February Fast - 21 Days Of Seeking HimНамуна

Grow your NO and Bless your YES.

If muscles are not worked out, they will not grow stronger. In fact they will become weaker. All of us have a “NO muscle”. It’s the power of choice we exercise whenever we choose what to do or not do. 

Humans are not animals that are the end product of an evolutionary chain of events. We are created beings, created on purpose for a purpose. That also means, that unlike animals, we don’t operate by instincts. Animals don’t make choices in general but are governed by their instincts. Hungry? Eat! Scared? Run! Threatened? Fight! Mating season?! Well... you get the point! :)

As humans, we make choices based on our values. The problem occurs when we don’t grow our “NO muscle”. When we don’t learn to say no, we say yes to everything or just to too many things, which weakens our “yes”. In the long run, it makes us unable to fulfil all the commitments we have said yes to and in the worst case, it can destroy us, as we are unable to say no, even to habits and choices that are destructive to our soul, spirit and body.

Jesus said in His Sermon on the Mount, “Let your ‘yes’ be a ‘yes’ and your ‘no’ a ‘no’”. And as you grow your NO, you bless your YES.  When we fast, we exercise our “no muscle” and remind ourselves that our feelings and desires are subject to us; we are not subject to our feelings and desires.

Jesus, help me become stronger in saying yes and no to the right things. Give me wisdom to discern between them and the courage to follow through on them. Amen.