Tonight, I had the privilege of speaking to a small group at a prayer meeting inside of my local church. I was asked that morning just to present something small – nothing more than 5 minutes.
If you know me, you know that I immediately go into action with requests like these. Every moment becomes PRECIOUS! Every detail, every verse, every second becomes weighted. I rushed to Home Depot to buy an ice pick, then I rushed home to throw together dinner, all while trying to have open ears to what God may want me to say!
Yikes. Do you ever get caught up in the “trying” when sometimes you should just be still?
In our previous sessions together, you’ll remember how we worked through the fact that fasting is for everyone. When we fast, we starve the fleshly parts of our body, personality, and spirit (all carnality) and nurture instead the spiritual parts of our being.
We fast, and empty ourselves, similarly to ripping open the baggage from vacation….that we’ve left sitting for 10 years. From the bag that somehow never got unpacked and got left in the basement all this time. Inside, all you find is must and mold and tattered pieces of fabric. You pick up that one item that used to feel so important, and are now holding it asking yourself ‘why?’ Why did it feel so important to hold onto this?
Why did I feel the need to stuff this somewhere? Why couldn’t I face unzipping this bag and taking everything out? What made me hold onto it?
I’m going somewhere with this, I promise.
We should regularly purge as Christians. Maybe it’s not been 10 years of unwashed clothing for you…
Maybe it’s the Tupperware box under your seat in the car that has had mold growing in it for the past two weeks. You’ve been taking it with you everywhere. It’s contentedly road to and fro’ with you in silent compliance, but every time you open the door to the backseat – there it is staring you in the face.
Alas, instead of taking it inside and soaking it, you let it sit. You procrastinate. You avoid it. You think about throwing it away at a gas station, but are afraid of what would happen if someone were to see you chuck it.
That’s how the doors of our soul operate. If we don’t open up those door, air them out, and let God into every nook and cranny of our hearts whilst going through preparedness, then it’s all been for naught.
When we let go of the musty and the smelly and the tattered and let God piece us together into a tapestry of fine material that tells the story of His grace and grand design, we have started to glorify Him with purity.
The three P’s I wrote down are these:
- Preparedness
- Purging
- Purity
-Preparedness
Preparedness in a fast usually happens when we first start sacrificing. Our heart and mind have to come into a place of alignment, and the body usually has a reaction to this renovation. With preparedness, we have the aches and pains of normal withdrawal, flu symptoms, headaches, and even lethargy as we step away from additives and caffeine. If you’re like me, preparedness may also come with stepping away from social media and critical attitudes. We lay our cards on the table, no longer bluffing with God, and say, “This is what I got. Is it good?”
-Purging
Purging is probably the hardest part for our flesh. The relinquishing of habits, meals, entertainment, desires, our will, our plans, our everything can work against our minds. “Is this me? Is this You? Is this even pleasing to You??” Purging will make you feel like you have lost your mind. You used to watch Andy Griffith every night before bed, but now? Chuck it to the curb, baby. That time now belongs to God.
Purging doesn’t mean that we only throw away hurtful and nasty things. Purging can ALSO mean that we throw away good things that have somehow become more important that God himself.
Sure, there’s nothing wrong with watching a little Andy Griffith, but when you’ve somehow watched 5 episodes every night and then complain to God about not having any time to spend with Him… He’s going to point out some plot holes here and there.
The need to purge is necessary in every Christian’s life. It’s making room in your spirit to carry more of the Holy Ghost. But it’s also making room in your heart… this place in your heart that longs for the sweet presence of God. There is a hole that every person is born with that only our God can fill, but we are so quick to fill it up with things that never mattered in order to silence the echo rounding the walls in our heart that are screaming for a God we never took time to know. We purge so that we can once again carry His zeal.
-Purity
I think purity is important to speak about when fasting because it’s not your normal topic of discussion. I think it’s important to dwell here, however.
We need to purge with the end goal of purity. If I want to be a light to someone, then that light doesn’t need to represent strange fire. It needs to represent Jesus, the Light of the World, Who’s light is so pure a flame that it burns white with no shadow.
If I am letting God pour into me, and I am to pour out, but my vessel isn’t clean, what has tainted the water?
The saying goes, “You can’t pour from an empty cup;” but what about pouring from a nasty cup? What if when God pours Himself into me His perfect design, and as I go to pour back out, it’s suddenly mixed with bitterness, denial, and demonic influence? How does that help anybody?
Short answer: it doesn’t. When we pour out, we want what’s there to be impactful. We want what’s there to reach it’s intended destination. We don’t want to choke the life from the seed. We don’t want to cultivate corrupted culture. Doesn’t God look at the heart? Not just the outward appearance?
We are meant to pour back out.
We prepare to pour.
We purge to pour.
We are pure when we pour.
That is how we release from our vessels.
1 Pet 1:16, Lev 11:44; 19:2, Joel 2:28, Romans 5:5, Titus 3:6, Isaiah 32:15
Following the Call 
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