Good morning beloved!  As we were pouring over the Scriptures yesterday, the Lord directed us to Isaiah 58.  I want to exhort you, as briefly as I can, as to all our mandates as believers from the Lord.  This is what God considers HIS FAST!  Beginning in verses 6-7, I see 8 things that God considers a FAST unto HIM:  He begins by saying, “Is this not the FAST that I have chosen?:

  1. To loose the bonds of wickedness
  2. To undo the heavy burdens
  3. To let the oppressed go free
  4. To break every yoke
  5. To share your bread with the hungry
  6. To bring into your house the poor who are cast out
  7. To cover the naked when you see him
  8. To not hide yourself from your own flesh?

One of the most outstanding things I want to point out to you is the RESULT of doing these acts of love!  Let’s read about the results in verses 8-9:

  1. THEN, your light shall break forth like the morning
  2. Your healing shall spring forth speedily
  3. Your righteousness shall go before you
  4. The glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard
  5. THEN, you shall call, and the LORD will answer
  6. You shall cry, and He will say, “Here I Am.“

How glorious is that?

Continuing on with some more precepts from the LORD in verses 9b-10:

  1. If you take away the yoke from your midst
  2. If you take away the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness
  3. If you extend your soul to the hungry
  4. If you satisfy the afflicted soul,

Now come the benefits once again in verses 11-12,

  1. THEN your light shall dawn in the darkness
  2. Your darkness shall be as the noonday
  3. The LORD will guide you continually
  4. The LORD will satisfy your soul in drought and strengthen your bones
  5. You shall be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail.
  6. Those from among you shall build the old waste places
  7. You shall rise up the foundations of many generations
  8. You shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of paths to dwell in

Wow, hallelujah.  What a check list to live by!  Just 2 more verses.  Verse 13 once again tells us our part:

  1. If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day
  2. If you call the Sabbath a delight (every day is a sabbath day now)
  3. If you call the day of the LORD honorable
  4. If you honor Him by not doing your own ways and finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words,

Now, here comes the good part:

  1. THEN you shall delight yourself in the LORD
  2. God will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth
  3. God will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father

He concludes this amazing chapter with “THE MOUTH OF THE LORD HAS SPOKEN.”

This means, it’s eternal!  Psalm 138:2 says,

  • You have magnified Your Word above all Your Name.  

Then, Psalm 119:89 declares,

  • Forever, O LORD, Your Word is settled in heaven.  

Psalm 89:34 goes on to say,

  • My covenant I will not break, nor alter the Word that has gone out of My lips.  

And finally, Jesus said in Matthew 24:35,

  • Heaven and earth shall pass away, but My Words shall not pass away.  

God’s Word is our sure foundation!  And remember the words from 1 John 2:10,

  • He who loves his brother abides in the light and there is no cause for stumbling in him.  

Desiring to please God in all I do,

Lisa Gordon

Assistant Pastor

Jesus City Church