God's Law by Brother Duke Hansen

         Good morning. If you would, turn to the book of Isaiah chapter 58. Though the verses we are reading this morning were originally for the people of Israel, these verses are for the church today in 2023. This scripture is about the correct and Godly way of fasting. A fast is not what is marketed for money by some churches or faith based chain stores. It isn't abstaining from just one item for a day or a week. It isn't eating just fruits instead of chocolate for a sweet snack. Those are diets slapped with a Bible name on the cover to get you to buy it and feel better about yourself. We are shaped by the world to think and be a certain way. Where words lose their true meaning and adapting a new way of thinking, even the right way of thinking is so difficult. We are going to begin at verse 1.

        Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sin.

        The only reason for the man of God is in this verse. The man of God and the 5 fold ministry's objective is to guide and direct. The man of God uses the word of God to call out sin, to lead and guide his flock.

        2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God; they ask me for the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.

        There are people who struggle with things in the world. There are people who have occupied churches for years and lack an understanding of the basics of prayer. Your spot in life and how you live it hasn't been because of an uncaring or indifferent God, it's generations of disobedient and stiff-necked family that put you where you started. The things and situations you find yourself in happen for a reason. Like in verse 2 above, many want to know the ways of God and yet keep iniquity in their life. One foot in church saying church things and one foot in the world saying whatever their flesh thinks. God is not going to waste his time with you if that's you! God is not going near iniquity. You can go to God praying for that promotion, or new job, or new house, new truck, better kids, but if you stay in a sinful and unrepentant state, God isn't coming near your prayer. In verse 2, God said the people were wanting and sought after him, wanting his justice, wearing him out with their selfishness.

        3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takes no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. 

        The people back in this scripture knew fasting was afflicting their flesh. There are rules to fasting. Look them up. In the Bible, when they fasted they did nothing. No work, no activity, nothing. You aren't supposed to find pleasure in fasting. 

        4 Behold, ye fast and for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.

        God calls the people out on fasting for strife. You're trying to use tools of the holy for a flesh problem. There are three laws on earth. There are the laws of earth, the laws of man, and maritime law. The world has not changed and neither has God. Fasting is not the way to make God answer you.

        Obedience is one of the first things God wants to teach you. Your faith can be misled. Callings can be ignored. Anointings may be in the world. There are some things you can do where you enter into hell and other things that shorten your days. You need to seek the truth rather than validate whatever theories you have been trying to prove. When the storms roll in our life, our spiritual perception improves and clarifies. 

        5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?

        None of what happens in life is by accident. The time when you push your flesh away and let God be God, you will see that miracle in your family, in your work, in your life. You know when you can feel well about yourself? When you know where you are in the truth and are obedient to it. Silence is golden in public.

        If you look ahead in verse 12, Isaiah writes that we are called to repair the breaches in life, not cause more division. A fast is a day for a man to afflict your soul. It's not to afflict your flesh. You can start by a meal or two. Think of the idea of planting seeds to grow food. To afflict the seed is to cause it death before it can grow. This is a law of God not one of man nor maritime. If you are fasting for strife or envy, you are ultimately edifying your flesh. 

        6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke.

        The fast is to afflict your flesh and not your soul. In the scripture they were fasting to afflict his soul rather his flesh.

        What are the gains of fasting correctly? Loose the bands of wickedness. What's keeping you from being a full child of God? Heavy burdens- things you haven't forgave which have happened in your life. Losing people. Things you had experienced in life which you cannot break. Who are the oppressed in verse 6? You and I are. Breaking every yoke is the different bondages that has you locked down. The bands, the burdens, the yokes all work together to shorten your growth in faith and your walk with Jesus. If you are walking upright, you have the authority to bind and loosen things. If you can't do for yourself, what makes you think you are able to help others? If you put on the character of God, you will be in a pressure cooker. Allow the pressure to happen. It kills the flesh, the old man. If it isn't done right, you can kill your influence and strangle your testimony. Don't cast the shadow when God is shining down on someone. Be a reflection of God's light. All this spoken today is not theory but God's law.