What is most valuable to you?

What is the purpose of prayer & fasting? The purpose of fasting is to deny our flesh of our natural desires and honor God in its place. Fasting is a supernatural chance to apply the Bible to our everyday lives. The interesting part of fasting is that there really aren’t many scriptures describing it, explaining it, or telling us how to do it. It just says fast.

I am apart of the golden generation, Gen Z. And our most distinguished quality is our love for our phones. What’s so interesting to me, is that as much as we do LOVE our phones, it would be wrong to only speak of them as a luxury. Phones are no longer just a luxury, they are a practicality. We use them to network, find directions, and pick restaurants. You name it. But, in my opinion, social media is different. The difference is that social media can become about self promotion. Sure, there are elements of practicality, like staying in touch with friends that you’ve grown apart with or making new connections. But, it involves so many levels of presentation that it’s not only a tool for communicating. If that was true, we would all have profile pictures taken from our couch with the Instagram app,  front-facing camera. Yikes. But, don’t get me wrong.  Social media isn’t evil either. My great-grandmother lived to be 105, and she had a ton of sayings she would use to teach us about life. One was, “self-praise is half scandal, and no praise is all scandal.” It’s better to post about your life than to fall off the map forever. There are benefits to social, but they need to be weighed and compared to the cost.

A relationship with Jesus is the most valuable thing we can obtain in this life. Christ is more precious than a ruby or a precious gem found in a field. The Bible says when a man finds it, he sells everything he has to buy the field so he can own it. (Matt 13:44-46) That’s why fasting social media is important. We are denying our own gratification, like keeping tabs on our friends, to give God those moments during our day. There comes a time when we need to be honest about how little social media adds to the quality of our lives, and maybe even so honest to consider how little it adds to the quality of our relationships. Then, consider how precious a few moments spent with God can be. Those moments can uplift us all week long! Instead of making some new rule about how to use social media, use this time as a detox and focus on God!

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done.

Matthew 16:24

PRAYER:

Lord, I come to you expecting this time of fasting to be as meaningful to me as it is to you. I am acting through faith, believing that as I fast digital media, in the form I’ve chosen, it will benefit my spirit and mind to step away on this fast. As I deny myself of these things, it can feel like so little compared to what you have done for me. But, I ask you to see this fast as an act of love and devotion to you as my Father. Detox my mind and spirit of any unclean thing from digital media that influences my behavior towards myself, others, or you, Lord. Give me strength to fast today. I ask you to remember this time and use it as a selfless action for you, God, that you can repay me for in glory.

Written By: Kayla Foley

Categorised in: Uncategorized

This post was written by Neo Church