"And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in." Here's what I need you to know right now. The fast that fails produces nothing. The fast that forms produces character. But the fast that frees? It produces a future.So what I'm seeing is this. Look at what God promi...  Read More

"Who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men." Now watch this. Everything we have been talking about... the open hands, the generous heart, the releasing instead of grasping... this is exactly what Jesus did.So what I'm seeing is this. Paul tells us that Jesus, ...  Read More

"Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?" Here's what I see in this passage. Every single thing God describe...  Read More

Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?' Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. Let me just say this right now. Israel had a problem with pronouns. Listen to their complaint. "Why have WE fasted and YOU see it not? Why have WE humbled OURselves and YOU take no knowledge of it?" Me. Me...  Read More

"Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God." Here's what I need you to know right now. Two little words can expose everything about your spiritual life. Two words that God uses to describe His own people in Isaiah 58. The word...  Read More

"You are my witnesses, declares the LORD, and my servant whom I have chosen, that you may know and believe me and understand that I am he. Before me no god was formed, nor shall there be any after me. I, even I, am the LORD, and besides me there is no savior." Here's the final instruction Samuel gave Israel before they entered the fast. Serve Him only.Not serve Him mostly. Not serve Him primarily....  Read More

"Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as they did." I know what you're thinking. We don't have temples for Baal. We don't worship Ashtoreth. We don't have wooden poles in our homes. So this doesn't really apply to us.But those gods only became gods because that's what the people turned to in their need. We can make a god out of anything.The real question is...  Read More

"Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life." When Samuel told Israel to put away foreign gods and the Ashtaroth, I almost skimmed right over it. In my Bible brain, I just know Israel always had a problem with idols. This was par for the course.But then I wondered why Samuel named Ashtaroth specifically. Why not just say foreign gods and leave it at that?Here's what I...  Read More

"Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flow the springs of life." Before the hand releases, the heart must renounce.Samuel gave Israel three conditions for returning to God. And notice which one came first. Not action. Not even service. The heart. Return with all your heart.Here's what I need you to know. The heart is the throne of all your actions. It governs how you act and who you tru...  Read More

"And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, 'If you are returning to the LORD with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.'" Twenty years.Let that sink in for a moment. Israel lamented after the Lord for twenty years. Twenty years of crying out ...  Read More

"And the shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had heard and seen, as it had been told them." They returned.That's how the story ends. The shepherds went back. Back to the fields. Back to the sheep. Back to the night watch. Back to the same work. The same obscurity. The same social exclusion.Nothing about their external circumstances had changed. They weren't promoted. They ...  Read More

 "When the angels went away from them into heaven, the shepherds said to one another, 'Let us go over to Bethlehem and see this thing that has happened, which the Lord has made known to us.' And they went with haste and found Mary and Joseph, and the baby lying in a manger." Let us go.That's what the shepherds said to one another. They had heard the announcement. They had received the good news of...  Read More