Today,
reply is on the secrecy of fasting, giving, praise, and other
practices to acknowledge divinity. The spirit of GOD within a
believer must affirm and declare its own sacred origin and source.
Authentic expressions of Christian devotion, gratitude, and praise
are marked and recognizable through their absence of self-promotion;
their respect and reverence toward divinity; and their heartfelt and
genuine acknowledgment of divine prerogative, eternal purpose, and
the sovereign will of GOD. One of the
fighters in the “Yahoo! Answers” public forum on Religion and
Spirituality who uses the ID “Anonymous” (no profile information
shared) posted the following:
Did
Jesus really say negative things about people who want to publicly
show that they pray to God?
THE
GOLDEN ARROW: Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a
trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of
Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my
ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the
ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice;
they take delight in approaching to God. Wherefore have we fasted,
say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we
afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day
of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. Behold,
ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of
wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your
voice to be heard on high. Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a
day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head
as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him?
wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands
of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go
free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy
bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out
to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and
that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy
light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth
speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of
the LORD shall be thy reward. Then shalt thou
call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry,
and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst
of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking
vanity; And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and
satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity,
and thy darkness be as the noon day: And the LORD
shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and
make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and
like a spring of water, whose waters fail not. (Isaiah 58: 1-11,
King James Version, KJV)
THE
DOUBLE DAGGER: According To Divine Purpose (06/09/2019); Fasting,
Prayer and Sanctification (03/29/2019); How GOD Is Communicating
(10/31/2018); Duties of a Christian? (03/13/2018); Using Repetition
in Prayer? (02/21/2018); Giving, A Divine Discipline? (10/09/2017);
Prayer in Public? (02/24/2015)
“Anonymous”,
in the course of becoming full and mature members within the
household of faith, developing Christian believers commit multiple
errors in their practices of giving, praise, prayer, and sacrifice.
Where carnal, material, secular and social concerns are uppermost, a
believer is likely to perform an elaborate display to impress others
that will be vain (i.e., lacking in spirit substance from the makeup
of GOD). Properly understood, making gifts and offerings to GOD
always are to be acts of humility and submission by a believer within
a continuing personal relationship with divinity provided through
divine prerogative (grace), eternal purpose, and the sovereign will
of GOD. The sharing that occurs between divine fullness (we say,
divinity; the Godhead; the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit) and
the believer is “secret” in the sense that it is otherwise hidden
and unseen acknowledgment directed primarily to GOD. Exaggerated
pride, showing-off, and vainglory appear as transgression and
violation of divine law in the same way as conduct that is not
according to faith, and as foolishness. Consider again the following
that uses language from the Bible:
1.
Isaiah 42: 1-3, King James Version (KJV): 1 Behold my servant,
whom I uphold; mine elect, in whom my soul delighteth; I have
put my spirit upon him: he shall bring forth judgment to the
Gentiles. 2 He shall not cry, nor lift up, nor cause his voice to be
heard in the street. 3 A bruised reed shall he not break, and the
smoking flax shall he not quench: he shall bring forth judgment unto
truth.
2.
Matthew 6: 5-8, KJV: 5 And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as
the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the
synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen
of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. 6 But thou,
when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy
door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which
seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. 7 But when ye pray, use
not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that
they shall be heard for their much speaking. 8 Be not ye therefore
like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of,
before ye ask him.
There
is far more that should be said, correctly examined, and spiritually
apprehended. (For example, 3. Matthew
6: 16-21, KJV: 16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites,
of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may
appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their
reward. 17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash
thy face; 18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy
Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret,
shall reward thee openly. 19 Lay not up for yourselves treasures
upon earth, where moth and rust doth corrupt, and where thieves break
through and steal: 20 But lay up for yourselves treasures in heaven,
where neither moth nor rust doth corrupt, and where thieves do not
break through nor steal: 21 For where your treasure is, there will
your heart be also.) Even
so, I trust this fragment will be useful. Be it unto you according
to your faith.
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