One of the things God has been speaking to me after my January fast was the importance of moving forward. Moving forward is a natural process in the journey of life, and I would like to suggest to you that it is how we are designed as humans.
Take a look at your feet. If they are crossed, position them flat on the ground. Tell me which direction they are pointing? For most people, their feet are pointed straight.
Our feet are designed in a way that points our bodies in the direction they should go. Many of our body parts are oriented in the same direction in order to facilitate our ability to move in that way. Our eyes, nose, and mouth face the direction in which we are designed to face. What I’m suggesting to you is that God has strategically designed our human bodies to move forward.
Now, some of you might be thinking, “Well, I can walk, jog and even run backwards if I really want to. I can rotate my head so that I can look backwards in order to enable me to move more efficiently.”
You are absolutely correct! You have the ability to go backwards if that is how you choose to move. But guess what happens when you stop moving backwards? After rotating your neck to look behind you, does your head stay in that position? The answer is no. Your body will naturally go back to its original position and direct you to move forward.
In fact, it requires more effort, more energy, more concentration to go backwards and keep yourself from moving forward.
I would like to suggest to you that not only are our bodies designed to move forward but also our minds and spirits. I believe that our mind, body and spirit work in tandem to function as one whole person.
The innovation of technology speaks to the forward thinking of the human mind. Whether we want to make things easier or better, our minds work towards finding new ways to function in this world in every moment of our lives. From which route to take to school/work to what to have for breakfast/lunch/dinner, our minds seem to lean towards moving us in a particular direction.
Unlike the body, our minds play an important role in choosing the direction we want to go. Our body might be designed to go forward but as mentioned earlier, our minds can choose to orient our bodies to function in the opposite way it was designed.
Did you know that sharks can’t swim backwards? Their bodies are limited in the way they are designed to only swim in a forward motion. If they want to go backwards, they have to allow gravity to fall so they can move forward from a different position.
Humans, unlike sharks, have been endowed with the ability to move beyond their own capacities and limitations through the use of their mind. The Wright brothers looked up in the sky and thought to themselves, “I wonder what it would be like to fly.“ Now we have that ability to experience what many of the animals that are designed to fly experience. We can move from place to place faster, more conveniently and efficiently through the invention of planes.
Flying may not seem like a bad thing, and I’m not suggesting that is, but when God has designed you to live and move in a certain way but we choose to function outside of that design, we may end up moving backwards rather than forward, and this may cause some long term problems and difficulties.
I love going on planes and traveling, but I often do not consider the consequences of air travel. It appears that aircraft emissions released high in the atmosphere have a potent climate impact, triggering chemical reactions and atmospheric effects that heat the planet, which adds to the issues of global warming. There seem to be some long term problems with our innovations in our efforts to function beyond our human design.
If you have tried rotating your neck for long periods of time you may have experienced some pain and discomfort. If you walk backwards when your body is trying to walk forward, you might end up stumbling, falling over or getting hurt.
In our mind and spirit, going backwards is not as obvious as it is in our physical bodies.
For our mind it may look like repeating unhealthy thinking patterns. For our spirit it might look like neglect.
What I have learned in this fast is to move forward in the way God has intended you to go. If you fasted and were fruitful, perhaps you should consider keeping God as your source and sustainer. Not just for the month, but perhaps for the rest of your life.
Why go back to how things were when you’ve tasted and seen how the Lord is good?
Taste and see that the Lord is good;
blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.
Psalm 34:8 (NIV)
I know many of you were fasting meals, sugar, social media and changing your lifestyles completely. I also know that fasting is not intended to be something you do year round. So I’m not suggesting that you keep the same habits necessarily, although that may be an option for you. But I am suggesting that you move forward and don’t go back to your old thinking, behavior and ways that kept you from engaging with the Lord your God.
So whether it be physically moving forward in your behaviors, mentally moving forward in your thinking, or spiritually moving forward in your engagement with your spirit and His, I pray that God would move you towards the direction He has designed you to go physically, mentally and spiritually.
We move forward in Jesus’ name, Amen!