One Person at a Time...

100 Hours of Prayer!

At 2:55 p.m. I completed my 100 hours of prayer for the month of March!  Overall, it has been an awesome month.  God has shown me so much during this time, but I have to tell you that I just about crashed and burned this morning.  I started off the day with PLOM disease (Poor Little Old Me.)  I haven't had a case of it for a long time, but I sure got out of bed with it.  I was hungry (fasting will do that to you on day three!), and things weren't going exactly the way I wanted them to (life will do that to you!), so instead of turning to prayer, and letting the Holy Spirit fill me up, I went into a bit of a funk.  Thankfully, Nancy interceded, and brought me back to reality--being in Jesus, instead of being in chris!  THANKS, I needed that!  So, the rest of the day has been productive.  I had the opportunity to tell a new church planter about what to do--PRAY and have a plan, and a lot of what NOT to do, when planting a church; I visited a new chiropractor and got a good adjustment; invested a couple of hours in prayer for all the folks of New Life and our guests, and then planned for our Men's Fraternity year end celebration, and Year 2 of Men's Fraternity!  Thanks to God and Nancy for turning PLOM into BLOM (Blessed little old me!)

Fasting--Day Three

Okay, now God is getting your attention, right? Or at least you're hungry, if you've been participating in a normal or partial fast.  Are you using that time to pray?  Remember, the seven general themes I sent you for the week and keep lifting those up in prayer OR LISTEN to God.  Instead, of continuously laying your prayers before God, ask Him to speak to you.  Do that with your Bible open--read and see what God has to say.  Do that as you take a walk, see if God tells you to visit a neighbor, or lift one up in prayer.  LISTEN.  It isn't easy for us to take the time to listen, but prayer is more than us telling God He's great and what we want.  Prayer is also letting God tell us what He wants of us, and what He wants us to do!

Fasting--Day Two...

If you're doing a "normal" fast--that is water only, then today will most likely be the day you feel the most hunger.  Either today or tomorrow, you will notice that you haven't eaten.  By Wednesday, the hunger will subside and toward the end of the week you won't notice it as much.  (At least that's what I noticed in my limited times of praying three or more days-and what I've read from those who have fasted for weeks or longer many times!)  Remember, EVERY TIME you feel the hunger--turn to God. Pray to Him.  Call on Him to supply what you lack.  Think of Jesus, who told us, "Man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God!"  I am not at all seeking to minimize the way you feel, just to remind us that fasting, by its nature, means going without, and that we must use the going without for its intended purpose--to focus on God!

If you're doing a "partial" fast, like me, you'll still be hungry by today or tomorrow, and I urge you to use those hunger pangs as reminders to turn to God in prayer.

If you are fasting from some activity this week:  television, shopping, an unwanted behavior such as smoking or gossiping, remember that every time you want to do whatever it is you are abstaining from turn to God in prayer.  Jesus told us that it isn't enough to remove evil from our lives, we must replace it with something positive.  There is nothing more positive than investing time in communion with God!  Prayer is definitely your friend this week, so indulge in it often!

Fasting--Day 1--Review

This morning I went into worship having started a week of fasting last night after dinner, and having had the opportunity to pray for six hours yesterday (a total of 92 ours and 15 minutes for the month of March).  I was feeling hungry physically, and weaker (and stiffer) than normal as I spent about five hours doing some heavy yard work yesterday, but I had a sense of God's presence throughout the morning.  I know that more than 50 people committed to the 10-100 prayer challenge this month, and we had a first time guest today who told me that she has been praying for me for more than ten years.  I've been feeling those prayers as we've gone through this 40 Days of Commitment.  The general level of enthusiasm of folks for worship, fellowship, ministry, discipleship and mission has increased from my conversations with them.  One of the coolest stories I heard was this morning when someone told me of taking extra Bibles home last Sunday after our Bible Sunday, and giving them out to children in the neighborhood.  One of the recipients told the person that his friend has a Bible like the ones we giving out, and that he has always wanted one of his own.  Talk about being in the right place at the right time!  How does that happen?  It happens when we hear God's voice through His word, in prayer, in our circumstances and other believers, and OBEY His voice when we hear it! 

The rest of today has been rather laid back.  I took a nap, and visited with Abby briefly when she stopped by with AiJay and another friend to pick up a bicycle that she wanted to have at school for the final month of the semester.  Then I prayed through the connection card directory--all the folks who have completed a connection card in the past five months, which is always a powerful experience.  I followed that with watching a little basketball.  God didn't reveal anything profound today, although when the hunger pangs hit and I turned my attention to Him, I kept getting the constant affirmation of His presence and faithfulness.  My prayer tonight is that I and all of us who call New Life home, will be faithful this week, and will live out our commissions to greatness with joy, WHEREVER God places us this week.

General Themes for Prayer During the Week of Prayer and Fasting

For those of you who are participating in the week of prayer and fasting, I want to offer a list of general "themes" for prayer during the week ahead, which starts TODAY:

• Lost family and friends--PRAY that God will send a worker (maybe you!) into their lives to show them Jesus in words and actions that they may come to know His salvation! [Pray for these folks by name!]
• Palm Sunday and Easter Worship Services--PRAY that God will use the Palm Sunday and Easter services powerfully to deepen our commitment to Him, AND to draw people who don't yet know Jesus to Himself!
• Your Commitment to Jesus--PRAY that God will deepen your commitment to Jesus in every area: worship, fellowship, ministry, discipleship and missions--through a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit in your life!
• The Leaders of New Life--PRAY for the staff (Pat Fecich, Brad French, Lisa Johns, Pastor Chris Marshall, Shelly Rinamin, Karen Schiebel and Mia Tepper) and elders council (Jim Brown, Pat Fecich, Pastor Chris Marshall, Chuck Matus, David Norris and Frank Relihan) that God will fill them with the Holy Spirit and give them wisdom and energy to serve faithfully and boldly in the weeks and months ahead.
• The CLUB (Come Let Us Build) Process--PRAY for God to guide every step of the process leading to the construction of our "Mission Outpost" at 127 Knoch Road, particularly the completion of the Strategic Ministry Plan, and the Campus Development Plan AND the calling of team members for each of the teams that will be necessary to move forward.  The teams are:  Prayer, Communication, Finance, Growth, Program, Furnishings and Interior, and AV-Technical.
• The Lord's Prayer Series After Easter-- PRAY for Pastor Chris and Brad French as they develop the messages and the LIFE Group materials for this series, and pray that God will call each of us into a deeper relationship with Him and one another through this series.
• The Lost--PRAY for those who are lost without Jesus and who you don't know.  Billions of people are walking toward a Christless-eternity at this moment.  Pray for a new outpouring of the Holy Spirit on our community, our nation and our world that people may come to Jesus in unprecedented numbers.

You'll notice that I've listed seven themes for prayer.  You may decide to prayer for one of them each day, or all of them briefly every day.  The key is to PRAY, especially during those times when you would normally be eating, and ask God to do a mighty work among us--opening doors for ministry, calling new workers, providing "fruit"--souls and results, and resources to see His will accomplished

Suggestions for the Week of Fasting!

Back in January when we started the year with a week of fasting and prayer, I offered a series of posts throughout the week that you may want to review THIS week if you're planning to participate in our week of prayer and fasting.  The week-long fast in January was my first week-long fast, and I learned a great deal from it practically speaking. Below is a reprint of a couple of suggestions I made at the start of the January week of fasting and prayer, and they WILL be useful if you are considering joining us this week:

If you are considering participating in the week of prayer and fasting, you may want to consider a "Daniel Fast." You may remember that Daniel and other young Hebrew men were taken captive by the Babylonians and placed into training to become leaders.  Part of the "training" was eating a diet rich in wine and meat.  The Hebrews decided to eat only vegetables and water.  (This is a "partial fast") After a couple of weeks Daniel and his compatriots were in better health than the others!  This shows that obedience to God and a desire to do His will is more important than anything else, and that is certainly why we are holding our week long fast next week!  [I will be doing a Daniel fast this week, as I will eat some fruit and raw vegetables in limited quantities through the week, mainly at dinner time.  I also plan to add some vegetable or fruit juice occasionally to the water that will be the "mainstay" of my fast.  I guess I'm going to do a "modified 'normal' fast," since a normal fast consists of taking in only water during the week.  During my first week-long fast, I found that in order to keep a normal pace, I needed to add a bit of juice and vegetables early in the week.  As the week went on, I relied more and more only on water.] As always, you should consult with a health care professional if you have any questions about fasting, although as one of the resources I read about fasting during my last week-long fast put it:  since most doctors have never actually fasted they don't have much of a clue of the impact of fasting, which for healthy people is generally positive both physically and spiritually.

One last practical suggestion if you are planning to take part in the fast---if you are a heavy caffeine drinker: coffee, tea, colas, etc... and you plan to restrict your intake of caffeine as part of the fast, you may want to "wean" yourself off of the caffeine starting NOW, and for the first couple days of the fast.  Otherwise, you may experience headaches, fatigue and other symptoms of caffeine withdrawal. Thankfully, after the week-long fast in January before which I eliminated iced tea and Dr. Pepper from my "diet," I have gone back to abstaining from caffeinated drinks, except for a rare Dr. Pepper at a restaurant.  

Week of Prayer and Fasting--March 29th-April 4th

When I planned the preaching calendar for 2009, I thought that April 5^th was going to be the commitment Sunday for our CLUB (Come Let Us Build) process, and incorporated a week-long fast March 29^th to April 4^th as the culmination of that process. Although that changed to November of this year, and we changed the series for February and March to 40 Days of Commitment, I sensed that God was still calling us to a week of prayer and fasting, so this coming week we WILL fast and pray for God to confirm our deeper commitments in the areas of worship, fellowship, ministry, discipleship and missions--and particularly to reaching out among our neighbors to share the new life of Jesus with them!  Easter is coming in a little more than two weeks.  There's no better time to invite friends, family, co-workers and classmates to worship with us than then.  So, during the week of prayer and fasting think of 5 people (or 1 or 2 or 10!) and pray for them daily.  If you are able to participate in the fast, invest some of the time that you would have spent in eating in praying for them.  Ask God to open a door for you to invite them to worship with us and REMEMBER--on Easter we will have TWO services:  8:45 and 10:15 at the South Butler Primary School.  I'll be posting tips for this week of prayer and fasting each day during the coming week, so make sure you check back daily starting tomorrow night:  that's the first tip:  always start and end a fast with an evening meal.  Eat on Saturday (tomorrow) evening (don't stuff yourselves!) and then fast until this coming Saturday, April 4th and break your fast at dinner that night!  Tomorrow I'll talk more about how you may participate in the week of fasting and prayer, even if you have medical reasons for not fasting from food! 

The 10-100 Prayer Challenge--UPDATE!

How's your 10-100 Prayer Challenge going?  More than 50 of you committed to praying 10 hours (about 20 minutes per day) during the month of March, and I committed to 100 hours of pray during these 31 days.  At this moment I'm at 86 hours and 20 minutes for the month--about 50 minutes behind the schedule I set for myself.  That puts me well within reach of the 100 hours by the end of this Tuesday.  God has been doing some amazing things through the added hours of prayer in my life.  One of the things I've noticed the most is that when I'm not praying and not doing "anything" I find myself "singing" praise songs on the inside.  It reminds me of the Apostle Paul's challenge to the Ephesian Christians in Ephesians 5:18-20 "Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit.  Speak to one another in psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.  Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord, Jesus Christ (NIV)   I've also noticed that almost nothing bothers me.  I was in a little bit of a hurry as I was driving somewhere this morning, and a slow driver pulled out in front of me.  In an instant I heard myself saying, "Thank you, Father.  Maybe if I had kept going at the rate I was I'd have been in an accident."  I smiled as I said it.  Don't get me wrong, God hasn't perfected me, but a whole lot of things that would ordinarily bother me haven't bothered me at all, and I find myself saying, "Thank You!" to God so much more than usual.  I do have to say that during this month, I have scarcely made any blog entries.  The time invested in prayer, hasn't cut into to many areas of my life, mainly television watching (no loss there), "reflection" when I'm driving (which sometimes is good and sometimes isn't, because sometimes I reflect on message ideas or meeting I'm about to attend, while at other times I reflect on the driving habits of those around me, and that is nearly never good!), some sleep, as I have found myself waking early on occasion and staying up a little letter to get in an extra 20-30 minutes of prayer, AND blogging.  One of the things I've started to consider is what happens on April 1, when the 31 days and 100 hours is complete?  Since my average prayer per day before this has been about an hour, and the average this month has been about three and a quarter hours, I'm wondering where I'll end up in April.  My guess is that it'll be between two and two and a half hours a day, because I've developed some good prayer patterns that I want to stay with, and prayer like anything else done repetitively day after day becomes "habit-forming." It's a really good habit, that has such positive impact that my prayer is that I continue to press on toward the prize in this vital area of my life.

This Sunday at New Life!

I hope you'll be there this Sunday as we focus on being Commissioned to Greatness!As we move to the sixth and final week of our 40 Days of Commitment, we'll consider what it means to go into all the world and make disciples of all nations--starting right where we are.  Many of you have been deepening your commitment in the areas of worship, fellowship, ministry and discipleship and now we add missions.  We'll also have an exciting Come Let Us Build(CLUB) update, and hear about what God is doing in the area of building our "Mission Outpost" at 127 Knoch Road, Saxonburg.  Plan to come to the South Butler Primary Center and worship with us at 10:00 a.m.---and bring a friend or two along!

Where Have I Been?

After getting off to a great start with regular posts in 2009, I haven't posted an entry since March 4--13 days ago!  How can that be?  No excuses.  Life has be coming at me fast--too fast.  So, I'm not going to try to fill in all the blanks form the past two weeks.  Here are some highlights:

• The Strategic Minsitry Planning Retreat in Colorado was amazing!  Had the opportunity to invest six months worth of staff meeting time with the staff, and we all got to know and understand each other at a deeper level than ever before.
• The Campus Development Plan (CDP) which includes the Master Site Plan, and the rough floor plans for Phase 1 & 2 of our Mission out post are complete!
• The move back to the Primary Center from the Auditorium has been tremendous!  Worship attendance has increased both Sundays, new guests have been finding us, and everyone I've talked to likes the brighter, more-fellowship friendly, more intimate atmosphere--AND it's warm!
• On a sad note, both Wendy Kovach and Bev Broskey's mom's have gone to be with the Lord in the past week or so.
• Lacrosse season has started, and both Emmy and I are learning a new sport!  The first scrimmage wasn't pretty, but Nancy appreciated that I didn't raise my voice even once concerning the officiating.  (Since I don't know ANY of the rules, for the time being ignorance is bliss!)
• The 10-100 prayer time is going great!  I"m a few hours behind on my goal of 100 hours of prayer for the month of March, but by the end of today I will have more than 50 hours of prayer time invested in the month of March so far!  God is doing an awesome work in those times!  I hope that those of you who made the 10 hour commitment are keeping up, too!
• The 40 Days of Commitment worship services and LIFE groups are making a major impact in my life, and I've been hearing some great stories of what God is doing in some of your lives, too!
• Life Management is becoming a blessing, and even though you wouldn't know it from the lack of posts, order is slowly coming to my whole life.  By the end of this week, there will be some margin in my calendar for the first time in --- EVER!
• God has been bringing new people who need Jesus across my path at a higher rate than usual, and giving me great opportunities to offer Him to them in words and actions!

There's a lot more, but that's enough for now!