Peter Tan-chi Date: January 8, 2012Download Links:  Video Audio |
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What is your life’s pursuit? To answer that question, consider your ways. What activity do you devote more time to than anything else? David’s pursuit is intimacy with the Lord. In Psalm 27, amidst war and many troubles, he wrote, “One thing I have asked from the Lord, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to meditate in His temple.” The reward David longed for was God Himself.
David knew this truth: when you have God, you have everything. The opposite is also true: when you don’t have God, you have nothing. Are you scrambling up the corporate ladder? Are you bent on the pursuit of your career goals? The apostle Paul once pursued the most prestigious of religious positions, until he learned that nothing was more important than intimacy with God through “knowing Christ”(Philippians 3:8).
Inside each person is a spiritual void that only God can fill. You will want to fill that emptiness, but instead of asking God to satisfy you, you tend to grab at the “good things of life” like riches, work, and relationships (Luke 14:18- 20, Mark 4:19). But these won’t be enough. Only God can fully satisfy. “This is eternal life,” says John 17:3, “that they may know You, the only true God and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
True Christianity is about having a genuine relationship with God. Out of this relationship is a desire to know Him intimately and to seek His will. We have to be reminded that life is all about God, and not about us. Everything finds its purpose in Him (Colossians 1:16).
Human’s chief aim is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever (Westminster Confession). God loves you and this is His invitation for you:“Draw near to God and He will draw near to you” (James 4:8). Pursue intimacy with God.
One way we pursue intimacy with God is through prayer and fasting. But why fast and pray? First Timothy 4:7 tells us,“Discipline yourself for the purpose of godliness.” We do not fast or pray for the sake of fasting and praying, but to be intimate with God. Richard Foster pointed out, “More than any other discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us.” We realize what our compulsions are. And we realize our deep need for God.
This is seen in the life of King Jehoshaphat. When he was surrounded by his enemies, he cried out to God (2 Chronicles 20). In his helplessness, he sought the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. This is God’s response to Jehoshaphat: “Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s.” (v. 15) God proved Himself faithful to Jehoshaphat by supernaturally delivering them from the hands of their enemies (vv. 20-24).
God does not speak louder when we fast; we begin to hear Him better. When we pray and fast to draw near to God, He draws nearer to us, and we enjoy our fellowship with Him. Psalm 34:10 assures us that: “They who seek the Lord shall not be in want of any good thing.” Soon your heart will testify: “Thou will make known to me the path of life; in Thy presence is fullness of joy; in Thy right hand there are pleasures forever.” (Psalm 16:11)
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