Fast to Feast - Day 4

Matthew 22.6-9 "The rest seized his servants, mistreated them and killed them.The king was enraged. He sent his army and destroyed those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants, 'The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find. Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see.’ "

God says that He offers us blessings and curses (Deuteronomy 30:19). We choose blessings when we accepts Jesus' sacrifice for our sins and stay obedient to God's commands and the Holy Spirit's leading. If we don't follow God's commands and the Holy Spirit's leading, our lives become tangled with the sins of this world, and we experience a life of curses. Praise God, though, that Christians who have at least received salvation will not suffer eternal punishment for their sins. Jesus' grace covers all who have reached out to Him.

So what happens when people who have accepted Jesus into their hearts reject the commands of God and the leading of the Holy Spirit? Who gets to eat their portion of the feast? Who gets their seat at the earthly banquet that reflects the heavenly one?

Once the wedding planner finds out that His invited guest will not come to His banquet, He tells his servants, "The wedding banquet is ready, but those I invited did not deserve to come. Go to the street corners and invite to the banquet anyone you find.Now go out to the street corners and invite everyone you see."

The banquet is ready to go. God has created all life to be a beautiful picture of Him. He is not going to diminish His majesty simply because the invited did not show up. So what does God do, He opens the banquet to everyone willing to come.

God's willingness to allow non-Christians to partake in His feast is also illustrated in another parable Jesus told about the Kingdom of God. Somehow weeds started growing in the wheat that God planted, and the servants wanted to know if they should pull them out. But God said, “No," he replied, "you’ll uproot the wheat if you do. Let both grow together until the harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn them, and to put the wheat in the barn.”

God has a specific plan for our earthly kingdom (wedding banquet), and every detail must be executed. If Christians are unwilling to fulfill their God-given purposes, He will have to use others to do His will. God can either use people as His tool or as His servant. The tool receives only earthly blessings, but the servant receives earthly and heavenly blessings.

This fact is seen several times in the Bible:

In 2 Chronicles 36.22 God swayed the heart of King Cyrus to allow the Israelites to return home, in order to fulfill the plan He foretold through Jeremiah.

In Nehemiah 2.6 God used King Artaxerxes to help Nehemiah rebuild Jerusalem, in order to redeem His chosen people.

In Daniel 1:46 God illustrated His glory to King Nebuchadnezzar, and the selfish king claimed God's glory.

None of these kings were godly men. They probably had worldly feast of every sin imaginable, yet God used them in order to achieve His master plan. Though these men partook in God's amazing banquet on this earth, they will not be allowed to enter into the eternal banquet. They were used as tools, not as servants.

If we as Christians are not saying yes to God's invitation to come, He must use others to fulfill His "Kingdom Come" for this earth. Our disobedience will not diminish His design.

It is crucial that we earnestly seek God about our intended and abundant role in this thing we call life. Fasting starts the journey. Jesus did not start His divine purpose (ministry) until after He had fasted.

"In the closing of chapter of the Book of Hebrews, the writer tell us, "Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith" (Heb. 13:7, NIV). As I asked before, if our Lord fasted, why would we think that we should not fast? There is no record of Jesus ever healing anyone until He returned from the forty days of fasting that launched His earthly ministry. Jesus said we would do even greater works than He had done, because He was returning to the Father. If Jesus did not begin to minister before fasting, how can we?" -- Jentezen Franklin in his book, Fasting

Fast to Feast- Day 1
Fast to Feast- Day 2
Fast to Feast- Day 3
Fast to Feast- Day 5
Fast to Feast- Day 6
Fast to Feast- Day 7



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