Your Reality Is The Sum of Your Words And Thoughts
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Your Reality Is The Sum of Your Words And Thoughts
Throughout the Bible, significant time periods have been marked by increments of forty. This is because the number forty represents transformation.
In today’s church calendar, the most significant forty day period marks the time of Lent. This special time of fasting leads up to our celebration of the most life-transforming event of all -- the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
As we prepare our hearts to celebrate all that Christ’s Resurrection means not only to us personally, but to all of humanity, it is only appropriate that we take time to declutter our souls from those things that keep us from walking daily in the fullness of that knowledge.
What is keeping you weighed down and burdened day by day? What are the things cluttering your mind and weighing on your heart?
This is the true purpose of a fast. A physical fast for spiritual enrichment is for the purpose of eliminating those things that distract us from the truth of God’s Word or deter us from following His Spirit.
This is the purpose of Lent as believers everywhere prepare their hearts to live more fully in the resurrection life promised when Christ rose from the dead two millenia ago. It is a time to free our souls from the toxins that keep them bound in negativity, unrest, confusion, fear, and despair.
As spring approaches, we are called to shake the dust from the curtains and throw open the shutters to the full light of God’s glory risen upon us. “Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you!” (Isaiah 60:1). I think of where Paul admonishes the Ephesians “Awake, O sleeper, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall shine (make day dawn) upon you and give you light” (Ephesians 5:14 AMP).
And for this very reason I created The 40 Day Soul Fast. The Soul Fast is designed to empower you to cleanse your soul, renew your mind, unclutter your spiritual life, and hear from God more clearly—all for the purpose of resurrecting Christ in you and maximizing your own divine potential.
So why forty days? It is really interesting when you begin to look through the Bible for examples of how God used periods of forty to mark great times of transition.
• God cleansed the earth by causing it to rain for forty days and forty nights.
• Moses was exiled for forty years before God sent him to liberate Israel from Egyptian slavery.
• Moses was alone with God on Mt. Sinai for forty days three different times before he finally presented the Ten Commandments to Israel.
• Spies searched out the land of Canaan for forty days . . . and because the children of Israel believed their fearful report, they were forced to wander the desert for forty years before entering the Promised Land.
The number forty represents transition and metamorphosis—a time of testing and transformation. After forty days, a human embryo becomes recognizable as a living child in the mother’s womb. After forty weeks, the child is born into the world. Forty represents a period of gestation, new birth, or renewal. A caterpillar that withdraws into a cocoon emerges after forty days as a butterfly.
Most significantly, forty represents a time of cleansing and regeneration. Again, look at the 40 day flood used to cleanse the earth. And did you know harvests generally take place in forty day cycles?
What’s so remarkable about the number forty?
In astronomical terms, forty days can be used to almost perfectly measure the rate of each passing solar year. In biblical terms, forty years represents a generational cycle. In biblical numerology, forty relates to the period of probation before the fulfillment of a promise. It is the product of five and eight, pointing to the action of grace (represented by the number five) leading to restoration and new beginnings (represented by the number eight). When it relates to capacity building and “enlarging dominion,” it does so by virtue of its factors four and ten, representing completeness and divine order, respectively.
Look at the sequence of events that took place in the New Testament when Jesus ushered in a new era of authority and dominion. After He was baptized and before He stepped out into the fullness of His ministry, the Spirit led Him into the wilderness where he was tempted for forty days and forty nights. After His resurrection from the dead, He remained on earth teaching His disciples for forty days before ascending into heaven—His earthly ministry and extended rule (through a body of believers filled with His Spirit) complete.
Throughout the New Testament we are told that our battles do not take place in the temporal realm but in the spiritual realm. We are told in nearly every epistle, "fear not, only believe" (see Mark 5:36), "gird up the loins of your mind" (see 1 Peter 1:3), "renew your mind" (see Romans 12:2), and "put on the mind of Christ." (See 1 Corinthians 2:16). We are taught in Romans that to "set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace" (Romans 8:6 ESV).
Throughout the Bible, the number forty is associated with deliverance and kingdom expansion. We all know the story of Goliath who terrorized the army of Israel for forty days before David slew him. For the next forty years David seized unprecedented victories over Israel’s enemies even while a jealous King Saul attempted to kill him. When at last he became king, David, and then his son Solomon, each reigned for forty years of unprecedented peace and prosperity.
When Israel fell into sin, they were delivered into the hands of their enemy for forty years. Interceding on their behalf, Ezekiel the prophet bore their iniquity lying on his side for forty days. In the time of Jonah, Nineveh was given forty days to repent—but long before that, the whole earth was prepared for glory of the Lord by being thoroughly cleansed by forty days and nights of purifying rain.
By cleansing your life from the inside out, you will see all things become new in every area of your life. Please join me as we prepare our hearts for a fuller manifestation of God’s glory to be revealed in our lives.
Psalm 139:23 MSG:
Investigate my life, O God, find out everything about me;
Cross-examine and test me, get a clear picture of what I'm about; See
for yourself whether I've done anything wrong—then guide me on the road
to eternal life.
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