Zechariah 7-8; Ezra 5-6:18
What is my true motivation for everything that I do? To be honest, I think I'm pretty selfish. But I desire to change, and I hope that God will change my heart so that everything I do (fasting or feasting) will be motivated out of a desire to love and honor Him. This is what it would look like if we were all living expressions of the One True God:
Prayer
Heavenly Father, please change my heart so that I am not focused on myself. I pray that all enjoyment I have would be centered on who you are. I pray that any spiritual devotion that I demonstrate (including what I'm doing right now) would be motivated by your Holy Spirit working inside me for your ultimate glory and satisfaction. Lord, I pray that I will be faithful to practical expressions of your love and kindness: loving justice and mercy; supporting the widow, orphan, foreigner, and poor. O Father, would you please remove the evil in my heart so that I can love others like you love them. Lord, please fill me with your presence and cause me to live as an expression of you so that the nations will see you and know you and be drawn toward you in repentance because of your kind mercy. I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
Z 7:4 Then the word of the LORD Almighty came to me: 5 "Ask all the people of the land and the priests, 'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? 6 And when you were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? ... 9 "This is what the LORD Almighty says: 'Administer true justice; show mercy and compassion to one another. 10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless, the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.'
What is my true motivation for everything that I do? To be honest, I think I'm pretty selfish. But I desire to change, and I hope that God will change my heart so that everything I do (fasting or feasting) will be motivated out of a desire to love and honor Him. This is what it would look like if we were all living expressions of the One True God:
Z 8:20 This is what the LORD Almighty says: "Many peoples and the inhabitants of many cities will yet come, 21 and the inhabitants of one city will go to another and say, 'Let us go at once to entreat the LORD and seek the LORD Almighty. I myself am going.' 22 And many peoples and powerful nations will come to Jerusalem to seek the LORD Almighty and to entreat him." 23 This is what the LORD Almighty says: "In those days ten men from all languages and nations will take firm hold of one Jew by the hem of his robe and say, 'Let us go with you, because we have heard that God is with you.' "
Prayer
Heavenly Father, please change my heart so that I am not focused on myself. I pray that all enjoyment I have would be centered on who you are. I pray that any spiritual devotion that I demonstrate (including what I'm doing right now) would be motivated by your Holy Spirit working inside me for your ultimate glory and satisfaction. Lord, I pray that I will be faithful to practical expressions of your love and kindness: loving justice and mercy; supporting the widow, orphan, foreigner, and poor. O Father, would you please remove the evil in my heart so that I can love others like you love them. Lord, please fill me with your presence and cause me to live as an expression of you so that the nations will see you and know you and be drawn toward you in repentance because of your kind mercy. I pray this in the name of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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