Monday, December 19, 2011

real fasting and real celebration

This I am increasingly convicted of for the hand of God that comes with it and its eternal value.


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.
Isaiah 58: 6-9 

Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.” 
Luke 14: 12-14

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