Join the challenge: (An interjected thought) For those who like a challenge, fasting from idle words can be easy, so amp up the volume by fasting from wrongful thoughts.  This is not as easy as it might seem. It requires that you always be aware of what you are thinking and that you bring every thought under captivity to Christ.  It wasn’t until I tried to do this fast that I realized how many times I didn’t pay attention to my thoughts. When I first started, I failed the first day. I had to keep starting over. It is definitely a discipline (and I love the challenge.)

If you would like to try this challenge remember we are to bring every thought under captivity to Christ, and as a man thinketh so is he. Please let me know how you do in your fast from wrongful thoughts. As for me, i’m still trying to conquer day one and it’s become a daily challenge.

Now back to the original post

Notice what is mentioned in Gods fast…

“Shout it aloud, do not hold back.

Raise your voice like a trumpet.

Declare to my people their rebellion

and to the descendants of Jacob their sins.

For day after day they seek me out;

they seem eager to know my ways,

as if they were a nation that does what is right

and has not forsaken the commands of its God.

They ask me for just decisions

and seem eager for God to come near them.

‘Why have we fasted,’ they say,

‘and you have not seen it?

Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’

“Yet on the day of your fasting,

you do as you please

and exploit all your workers.

Your fasting ends in quarreling

and strife,

and in striking each other

with wicked fists.

You cannot fast as you do today

and expect your voice to be

heard on high.

Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people

to humble themselves?

Is it only for bowing one’s head

like a reed

and for lying in sackcloth

and ashes?

Is that what you call a fast,

a day acceptable to the Lord?

“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:

to loose the chains of injustice

and untie the cords of the yoke,

to set the oppressed free

and break every yoke?

Is it not to share your food with the hungry

and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter —

when you see the naked, to clothe them,

and not to turn away from

your own flesh and blood?

Then your light will break forth

like the dawn,

and your healing will quickly appear;

then your righteousness

will go before you,

and the glory of the Lord

will be your rear guard.

Then you will call,

and the Lord will answer;

you will cry for help,

and he will say:

Here am I.

“If you do away

with the yoke of oppression,

with the pointing finger

and malicious talk,

and if you spend yourselves

in behalf of the hungry

and satisfy the needs

of the oppressed,

then your light will rise in the darkness,

and your night will become like the noonday.

The Lord will guide you always;

he will satisfy your needs

in a sun-scorched land

and will strengthen your frame.

You will be like a well-watered garden,

like a spring whose waters never fail.

Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins

and will raise up the age-old foundations;

you will be called

Repairer of Broken Walls,

Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.

“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath

and from doing as you please

on my holy day,

if you call the Sabbath a delight

and the Lord’s holy day honorable,

and if you honor it

by not going your own way

and not doing as you please

or speaking idle words,

then you will find your joy in the Lord,

and I will cause you to ride in triumph

on the heights of the land

and to feast on the inheritance of your father Jacob.”

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken.

– Isaiah 58:1-14

Did you see it?

Verse 4 :Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists.

You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high

You are so holy. You go to church whenever the doors open. You pray, you serve, you fast.

Yet the minute you put your mouth on someone else, no matter how justified you feel in doing so, you negate your prayers.

Verse 4 says your fasting ends with quarreling and strife and striking others with wicked fists.

God says you cannot fast the way you do and expect your prayers to be heard on high.

Some of you need to eat.

Look at what verse 13 and 14 says…

“If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath

and from doing as you please on my holy day,

if you call the Sabbath a delight

and the Lord’s holy day honorable,

and if you honor it by not going your own way

and not doing as you please

or speaking idle words,

then you will find your joy in the Lord,

and I will cause you to ride in triumph

on the heights of the land

and to feast on the inheritance

of your father Jacob.”

For the mouth of the Lord has spoken. –

Isaiah 58:13-14

Did you see it?

Let me help you…

We are told that one of the things that keeps us from finding joy in the Lord is the speaking of idle words.

Let me tell you that this is true.

Idle words is causing many to stop gathering at church.

Idle words is causing many to separate.

You don’t want to get all the way to heaven, thinking you are going to get in the pearlie gates only to find out that your idle words are what is going to keep you from getting in.

Watch you mouth.

Watch what you say.

Out of the mouth the heart speaks.

So if you are harboring a bunch of negativity in your heart, as demonstrated by what is coming out of your mouth, then you need to get before the Lord in prayer and ask God to help you to forgive the person who has angered you or grieved you to your core.

You need to do that now before you are called before the throne.

Harboring resentment will keep you out of the Kingdom. Resentment is a weed that chokes out good fruit.

Please listen.

I’m trying to help you.

Listen to what you say.

Listen to what you feel justified in saying.

If your finger is pointed at everyone else, though three fingers point back at yourself, then you need to humble yourself before the Lord and pray.

We can no longer allow our thought to run away from us.

What we meditate on in our thoughts drops down into our hearts. What is in our heart comes out of our mouths.

This is definitely going to be a workout. But it’s a challenge that at the end of the day is worth taking and very revealing.