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All About You

Psalms 27:8 (AMP) When You said, “Seek My face [in prayer, require My presence as your greatest need],” my heart said to You, “Your face, O Lord, I will seek [on the authority of Your word].”

We are officially in 2024. You may have written out your goals or made a resolutions to be a better version of yourself this year. I have seen this statement over and over “A Better Me.” Do you remember when were in grade school and the first week of school we had to do a project called “All About Me?” I do and it still goes on today. It is something that we have done because it is our nature to be self centered and self focused. There is nothing wrong with making goals. There is nothing wrong with wanting to better yourself. My question though is for what reason?

Isaiah 12:5 (AMP) Sing praises to the Lord, for He has done excellent and glorious things; let this be known throughout the earth.

I love reading. I do it to gain knowledge, but also because the written word puts pictures in my head. When I read the account of David bringing the Ark of the Covenant back to Jerusalem, David’s first attempt was failure. Those who he had chosen to help him did not understand the reverence that needed to be held for such a piece. David was grieved that he could place people in a path of destruction by doing something so noble. Was this something that God wanted him to do? If so, how? The second attempt he, and the camp were successful (see 2 Samuel 6 and 1 Chronicles 13:1-16:43). In 1 Chronicles 16 we see a psalm commissioned by King David of which is also recorded in Psalms 105:

Psalms 105: 1-4 (AMP) O give thanks to the Lord, call upon His name; make known His deeds among the people. Sing to Him, sing praises to Him; speak of all His wonderful acts and devoutly praise them. Glory in His holy name; let the hearts of those who seek and require the Lord [as their most essential need] rejoice. Seek and deeply long for the Lord and His strength [His power, His might]; seek and deeply long for His face and His presence continually.

As soon as the Ark is brought in, he has commissioned the task for them to sing a song of thanksgiving. Who received the glory? God did. It is His grace that allows us to do anything whether it is in the marketplace, in our homes or within the church.

Ephesians 2:8 (AMP) For it is by grace [God’s remarkable compassion and favor drawing you to Christ] that you have been saved [actually delivered from judgment and given eternal life] through faith. And this [salvation] is not of yourselves [not through your own effort], but it is the [undeserved, gracious] gift of God

The word for grace in greek is ‘charis’, it is the word that we get charisma from. We often translate it as God’s undeserved favor. What if we looked at it as God’s empowerment? When I say I have been graced for something, I am saying that God has empowered me for this. When Jesus ascended He sent the Holy Spirit to empower us. We now have the charisma of God on this earth moving in and through us. This is a gift. What we do with this gift can either be used to glorify Him or it can be abused.

Philippians 2:3-11 (AMP) Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit [through factional motives, or strife], but with [an attitude of] humility [being neither arrogant nor self-righteous], regard others as more important than yourselves. Do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others. Have this same attitude in yourselves which was in Christ Jesus [look to Him as your example in selfless humility], who, although He existed in the form and unchanging essence of God [as One with Him, possessing the fullness of all the divine attributes—the entire nature of deity], did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped or asserted [as if He did not already possess it, or was afraid of losing it]; but emptied Himself [without renouncing or diminishing His deity, but only temporarily giving up the outward expression of divine equality and His rightful dignity] by assuming the form of a bond-servant, and being made in the likeness of men [He became completely human but was without sin, being fully God and fully man]. After He was found in [terms of His] outward appearance as a man [for a divinely-appointed time], He humbled Himself [still further] by becoming obedient [to the Father] to the point of death, even death on a cross. For this reason also [because He obeyed and so completely humbled Himself], God has highly exalted Him and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, so that at the name of Jesus every knee shall bow [in submission], of those who are in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and that every tongue will confess and openly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord (sovereign God), to the glory of God the Father.

In the fall of 2018 my ego and spirit had been wounded. I could have retreated and pulled back from everything. I did run into the hiding place of God. That did not mean that I hid from people. Remember, it is through Him that we are empowered. When I shrink back, I am giving power to whatever hurt me. We have instinctively told people that this is okay because it is a natural reaction. 2 Samuel 6:6-7 (AMP) “When they came to Nacon’s threshing floor, Uzzah reached out [with his hand] to the ark of God and took hold of it, because the oxen [stumbled and] nearly overturned it. And the anger of the Lord burned against Uzzah, and God struck him there for his irreverence; and he died there by the ark of God.” It was a noble thing that Uzzah reached out to catch the Ark when it looked like it would fall, but that is not what pleased God. I think when we withdraw and focus on self we are doing the same thing. It may seem noble to encourage this, but ultimately we become so self-focused that we lose sight on what we were graced for. The ministry of reconciliation, that we are called to, get put on the back of our minds. We have been graced for this. The charisma to carry out our calling has been gifted to us. Desiring for More was birthed out of that time. My desire to see spiritual growth in others was birthed out of that.

In a world that tells us to make it all about us, we should be conforming to the model of Christ. He wanted His Father to get the glory, so He served. Christ did not want to make a name for Himself, in doing so God made His Name above every Name. What was the heart motive of Christ? It was for you and me. Seek first His Kingdom and all things will be taken care of (Matthew 6:33). If you want to better yourself, spend more time in His Presence. Get to know the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, David and Jesus. Jesus became a man so that He could show us the way to the Father. He did that through selfless humility. He went to the cross.

Abba, Father, You are so Marvelous. We stand in Awe of Your Majesty. You are our Creator and our Banner. Thank You for sending Your Son to bring us back to right standing with You. Thank You for gifting us with the Holy Spirit. We have now been given the grace and power to walk into everything that You have for us. You have gifted us with Comfort, with Peace, with Joy and with Wholeness to just name a few. In our desire to grab a hold of these, we have omitted that we still need You. They are free gifts, but it is You who shows us how to operate in them. We repent for the times we did not walk in Your grace and made it all about us. You have told us not to conform to the world and yet we did. Forgive us as we turn back to You and pull from our place of Redemption. We want to glorify Your Name. We want Your Name to be high and lifted up. We want to speak of Your good works. We choose joy today. We choose hope today. We choose forgiveness today. We choose love today. In Jesus Name, Amen.

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Why do I fast?

Galatians 5:22-24 (NKJV) But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.  And those who are Christ’s have crucified the flesh with its passions and desires.

Fasting requires us to use one of the fruits of the spirit that we do not like to do so much…self-control. It is hard. We do not like to deny ourselves, especially in a culture that promotes “Do what makes you happy.” I have found doing what makes me happy only lasts for a moment. Living this way can also result in you feeling regret and shame. Which are not fruits of the spirit.

I wrote a blog not too long ago that talked about the perspective of only being one fruit of the spirit and that being love. It is out of His love that we have joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.

Galatians 5:16-18 (NKJV) I say then: Walk in the Spirit, and you shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh.  For the flesh lusts against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; and these are contrary to one another, so that you do not do the things that you wish.  But if you are led by the Spirit, you are not under the law.

It is impossible to walk in the spirit if you do not know Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior. It is hard to walk in the spirit if you still have control and will not allow the Holy Spirit to lead. I know it is hard. I am a planner. My husband laughed because I broke out a folder with all of our reservations and tickets for the past trip we took. When we got married I had an entire three inch binder full of plans.

One of my favorite verses to remind myself of the self-control issue is 1 Corinthians 6:12 (TPT), It’s true that our freedom allows us to do anything, but that doesn’t mean that everything we do is good for us. I’m free to do as I choose, but I choose to never be enslaved to anything. The Amplified classic states, Everything is permissible (allowable and lawful) for me; but not all things are helpful (good for me to do, expedient and profitable when considered with other things). Everything is lawful for me, but I will not become the slave of anything or be brought under its power.

When I allow Him to speak to me about the things that do not benefit me, I take back self-control. I do not want the have to have or do anything mentality. I am one of those that will have a television show that I have watched a hundred times in the background because it brings comfort. I am not alone in this. I do not want to get to a place that it is a “have to” and cannot be where He wants me to be at any given moment.

When I allow Him to speak to me about the things that do not benefit me, I take back self-control.

Philippians 3:13-17 (AMPC) I do not consider, brethren, that I have captured and made it my own [yet]; but one thing I do [it is my one aspiration]: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the [supreme and heavenly] prize to which God in Christ Jesus is calling us upward. So let those [of us] who are spiritually mature and full-grown have this mind and hold these convictions; and if in any respect you have a different attitude of mind, God will make that clear to you also. Only let us hold true to what we have already attained and walk and order our lives by that.

I am going to make mistakes. Jesus was so full of compassion that He does not hide from us. I wrote down this year that my goal was progress. Last year I made a goal of running a 5K. In March I hurt my right calf so much that I could not bend my knee. I still have issues with it, so I had to stop running. Just because I hurt does not mean that I will not keep moving though. I am starting to walk the track again. The same in true with maturing in Christ. I have to seek Him more and in turn reach out more. Without an outlet to serve I will not grow where He wants me to grow. I want to forget about what is behind me that made me stumble. I want to press toward the goal. I want to win my prize! I want to become more mature.

Philippians 3:18-19 (NKJV) For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.

Food, hobbies, or anything we spend out time on can be so consuming that people find themselves ruled by it. Being ruled by something other than God can cause us not to hear His voice. It can cause us not to crave His voice. It can cause us not to desire to seek Him any longer. Being ruled by anything than God is something He takes very seriously. I do not want to live as an enemy of the cross. I know those are strong words, but they are true. I do not want to live resistant to the power of Christ’s death and resurrection because I cannot get self under control.

Philippians 3:20-21 (NKJV) For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself.

I have often used the excuse to not have self-control over the foods I choose is because I will one day be given a glorious body. However, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit and Christ did pay a high price for me (1 Corinthians 6:19-20), so I cannot use that as an excuse. I want His power to help me bring everything – everything – under His control. Last night I talked quite a bit about this with my youth group. Our church will be starting 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting this Sunday as a corporate body. I told them to not just restrict their fasting to food. It does not even have to be food. It could be how they have chosen to spend their time. Fasting without prayer is just you going on a diet or changing your habits. The point is to draw us closer to God. When you start to think on the thing that you have chosen to give up, pray. Last year’s time of prayer and fasting brought so much peace to me that I was not shaken by the things that happened in 2020. I have read more of my Bible, read more books inspired by the Bible and started to write because it drew my focus away from me.

As we were talking last night I had them write down three things: 1) what in your life has become an idol that you cannot live without? 2) what in your life has made you feel defeated in not following after God more? 3) what do you feel has control over you so that you cannot have a deeper relationship with God? We wrote them on dissolve able paper. As they placed the slips of paper in the bowl of water, it dissolved to being no trace of those reasons at all. Christ paid the price. He is our strength. the power over those excuses were washed away when He spilled His blood for us.

Why do I fast? I want to mature. In order to mature, I need to get some of Amanda out of the way. (Fasting is not acting lowly or miserable). Self-control out of balance can lead to fear. We have not room to make fear first place in our lives at this moment in history. There is an impact I can make when I walk in His love. If you need to fast the news, social media, YouTube, Netflix, sugars, pizza, etc. Do so knowing that He paid a high price for you. He do not want anything having control of us. We should not be enslaved to anything. Make this year a year of progression. You are not going back to how you use to be, you are not staying where you are, but you are making a step towards the goal!

Please let me know how I can be praying for you during this time. You can email me at amanda@desiringformore.org.