Hi AY Family,

Psalm 69:10 says: “When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.”

     Isaiah 58:6-7 says: “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? When thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?”

     When we are fasting, the Lord does not want us to be like the hypocrites who show sad faces so that other people will know that we are fasting. 

     He says that we should wash our faces when we are fasting. 

     We should wash our faces so that other people will not know that we are fasting. He says that we should fast in secret so that He will reward us openly.

     Matthew 6:16-18 says: “Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; that thou appear not unto men to fat, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.”

     Will you feed the hungry? Will you bring the poor into your home? Will you clothe those who are naked? Will you fast in secret so that others will not know that you are fasting?

Sincerely,

Samuel Reid