Studying Isaiah 58 w/ Lena's Journalin' - Why Fasting?

Do Not be deceived by the tactics of satan and his ever telling of pitiful lies. Israel has sinned, has barely a relationship with her God, her Father, her Maker, her appointed Master, her promised to be Lord, her Husband, Friend & Lover.
Sin has a few meanings-
Separation, missing a mark/target, and willful sin or rebellion.
Israel is too proud to have her heart thoroughly searched by her Lord, who wants her to offer Him a whole heart and not just half of one. She reserves a space for Him and allows Him in when she does, and doesn’t when she doesn’t. She entertains Him in which ever room she has cleaned up herself, but has closed doors on the messy ones, thinking it would hurt Him too much to see all that, all the while she has no faith in Him, nor does she know who he is, or she’d know He is there to clean the rooms for her!
She deems herself as ok, even without Him, and does things in her own strength. When she does not feel strong enough to do something He has requested of her in her Christian walk, she doesn’t arise in the power of His might and do it anyway, making a brand new plan for her life if needbe, and adjusting as much of her life as is possible to engage that new plan.
She does not call sin what He calls sin, to her that’s way too hard to live by that standard, and she has been deceived into being satisfied as she is, with the enemy justifying her into feeling God loves her no matter what (which he does), but he finds no pleasure in pride and refusal to obey His words. She is actually cursed in what she won’t offer to God.
She justifies and excuses herself. She tries hard to look good, while inside she is writhing with undealt-with pain, yet has not placed herself willingly on the potter’s wheel to be shaped completely differently by whatever is in His heart for her. She doesn’t trust or fear Him enough, she fears men or change more, or maybe herself, for she isn’t familiar with herself a different way and she’s not willing to risk the comfort of her own flesh. She wants to wear what she wants to wear, she is so independent and is proud of being free to live as she pleases. She tells herself often, even in front of others, she is ok w/ God, he is ok w/ her, he even loves her and they have good fellowship together, all the while she does not realize she speaks to the wall of herself when she prays.
This is the religious church that refuses to be changed into His image and likeness, goes through motions of being a good person by their own standard of goodness, which is as filthy, bloodied rags that stink to God. No one is good on their own merit, or standard of goodness.
ALL have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God, ALL must seek His ways diligently, with all of our getting get understanding, come to know Him as a person, not a set of good rules to follow or motions to go through to rack up points in the religious point systems.
Once a person believes in Christ and receives Christ, they must expect to change all of their old ways, all of their old thoughts, and be transformed, by a mind renewed.
All else is stinking flesh, unburned on the altar. Salvation is the very beginning of a daily shed blood living sacrifice with the infusion of daily resurrection power.
The chosen fast is to change all of this, forever.

The religious build their own kingdoms and rule their own roosts, their way. They feel faithful in erecting something good for God. It’s like saying, Daddy, look what I built for you, all the while He was waiting for them to ask Him what He wanted built, to be interested in how He’d like it, where He wants it to stand, who does He wants it built with, and how high, all because of love.

His good at our expense!

“I don’t know how to build that, that way!”
“Ok, let Me show you how.”
“Well, I can’t do that that way. I’ve never done it that way ever, I would not even be able to!”
“Then I’ll show you how to change. I’ll even give you tools, and instructions and materials, and the money to make it happen.”
“How will that all happen, Lord?”
“Come closer and I’ll show you, ahead of time, come closer and I’ll tell you how, everyday. You just need to seek Me, and then do exactly as I say.”
“That’s all?”
“Do whatever I say, ok?”
“Just like you say, what if I see it differently or a better way? What if I don’t understand the instructions?”
“Do you trust Me and really want to go the way of eternal answers and avoid the future highways of mistakes made and pains of consequences had? Oh, let me tell you something else,”
“What Lord?”
“ I’m sending messengers.”
“Messengers?”
“ Yes, messengers. They are My way, the way I’ve set up to tell you what to do to build for Me, and they will explain how, if you are brave enough to ask them and then do as they say. Remember this is My kingdom that you will be building, but you can’t do it alone, so I’m sending help, a lot of help. The help is gonna build character in you. You may not like or agree with the help all of the time. Just be aware they are set up by Me to be a test of how much you really love and trust Me.”
“Seriously? What a way to do things, I thought this walk was supposed to be about blessing me and making my life easier.”
“It is, ultimately, eternally, if you follow My highway. Joy is an eternal blessing. Blessing is the result of a righteous unselfish walk with Me in My building project on earth.”
“Ya ready to go?”
“Wait! Lord”?
“Yes?”
“ Did you say messengers?”
“Yes.”
“ Like who? How ill I know they are being used by You?”
My messengers on earth are people and sometimes visibly angelic hosts,though their words must match Mine, in the spirit of the word more than the letter, even enemies use My word to twist and deceive. It has to be the Spirit of Truth that you hear through the messenger, even the most unlikely ones.”
“Like preachers?”
Yes, and like children, teachers, bosses and family members. All people you relate with, will be My messengers to you if you’ll see and hear it. The point here is, WILL YOU Hear (and act on) it, no matter the form I send it in? ya know one time a long time ago, I used a man named saul, as My messenger, as a teacher, a trainer? In all outward appearances he was a bad-sad man. Many would never do anything he said by letter of the law, he did not deserve honor, but there was one man, a man after My heart that saw through it, to the proving and developing of character, My David. Then there was another Saul, sent to persecute and prove the real faith of My church, My bride….”
“Really, all people? Even unsaved ones?”
“Yes, but only if you are wiling to listen to them, they can truly have a message too. Don’t pick and choose who you listen to, to hear My instruction, be wise, and not only in your own eyes, ok? So, are you ready to go yet? I’m waiting, have been waiting, will wait till all of your days are gone, but I hope we have time to get some things done on this building project….”

“So this is why we fast? “
In order to practice denying our own wills and forsaking our own ways of even seeing things?
To stop pointing at others, and to ask the Holy Spirit to see deep inside of us, because we are wiling to have Him see the dirt in us and clean it out, confessing that we are weak and unable to change without His help?
It’s to show we trust Him enough to let the walls of perdition down.
To devour pride’s work in us!
To disallow any prideful action to exalt itself against God’s purpose of forming a truly humbled and undone people.
To really expose our fears, dreads, bitterness’s, etc to God, laying them on an altar of sacrifice, to be burned out of us forever, leaving no traces of how they looked before.
Wow!
“So it all boils down to two things really?”
Loving God
And
Loving People too

Really loving them, more than I love myself.

“So, I don’t have to be right?”

“Hardly ever.”

This is the HUGE problem:
won’t let the wall down, cause you are right
won’t risk it all, you’re right
won’t listen to messengers, you are so right
won’t see, you already know enough
won’t be vulnerable to anyone, you have rights
won’t willingly extend your souls to love deeper, higher, wider, cause you’ve been there, done that, have the T Shirt to prove it, tried it before, it doesn’t work…

Wow.
Where is faith, hope, love?
Wow.
“So, fasting is about laying down your rights?”
“Yes! Amen. I believe you are getting the Spirit of the word”