Yellow Ribbon Day
Oct 30^th
A Call To Prayer
and Fasting
by Marilyn Conrad

Each year on the last Saturday in October covenant keepers join together all over the world to observe Yellow Ribbon Day. Several years ago I sought the Lord’s direction for corporate prayer, combined with fasting. That evening I turned on the television to watch a Christian program. The hosts were praying and one said, “I keep seeing something yellow. I don’t know what it means, but God wants someone to know that what you are doing is right and it will be blessed by Him.” God confirmed what I was sensing in my spirit.

Fasting is a voluntary abstinence from food for one or more meals. No one is required to fast but everyone is invited and encouraged to participate. If you have never fasted before, perhaps you could fast one meal. If there are medical problems, certain foods such as sweets or soft drinks can be given up. Another suggestion is to fast television and spend that time in prayer.

Fasting can be a key to spiritual power. Regardless of the kind of fast you choose, this day can change our own lives and the lives of our families and nations. Going without food and experiencing hunger is not scriptural fasting. Prayer, ministering to the Lord, and Bible study should accompany fasting. We should have a specific purpose to accomplish and fasting gives us the extra time to wait on God and hear from Him.

Joel 1:4 says, “Consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly: gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.” Isaiah 58 is our fasting guide from the scriptures and we suggest using several translations. Verses 6 & 7 say, “God’s chosen fast is to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free and break every yoke.”

We must search our hearts and cleanse ourselves so that our prayers will be answered. The fact that personal problems in our lives have brought us to this day of fasting and prayer should only encourage us to ask God to cleanse and purify us, as well as our lands.

Because of our blood covenant with Jesus we can stand in the gap for our loved ones and believe God to do a mighty work. 1 Cor. 13:8 says, “Love never fails.” Love is the most powerful ingredient in fasting and prayer. In fact, without love our faith will not produce the results we desire. Galatians 5:6 says, “For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love.”

We need to allow God’s word to be the measuring stick for our love. Because of marital situations we tend to compare ourselves with our mates and as a result, often think we are very loving, forgiving people. However, Jesus and His word is the standard we must look to, not our mates or others. Let us examine ourselves before we begin this fast day according to Psalm 51:10, “Create in me a clean heart, and renew a right, persevering and steadfast spirit within me.” Another scripture to read in several translations (including the Living Bible) is 1 Cor. 13: 4-8. Any time we release love into a situation we are releasing Jesus and He is in control of the outcome.

Jesus loved us so much that He willingly died for us. In 1 John 3:16 we are told that in return we should lay down our lives for our brothers. What better way to show our love than through fasting and prayer? Remember, love never fails!

Come, Covenant Keepers
Let's tie yellow ribbons
'Round the old family tree,
A symbol to the devil
That our homes are truly free

Come, Covenant Keepers,
Let us join in victory,
As we tie yellow ribbons
'Round the old family tree!

Tie a yellow ribbon around a tree in your yard or place one on your front door to show we are praying for captives to be set free. A captive is anyone being held in bondage to deception or addictions such as alcohol, drugs, gangs, occults, adultery or sexual perversion. We especially pray for our loved ones, friends and neighbors or those we work with. We pray for our nation and our leaders, our young people and our school systems.

Deuteronomy 24

I have been asked by several people to comment on Deuteronomy 24:1-4. For years, this scripture has been confusing to divorced people who feel God has called them to remarry each other in spite of an interim marriage by one of the partners. "When a man takes a wife and marries her, if then she finds no favor in his eyes because he has found some indecency in her, and he writes her a bill of divorce, puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house, and when she departs out of his house, she goes and marries another man, and if the latter husband dislikes her and writes her a bill of divorce and puts it in her hand and sends her out of his house; or if the last husband dies, who took her as his wife, then her former husband, who sent her away may not take her again to be his wife after she is defiled; for that is an abomination before the Lord; and you shall not bring guilt upon the land which the Lord your God gives you for an inheritance."

This same passage is quoted again in Jeremiah chapter 3. At this time in Israel the custom required spouses of those in adultery to divorce even if this was not their desire. Accordingly in Jeremiah 3, God divorced Israel (but not Judah where this was not the custom). Many justify divorce saying that if God divorced Israel that it is all right for a husband or wife to divorce their partner today. God's divorcing Israel was not designed to cut her off permanently but rather to bring her to repentance and restore her to Himself. We know that Israel will one day return to Him. In Jeremiah 3:12 we read, "Return, faithless Israel, says the Lord, and I will not cause My countenance to fall and look in anger upon you, for I am merciful, says the Lord; I will not keep anger forever." Verses 14 and 22 both say, "Return, O faithless children and sons."

Why would God invite Israel to return to Him if she was so defiled that she could not? In verse 14 God says that He is still married to Israel and Judah. "Return, O faithless children [of the whole twelve tribes], says the Lord, for I am Lord and Master and Husband to you…." God is a covenant keeper for the nation of Israel, for even though He was required to divorce her He has not disavowed His covenant with her.

Many today are forced into a divorce by the law where they reside. They too have not broken covenant but are covenant keepers despite the decree. Close study of Deuteronomy 24:1-4 indicates that both parties disavowed their covenant. The man refuted his vows by instigating the divorce and the woman disavowed her covenant through her remarriage. This scripture does not apply where the covenant has not been broken but is held by one partner standing with God

Exception Clause

"And I say to you, whoever divorces his wife except for sexual immorality, and marries another, commits adultery; and whoever marries her who is divorced commits adultery." (Matthew 19:9 and Matthew 5:32 NKJ) Some believers use this passage of scriptures as justification for divorce and remarriage. It is commonly called "the exception clause" and is usually understood to mean that divorce and remarriage is okay if sexual unfaithfulness has happened on the part of one of the marriage partners. Scholarly research has shown that this passage is linked to incestuous relationships (1 Corinthians 5:1), homosexual marriages (marriages between two women or two men, Leviticus 18:22) and unfaithfulness during the betrothal period (Deuteronomy 19:15 AMP and Matthew 18:16 AMP).

Matthew was written primarily to the Jews and the exception clause is included while Mark and Luke did not include it in their gospels. Mark was written primarily to the Romans while Luke was written to the Greeks. Greek and Roman marriage customs did not recognize the betrothal provision, so it was not necessary for them to mention the exception clause.

In the time of Christ an engaged couple was considered to be legally married. Therefore, a legal divorce was required to break the engagement. When a young man wanted to marry a girl he negotiated a price with her father, established a covenant of betrothal and then returned to his home for a period of about twelve months. The betrothed couple was called husband and wife even though the marriage had not been consummated. The marriage ceremony and physical union occurred after the twelve-month period of separation. If it was discovered that the prospective bride had been unfaithful during the betrothal period the young man could return to her father with a paper of divorcement. What Jesus is saying in Matthew clearly refers to a betrothal divorce not to a marriage divorce. Joseph considered quietly divorcing Mary when he discovered that she was pregnant during their betrothal period before they had consummated their marriage. (Matthew 1:18-20)