The following is an excerpt from our daily devotional series Fasting and the Heart of God.

“Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your righteousness shall go before you.” (Isaiah 58:8)

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Throughout Isaiah 58, we can easily see how the Israelites’ spiritual insensitivity masked the fact that merely fasting for religious ritual or outward show was causing their efforts to go unnoticed by God. Yahweh was more interested in their attitudes than their activities. Following the contrast between observing the Law’s requirements mechanically and engaging in an intimate heart connection with the Lord personally, Isaiah reveals a critical turning point with the word “then” (Isaiah 58:8). Essentially, the Lord is saying, “If you will make the move from religion to relationship, let me tell you the good news of what will happen in your life!”

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The first blessing will be a bursting forth of light in your darkness. No one enjoys walking in darkness—physical or spiritual. Saul’s experience on the road to Damascus revealed his religion had brought him only to a place of darkness and disorientation (Acts 9:1–4). Not until he spent three days fasting and praying, did Saul receive a vision of someone coming to help him. Through intimate communion with Christ, Ananias was moved to obedience and used to impact the kingdom of God. By helping the future Apostle Paul receive sight and Holy Spirit empowerment, Ananias played an integral role in evangelizing the known world in his day.

The second promise included an immediate restoration of spiritual wholeness. We tend to view healing more from a physical standpoint, but God is able to take seemingly impossible issues of our dysfunctional world and turn them around in an instant. However, He sometimes chooses to continue shaping and molding His people in the furnace of adversity so that they may testify of Him in the arena of victory and deliverance. Although Paul’s blindness was immediately healed, he later reveals a struggle with an unnamed thorn in his flesh that remained as a testimony of God’s grace and strength in his weakness (2 Cor. 12:7–9). His righteous living in spite of his infirmity became a display of God’s goodness for all to see. His testimony to the Corinthian church might well be a lesson to us all. (By Kay Horner, Cry Out America)

In your time seeking God today:

• Ask yourself the question: “Am I stumbling in the darkness of religious ritual or walking in an obedient relationship with Christ?” The right response from believers could mean the dawning of a new day in America.
• Praise God for His ability to bring light into darkness and radically transform your life as a display for His glory. Thank Him for His protective presence as a “rear guard” for you personally and intercede for a godly covering over the nation.
• Pray and believe, asking God to reveal arenas where you may need to share a testimony of personal healing or pray for others to be delivered from spiritual blindness.

Related Scripture:

• Isaiah 61:1–4
• Acts 9:1–20

Fasting and the Heart of God Full PDF Version

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