Isaiah 58:6
This message may not be long, but I want it to cause an explosion. We must take this principle and move into it so that we not only read a truth, but we walk in that truth, we experience it, and we minister it. It must become real to us. The truths and principles God gives us are to lift us to a new place so that we start moving and functioning on that level.
We will read from Isaiah 58, the chapter on fasting. “Cry loudly, do not hold back; raise your voice like a trumpet, and declare to My people their transgression, and to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek Me day by day, and delight to know My ways, as a nation that has done righteousness, and has not forsaken the ordinance of their God. They ask me for just decisions, they delight in the nearness of God. ‘Why have we fasted and Thou dost not see? Why have we humbled ourselves and Thou dost not notice?’ Behold, on the day of your fast you find your desire (your pleasure), and drive hard all your workers. Behold, you fast for contention and strife and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high.”
“Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself? Is it for bowing one’s head like a reed, and for spreading out sackcloth and ashes as a bed? Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the Lord?” Isaiah 58:1–5.
So much seems to be wrong in the way Israel was seeking God, yet when you stop to think about it, so much seems to be right. They sought God day by day—what is wrong with seeking God every day? They delighted to know His ways—what is wrong with that? They did not forsake the ordinance of their God—there is nothing wrong with that. They were consistent—they asked for just decisions and for righteousness; they delighted in the nearness of the Lord. But they asked, “Why, then, have we fasted, and You do not see? We humble ourselves, and You do not take notice.”
God answered, “You fast in contention and strife, to make your voice heard on high.” Another translation reads, “You are fasting to get your prayers through.” They were struggling in strife and contention to get an answer from God. What is wrong with that? God asked, “Is this the fast I have chosen? for a man to humble himself?” The Israelites answered as we might, “We thought that was the purpose that we humble ourselves. We bow our heads as a reed before the Lord. We spread our sackcloth and ashes like a bed. We thought that was the purpose. We thought God wanted that repentance.” God said, “Will you call this a fast, even an acceptable day to the Lord?”
Does this passage shake you? This is the way people act who are sincere before God. They seek the face of God, they cry out to be heard, they want to get their cause through to God. The Lord asks, “Do you think this is the fast that I want?” Lord, You wrote the Book; show us what You want. Tell us what You want in a fast. We thought that this was what You wanted. We are Your people; all You have to do is show us what you want.
“Is this not the fast which I chose…” The chapter then names eight things for which God would like us to fast. First: “to loosen the bonds of wickedness…” Verse 6. God says, “Go set my brother free.” When the Lord cries out, “Lazarus, come forth,” Lazarus comes forth like a mummy, bound hand and foot in graveclothes. Then the Lord says, Loose him, and let him go. John 11:43, 44. When God brings a man out of sin and he is bound hand and foot with the old habits, the old ways and fears, and he doesn’t know what to do, the Lord says, “This is the fast I have chosen: that you loose the bands of wickedness. Take the wrappings off him! Unwrap him!” He is God’s present to the Body.
You fast to see the bands of wickedness loosed. That is much better than beating on your chest and crying, “O God, meet me.” Your attention can be so on yourself that you forget the whole purpose of fasting. You fast to loosen the bonds of wickedness and to undo the bands of the yoke. You see that another brother is in bondage; he really wants to walk with God. You have planted a little seed in a man’s heart, and you wonder: “How am I to get him out of the world? How will I believe God for him? He is carrying a yoke that he cannot carry anymore; he is bowed low.” God says, “This is that for which I want you to fast: ‘to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke?’ ” Verse 6b. This is our dedication. Fasting is reaching out for the other man; it is not fasting for yourself.
The Lord knows the people who fast. Remember the story Jesus told of the Pharisee who stood praying within himself: God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican. I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess. Luke 18:11, 12. He went down from the temple having accomplished nothing. The publican beat his chest, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. Verse 13. He knew where the trouble was—in his heart. He prayed, “Lord, help me. Do something for me. Be merciful to me.” The Lord said he went down justified rather than the other man. There was a penitence in his heart. He wanted a relationship to God. He was not on a big ego trip.
An ego trip is being a Pharisee; it is the self-righteous attitude: “I thank Thee I am not as other people are.” But for the grace of God the Pharisee would have been worse. How can you evaluate a man? How can you evaluate two people who have never been subjected to the same forces or to the same circumstances yet one man seems to come out a little better than the other. How can you judge yourself to be better than someone else? The message God is trying to convey in Isaiah 58 is to stop seeking God on an ego trip. You can open your heart to be an instrument of God in your fastings and in your seeking the Lord so that you will help other people and minister to your brother and sister.
“Is this not the fast which I chose.… Is it not to divide your bread with the hungry, and bring the homeless poor into the house (hospitality); when you see the naked, to cover him…” (it would take more garments than most clothing stores have to cover the existing nakedness. We are talking about something other than a physical nakedness; we are speaking of opening our hearts to the Lord to see another person’s need and to say, “I see the Christ in my brother, and I see him being exposed to shame. I want to cover him with mantles of compassion”); “… and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?” Isaiah 58:6, 7.
“Your own flesh” is referring to those who are one with you. It means not only your physical family, but your spiritual family as well. You do not hide from them. They may always have a need, a problem. They may come to church oppressed. You do not say, “I better not come near; their aura will dump something on me and I will have a terrible time. I would be oppressed, so I’ll slip in the other way and skirt around the congregation so I don’t have to meet them. If I get too close to that sister she’ll talk to me, and that brother is always pouring out his troubles to me. I know he needs an ear to pound, but it’s not going to be mine, because I’m so harassed afterwards.” That is unimportant. God is trying to tell you to open up your heart to carry the burdens of your brother.
They that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak and so fulfill the law of Christ (Romans 15:1). Do you believe that?
“You mean I am to go out of my way just to be harassed by my brother’s problem?” That’s right.
“You mean I’m to open myself up for that? I’m to walk right in and let him dump on me?” Yes, walk in and let him dump his whole load on you. That is what Body ministry is. This is a family in the household of faith. We have known this principle, but now it is ready for emphasis. Now we will move into that level. We will become spiritual fathers of a great multitude.
“Rejoice, O barren, for more are the children of the barren than the children of the married wives” (Isaiah 54:1). What is God saying? We will come in with desolation in our history. We have been nothing, but God will take us and make us fruitful. He will multiply us as He did with Abraham.
Can you imagine Abraham and Sarah visiting an old friend who was having a family reunion? Abraham and Sarah would just stand there and be introduced to his offspring—perhaps twenty-five sons, forty-eight grandchildren, twenty-two great-grandchildren, and ten great-great-grandchildren. Then they would go home, but Abraham would still say, “Sarah, I’m not going to consider your womb as good as dead. I’m going to believe the promise of the Lord. We will have seed that will be numerous as the stars and be more than the sand!” We will stand firm too. We will believe. The Lord brings us to a place where we no longer consider our former desolate state when we were not a people, for now we are a people of the Lord.
Once you were wandering in the ways of sin, hung up, not afraid to try or to do anything; you couldn’t have cared less. Then one day God tapped you on the shoulder and said, “Son, I love you,” and He broke your heart. He said, “Follow Me,” and you followed Him. As you walked with Him, He said, “I will make you fruitful. I will bless you to bring forth a great host of people in My name. You will beget them in the Lord. And, son, when you pray, don’t just pray for yourself; look around to the one in whose heart My word is planted and fast for him. Help him; give him a hand; and I will bless you.” After a while it does not seem that there is anything else worth living for but that.
I have many demands on my time, writing messages, in addition to waiting on the Lord for the flow of the word. I don’t have much time for entertainment or other things. I used to love Christian movies; I don’t have time for it anymore. I used to go fishing, hunting, golfing; I don’t have time for that anymore. There are many things I don’t have time for, but I have time for the things I want to do. I have time to wake in the night and pray for a brother. I have time to meet a man with a need. I have time for those things; so, do you. After a while you find out there isn’t anything else worth living for. Start dealing your bread to the hungry. Are you aware of just what it means when a man needs a word of encouragement, needs a blessing, or needs some help? You have the time. Stop living for yourself.
Now we who are strong ought to bear the weaknesses of those without strength and not just please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to his edification. For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached Thee fell upon Me.” Romans 15:1–3. The Lord Jesus never pleased Himself. He never did one thing to please Himself. He did always the things that pleased the Father (John 8:29). He was always loving and compassionate when He saw a multitude of people. No matter how weary he was, He was moved with compassion for them.
When we first come into a walk with God there is still a lot of the old flesh left alive. We serve God, we love Him, and we worship Him, but every once in a while, we feel, Lord, I need a coffee break from You.” We run off and hide ourselves. We may call it withdrawal or whatever, but we simply pull out of everything for a while. When an elder or deacon is anointed and hands are laid on him for his office, at first he works very seriously at his job. Then he becomes tired, and soon he is missing from the services for a couple weeks. When he comes back, if someone asks him, “What was the matter with you?” He will say, “Nothing, I was just busy.” He had to do something else. He missed a few things, but he is back now; the coffee break is over; he goes to work again.
This day it is such a strain being a prophet. It is such a problem to be spiritual all the time. Someone pushes you too far, and you say, “That does it!” and you blow up for a little while. But as the days go by and you draw closer to Him, you realize in your spirit that you have reached the fast that the Lord has chosen. You are not fasting and struggling to get through for yourself. You are dealing your bread to the hungry. You are breaking the bonds of wickedness, undoing the bands of the yoke, and breaking every yoke. It is your life. When you go into the battle and are wounded, you lie there and bleed awhile, then get up and fight some more. You do not do it out of outrageous courage, but you do it because it is your delight. It is your delight to love Him, to serve Him, to serve the Body, to love every one of them, to minister to them, to see Christ come forth in them.
One day you will say like the Apostle Paul, “So then death worketh in me, but life in you. The outward man is perishing, for something is renewing the inner man every day” (II Corinthians 4:12, 16). What is it? If you do not know, this message is in the future. If you do know, this message is in the present, for this message is speaking of the thing that God is causing to course through you.
Many times you cannot excuse yourself; you don’t know. You say as the Apostle Paul: “I don’t know how to judge myself.” I am conscious of nothing against myself, yet I am not by this acquitted; but the one who examines me is the Lord. Therefore do not go on passing judgment before the time, but wait until the Lord comes who will both bring to light the things hidden in the darkness and disclose the motives of men’s hearts; and then each man’s praise will come to him from God. I Corinthians 4:4, 5. Paul was trying to evaluate what kind of an apostle he was. He did not know. He knew he was trying. He did not know anything against himself, but he said, “God may see that I am failing in an area I don’t know, and I may be succeeding in reaching into God in a way I am not even aware. This I do know: I must be a faithful steward before the Lord.” This is a deep truth, a truth that can change us.
A spirit of brotherhood is coming upon us. It means something because we know it is what we are living for. What will happen when we turn our hearts wholly to the Lord and begin to reach out to our brother? “Then your light will break out like the dawn, and your recovery will speedily spring forth; and your righteousness will go before you; the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’ ” Isaiah 58:8, 9a. Then we will be like Paul, who said, “We are laborers together with God” (I Corinthians 3:9). That means working hand in hand. Wherever we go, whatever we say, the Lord will back us up because we are reaching out to help our brother and our sister.
Lord, deliver us from the pit of self. It is the most vicious trap ever set before anyone. The people of the world are so shrunken that their horizons are within their own personal, selfish expectations. I feel sorry for the man who is not living for anything bigger than himself.
“… If you remove the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, and if you give yourself to the hungry, and satisfy the desire of the afflicted” (again this idea of giving yourself), “then your light will rise in darkness, and your gloom will become like midday. And the Lord will continually guide you, and satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones; and you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail” (all this because you are giving, you are reaching out to a brother; this is what God chose for you to do). “And those from among you will rebuild the ancient ruins” (His restoration promises); “you will raise up the age-old foundations; and you will be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the streets in which to dwell.” Verses 9–12.
These people will bring back to the people of God everything that His Book ever described, every promise God ever set before them. These are the people, the remnant who will do the job. This is the people who will move the world for God. This is the people who will see the Kingdom brought forth and the Church and all the foundational ministries and authority restored. These people are not wrapped up in themselves, but they are giving out to do the will of the Lord. They cannot help but speak a word from the Lord because they see a man who needs a word from God. They cannot help but heal the sick and work miracles because they see a man who needs a miracle. They fast to loose the people from the things that are oppressing them. God honors that. He honors the vision; He honors the burden.
Don’t say, “I have a burden for my brother.” There is something sanctimonious in that. “I have a burden for my poor sister in her need.” Rather say, “I have my brother’s burden. I have my sister’s burden. It has become my burden. I don’t stand remote from it; I reach out and identify myself with it. Vicariously, I come and carry the yoke. It is my yoke too. I kneel and repent of my brother’s sin. Vicariously, it has become my sin. I may not have a bit of faith in my brother when I see his weakness, but I have faith for him, and I take his burden upon me and cry out to the Lord.” We must minister to one another.
What makes a woman barren? One doctor says when the womb is too cold the seed dies in it before impregnating the woman. Why do many of the words fail to come to fulfillment in the hearts of people? Their hearts are too cold and selfish, and the word dies. What will happen if your heart is warmed with the compassion of the Lord? The word will begin to spring forth, and you will be reaching out to others. Something begins to happen. The Word says your light shall spring forth like the dawn, your recovery will come forth speedily, and righteousness will go before you. It all begins to work because your heart is warm with the compassion of the Lord for someone else.
Don’t be a cold fish. Open up. Love your brother; love your sister. Get involved, deeply involved, not occasionally, but involved to the point that you say, “This is that for which God called me to live. This is my life, to bless my brother, to bless my sister.” Reach out in the name of the Lord. Someone may object: “Well, I have my own interests.” You will lose them. Many are finding a lot of the ideas and interests they had are dying out. Every day they are burying pursuits and hobbies. Their whole life is listening to the word, sharing the word, dealing their bread to the hungry. It is becoming our whole life. This is the Kingdom.
Lord, bless this word to our hearts. It is such a simple word. This word will change your whole life-style, as it is sealed to your heart and you begin to live in it. Many people may come to walk with God as a result. You do not know what God will do with you when He begins to channel, when He has someone who is really yielded, whose heart is open. The Lord will use you.
The old order becomes emotional about soul-winning, but that can only take them so far. But when you give yourself wholly to God, children will be born in the Kingdom to the same level that you have attained. That’s the way it is. When a pentecostal wins a soul, that soul generally becomes a pentecostal. When a fundamentalist wins souls, he becomes a fundamentalist. When you give yourself wholly to walk with the Lord in God’s remnant, and you go forth to minister to others, you will bring people right into the remnant. There is no other way. Like begets like. They will be brought forth exactly to the same kind of life and dedication that you have in your spirit because they are begotten of God through your faith. They come forth in the same image. If you are selfish, at the very best, you may lead someone in who is selfish. Then you say, “I thought he had real promise, but now he is in the Body, and I see he is selfish.” Who won him to the Lord? Take a look in the mirror and see who is selfish. Like begets like. Win them to the Lord first, open your heart to the Lord and to others in an unselfish way, and watch what God starts to do.
Lord, we thank You for the word. We purpose to move into that which You want us to be, in the name of the Lord. We will open our hearts in love. We are claiming everything You want us to be, Lord, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Are you getting the burden for this? Will you open your heart and let the Lord give you the burden? completely? Have you had the fear in your heart that maybe you were giving too much or becoming too involved? It is not so. It is just the opposite. You cannot become involved too much. That instinct of self-preservation must go; we must lose our life for His sake, in order to really find it.