God is my Strength

Stay Faithful

The walk of a Christian is not easy. There are many obstacles and difficulties we face on the path of Christ. We discover this as soon as we realize we must let go of habitual sins, bad habits, and maybe even certain friends. When we try to leave them behind, it often feels as if something is holding us back. Sin feels like a free choice until you try to step away.

The moment you try to leave sin behind it can feel like a dead weight or an anchor that won't let your boat move forward. It is important to realize that we cannot do anything alone. "For without Me you can do nothing" (John 15:5). You can't break free from sin or let go of what is evil. You need strength. This strength comes through Christ. He is the channel through which spiritual nourishment reaches us; the nutrients are the Word of God.

To stay faithful we need life-giving nutrients, and we need a medium through which those nutrients can come to us. That medium is Christ and the nutrients are the Word. This is the reason many do not grow by reading the Bible: even atheists know it intellectually. Much better than my pastor. But atheists will not receive revelation because they don't want to accept Christ as Lord and Savior. But for us who follow Christ, three practices help us be faithful and grow daily: Bible reading, prayer, and fasting. These form the basis of a life with God; from them other disciplines flow. If you have a solid foundation, the Lord will reveal what you need in due time. He will literally speak directly to you and your difficulties.

Before we go deeper into the Bible, we must understand the power behind these three practices.

Reading

Bible reading is the primary source of spiritual nourishment. There are other sources— sermons, Bible studies, podcasts — but your main source should come directly from Scripture. Aim for 80% of your nutrients to come from personal Bible reading. If you start at 10% or 15%, that's fine; it's a discipline that must grow over time.

Begin by building a short, consistent habit — 10–15 minutes a day of Bible reading. Make that time dedicated to reading the Bible with no phones or distractions. When you come to the Bible realize that this is literally the word of God. Read with expectancy and pray for God to speak. Treat it like an interview with God. He wants to speak to you. You might read a verse or a chapter, meditate on it throughout the day. When you encounter something you don't understand, pray and ask God to reveal what you need to understand.

Praying

Prayer may be the most important thing that you do in a day. It is a direct way to communicate with God. When you pray, don't pray like the Pharisees just for show, or just so people think you are spiritual.

God knows everything, so there is no point in hiding anything from Him. Tell Him everything because He wants to communicate with you. He wants to know your struggles, He wants to hear you tell Him the pains, the burdens, the difficulties you are going through. A father might know that his child is struggling and could help without the child needing to say anything. But when a child tells their father something happens. Before the problem is even resolved a sense of relief starts to come over the child because they know they are being listened to, they know that somebody cares. Sometimes its not about having a resolution to a problem. Instead its about being understood, and having somebody there to say I understand, I hear you, I know it is bad what they did to you and then they reassure you.

Fasting

Matthew 6:16 "Moreover, when you fast"...

I want to place very big emphasis on what Jesus said here. He didnt say if you fast. He said when you fast. That means we as followers of Christ not only should fast, but it should be planned, with purpose and done carefully. Staying watchful so that we do it for the right purposes.

I wont go into all the details of fasting but there are three main points that are extremely important for a fast. All the information that follows comes from Isaiah 58 nkjv

Isaiah 58

1."Loose the bonds of wickedness, undo heavy burdens, let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke." There are two ways to understand this.

First it is very important to note that although you dont physically have someone tied down, you may be mentally binding them. Imagine this, one of your friends gossiped about you saying that your shoes are too blue. They told others. Now you find out and think "imma tell everyone about what they did". In this manner you have just tied a chain around what they said and a chain around yourself. The thoughts will consume you daily. You dont want to forgive them and every time you see them you are reminded of what they did to you. You dont invite them to birthday parties and you resent them. You avoid them, you talk bad about them, you have tied them down in your heart.

But the Bible says to let them go. Forgive them, if someone wronged you forgive and treat them like before. Dont let their actions change you. Return good for bad. In the day of your fast the first person that comes to mind forgive them, pray for the Lord to bless them. This is the most important part of fasting. That we do good instead of justice.

2. The second way these verses can be applied. A fast is meant to loose the bonds of wickedness, undo heavy burdens, and let the oppressed go free. Maybe that is you? Has sin taken a hold of your life and you feel that you cant break free. Do you feel like no matter what you do you just cant stop? You cant stop playing games, wasting your time watching reels, looking at immoral things, and gossiping. Do you feel like you have tried but just cant. You know its wrong but it keeps pulling you back. Like a fish being reeled in. The purpose of a fast is to starve your flesh and feed your spirit. To strengthen your connection to God and weaken the one with your flesh. In the day of your fast pray for God to give you the same hatred for sin that He has.

In the day of your fast, the chains of sin the heavy burdens that are too heavy for you to carry, and the oppression that satan has formed against you. All of these can be broken. God can loosen the bonds of sin, He can lift up your burdens and worries, and in the Name of Jesus all of the oppression that satan has against you can be destroyed. You can be free. Pray, fast, and read. The Lord still works miracles.

3. Another important aspect of a fast is pleasure. When we fulfill our fleshly desires we leave the spirit hungry. In the day of our fast we must remove as many pleasures as possible. They not only strengthen the flesh but they also cause noise. Noise that deafens the voice of God. I would go as far as to say that we should limit even music to allow our mind to be free. It is very difficult to focus on the Lord if our mind is filled with ticktok. Its impossible to think about God and garbage. We either fill our mind with God or garbage.

I would like to encourage you to remove pleasure from your life in the day of a fast, from limiting your cell phone interactions to refusing to eat food or drink water. More importantly though read Isaiah 58 and ask the Lord to help lead you into a fast that is pleasing to Him and effective.

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