The Water Fast
I heard the Holy Spirit say, “I want you to give up tea for the weekend.” Now hot tea is one of my favorite drinks. It is the drink I use to relax and just chill out. So when the Holy Sprit said, “I want you to give up tea for the weekend,” this was a sacrifice for me! I said, “Okay” and I started that weekend, but as Monday drew near, I heard in my spirit, “Twenty-one days.” I was like, “Is this really God?” But then he gave me some specifics. He said do not drink anything but water. You can put lemon in your hot water in the morning, but that is it. He never gave me a scripture, or told me what the fast was for. So, I asked, “Do I need a scripture and what time I’m supposed to pray?” But I did not hear anything.
After a week, I thought, “Did I hear God right? I have not received any other instructions.” And then God said, “You heard me say give up every drink but water. Just follow those instructions.” So off I went for twenty-one days only drinking water. I did not realize how much I craved other drinks. Every time I saw something other than water I wanted it. One day during the second week, my husband loaded the fridge with my favorite drinks. It was just another confirmation that I was on the right track. Because whenever you are trying to do the right thing something will always pop up to tempt you. The challenge was most difficult for me because I had no idea what it was all about, or why I was doing it.
I remember hearing this pastor say that God does not always give us the details to his plan. I felt like I was definitely left out of the details. At the end of the twenty-one days I said to God, “Okay, the twenty-one day fast is up, can I ask why I was told to drink just water?”
He said to me, “The water represents the word of God. All through the twenty-one days all kinds of temptations came to get you to drink something different, but you did not. He said the water was the word and just like there were all kinds of distractions to keep you from drinking the water it is the same that keeps my people from the studying the word.” Everything that can will come to distract a believer from sitting and hearing the word. He showed me that believers have to be determined and must set time in their schedules to pick up the word and read it.
If we do not make time to study God’s word we will never do it. We need to build our schedules around the word of God or our schedules will never make room for him. I reflected back about the days of when I was drinking water and I remembered carrying a bottle with me so that I would not get tempted to get something different. I always had water with me. Every time I thought of something else to drink I would down some water to flush out the desire of something else. That is what God wants us to do with his word. Be so focused on studying his word that it drowns out any other temptation that shows up. We have to be intentional if we want to have the victory. God came so that we could have life and have it more abundantly. That abundant life is waiting for us. We just have to make the determination that we are going to go and get it. We have to consecrate ourselves to him and the desires of our heart will flow in ways that we could not think, or imagine. He has everything you desire waiting for you, but the way to it is through his word.
I guarantee you that once you start studying his word, your focus changes and you will enjoy him so much that you never want to leave the study! All of a sudden everything will start falling into place while you are sitting under the word!
Key points:
The word is the answer.
What you are searching for is in the word.
Meditate on the word day and night.
Success is guaranteed when the word is your life.
Affirmations: Matthew 10:20; Luke 24:32; Ephesians 6:19, Isaiah 55:11
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