Week Two – Day 1
TODAY’S FAST - Fast from All Junk Foods, Desserts, Sweets, and Sodas
Devotional:
Some years ago, a young boy was playing in an old pre-Civil War two-story barn. As he was climbing up a ladder to play in the loft, he unknowingly disturbed a swarm of bees. From a distance, the boy’s father heard his screams and ran over to the barn. He climbed partway up the ladder, grabbed the boy and set him gently on the ground telling him to run to safety inside. Knowing that the boy would never outrun the bees, the father did the only thing he could. While his child ran into the safety of the house, the loving father stood in his boys place at the top of the ladder with his arms outstretched, absorbing the stings on his own body until his son was safe inside.
It should have been us up there on that cross, arms outstretched and nailed to the beam.
For the wages of sin is death, the Bible tells us in Romans 6:23. But God loves His children so much that He took on a human body and died so we could be healed. Seven centuries before Jesus was born, the prophet Isaiah preached the gospel of Jesus Christ: “But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was upon him, and by his wounds we are healed.”
That’s why the rest of Romans 6:23 reads: But the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Peace and healing come to us by the wounds of Jesus.
Prayer Focus:
Pray for healing in your physical, emotional, and spiritual being through the work already completed by Jesus Christ.
Key Verse:
“Surely he took up our pain and bore our suffering, yet we considered him punished by God, stricken by him, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions, he was crushed for our iniquities; the punishment that brought us peace was on him, and by his wounds we are healed.” Isaiah 53:4-5 NIV
