Take Your Ordinary Life and Place It Before God as an Offering

Sermon outline

A fast that matters is not about food but about placing your ordinary life before God, letting go of what owns you, and handing every locked door of your heart to the Holy Spirit so the fruit of the Spirit shows.

1. Let go so God can fill your hands

   Some have been stuck on the same old and expecting different results, and cannot blame God for it. God has moved forward while we keep looking behind. Enjoy the moments that make up the event, including the years of raising children, and tap into the greatness Christ has put inside you, even with the people you say you cannot stand.

   Illustration: Even a computer has to be switched off sometimes so it can reboot, and some of us need rebooting.

   “If your hands are tight, God can't put anything else in it.”

2. The time for being children is over

   The earth is groaning, waiting for the sons of God to be revealed. Sons, men and women alike, do not need constant affirmation or someone holding their hand to cross the road. They have been trained, they have the word in their hearts, and when they make mistakes they overcome them. When there are no challenges she gets worried, because it means the enemy has made her complacent.

   Illustration: An athlete is up at four or five in the morning to train. If that is in the Bible, it is parallel with our lives: get up early, plan and know what you need to do.

   “The time for being children is over. You need to become the sons he's called you to be.”

   • Romans 8:19
   • Proverbs 22:6
   • 1 Timothy 6:12

3. Get positioned before the storm

   Nobody was prepared for COVID, but those who were strong inside came through. When the Holy Spirit warns you through the bumps you keep hitting, write it down and realign. Hezekiah, facing a bigger army, laid it out before the Lord in the temple with the priests in agreement, and answered the enemy king's taunt with confidence in his God. Train your mouth too: if you are not going to talk faith, be quiet.

   Illustration: About three years before COVID, she told Pastor Adrian, Pastor Wesley and the staff that the church had to trim its expenses. When COVID came the church did not feel it financially, and the only time it asked for help was for a building project outside the budget.

   “If you're not gonna talk faith, just be quiet.”

   • Proverbs 18:14
   • 2 Kings 18:19
   • 2 Kings 19:14
   • Habakkuk 2:2
   • 1 John 4:4

4. The fast that changes you

   Moses and Jesus each fasted forty days in a supernatural fast; Esther called a three-day fast. For us fasting is a choice, and how you fast is up to you. Do not advertise it, because a son does not need to. The real fast is taking your sleeping, eating, going to work and walking around life and placing it before God, refusing to be so well-adjusted to the culture that you fit in without thinking. Give this fast a name and write down what you are fasting for.

   Illustration: She used to fast for thirty days and come out more angry, bitter and irritated than before. Nothing changed; it was just staying away from food.

   “Choose to fast because you want to change. Choose to fast because you want a transformation.”

   • Esther 4:16
   • Matthew 6:16-18
   • Romans 12:1-2
   • Luke 18:1

5. Give the keys of every closed door to the Holy Spirit

   The giving she wants this week is not money but your heart. Hand the Holy Spirit the keys to the anger door, the bitterness door and the grudge you are holding, which gives another person the right to keep you in bondage. Your past is not keeping you where you are; your thinking is. Leaders will be criticised and gossiped about, but people only talk about those who do great things, and David only became famous after Goliath.

   Illustration: Tall trees catch the wind: you only see the tips moving, not the tree. And you do not need to kill ants to walk; it is the giants you have to overcome to possess your land.

   “Your mind is very prime property. Why do you allow squatters there?”

   • Philippians 4:8

6. Whatever you cannot let go of owns you

   Fasting is a catalyst to transform us into the likeness of Jesus and keeps our balance. Anything you hold too tightly, a car, money, a craving, is an idol, not just the statues people bow to. The main thing she has had to fast for all her life is the fruit of the Spirit, to understand love and work with people. When something someone says makes you angry, revisit why, because that is your weak spot.

   Illustration: She once had to fast for sweets, because even her grandchildren knew to buy grandma a packet. And she was set free while watching a television drama, when a character's words made her realise she had been holding on to people ever since she lost her own mother at the age of eight.

   “When you can let something go, then you know it doesn't own you.”

7. Bigger faith, bigger boat

   Keep the storm on the outside, because there will be another one tomorrow. Small boats can only ride small waves; it is the engines that drive the big ship, and it is your faith that drives you. Stay determined without trampling people, stay humble and sensitive, and when you are knocked down, get up. Learn to say sorry, thank you and I appreciate you, including to your children, who are a heritage and not servants.

   Illustration: She admits that she has had to apologise to a grandchild with a tender heart, because she caught herself doing what she grew up with.

   “Bigger faith brings the bigger boat.”

   • Jude 1:20
   • Psalm 127:3

In this message