Hi Family!
We are now in Indonesia as many of you know from our most recent blog, but we must share one of the coolest experiences we had in Malaysia!
Malaysia is a predominately Muslim country and there is one special month for the Islamic faith. RAMADAN! Maybe you have heard of this or maybe you have not, but we had the special privilege of being in the country of Malaysia for almost the entire month of Ramadan. We entered into this exciting time with minimal understanding and no experience, so, we sought to learn. Here is a video we were able to put together of a friend we made explaining and walking us through the celebration of Ramadan. She was amazing so enjoy!!
Fasting is a biblical principle. Something that Jesus not only taught about but often did himself. We were able to learn so much about why other faiths participate in “fasting” and what it is they value about it. Also through this time were able to share about the freedom in Christ and the reason we fast being to know him rather than to please Him. Fasting is always about KNOWING GOD. Sometimes it is for personal revelation. Sometimes for situational direction. Jesus even teaches that sometimes it is for casting out spirits, but whatever the outcome it is always purposed to make us one with God and bring Kingdom on Earth. Jesus said in Matthew chapter 4 when he was finishing His fast in the wilderness and Satan tempted Him to turn the rock in to bread, “Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.” Fasting is for learning to live on Gods word and His presence, not by what man says we need. Of course we need food in the long run, but God will show us how much He satisfies and the world does not when we journey with Him in this spiritual practice as Christians. Denying ourselves in general does not make God speak or show up more clearly but it gets the junk out of our eyes and ears so that we are able to hear and see Him more clearly. God does not show up more in fast. He is constantly working in our daily lives but we are distracted and often miss our need for Him because we fill ourselves with everything.
The goal of this post is to educate on Ramadan and the Muslim fasting time so that we can all better engage the people around us (I am sure if you sought hard enough there are people of the Islamic faith not to far from you as well) but also to encourage you to pursue God more deeply. If there is one thing we learned it is that Muslims are often far more serious about their faith than we are as Christians and they have no relationship with God. We want to grow and never take for granted the fact the we have a God we know as Father. Pursue that. Go deeper. Do something out-of-the-box. Connection is the reason God created fasting so if we want connection we have the tools to do it! THANKS GOD!!!
