words2encourage » Feasting

Are you going to eat today?

Richard — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 08:10:45 +0000

Have you eaten yet today? If not presumably you will at some stage eat today. To go through a whole day without eating is not something we would normally consider, unless we are fasting! We all need to eat and feed ourselves each day to give our body the physical strength it needs to function.

But have you had any spiritual food yet today? Just as we need physical food to sustain us each day we also need spiritual food too. In fact spiritual food is more important for us than actual physical food.

Let us determine then that each day we will feed ourselves with God’s word – the Bible – and eat as much of it as we can. Unlike physical food we can never have too much of this food.

It’s not just Christians who are called to “full time” work for God that need feeding every day. You and I also need spiritual food every day!

Ash Wednesday reflections

Richard — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 13:19:58 +0000

On Ash Wednesday last year our vicar preached on fasting and feasting in Lent. One year on that sermon is worth pondering again as we begin our period of Lent for 2010.

Wanting God

Richard — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 17:39:41 +0000

Lent is a good time for us to ponder the subject of wanting God and ask ourselves how much do we want Him and hunger after Him. The following scriptures can help us focus our attention on this:

Psalm 42: 1-2 – “As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God? ”

Matthew 5:6 – “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”

Philippians 3: 7-11 – “But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith. I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, and so, somehow, to attain to the resurrection from the dead.”

These verses challenge us to consider how much do we really want God and maybe ask ourselves:

Do we truly thirst for Him?
Do we desire God more than anything else?
Do we consider everything else rubbish compared with the greatness of knowing Christ?

I found the following prayer recently entitled “Prayer for those who want to want God.”

Amen!

Fasting and Feasting in Lent

Richard — Thu, 26 Feb 2009 17:44:58 +0000

Last night during our Ash Wednesday service our vicar spoke about how Lent was a time for both fasting and feasting.

It would come as no surprise to most people that fasting should be associated with Lent as Jesus spent 40 days fasting in the desert. Normally when people think of fasting they associate it with going without food for a period of time. However there are other things that a Christian could fast from such as television and going on the internet. Perhaps these later two are actually harder than going without food!

The idea of feasting during Lent may come as a surprise. This basically involves taking on things during Lent, which could include:

Joining a Lent study group
Spending more time in prayer or Bible study
Reading a specific book
Increasing one’s giving by donating to specific charities

Our vicar said that if we did these things it would help us to feast on God during this Lent period.

So the challenge during this Lent is to endeavour with God’s grace to both fast and feast on Him.