Day 7/40

• “Tie discipline to commitment, and it becomes an irreversible decision that you will do today what most people won’t so you can have tomorrow what most people can’t.” _Zig Ziglar, You Can Reach the Top

Come tonight and pray for your life and others!

This quotation explains a basic principle of life: What makes us human is our ability to resist the urges of the flesh.  My cat, Lucy (who is the grand old lady of the house) is a “lap cat.”  You can count on it, if you sit down in our den and in a few minutes you’ll have Lucy curled up on your lap.  However, at the hint of action in the kitchen she will drop you like a hot potato and be in the kitchen begging for food. 

Another thing I can count on is her loud greeting each morning when I open the bedroom door.  Why?  Not because she’s happy to see me but because she wants to be fed.   

Just today I’ve noticed that all morning she has been stretched out by one of the heat vents.

Why do I mention all this?  To demonstrate the potential difference in you and me and animals.  Animals are going to always gravitate toward the desires of the flesh.  Even trained animals must be consistently rewarded.  But we humans – made in the image of God – can resist the urges of the flesh.  We can “choose.”  We can postpone immediate gratification for a later and far greater reward.  We can choose to “sacrifice” – animals do not do this.  We can choose to give up being gratified now or ever for a greater and nobler cause.

How does this all tie into our 40-days of prayer and fasting, you ask.  Simply this: You are going to have to battle the flesh and its desires to be gratified everyday, but you can win!  Stay true to your 40-days commitments; in the end it will be worth it if you are doing it for God.  And by the way, if honestly demands that you admit that at best you are only giving God lip-service during this season of prayer and fasting, I remind you that only through sacrifice will you break through to the next level.  Furthermore, to be satisfied where you are is to doom yourself to the downward pull of the flesh, mediocrity and spiritual lukewarmness and eventual backsliding. 

I may be wrong (I think not), but I suspect that intense seasons of prayer & fasting or not optional; prevailing requires travailing. 

So let’s get with it!  Be strong in Lord, His salvation is at hand.

40-days service tonight - be there with those you care for.