There is not one new testament command to fast. No not one. I am gonna address most of the new testament verses about fasting and try to put them through a grace and gospel lens. One quick and important thing to get is that Jesus is not your example, rather He is your substitute. He didn't come to show you how to re-accomplish what He already has but instead to do it for you. The whole point is you could never do it yourself. Just because Jesus fasted doesn't mean we should. He was a man of fasting so we could be a people of feasting. He was a man of sorrows so we could be a people of joy. How many disciples did Jesus take with Him in the desert to fast? None, in fact lets look at a verse people commonly use to support fasting. 
 "Their next complaint was that Jesus' disciples were feasting instead of fasting. "John the baptist disciples are constantly going without food, and praying" They declared, "and so do the disciples of the pharisees. Why are yours wining and dining?" Jesus asked "Do happy mean fast? Do wedding guests go hungry while celebrating with the groom? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be killed, then they won't want to eat." Luke 5:33-35 living bible translation.
    That is my favorite translation of the verse so often taken out of contest which also appears in Matthew 9. Jesus is prophesying His death like He did so many times and saying that in that day they wont want to eat cause their friend died. Plain and simple. His disciples clearly weren't fasting and it upset the religious leaders of the day.For that day He was taken away but that is no longer the case. Let me tell you Jesus is even closer to us now than He was to the disciples. He lives in us and is married to us forever in perfect union. 
    The other verse that causes some problems is in Matthew 6 when Jesus talks about when you pray and fast do it behind closed doors. First off Jesus was an old covenant preacher and the new covenant didn't even start until His death so He was preaching the law. Second this still isn't a command to fast. Third what this is really addressing was the pharisees self-righteous attitude thinking that they were more holy and better than people because of their works so they displayed them proudly for all to see. 
    Did the apostles fast? Yes there were a few times they fasted simply for clarity in making a decision. First of all the fact that they fasted gives no more credibility than the fact that other christian leaders today fast. They didn't to get more of God, to get more anointed, to make themselves consecrated or holy, or to see some breakthrough. The first instance where this happened was after Judas killed himself they were looking for a replacement. They tried fasting to figure out and it didn't even work so they ended up casting lots (rolling the dice) to see who would replace him. So you can place fasting on the same level spiritually as rolling the dice. You never hear Paul in any of his letters instructing anyone to fast before a decision or anything like that. For them it might have helped so they  did. It wasn't a formula or anything like that. They weren't forcing themselves or anyone else. The fact that they were fasting was included simply just as recounting what happened and telling the  story. If fasting helps you clear your mind and make a decision then go ahead and fast and enjoy it. I am not trying to condemn the practice itself, that would do no good without addressing the heart issue  behind it. I just want to shed a little light on it.
With lots of love and grace,
GraceSpaceMonkey
                                                                         Next time: The True Fast!

I have come to the conclusion that not only does God want us, but he needs us. That's how much He loves us! This all came to me from reading the Luke 15 parables.

    I would like to dedicate this one to Michael Paig. Why? Because he loves food so I'm certain he will enjoy this. Also because he is an amazing man of God who was destined for greatness since before he was even born. Shakka lakka. Check out his blog at beastofthefeast.blogspot.com he knows food so well!

    Here we go. I'm at work waiting for my shift to start and I'm going to quickly explain to you why you have no sinful nature and never have to sin again. I don't care if your pastor told you that you have to struggle against some phantom sinful nature and you would always be a sinner, it's not true. Base your theology off the bible not your experience. 

    "When you received Christ, you were also circumcised by putting away your sinful nature. Human hands didn't circumcise you. Christ did." -Colossians 2:11


    Boom roasted. Not only has your sinful nature been circumcised, it also wasn't done by human hands but by Christ himself. Two reasons this is important. One being you can't circumcise your own sinful nature or strive to remove it. Two being if Christ did it, then you better believe he got the job done. Jesus did just come to die for you and sweep your sins under the rug. He eradicated sin from your life and removed that identity. He grafted you into a new family full of righteousness and ripped out that old false identity that you used to live under when you thought  you were a sinner. 
    Sin is referred to in the bible as a noun. It is a governing entity that once had dominion over us. Christ broke the curse of the law that we were under which was sins strength. He destroyed its power and dominion over us. You are no longer a sinner, you are a saint. 
    The bible says that we are a "Kainos" creation. There are two words in Greek for new "Kainos" and "Neos". Kainos is the word Paul decides to use when describing us as a new creation. Kainos means new in quality, new in type, superior to what previously existed, and completely taking place of the previous. Neos would refer to something that is new relative to time. God didn't just clean up your life and give you a fresh start. He gave you a completely different superior new life that replaced your old one. One that is righteous, holy, and perfect. Rejoice. 

Grace, peace, love,
Grace Space Monkey 

    So I think it necessary and appropriate to make a blog post about love. First  I want to make it clear as day that WE LOVE THE CHURCH. We love the body of Christ. We are not against it. We are not trying to tear it down. We are  part of it. We are for it. We  have great hope and expectations for  the church. I really do believe in the church and its capacity to change the world. 
    When opposing religion it may seem like we are just basking everything and opposing things to oppose, but sincerely it is not our hearts to offend anyone. (Although that may often be the result) Our ultimate goal is not even to bash and tear down religion, It is to preach the gospel. The gospel kinda does that in the process though. The gospel is called an offense and a stumbling block by Paul so I understand how the ease of it all and the fact that we play no part in our salvation could trip you up. 
    This is totally okay and if you disagree or haven't yet come to the same grace revelation it is okay. God is surely doing something special in you. I mean just  6 months ago is when I started believing in all this gospel goodness. Belief is not the foundation for relationships, love is. Just because we don't believe the same thing doesn't mean anything. We are excited to be going on this journey with all of you and we honor and respect your revelations.
    All this to say we love everyone. Seriously, we love everyone. This leads me to the importance of giving grace. We don't just believe in radical grace, we give it. More than just talking about God's grace towards us we wanna in turn be radical grace givers. Loving the unlovable, the undeserving,  the poor, the broken, the oppressed. Imagine a community of believers who modeled what Jesus did when the woman was caught in adultery. One that doesn't point fingers or judge. One were you don't have to be ashamed of who you are or where you have been. One filled with generosity, liberty, and life in abundance. What if when a pastor or leader fell instead of making a huge ordeal about it and shaming them and punishing them we just simply forgave? We believe it and model it. We love you all and be encouraged.

Grace peace and love,
Grace Space Monkey

    In "The Energy Crisis [Part I]", we talked briefly about this concept of being "on fire" for God, which, if you have some experience with evangelical church, you must have heard of before. Many times, it is directly linked to the position of your hands/arms during praise songs, your facebook statuses, the people you hang around with, what you do on Friday nights, and the number of bible verse tattoos you might host. Ex: if your hands are high during praise songs, you post about anti-abortion news, the people you hang around with are all protestant go-getters, and you have Philippians 4:13 on your forearm, you are probably "on fire" or even "really burning" for Him. I will not say the aforementioned is completely invalid, but let's journey back into O.T. times to see where this lingo came from, what meanings we might derive from the origins, and how it actually translates to the modern day.

    Back in the time of Moses and the wandering Israelites, there were a myriad of ceremonial laws and rules/regulations to live as a holy nation/God's chosen people collectively referred to as the Law of Moses. Within the Law is an extremely specific outline of how the Israelites were to worship the Ancient of Days, how they were to run the temple/tabernacle or operate under the presence of God, etc. Lots of rules, very specific, very meaningful, types and shadows of the Christ to come (Colossians 2:17). Concerning fire:

And the fire on the altar shall be kept burning on it; it shall not be put out. And the priest shall burn wood on it every morning, and lay the burnt offering in order on it; and he shall burn on it the fat of the peace offerings. A fire shall always be burning on the altar; it shall never go out
-Leviticus 6:12-13 (NKJV)

    Here we have the origins. A fire upon the altar, an urge to keep it burning, daily toiling to fan the flame, stoked unto eternity. It makes perfect sense to use this picture as pep-talk lingo directed towards Christians. Every element of the metaphor is applicable to the spiritual journey we all experience. In this sense, it is necessary to be "on fire"; to be kept burning, to not be put out, to burn every morning and present pleasing offerings via the burning, to be forever burning, to never burn out. All of that makes sense. The concept of being "on fire" or to be "a burning one" or whatever fire-related status sounds nice is perfectly fine. But there is a critically important understanding of the fire itself that determines whether this passage and this entire concept is going to empower religion to enslave you or affirm your sonship and violent bliss.

    The fire is God-given.

And there came a fire out from before the LORD, and consumed upon the altar, the burnt offering and the fat: which when all the people saw, they shouted, and fell on their faces.
-Leviticus 9:24 (KJV)

    After giving them detailed instruction on the construction and setup and practice of the tabernacle, God gives the sweetest opening ceremony ever and sends out fire from His very Being to be cultivated forever after. God provided the fire, man provided the sacrifice (though, in reality, God also provided the sacrifice, as He is Creator) (see also: Fill Me Up - United Pursuit Band). God provided the fire. God provided the fire. We do not work up any passion within us that we henceforth keep burning for ever and ever. God provided the fire. We do not stir up a fire within ourselves. God provided the fire. In a sense, it is not so much about us being "on fire" as it is about God setting us on fire.

We love Him because He first loved us.
-1 John 4:19 (NKJV)

    We react to His action; we are the echo, the mirror image, the response of and to Love. What does it mean to keep burning? I believe that means to continually remind yourself of His violent love for you. Keep that fire burning! The fire is the Passion of the Christ for you! Burnt offerings = types and shadows of Christ; He was the perfect sacrifice upon the perfect flame, that is, the fire of His love.

    Keep His fire burning inside you, continually remind yourself of His passion over you, make offerings fueled and consumed by His love for you, be warmed by His presence, see first His love coming out of His presence, fall on your face and treasure it forever, be consumed by His love, be "on fire" by Him as well as for Him. What does it mean to be a "burning one"? It means you are literally clothed in His passion for you; people can't get close without experiencing His love upon you.

    Being "on fire" is a great thing. The fire, however, is God-given, not man-produced. A child could tell you that any man induced flame will burn you, scar you, maybe even kill you. But the fire of God, while infinite, powerful, and all-consuming, never reduced the burning bush to ashes. Don't try and produce your own fire! Some silly kids in the Old Testament did that and see what happened to them:

Then Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, each took his censer and put fire in it, put incense on it, and offered profane fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them. So fire went out from the LORD and devoured them, and they died before the LORD.
-Leviticus 10:1-2 (NKJV)

    They tried to present their own fire before Him. They were still there to offer incense and pleasing sacrifices, but they made the mistake of trying to provide their own fire, apart from God. The Word calls it "profane". And then, the same element that they tried to produce and present on their own ended up being the unrelenting finality of their journey. That's burning out! If you want to burn out, keep trying to produce your own fire and burn all on your own.

    Sustain yourself on a continual reminder of His love for you, not the other way around! God provided the fire! Keep that fire burning!

From heavenly places,
-Cats & Clocks

    In Romans it says that God will have mercy on whom He will have mercy and compassion on whom He will have compassion. For years this verse scared the crap out of me. It is now one of my favorite verses to quote and the subject of my greatest joy. 
    There were two problems. One being the fact that within the church I had heard bad teachings and explanations around it. Number two was i read it from my perspective of God as an angry, judgmental, gay-hating, narcissist. Obviously i would never have said it, but in my mind there were things i believed about Him that would indicate that and I just chose to ignore and not question.
    First of all we are wrong to assume the opposite of the verse. All it says is I will have mercy on whoever I want. I used to read that as "I will have judgement on who I will have judgement". That isn't what it says at all. It only mentions Gods mercy and compassion.
    Now lets get the context for this. Paul had to address some Jews who were complaining about the Gentiles getting in on their promises. They suggested that it wasn't fair that those unclean and undeserving gentiles would get in on their salvation and blessings and favor and all the goodness. Gods response to that is "I will have mercy on Whom I will have mercy and  compassion on whom I will have compassion. 
    This flips the whole thing right around when we see it rightly. In fact it is the best of news. God is saying that those who didn't earn it, those who don't deserve it, those who aren't good enough, those who are called unclean, those who have been bad or sinned or anything like that, THOSE PEOPLE ARE GETTING IN ON THE BLESSINGS THE SAME AS EVERYONE ELSE! What a great example of His grace and favor un-merited. 
    Isn't it beautiful the way grace works? When the religious people try to disqualify some for whatever reason, Jesus blood speaks of qualification for all of humanity. Enjoy it. Love it. Breath it. His grace is an ocean. It doesn't stop after salvation, it is everything and the only thing. Christ and Him crucified is all we know, and it happens to be enough. No add-ons needed.

Grace peace and love,
Grace Space Monkey

    Lets talk about conviction. I will start off with my understand of the matter. I DO NOT BELIEVE THE HOLY SPIRIT CONVICTS BELIEVERS OF THEIR SIN. There i said it, now that it is out in the open let me explain why. 
    
    And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged.  -John 16:8-11

    Okay here we go. So I first heard this and I had only read verse 8 that said He would convict us of sin, righteousness, and judgement. If one stops there then you would think that the Holy spirit is convicting you of sin. If you read a little further you see that He convicts UNBELIEVERS of sin (tells them they are in need of a savior), believers He only convicts of their righteousness, and Satan (the ruler of this world) that he has been judged! Notice that the verse says THEY do not believe in me. Every single time the bible mentions conviction it is always in the context of non-believers. Read the bible I promise.
    When I mess up and sin I know at least speaking for myself I don't need anyone to point the finger at me or tell me I messed up. Satan does a great job of doing that as well as the fact that there are a million and one people in the world judging us and telling us how imperfect we are. What I need is conviction of my righteousness cause that is the thing that often when we sin we question and need reminding of. I promise that grace is much more effective in turning us from ungodliness. So enjoy the wonderful conviction of righteousness from God and His unmerited pleasure and joy over you and wash out the  bad theology from your mind that says God convicts you and points the finger at you.

Grace, love, and peace,
-Grace Space Monkey

And to the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write, 'These things says the Amen, the Faithful and True Witness, the Beginning of the creation of God: I know your works that you are neither hot or cold. So then, because you are lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will vomit you out of My mouth.'
-Revelation 3:14-16 (NKJV)

    More likely than not, if you are a church-er or have attended post-retreat "therapy", you have heard this passage interpreted as the following:

God would rather have you be an atheist than be a Christian who tries and fails every once in a while. He only tolerates those who raise their hands EVERY time there's a praise song playing; if you're not going to commit every second of every day to Him, you might as well not try.

    So, according to this popular interpretation, God is picky. He can only tolerate two kinds of people; (1) the hot and (2) the cold. The interpretation takes temperature and translates it to the popular Christianese verbiage of "being on fire for God".

    According to this interpretation, if you're really "on fire", you raise your hands during praise songs, you attend every seasonal retreat, you go to every prayer meeting, all your friends are Christian, you seek leadership positions in your youth group, you only listen to Christian radio stations, and you vote republican.

    Then, according to this interpretation, being cold means you don't believe in God, you watch porn everyday, you smoke cigarettes and weed at the same time, you party with your sexually experimental friends, you come to church only on the holidays, and you are probably gay.
    If you are a mixture of these two extremes, God will spit you out of His mouth. If you are 99% hot and 1% cold, you are lukewarm, and vice versa. It's quite the standard, actually.

    Now if you know how to think for yourself, you will conclude very quickly that because you know you cannot unfailingly exercise your "fire for God" 24/7/365 100% in the above fashion for the rest of your life, it would make more sense to be completely anti-God to keep from being spit out of God's mouth than to at least try to "be on fire". And, again, if you know how to think for yourself, you should be able to understand that that conclusion is one of the stupidest things you have ever heard.
    Yet this one interpretation of this one passage is circulated all over Christendom to FORCE people to exert some sort of consistent "fire for God" out of FEAR that God will vomit you out of His mouth.
    Every sensible person knows the church is riddled with these kinds of lies, but for now lets just play around with this one.
    Later in the same passage, we read:

I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined in the fire, that you may be rich; and white garments, that you may be clothed, that the shame of your nakedness may not be revealed; and anoint your eyes with eye salve, that you may see.
-Revelation 3:18 (NKJV)

    To address this problem of temperature, we are counseled to obtain gold to be rich, and white garments to be clothed. There's also the anointing of your eyes, that you may see. The division between hot/cold and the terrible status of lukewarmness is therefore related to gold, white garments, and proper sight. All three of these things are quite obvious nods towards the much discussed biblical concept of righteousness.
    God wants you to be either hot or cold; avoid being a mixture of these things, because it is unsightly. His advice concerning this dilemma, then, is to obtain righteousness from Him.

    We are going to time-jump real quick. But not actually. If you can't catch the connection immediately, we will backtrack in the end, so no worries.
    Paul, in his letter we call Romans, speaks of 2 kinds of righteousness.

For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, "The man who does those things shall live by them." But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, "Do not say in your heart, 'Who will ascend into heaven?' or 'Who will descend into the abyss?'" But what does it say? "The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart."
-Romans 10:5-8 (NKJV)

    The righteousness of the law v. righteousness by faith is a pretty popular discussion in the New Testament, and if you look back in the Old Testament, it's there as well. You are righteous according to the law if the things you do are righteous. You are righteous according to faith if you believe you are righteous. (Law v. Grace/Faith and New Covenant/Testament v. Old Covenant/Testament are the primary discussions on this website, so I assume you have at least the means to look into these topics further on your own; for now I continue with whatever.)
    In his letter to the Galatians, Paul criticizes believers for trying to finish in the flesh, via the law, what began in the spirit, via faith. In his letter to the Colossians, he continually pits the grace of Christ Jesus against the philosophies of the world. Jesus talks about the dilemma of old wine and new wineskins and vice versa. Jesus makes weird comments about himself and John the Baptist as dirge and flute players. Jesus mocked the Pharisees who prided themselves on being able to keep the law and spent His time with the sinners mob who had no faith in their ability to DO righteousness. The bible is divided into two sections called the Old Testament and New Testament.

    I'd like to propose that the hot and cold extremes that this passage in Revelation refer to Grace and the Law, the New Covenant and the Old Covenant. I'd like to suggest, as others in history have, that the appalling lukewarmness, or mixture of hot and cold is the same mixture, compromise, and falsity that is discussed in the rest of the bible: life operated under both, and therefore neither, covenants.
    You had better be either (1) righteous by grace through faith or (2) righteous through your upkeeping of the law, but don't try and earn righteousness of faith and don't try to compromise on righteousness of the law. The Galatian church started off moving powerfully by the Spirit, and then came up with rules and point systems to keep on moving "in the Spirit". The pharisees upheld their interpretations of the law, which Jesus came to prove were lenient and compromised versions of the true standard of righteousness (see Matthew 5:27-48). They were neither living by the New Covenant nor by the Old Covenant; they were neither HOT nor COLD. They were LUKEWARM.

    Righteousness by grace through faith costs us everything and then shows us what we paid was relatively nothing and what we get is actually everything. We are counseled to get Christ-brand robes of righteousness, not works-brand robes of righteousness or passion-brand robes of righteousness. That's hot (multiple interpretations welcome). Righteousness by the law through works is actually impossible and was meant to point to our inability and thus need for a savior (see the bible). That's cold. Do not be lukewarm. Be either hot or cold. It is impossible to actually be cold. Be hot. Live by the New Covenant of endless grace. Or you will be spit out.

"You have become estranged from Christ, you who attempt to be justified by the law; you have fallen from grace."
-Galatians 5:4 (NKJV)

    But where sin abounds, grace abounds that much more, so relax. The point is this: the New Covenant is sweet and the Old Covenant is over, and trying to move past this amazing truth is absurd.

    GRACE, GRACE, LIFE, and PEACE be with you. And you, and you, and you.

-Cats & Clocks

    There is so much to write about the depth of what it means to be set free from the law, but I will attempt to keep this one short. The fact of the matter is we are no longer under the law. No longer under any law not just ceremonial law or anything like that. 
    Most people live in some kind of balance between grace and the law, but this is impossible it is one or the other. Not even the ten commandments. In fact not even the greatest commandment is for us to keep. No one could keep any of the 613. Not one person. Jesus fulfilled the law for us.