AP: Jesus as our Bridgegroom King and Judge-Pt 2

Ashton writes:

Okay. So in the last entry I said that fasting is a sign of mourning. Matt. 9:15 defines how we are to mourn for the Bridegroom. There has to be a heart and love behind prayer and fasting or it is useless. Mourning for the Bridegroom is born out of relationship with Him. How much we mourn for him is how much we know him. Do we REALLY want Him to return? He wants our hearts to really long and mourn for His return. To know Him is to love Him---to love Him is to mourn for Him in His absence. We've been given a little of Him which is why we want more of Him. Mourning is a passion for more of Him. Jesus always keeps getting sweeter the more we discover about Him. We must have more of Him. It is built into our being. We will be satisfied with nothing less than all of Him. We will never have all of Him until we are in His presence for all of eternity, but that is a whole other topic. We don't like to feel hungry, weak, humble, and useless but that is what He demands so that we will turn to Him for strength and satisfaction. To know God deeply we must be radical. Fasting is expressing our mourning for His return. Matt. 5:4-6 says, "Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled." The absence of fasting is the measure of our contentment with the absence of Christ. Did you catch that? The absence of fasting(food) is the measure of our contentment with the absence of Christ. Wow. That is really scary. Do we really miss Him and long for his return?

Fasting is done out of desire and love. In fasting we are tenderized to receive more of God faster and deeper. It enables our hearts to grow in capacity and be tenderized in love. We want the place of encounter. Fasting gets rid of false stimulants we lean upon. The purpose of fasting is love. Enjoying fasting comes out of love. When you begin to love fasting and even long for it and look forward to it you see God's work in you. Fasting can be done by fasting things other than food, but fasting food is the highest form of all fasting. Fasting and prayer always come in a context of loving God. Prayer and fasting make us more open to the word living in us and working in our hearts. Our effectiveness in prayer and fasting is drastically connected to our depth in the Word. Fasting tenderizes and sensitizes our hearts to receive more of God. It enlarges our capacity for a righteous and focused life. Though we may not see the changes now we will see them later on in life when we look back. Fasting illuminates the mind with the spirit of revelation.(meaning you are able to understand the Word more during your fast) It strengthens a deep sense of our spiritual identity. Fasting equips our bodies and enhances our physical health and spiritual intimacy. Whatever the motivation is for fasting is what will be strengthened in us during this time---good or bad. Fasting sensitizes the human spirit to the spirit realm. When fasting you must stay in the Word and be with other believers because the enemy will try to tell you that what you are doing is useless and you are the only one doing it. Our desire is to position ourselves to encounter Jesus as the Bridegroom King. Regular fasting IS part of the normal Christian life. It allows us to enter into depths in our relationship with God beyond what we normally experience.

Sometimes during our fast we get major revelation and other times feel nothing. But what matters is that we said yes in our hearts and obeyed His call. We fast in order to encounter God more intimately and more profoundly and to change the world. We desperately need more revelation of Jesus as our Bridegroom who has burning desire for us and fiery affections toward us. As we live in the truth of the Bridal paradigm we fast out of longing for Jesus. Fasting is for the weak, humble, ordinary people. When we are physically weak from not eating we become more sensitive to God and the things of God. Fasting is born out of a zealous love to know the Bridegroom King more. We are weak people who can never earn God's favor or rewards but can only receive them. We give ourselves to the grace of fasting by positioning ourselves before his infinite goodness. Fasting is one of the most practical ways to posture our hearts to experience more of God's affection and love. Being the Bride of Christ is not about being male or female but rather is an invitation to experience God's affection and desire for us. As sons of God we are given the position that allows us to experience His throne. As His Bride we get to experience His heart for us. (emotions, affections, and desire) We need to be active in intimacy with God. This result is fasting. We must become lovesick for God---become His friends---mourn for His return. He has tender mercy, gladness, fiery affections, and zealousness toward us. He is lovesick and is hoping to get the same response out of His Bride. How awful it must be to be lovesick for someone who is not lovesick after you. His passion burns hot with love for us. By knowing Jesus as our Bridegroom and seeing ourselves as His Bride we will become energized with a spirit of prayer and filled with courage to live lives abandoned to God in holiness. Only then will fasting seem appropriate, reasonable, or wise. The grace of fasting is God's answer to our cry for "more". Fasting enlarges our capacity to receive truth taking root in our hearts. In order to grow in love we must grow in capacity---to grow in capacity we must fast regularly. Fasting fuels our experience of God's love. We must be intentional about fasting. We move God's heart when we fast and pray. We want to be burning and shining lamps. We don't want to live life with just good intentions to fast. We must actually do it.

Here at IHOP Mike Bickle and the leadership strongly encourage the students, interns, and staff to fast at least 2 days every week and do the Global Bridegroom Fast the first Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday of every month and 7 days in December. They have the staff fast every Tuesday as part of their 2 days. I am challenging you to partake in this. The benefits from giving yourself to this are innumerable. Don't worry if you accidentally break your fast. Jesus loves that you are willing to do this thing that he has called you to. Just push delete and start again next time. Don't be hard on yourself. Everyone makes mistakes. Don't listen to the enemy when he tries to tell you that you are a failure and can never do it. Practice makes perfect. You must stick to it. Sorry this was so long. I'll try to make it shorter next time. But next time is a long subject too! :) We will just have to see what God puts on my heart next!

Love ya'll!

His forever,
Ashton Price