Two Traits to Usher in Blessing

Have you ever been prejudiced against someone? Most of us have. Jonah hated the Ninevites. He thought he was better and godlier. That’s why he was the one chosen for the job. God had some work to do in Jonah.

Deep down, I think he hoped they would not repent and follow God. But when the Spirit of the Lord is prompting you, you know you must follow. Something happened to the Ninevites during the fast. Their sin was exposed, and their hearts were open. Jonah 3:1-5 says:

“Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the second time, saying, ‘Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.’ So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the Lord. Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city, a three-day journey in extent. And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day’s walk. Then he cried out and said, ‘Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!’ So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.”

Fasting has a way of showing us our true selves. Because of their repentance, God heard their cry and relented and didn’t destroy their land. Obedience brings blessing.

In today’s world of self-empowerment and self-advancement, it is often difficult to know how to humble ourselves. But we can look at the example of God’s children in the Old Testament to see how fasting for humility changed their lives. Ezra 8:21 reads:

“I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions…. So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.”

Here, fasting was a means to humility. God’s children humbled themselves before the Lord as they sought protection and safety for themselves and their children. This scripture of prayer and fasting indicates the importance of coming to God in reverence and respect.

James 4:6 says:
“But He gives more grace. Therefore He says: ‘God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.’ ” Psalm 25:9 reads:
“The humble He guides in justice, and the humble He teaches His way.”
As you journey through your day, stop, and ask God for a humble spirit. It might just be your biggest blessing yet.

To read more from Tammy Hotsenpiller’s Fasting With God, visit MyCharismaShop.com