reminding us that there's going to be a certain point where time is irrelevant. And that is going to be when we're with the Lord forever. And that's just an amazing thought to even have on our minds today. Well, we're back to looking at subjects that Christians avoid. And thank you for not completely avoiding the subject because you're here. And we're going to be taking a look at that today. And we're looking at the second part of our subject of fasting. Part of that context you will see is Isaiah 58, and I want to again, through the scripture reading, give you a broader look at that. But just to remind ourselves of where we were last week regarding fasting, I'll remind you that abstaining from food isn't necessarily a subject that we actively avoid. That's not why we're looking at this, but it's just a lot of times it's something that is more on the ignorant side of things. And I don't mean that in the bad kind of sense, but just we don't know a lot about it. It's not a controversial subject per se, it's just something that we're not informed about a lot or we don't talk a lot about. So we approach the first part of our study as more of a mission of discovery, of searching out the factual basis for abstaining from food, for fasting. There were two questions that we asked, is fasting for today and is fasting a requirement? And frankly, the answers to these questions may have seemed a bit unsatisfying at first. It's like there wasn't a lot of definitive things that were said. The Pharisees considered Jesus' disciples to be unspiritual because they did not fast. Of course, this means that the Pharisees did fast. So we know that fasting was being practiced in the time of Christ. We also know that there was fasting took place in the Old Testament, obviously. But Jesus also stated his disciples would fast after he was gone, after he had left and completed his earthly ministry. So it's assumed that people will, would fast. But no commandment is given. And that's the important thing that we need to understand. In the New Testament, there are no commandments given to fast. But today we're going to be looking at some instructions, right? But we also explored the purposes for fasting. And those four purposes, and these are more general catch-all type of purposes here. And there might be some other ones, but these were the major ones. It was a show of repentance. When someone was overwhelmed with their sin and they wanted to express that to the Lord, they would abstain from food. There was a petitionary fast, something that somebody was requesting of the Lord, and it was of great importance. This was something that, again, people would fast to express their intentions and to express their seriousness about that subject. And then it was also a sign of mourning. We know that there were times when this took place. Along with that, Fasting was an expression of devotion and I think that as we transition over into the New Testament times certainly all of these could apply but there are times when we see these expressions of devotion as well that take place. So as we're considering all of these things our conclusion was that even though there are no commands There are some very good reasons that someone would fast, would choose to fast. And by the way, when I say commands, I mean in the New Testament. There were specific times when the people were commanded in the Old Testament to have a fast. So what I want to do then is transition today into some principles of fasting. And we're going to find those in a couple of passages of scripture, one of which is going to be Isaiah 58. What I want us to understand is this goes beyond the outward reason or purpose of a fast to what is going to be the heart in relation to a fast. Now, it isn't cut and dry because some of what is covered is literally our appearance. But the word is very clear. You will see the word is very clear as far as where the heart needs to be when it comes to a proper fast. So we're going to be looking at instructions from God, specifically God the Father in Isaiah 58. And again, I know that we've already read this, but what I want us to do is I want us to see these scriptures beginning in verse 1 and 2 where we see about Israel is in a deep state of sin. He says in verses 1 and 2 in Isaiah 58, I'm not going to read the entirety of the rest of this passage, but the word yet there is important. He's not saying that they're seeking him and delighting in who he is and all these other things in the right way. What God is saying is these people are in a deep state of sin, yet they're approaching me like they have this great relationship with me. It's almost like somebody who has a really terrible problem with somebody else. Maybe they've gossiped about them and just writed them down. We can throw this like in a work setting, right? But then when they're with that person, it's like, hey, I didn't know it was so great to see you. You're such a wonderful person. That's kind of the idea, kind of, because it is personal between ourselves and God when we're sinning against him, right? But yet they're coming across as these devoted people. So God wants the prophet, his mouthpiece, to basically tell them the state that they're in. He then goes on to say that they practiced insincere fasting. And this was interesting. Again, we don't see this as much in the New Testament. As a matter of fact, once you get past the book of Corinthians, I'm not even sure that fasting is mentioned again. It is mentioned in Acts and the Gospels. So the point is, it's not talked about a lot, but it's there. Here, in this passage, there is a direct link to Expressions of worship, devotion, whatever you want to call it, even repentance could be in here. It's not exactly stated exactly what it's about. But the information is there that they are fasting and God is saying, OK, you know, I see it, you know, they fasted outwardly, they abstained from food, but it was just an empty religious exercise to seem spiritual. Let's look at this. Why have we fasted, they say, and you have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls and you take no notice? And God doesn't argue back with them saying, no, no, what you're saying you're not really doing. They are doing this. But it says, in fact, in the day of your fast, you find pleasure and exploit your labors. Indeed, you fast for strife and debate and strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day to make your voice heard on high. So again this was an empty religious exercise that came off as spiritual devotion or spiritual repentance. In verse three the people whined and complained because they were presuming God would reward them for their fasting. They felt that they were abstaining for nothing, they didn't see the results. It's interesting, J. Vernon McGee said this, God never gave them fast days, he gave them feast days. Look at the behavior God observed while they pretended to express their repentance or to show devotion. Again, it could be a little bit of both. It could be one or the other. We're not exactly sure as far as what God is viewing there. But it says in verse 3, you find pleasure. The idea is they continue to enrich themselves through their business. through just doing what they would normally do in any day. In verse 4, we see they cheated those who worked for them. Their fasting made them cranky, and they took it out on each other by arguing and fighting. Folks, if you just step back a minute, it kind of looks a little bit like the Corinthian love feast, right? That surrounded the communion time, where they were arguing and having all this bitterness take place. Well, they're supposed to be trying to do something good in observance of the Lord's table. Then in verse 5, God asks, did I choose this for you? This heavy, sorrowful, miserable experience. Is this coming from me? So what God is saying is, this is your idea of a fast. Is this what you think a dedicated time to me should look like? And he made it clear that he did not desire this kind of a fast. Instead, we see the transitions over and we see God's view of a proper fast in verses 6 and 7. Let's take a look at that. Is this not the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke, is it not to share your bread with the hungry and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast out? When you see the naked, that you cover him and not hide yourself from your own flesh. So the Lord clarified for them his standard for fasting in verse 6. Along with the physical abstaining from food, God described a spiritual fast, a deliberate abstaining from sin, to break free from the heavy burdens of wickedness. But it was more than that. God's prescribed fast contrasted against a self-centered, self-inflicted misery. The Lord would have joyous expressions of justice and grace accompany fasting, relief for those who were being oppressed, care for the poor, and endeavoring to create unity. That was the idea there of not hide yourself from your own flesh. In other words, unite with people. Make this an opportunity for us to have strengthened bonds together. Well that doesn't sound like sometimes the idea that we get of fasting, right? God's idea of fasting is much different than sometimes, I have to suffer through this, I have to afflict myself with not having any food for a whole day. Right, for example. But along with that, we see that God gives some results of proper fasting. I have two slides to look at here because it's a little bit of a longer passage, but I wanted us to also visualize along with reading it. Verses 58, sorry, verses 8 through 10 of chapter 58 say this. Then, then what? When you're fasting properly, when it's actually a joyous thing, not just some exercise that you're doing to try to somehow merit my attention because of what you're doing without, right? Then, your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you. The glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard, and then you shall call, and the Lord will answer. You shall cry, and he shall say, I am here. If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger and speaking wickedness, if you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, then your light shall dawn in the darkness and your darkness shall be as the noon day. He then continues in verses 11 and 12. The Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your soul in drought and strengthen your bones. You should be like a watered garden and like a spring of water whose waters do not fail. Those among you shall build the old waste places, you shall raise up the foundations of many generations, and you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in." So the Lord promises people that if they came to him with this sanctified heart and mind, he would do what? He says there would be a dawning of a new day for his people. God would heal and protect them. He would hear their sincere prayers. He would relieve them of their oppression. They would see good days. He would guide them and make them strong and he would restore their land to them. Now, overall, the message was true fasting is done with humility. But I want us just to warn ourselves here, we're dealing back in the Old Testament, we're dealing with the children of Israel, we're dealing with a different type of covenant that we have today. It's obvious that we are not the nation of Israel. So the promise, for example, of physical restoration of the nation was not for us. We need to be careful not to conflate or confuse God's national promises to Israel to a relationship with individual believers. But there are still principles to be had here. There are important spiritual principles that are linked to fasting. We need to keep in mind God described this specific fast as a fast related to repentance, true worship, and loving others. So what did he talk about? Spiritual and emotional healing. Depression changed to joy. guidance, answered prayer, and satisfaction and blessings. It's interesting that God reiterated the conditions that he had mentioned earlier in the passage in verses 9 and 10 when he says, if you take away the yoke, the pointing finger, the judgmental attitude, and speaking wickedness, right? And if you then positively extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul, So if you abstain from sinning and if instead you exercise good works and acts of mercy and kindness then you're going to see these good things. We also see some instructions from Christ himself in Matthew chapter 6 verses 16 to 18. Now in the greater context of this passage that we're going to read in just a moment, Jesus was correcting several practices or traditions. Some were just flat out terrible sins. Other acts weren't necessarily bad, but were carried out in the wrong way. And this is part of the Sermon on the Mount. There are some examples, marriage and divorce, justice, charitable giving, and even prayer. All of these things were some of the topics that Jesus brought up, and fasting is one of them. So I want to mention in advance that Jesus spoke in general terms about fasting here. He didn't stipulate a specific type of fast. But in Matthew 6.16, it says this, moreover, when you fast, and again, there's an assumption, right? Do not be like the hypocrites with the sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. So along with what we see in Isaiah 58, we have some more instructions from Christ here, right? And what he described was how people of the day displayed themselves so everyone knew that they were fasting. The idea behind disfiguring meant that they even made themselves appear to be suffering even to the point of using makeup. So they would make themselves look more gaunt, right? Like, I'm barely alive because I'm devoted to God, right? Jesus commanded against these displays of hypocrisy. That's what he called them. Instead, what does he say? 17 and 18 of Matthew 6. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that you do not appear to men to be fasting. But to your father who is in the secret place and your father who sees in secret, we'll reward you openly. In other words, your fasting is between you and God. Now, if there were, for example, a call from our church to fast for a specific reason, we might all know that we are fasting. So that would be a little bit different here, right? But even so, the idea was that we're not parading around this pseudo-suffering. this terrible affliction that we are putting upon ourselves because of our devotion or because of our repentance or whatever it might be. But instead, it's not only private, but outwardly, we've got a good attitude. We're working through life normally. And we're not walking around, I'm so hungry, I'm starving, because I'm trying to be spiritual. Right? The crazy thing is some of this was directed to the Pharisees and the leaders of the day. It's interesting because Brother Larry quoted back from another passage in Matthew where, I'm talking about during the first hour of the day, he was quoting about how the Pharisee was talking about how You know, he comes before the Lord and he says, thank you for not making me like these other wicked people. And then here's this tax collector who's striking his breast and bowing down in humility and saying, you know, God, forgive me a sinner. Right? Well, one of the things that the Pharisee talks about is his fasting. One of the things he mentions to God for how spiritual he is, is how I fast. So instead Jesus encourages his sinners to go and live life even cheerfully and so we see that what Jesus is talking about is an echo of Isaiah 58. What I want to talk about now is types of fasts, and we're not going to necessarily go through chapter and verse and all of this, but they are drawn from scripture. It would just take us too long to just go through, you know, examples of every one of these. But there are some important things, and we're going to bring this together a little bit later in the message. And this is not going to be, you know, take long. But there are public and private fasts. There are times when there is a, in the scriptures, when there is a call to a group of people to fast. And then there are also group and individual fasts. So this is what's interesting. Right? Sometimes you have private fasts that are spoken about in the case of Esther, for example, to a group of people, but it is to be done privately. Just take care of this, you know, by yourselves, but you need to fast. Whereas other times, there are certainly individual practices where it's private. So it kind of It gets mixed up a little bit here and there, and that's okay. So there's public and private fasts, and there are group and individual fasts. Then there are normal or traditional fasts, which is abstaining from food. Then what I would label, and some of these are my words, folks, an absolute fast, which is no food or water. Now you can only have that type of fast for so long and many times those are associated with extreme conditions, extreme situations, but that is a type of fast. And then there are partial fasts and some of those again are expressed and practiced in the scriptures. There might be an abstaining from certain foods. or you fast during specific meals at set times and that's often a weekly occurrence. That's what some people do sometimes. So again, like I say, we're gonna get into this a little bit more and kind of coordinate some of this stuff, but these are the types of fasts that we have. So you could, for example, have a private fast that is obviously just abstaining from food, or you just simply abstain from a certain type of food for a certain period of time. Now, a fast is not a diet. Do you understand that? That doesn't mean that a fast can't have some good physical effects, but a fast is not a diet. It's like, I'm going to give up chocolate and then I'm going to make it a spiritual thing. And by the way, there are those who practice Lenten fasts and things like that. You've heard of that. There's absolutely nothing wrong with that. But it comes back to the heart of the matter, right? It comes back to the purpose behind it. It comes back to the relationship we have with the Lord. So this gives you a picture then of the types of fasts. Then there are lengths of fasts. There's what we would call a daytime fast, sun up to sun down. where you're simply not eating as you wake up until later in the day. Then there is a single-day, 24-hour fast. There are also multiple-day fasts. It's easy for us to remember Jesus fasted for 40 days in the wilderness. We know that Moses went without food for 40 days when he was in the presence of God. And there are others that have had lengthy fasts. You have one-day fasts, three-day fasts, seven-day fasts, 21-day fasts. Those are all mentioned in scripture, and they tend to obviously match, so to speak, the purpose behind the fast. So I would just, not that I necessarily think that people are going to sign up for this, okay, but I would just caution you that a lengthy fast like a 40 day fast. I mean that's a maximum. One of the things that we're told to do is to keep our fast private. I'm in a unique position to where I'm supposed to be also teaching about it. So I'm not going to give you necessarily particulars but I have chosen to practice fasting at certain times in my life and sometimes I'm just gonna say it flat out, never anywhere near 40 days. Okay, never. But there have been a couple of different reasons why I have done that. But I have done it for more than one day. Or maybe I have abstained from certain foods for a period of time, okay? And what I will tell you is, is that, and we're gonna give you a handout about this, but there are some challenges to it, and there's some practical things to consider. We can't cover all of those today, right? But my point is, is that I can attest to you personally, through testimony, that there is some benefit to fasting. There's some focus that takes place and there is the expression that we are giving to God about the seriousness of whatever situation it might be. Again, whether it be sorrow over sin or we're reflecting upon the Lord himself and are expressing our devotion to him, whatever it might be. But as we consider now putting these things together, I want us to work through this. And this is the way we would do a lot of subjects as far as interpreting and things like that. But I think it's important for us to kind of just think through this idea of fasting. We first need a correct interpretation. Correct interpretation is going to give us a correct or proper understanding of the subject. Once we have a correct understanding, that should produce appropriate practice. Right? It also should produce the practice if we feel led to do it. Appropriate practice will reflect a genuine motive and motivation. So we go from a proper understanding to doing it right, and we're doing it right because why? Because we have the right motivation behind what we are doing, what we are expressing to the Lord. And ideally, in most fasting situations, no one will ever know. It's going to be between you and the Lord. So let's bring these things together. What primary purposes for fasting did we identify last week? A show of repentance? A petitionary fast where we have just a very heavy request on our hearts? a sign of mourning, an expression of devotion. Now, again, as I mentioned to you before, I have some helps that I'm going to have passed out after the service. Sometimes those are not necessarily steps that we can follow. For example, there might be some preparatory steps that we could do. Well, If you're talking about a petitionary fast where something just hits you between the eyes in your life and you are coming before God and you just have no idea which way is up or down, you know, you are in the spin cycle of life here, right? God is taking you through something and you are just thrown for a major loop. It may be that there isn't any, okay, let's figure out how we can do this. Your motive is there. You don't have to be, you know, your motive doesn't have to be purified, right? Now maybe you have to do some dealing with your heart, but your motive doesn't have to be purified. And so you simply begin a fast and come before the Lord and say, God help me, right? I also need to just give a very brief warning. Fasting is not a magic wand. We'll get to that in just a minute. So anyway, we have these different purposes for fasting. Well, what proper benefits of fasting did we see through our study? We have spiritual, emotional, and physical healing. Depression transformed to joy. That's part of that emotional healing, I believe, but I wanted to be specific there. Divine guidance, protection, fellowship with God, answered prayer, and satisfaction and blessing. Those were all in there. But the blessings only come if we fast God's way. Israel and Isaiah's time wanted all the benefits without the obedience. Remember, this is their state of their heart, and we even saw more of that in Isaiah 57. I mean, there are some disgusting things they're talking about there. A lot of it was spiritually cheating on God, idol worship, etc. And yet God says, yet this is how they're approaching me. So we need to fast God's way. We are not to fast to express our spiritual superiority to others. Again, that would breach this idea of it being private. We're not to abstain from food to motivate God to do something for us. That's not going to work anyway. God is not going to be strong armed into doing our will. The fasting should be aligned to us seeking his will. or returning to doing his will, right? When we're talking about a fast that is going along with repentance. Our fasting isn't supposed to be about focusing on our discomfort. Instead, abstaining from food mirrors a heart that abstains from sin, finds satisfaction in God, and expresses our devotion through service to others. Fasting is not the means to become spiritual. Fasting is an expression of the sincerity and intensity of the purpose of our fast. It is also important for us to see the connection between the purposes we recognize for fasting and the benefits the Lord gave for fasting. So I want to kind of compare these side by side. So if the major reasons, purposes behind fasting is repentance, Petitions, requests, right? Mourning and devotion. Then you look at the benefits of fasting that God says come with an appropriate kind of fast that He wants us to have, which includes what? Which includes the actions that come from a life that is dedicated to Him, that grows out of a life of obedience, even if that obedience is something that was just immediately restored, right? In other words, we're going to be about others, not about ourselves. That's the idea behind all of this. So what happens? So, you know, let's just start with A there, repentance. I've been confronted in God's word or his spirit has led me back to the truth and I know that I just really blew it. And we're not talking about losing your temper once or something like that regardless of the situation and you make amends of that and you take care of that, right? I'm talking about where it could be a one-time occurrence or it could be a bad patch. where you have just not been living up, I have not been living up to what God expects. And it hits us and we realize, I have not been living according to your standard, God. However we get there, as an expression of our repentance, we can then also abstain from food. We mentioned any number of ways of doing that, and the timeframe. That's between you and God. You see, I'm not up here as some go-between priest saying, well, if you really blew it, that's at least three days, right? Because you owe that to me. See, that's not what God's talking about. He's talking about freedom. The fasting is actually an expression of the freedom from the wickedness that we've just gotten rid of, that we've just said, I don't want any part of that anymore. So what happens? Look at what we see here. A restored joy, right? Fellowship with God. Satisfaction and blessing. Spiritual, emotional, physical healing. Well, obviously, spiritual healing is there, right? That's what we see as benefits of fasting. It's what God says. Well, that flows from repentance. Even when we look at mourning, right? There's a sense of protection while we're mourning, isn't there? Can we not, if we've lost something or someone that is very significant, right? That mourning can turn into what? That can turn into a dark depression. That can turn sometimes even into a hopelessness. So there's a protection from that that I think that we can see here. If in fact we were to emphasize, again, not that the fasting is the key, the fasting is representing the type of mourning that we're talking about. And again, how about the blessings and the guidance and even the restored joy that could be there as a result. And then when we think of devotion, this is where we're not coming to God out of sorrow, we're not coming to God even out of need. We're simply coming to God because we want to express to him how much we love him. We want to recognize who he is, his character, all of that. We can think of Anna, right? We covered her when we were talking about, you know, Christmas Plus, about how she had been fasting. Part of that was just simply devotion to the Lord. And that devotion to the Lord was looking ahead to the Messiah's coming, which, of course, then became a reality in her life. So for her, it was a regular time, not necessarily all the time, obviously, she couldn't have survived all those years like that, but there was a regular time of fasting, expressing her devotion to God along with the worship, along with the prayers. So that's the idea we're talking about. So here we are, we're expressing our devotion to the Lord. If we are In that heart attitude first and then we're showing our sincerity through abstaining from food. Right. Do you think that God is going to say that's wonderful. I hope as you just going through life you find your way. No. He's going to guide us. Talk about enhancing and improving our fellowship with God. Right? And even though we are abstaining from one thing, we are gaining a great satisfaction and blessing from other things. I believe that if we looked back at Anna's life, we would see that there was service related to her expressions of worship. There were people that she had relationships with because she reported back to them right, what she was told. So in all of this we have opportunity then to as we're kind of coordinating all of this we have opportunity to then turn around and be a blessing to other people. So what I'm hoping that this does for us folks is just expand our horizons a little bit and help us understand when we see fasting in the scriptures and we think to ourselves, oh man. First off, it's not as hard as we sometimes think it is or think it's going to be. Also, and I don't have this on the sheet that you're going to be receiving, but depending on what your purpose is, you know, it's not like you got to start with, all right, I'm going to go for three weeks and not eat anything. You know, is that right? That's not necessarily wise, okay? But at the same time, there may be some real reasons that you would want to employ for any of these purposes that you would want to employ fasting along with obedience and proper service. So hopefully, again, like I said, we've taken a little bit of the mystique away from it. We've taken a little bit of even sometimes what we think of as only the super spiritual people do that, right? Because that's the trap that the people in Jesus' time were looking at. Oh, the Pharisees. Look at them. They look awful. They're so spiritual, right? I mean, look at how gaunt and hungry he looks. He's so devoted. And yet, when you see how Jesus reported on the Pharisees, no, no. Inside you are dead men's bones, right? You are spiritually dead on the inside. Well, that certainly changes perspective, doesn't it? Instead, what does Jesus say? Freshen up. Look like you mean business for the day. Just go out and live your life while you're abstaining for whatever purpose. Because it's between you and God, not between you and other people. It's not about what they think or what you want them to think. If you're doing that, it invalidates the fast. It doesn't fulfill a proper purpose. So like I say, let's take away some of the mystery of all of this and understand that this is an exercise that we can and I would even venture to say should do along with some of these very important purposes that we see here. And as that fits into your life, folks, this is a way that we can just simply express our devotion to the Lord through all of this, but also express sometimes the intensity of what we are feeling. Just one more thing real quick, just popped in my head. I remember Maggie talked about how when she was in Japan, she did some missionary work there many, a few years ago. She was over there about six months. And one of the things that they would do when they would go to the temple is they would clap their hands to wake up their God. This is not a wake up call for God. This is not Some kind of, OK, now I've paid enough. Now he'll listen. That's not at all what he said. It is an expression, personal expression of ourselves that goes along with what he expects. So he went beyond the fast and said, hey, Right heart attitude, right attitude toward others. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and love your neighbor as yourself. Yes, that's exactly what he said. But from our point of view, to the Lord as an expression, that giving up that daily thing sometimes almost a moment by moment thing depending on what kind of study patterns I'm having. Did I just confess something? Anyway, you see where I'm going? To give that up for a period of time is an expression that goes along with these other purposes. So again, grab the sheet that's coming around or that will be in the back for you to take. It's helpful, but it's not exhaustive. There are other sources online and different things, but just be careful because there are those who would talk about fasting being more like pixie dust. You know, if you fast and all these wonderful things are going to happen to you. That's not the purpose of it and I hope we made that clear. Let's pray. Heavenly Father, there is some encouragement beneath even this topic and there is some conviction that goes along with this topic. because the topic itself doesn't really stand alone. If it does, it's not done right. So whether it's devotion or mourning or making requests or even a confession or repentance of sin, Lord, I pray that we'll, in some of those areas that are relevant, that we'll get that right. whether it be turning away from the things that we're doing wrong or whether it be having a proper focus and even activity toward you. But God we thank you that you have expressed some very specific things that you do for a heart that is devoted to you. The very things that we often want when we're in those different states of need, in particular, are the things that you provide. And you provide those to someone who comes to you humbly, who has their heart right with you, or gets their heart right with you, and who is committed to you and then committed to making a difference in the lives of other people including the areas of justice and merciful acts toward those who have needs. So in all of these things Lord I pray that we can even just have highlighted in our own lives where we're at. And whether we fast or not I pray that we would get those main areas of our life correct. We ask all of this in Jesus name, Amen.