I am back to Jeremiah 17 today, thinking about what "this year may bring". That common phrase suggests a random, "surprise me, Lord" expectation for the future. That is not how faith works. Faith takes responsibility for the past, the present, and the future. When we fast and pray we are taking responsibility for our lives and for the lives of others. The Bible teaches us to present our bodies as a living sacrifice (Romans 12:1-2), and that is exactly what we are doing as we seek God diligently (Hebrews 11:6).
Mark 11:22-24 (New King James Version)
22 So Jesus answered and said to them, “Have faith in God. 23 For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, ‘Be removed and be cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says. 24 Therefore I say to you, whatever things you ask when you pray, believe that you receive them, and you will have them.
"does not doubt in his heart"
Here we are, back to the heart. What is in the heart will either help us or hurt us. Faith or fear, forgiveness or bitterness, the Word or the world. Let's use the rest of this time of fasting to feed our hearts the life-changing, faith inspiring Word of God.
Jeremiah 17:5-8 (New King James Version)5 Thus says the LORD:“ Cursed is the man who trusts in man
And makes flesh his strength,
Whose heart departs from the LORD.
6 For he shall be like a shrub in the desert,
And shall not see when good comes,
But shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness,
In a salt land which is not inhabited.
7 “ Blessed is the man who trusts in the LORD,
And whose hope is the LORD.
8 For he shall be like a tree planted by the waters,
Which spreads out its roots by the river,
And will not fear when heat comes; But its leaf will be green,
And will not be anxious in the year of drought,
Nor will cease from yielding fruit.
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