wilderness.

Reflection:

Social media and cell phones have become ubiquitous, giving us constant access to information, friends, family, work, and entertainment. While convenient, this availability has often grounded us in carnal dependency, spoiling our spiritual hunger and intimacy with God.

Fasting disrupts these rhythms and forces us to wait on the Lord. It awakens us to the idols we unknowingly build in our daily routines—things we depend on more than Him.

Whatever we depend on, we begin to worship with our time and energy.

Lord, today, send the Holy Spirit to reveal any idolatry in my life. Show me the things I’ve placed above You, and help me depend fully on You and Your voice.

What rhythms or dependencies might God be asking you to disrupt during this season of fasting?