So I'm on Day 2 of my Daniel fast. Fruits, vegetables, and water. That's it. Sounds like torture-especially for a "meat and potatoes" kind of girl. I Love fruit-and several veggies too though, so it's not bad (yet). I've also given up facebook. Scott and I are wanting to grow closer together as well as hear from God about a few specific areas of our life, so I'm devoting these 3 weeks to seeking God, hearing from God, praising God, and being more productive as a wife and mother!
This morning I was reading my fasting devotion and it talked about repentance.
"From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"Matthew 4:17
In the Old Testament the word "repent" meant to "be sorry". But in the New Testament, the Greek word means "reconsider or think differently".
It's no longer OK to just "be sorry". We're called, commanded even, to change the way we think. You can "be sorry" for something and continue to do it over and over again, but if we transform our minds like Paul said in Romans 12:2,
"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
then we know not to make the same mistake again (or at least do everything we can not to repeat the same action).
This made me think about the cutest project I saw on Pinterest a while back. It was a painted list of "house rules". It listed things like "Love Jesus, love each other, say "sorry", forgive each other, etc" Here's a picture of one of my favorite versions of this project!
I'm famous for saying "Sorry's mean nothing to me". That's usually because we water down the apology to nothing more than saying it and moving on. More often than not, we're guilty of repeating whatever it was that we were sorry for in the first place. Sorry isn't enough. We need to reconsider or think differently! I love this!
This morning I was reading my fasting devotion and it talked about repentance.
"From that time Jesus began to preach and to say, ‘Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.'"Matthew 4:17
In the Old Testament the word "repent" meant to "be sorry". But in the New Testament, the Greek word means "reconsider or think differently".
It's no longer OK to just "be sorry". We're called, commanded even, to change the way we think. You can "be sorry" for something and continue to do it over and over again, but if we transform our minds like Paul said in Romans 12:2,
"And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God."
then we know not to make the same mistake again (or at least do everything we can not to repeat the same action).
This made me think about the cutest project I saw on Pinterest a while back. It was a painted list of "house rules". It listed things like "Love Jesus, love each other, say "sorry", forgive each other, etc" Here's a picture of one of my favorite versions of this project!
I'm famous for saying "Sorry's mean nothing to me". That's usually because we water down the apology to nothing more than saying it and moving on. More often than not, we're guilty of repeating whatever it was that we were sorry for in the first place. Sorry isn't enough. We need to reconsider or think differently! I love this!
So good! You have to go read this blog.. http://karyn-wells.blogspot.com/ It is Pastor Karyn Wells' (they were the youth pastors before us) They are doing a Daniel fast and she's been posting a bunch of amazing recipes!
ReplyDeletexoxo
Wow! Thanks for the recommendation! Her most recent post REALLY REALLY hit the nail on the head. I worked so hard to stuff the fridge with fresh fruits and vegetables, chopping fresh fruit, making healthy smoothies, all things to make sure I didn't STARVE while on this fast (mainly b/c I didn't want my fast to be about losing weight) that I didn't realize I wasn't making prayer the main purpose of my fast..and I'm only on day 2!! I'm doing REALLY, REALLY simple with my menu. Fruits and veggies. None of the extra stuff (nuts, oils, whole grains, etc) but it's caused me to be so worried about what I'm able to eat that I really haven't made prayer to focus of my days. Thanks for the link, she makes some really great points!
ReplyDelete