How To Open Up The Doors For God To Do A Deep Work In Your Heart

Monday, June 30, 2025

Whenever you fast, don’t be gloomy like the hypocrites. For they disfigure their faces so that their fasting is obvious to people. Truly I tell you, they have their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting isn’t obvious to others but to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Matthew 6:16-18

How To Open Up The Doors For God To Do A Deep Work In Your Heart

In Matthew chapter 6 Jesus discusses three spiritual habits with the disciples – giving, praying, and fasting. When Jesus spoke of these habits, it was not a suggestion, it was understood that disciples of Christ would implement these habits in their lives. As his followers we are transformed as these habits bring us into a deeper relationship with him. As our key truth for this message series says, the habits we form determine the people we become. 

Pastor Jim told us yesterday that fasting is the abstaining from food [or a normal function], for a short or long period of time, as an exercise in self-denial and self-discipline for spiritual purposes, especially prayer. A fast can be done for anything, not just food, in order for us to focus more intently on God. It could be during a time when we need to find clarity or direction from God, or for many reasons. 

Some of the many reasons we may fast are to strengthen prayer, to seek God’s guidance, to express grief, to seek deliverance or protection, to express repentance and the return to God, to humble oneself before God, to express concern for the work of God, to minister to the needs of others, to overcome temptation and dedicate yourself to God, or to express love and worship to God. (Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, 156-170)

When we fast, it should be between us and Jesus. As he stated in the verses above Jesus does not care what we do in church or what other people think about us. He likes us to serve, but he cares more about our hearts and the reason we are doing what we do. If we are not careful and intentional, we can be more concerned with how we look in the eyes of others than the motives of our hearts. The religious rulers during Jesus’ day would make it well known to everyone that they were fasting because they wanted to look more holy. They were not concerned with pleasing God, and because their motives were not pure, they got the only reward they sought. The only reward they got from the “holy habits” was the praise of men. True disciples do everything for the glory of God and God alone. Everything we say and so should be to exalt him, glorifying him and pointing others to him, not ourselves.

A spiritual habit itself does not make us more holy. We can go through the motions of the habits but without complete surrender to him in a true posture of humility, we will not be transformed. When we surrender, we stop fighting, hiding, resisting, or trying to handle things our own way in our own power. When we completely surrender, it means to completely give up our own will, thoughts, ideas, plans, deeds, etc… We die to ourselves as we are to do if we want to follow Jesus. Then Jesus said to his disciples,  If anyone wants to follow after me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me will find it. For what will it benefit someone if he gains the whole world yet loses his life? Or what will anyone give in exchange for his life? Matthew 16:24-26 CSB

How does the posture of fasting open up the doors for God to do a deep work in us?   

The posture fasting is one of complete surrender. When we are willing to deny ourselves, and take up our cross, we are completely open for God to a deep work in our hearts, in our personal as well as private lives. God can only truly work in our hearts and transform us when we are fully surrendered to him. 

What are you willing to give up to grow deeper in your relationship with Christ? 

Do your private spiritual habits line up with your public spiritual life? 

Are you pursuing God with a heart that seeks his glory or your fame? 

Deeper: Developing Spiritual Habits “Fasting”

 Sunday, June 29, 2025

Deeper: Developing Spiritual Habits
“Fasting”
Matthew 6:16-18 (CSB)

 

- Humility-  “A balanced understanding of one's place in the world, acknowledging strengths and weaknesseswithout pride or arrogance.”

- Spiritual Habits: “Spiritual habits are disciplines we put into our lives that place us in a position to hear from God and allow Him to take us deeper into life with Christ.”

- Key Truth: “The habits we form determine the people we become.”

Main Question: How does the posture of fasting open up the doors for God to do a deep work in us?   

1.    Fasting in our private lives.  (Matthew 6:16a)

- Fasting- The abstaining from food [or a normal function], for a short or long period of time, as an exercise in self-denial and self-discipline for spiritual purposes, especially prayer.

 

So, why do we fast? 

a.          To strengthen prayer. 

b.         To seek God’s guidance. 

c.          To express grief. 

d.         To seek deliverance or protection. 

e.          To express repentance and the return to God.

f.            To humble oneself before God. 

g.          To express concern for the work of God. 

h.         To minister to the needs of others. 

i.             To overcome temptation and dedicate yourself to God. 

j.             To express love and worship to God

- Donald S. Whitney, Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, 156-170

 

2.    Fasting in our public lives.  (Matthew 6:16b-18)

-  Jesus is more concerned about the motive behind our spiritual habits than simply the habits themselves.

After the Message: 
Read Week 5 of the DEEP Devotional Journal on pages 115-139.

Pray with Confidence

Friday, June 27, 2025

Pray with Confidence – Psalm 86  Submitted by Kay Crumley

Last Sunday’s sermon and this week’s devotionals that correspond are on prayer. How do we pray? When do we pray? Prayer is a spiritual habit we may be familiar with but are we comfortable with it? As a Bible study leader, I often pray for our group. I offer to others to lead but most are hesitant to pray in front of other people. If prayer is conversation with God who is our most trusted companion, should we be embarrassed to let others overhear that conversation? We are all witnesses to the fact that, today with mobile phones in public places, many conversations happen with anyone in earshot hearing all that one side of the conversation. Most people are not self-conscience about those conversations. When we pray to our Heavenly Father, we express our heart to Him and it’s ok for others to hear.  

One way to pray, when we don’t know how or where to start, is to find a Psalm that relates to our emotions or circumstances and pray the words or the ideas in our own words to the Father. I have chosen verses from Psalm 86 as an example. 

David, the psalmist, is expressing his dependence on God. It is a song of lament and petition. David is sharing his fears and desires to the One who can intervene on his behalf. He began by acknowledging his need for God, praising His graciousness and forgiveness.  

Then he begs God to hear his cries and answer him in his distress. Haven’t we all had seasons in our lives when we just need to be heard? If you’re at that time now, take these two verses, insert your personal needs and make this your prayer. You can expand it with specifics but using this framework may help you to begin the prayer of your heart just as David did.  

6 Lord, hear my prayer; 
listen to my cries for mercy. 
7 I call on you in the day of my distress, 
for you will answer me. 

Later in that same chapter David petitions God to be near, intimately, with him as he seeks His truth, commits himself to Him, and praises Him. These are common human emotions. These verses fit our lives every day. Our current sermon series Deeper just finished the third habit, Prayer. But the first two habits are Worship and Bible Engagement. As I look at these verses, I see that David wanted to learn from Him, that’s Bible Engagement for us. We learn His character and purpose by engaging in His Word.   

11 Teach me your way, Lord, 
and I will live by your truth. 
Give me an undivided mind to fear your name. 

Then he turns to Worship as he praises God for who He is, the Eternal Father. He then seeks to be near Him. David doesn’t want to be separated from God in the wilderness or by death. We know we have a future with Him, but do we praise Him that He has rescued us from the pit?   

12 I will praise you with all my heart, Lord my God, 
and will honor your name forever. 
13 For your faithful love for me is great, 
and you rescue my life from the depths of Sheol. 

As we grow in our faith, we need to have examples to guide us in developing and practicing spiritual habits so that we can grow deeper in relationship with Christ. By finding examples of Biblical prayers, we can find ways to become more confident in our talks with Him. We have His Word so that we can grow into a deeper, more intimate, and more comfortable relationship with the One who seeks that relationship with us.   

The Priority of Prayer

Thursday, June 26, 2025

Be still and know that I am God… Psalm 46:10

The Priority of Prayer

When we have a relationship with God and spend time with Him every day in prayer and reading His word, it will become a priority in our lives.  We have to make it a priority because the last thing Satan wants you to do is to be on your knees talking to God.  Satan knows the power of prayer, maybe better than we do.  When we go to God in prayer, we are going to battle and that scares Satan. 

Having a disciplined prayer and study time each day will become the calm in the eye of the storm of life.  Sometimes just sitting and “being” with God is the best.  There are days when we just need to feel His presence and that does more for us at that time than opening our Bibles or trying to make sense of what we are feeling to try to put into a prayer.  He knows what we are feeling, and He knows what we need.  Having a relationship with Him means that He knows us like we know our best friends, but even better.

The Bible says that we are to “pray without ceasing.” I Thessalonians 5:17 This means that we are to be in an attitude of prayer at all times.  That means we never close the communication lines with God.  He is always there with us and we have instant access to Him every second of the day.  We don’t have to wait on Him or worry that He is not with us, even when it doesn’t feel like He is there. 

When we pray, there are some things we can do to help us stay focused on God and not let our minds wander:

• Pray out Loud – Praying out loud can help us keep our thoughts straight and concentrate on what we are praying about.  
• Keep a Prayer List - Write down the things and people you want to pray about.  It also helps you see the victories of answered prayers.  
• Have Paper close by – Sometimes the Lord will bring people to your mind and reveal truths to you that you won’t want to forget.  

Spending time in prayer every day certainly doesn’t mean that everything will go your way all the time.  It just means that when things do happen, we have a direct line to the God of the universe.  Some of the answers we get will be hard answers that we don’t want, and we don’t understand but if we know that God’s hand is on our lives and He cares for us, we can trust His plan.  

Whatever we value, we invest in and we make time for whatever we feel is important.  If it is important to us, we make time for it, we rearrange our schedules or cut some things out.  The same is true of our time with God each day.  If we aren’t careful, it is easy to skip our quiet time when we feel rushed, tired, or the pressure of the season we are in is crushing on all sides.  These are the times we need to be in His presence so much more.  These are the times we may need to just sit in silence and let Him wash over us.  

Guard your time with Him.  Make it a priority as you would feeding your physical body.  Prayer and time with God are food for our souls.  It feeds our faith and gives us the strength and hope to face our lives.

When You Don't Know What To Do...

Wednesday, June 25, 2025

After this, the Moabites and Ammonites, together with some of the Meunites, came to fight against Jehoshaphat. People came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast number from beyond the Dead Sea and from Edom has come to fight against you; they are already in Hazazon-tamar” (that is, En-gedi). Jehoshaphat was afraid, and he resolved to seek the Lord. Then he proclaimed a fast for all Judah,who gathered to seek the Lord. They even came from all the cities of Judah to seek him.

O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. 2 Chronicles 20:1-4; 12

When You Don't Know What To Do...

WHave you ever found yourself in a situation where you just didn’t know what to do? We have to make a lot of decisions every day and sometimes decision overload can wear us out. Other times, there are just too many options. Trying to order a cup of coffee in a coffee shop can be overwhelming if you don’t know exactly what you want. Making a decision about what kind of coffee to order is not going to change your life, but there are times when we have to make decisions that will change our lives and will directly affect the lives of those around us.

King Jehoshaphat was in a situation where he needed to make a decision that would affect many people, and he didn’t know what to do. A huge army of Moabites, Ammonites, and Edomites from across the Dead Sea declared war on the southern kingdom of Judah. They were coming and it didn’t look good for Judah. King Jehoshaphat didn’t know what to do so he proclaimed a fast and called the people to the temple, where he prayed to the Lord. 

When Jehoshaphat prayed to the Lord, he told Him that Judah was powerless against this huge army and they did not know what to do. As King, it was Jehoshaphat’s responsibility to make the decision about what to do in circumstances like this and he was afraid. Not knowing what to do can cause us to be fearful - especially in the face of danger. But Jehoshaphat did the best thing right away - he prayed about it, confessing his feelings and saying that their eyes were on God. 

When we find ourselves in a situation where we don’t know what to do, often we look everywhere else except to God. We try to solve the problem ourselves, we ask advice from all our friends, or we google. We need to follow Jehoshaphat’s example and look to the Lord and pray.

We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you. 

What we think about God is what we will believe to be true about Him and what we believe about Him will determine how we handle our faith in Him. If deep down we really don’t believe in His power and sovereignty, we won’t have the faith in Him that will help us through any situation we face. He offers all the power and strength and answers we need, but we have to believe in Him, turn to Him and trust Him. 

How do you perceive God? Right now is the time to decide what you think about God. And when those uncertain circumstances come, instead of making decisions based on what we feel, we need to turn to God and remember what we know about Him. That is what we have to hang onto when we don’t know what to do. 

How we see God matters. Now is the time to be an example to the rest of the world, a living testimony of what we believe about God. When we come into these difficult decision-making times and uncertainty, the world will be watching to see how we handle it. If we say you believe in God - his sovereignty and power, then we need to be ready to live it. 

There will be times in life when it feels as if God has walked away from us but if we remember what God has done in the past and anticipate what He will do for us in the future, we can have peace in the present. We need to put our eyes on Him and not let our focus stray. We must keep our eyes on Him always. Some of these seasons last what feels like forever. It is important not to tire of waiting on God and go in search of another solution. There is never a better solution than the one He offers. Pray. Tell Him how you are feeling. Then fix your eyes on Him and keep them there.