Fasting: Day 7, 8 &9
CHECK IN ( write in your journal):
In New York Citian: Yo you good?
Memorizing verses at an old age is a bit hard. You got this! Which verses have made an impact on you so far?
What are your observations on how God is moving in you and around you while you fast?
How are you reacting to making more room for God’s presence?
OUR GOAL FOR THE NEXT 3 DAYS
Learning the physical needs you have when you fast: schedule, meals, hydration, places of meditation, journal, pen, hand cramps when you write alot etc…
Learning how to equip ourselves with the word again. Read your memory verses throughout the day.
Practice and Reflection: Obeying and Praying
Operating in God’s will, submitting to his shepherding.
Meditating on God as my Father.
Living as Children of God
read luke 15: 11-31
Our Father in Heaven
When Jesus taught His disciples to pray, He began with two simple words: "Our Father." Think about that. Jesus could have instructed them to address God as "King of Kings" or "Master of the Universe." But He didn't. The same God who created the universe wants us to call Him Father.
If God wants us to call Him Father, what does that make us? The moment we say "Father," we're not just identifying Him—we're also identifying who we are in Him. Our relationship with God isn't about earning access or coming with formal titles. It's about coming as a child to their loving Father.
How can we approach a perfect God? We can't. But with Jesus, the impossible became possible. He lived the perfect life we could never live, died on the cross for our sins, and gave all who truly believe in Him the right to be called children of God. Christians are lost ones, who have been found and adopted by a loving father.
Jesus told this story to the Pharisees, who were all about rules and looking religious but weren't actually about glorifying God. This story was meant to teach them that moral people and immoral people are nothing without the love of the Father.
The Younger Son's Rejection
The younger son decides to leave and demands his inheritance early. Inheritance comes when someone dies—so he was essentially telling his dad, "You're dead to me. I just want your money." This action legally and spiritually breaks the connection between father and son. They are now strangers.
The father gives him the inheritance, and the son goes out living recklessly, spending money like crazy. Then reality hits—he goes broke. Not just broke, dead broke. A famine comes—no food, no jobs, no money, no hope. He takes the nastiest job ever—feeding pigs—and he's so hungry that even the pig food starts looking good.
That's when it hits him: "Even the servants in my father's house eat better than this. Man, I gotta go back."
The Plan to Return
He knows he can't be a son again. He already cashed out his inheritance. Legally, his father owes him nothing. So he plans to return. Not as a son, but as as a slave, an employee, whatever it takes. Just let me eat.
He's covered in dirt, smells like pigs, humiliated, and ashamed. As he gets closer, the anxiety builds. Can you imagine the internal conversation: "What if my dad rejects me? I deserve whatever happens to me." In his mind, the relationship is legally, emotionally, and spiritually over.
The Father Runs
But before he even reaches the property, something crazy happens—the father is running toward him. Not in anger, not with a weapon to punish him, not with a gavel to condemn him. He runs with open arms—a picture of grace. He embraces his son before the son can even explain himself.
The father immediately covers him in a robe because he wanted everyone to know—"This is my son." He is not a servant. He is not an employee. He is my son. Then he gives him a ring, a symbol of authority and family belonging. The son thought he was coming back for a job interview, but instead, he got full restoration. In an instant, he went from being an orphan to a child of the father. The father throws the new found son a party and beef is on the table in more than one way.
The Other Son's Problem
The older brother sees the celebration and gets jealous. "Yo, Dad, I've been working for you all my life! I never left, but you never threw a party for me."
The father responds: "Son, you've always been with me. You've always had everything I have. But your brother was dead and now he's alive. He was lost. Now he's found. And that's why we celebrate."
The older son forgot who he was. He forgot he was a child of his father. Instead, he was whining like an employee who didn't get a paycheck. His status in the household, was son of the king. Instead, he wanted employee benefits instead of the father’s love.
This Story Isn't What You Think
Many think this story is about the younger son repenting. But that's not what happened. He didn't say, "I miss my father." He said, "I'm starving. Let me go back and get a job."
But what did he receive? Not employment—sonship. Not judgment—love. Not rejection—adoption.
This story isn't about a bad boy becoming good. It's about how only the love of a father can transform someone who was as good as dead into a living soul again.
The younger son came home expecting to work for a paycheck; instead he gets love. The older son stayed home and had love all this time, but wanted to be transactional with the father. His reaction reveals his real motivation—he wasn't serving out of love, but for a reward.
When he complains, "Dad, how come you never threw me a party?" he's exposing that his relationship was purely transactional. But the father flips it all upside down: "My love isn't something you work for. It's something you already have."
Romans 5:8 says, "God proves His own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us."
Repentance Goes Both Ways
God calls us to repent from bad things, but also from every wrong reason we've done a good thing. The older son did good work, but his heart forgot his true identity. He operated as an employee, not a son.
Jesus warned in Matthew 7:22, "Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, didn't we prophesy in your name?' But I will say, 'I never knew you. Depart from me.'" You can do good things with a wrong heart, and God sees it. What God wants is not just good works—but a heart that loves Him first.
The Danger of an Employee Mentality
Some of us treat our relationship with God like a job. "If I serve, then God has to bless me." "If I give, then God owes me something." "If I fast and pray enough, then I'll finally be worthy of His love."
That's not sonship—that's an employee mentality. The problem is this: You'll always be working for something you already have. You'll never enjoy the full abundance of God's presence.
God doesn't want employees—He wants children. That's why Jesus said: "Our Father."
A Love Relationship, Not a Business Transaction
God calls us to serve, to repent, to obey—but not so we can earn His love. He calls us to do these things because we are already loved.
Let me say this loud and clear: We don't have to perform to earn God's love. We simply respond to it. John 14:15 says, "If you love me, you will keep my commands."
Maybe you need to serve more, repent of sin, or cut off toxic relationships—yes, do those things. But understand this: At no part of this process has God's love ever stopped.
Like the younger son, all you need to do is go home. Like the older son, remind yourself who you really are. Let God clothe you in righteousness. Let Him restore you as His child.
When you fall in love with Jesus, you will repent—not to earn love, but because you are loved. You will obey—not out of fear, but out of joy. You will serve—not for a reward, but because you are already rich in Christ.
Reflection Questions in your journal:
Tell me about a time when you've been transactional with God. When have you approached Him like an employee expecting a paycheck rather than a child receiving love?
How does an employee mentality rob you of the joy of being a child of God? What would it look like for you to move from working for God's love to working from His love?
What are some good things you've done with a wrong heart? Have you ever served, gave, or obeyed—not out of love for the Father, but to earn His approval or get something in return?
What was your relationship with your earthly father? Was it transactional and conditional? How does the heavenly father reshape the dynamic relationship with your earthly father? Would you introduce your earthly father to this love that you have found through God the father?
Pause. In your solitude time, practice these steps:
Close your hands, and imagine the father running and embracing the son.
With eyes of faith, see the father run to you and embracing you.
With your hands and arms open, can you allow yourself to be loved?
Sit still, and receive. He’s clothing you, putting a ring on you, and celebrating that he FOUND YOU.
More Scripture to meditate on:
Ephesians 1:4-5
Romans 8:14-17
John 1:12
