One Person at a Time...

Fasting--Day Seven!

Are you closer to Jesus?  Did you live the week more like Him?  Is anyone in your sphere of influence closer to Jesus, or does someone KNOW Jesus who didn't at the beginning of this week?  Remember, fasting is never about us--it's about advancing the Kingdom of God.  As you invest this last day in fasting, give it completely over to Jesus.  Let Him set the agenda, and when you break bread this evening, invite Him to be part of it! Then make sure that as a new week comes--Holy Week, that you live it to glorify and honor Him!  Make your Hosannas last through the week!

Fasting--Day Six

One more day!  (Actually it's two, because the fast won't end until tomorrow evening!)  How's it going?  If you've made it this far, I know one thing, you have fasted longer than most people ever will, and God is most likely speaking more "clearly" than you have experienced.  What is it about giving up food (or something else) in our lives that cleans the spiritual "wax" out of our ears?  I believe it is the giving up of control to God that makes the difference.  We are not eating for a purpose.  It isn't to show that we have control over our stomachs.  It is to show that God is more important to us than anything!  That's why this is not a week of dieting.  It isn't about self-control.  It's about letting God have control of ourselves.  As we do that more and more, we can give control of EVERY area of our lives to Him knowing that He knows best.  At the end of my week of fasting in January, I had lost more than ten pounds, was feeling so much better, and thought that I had learned a lot about myself--and my attitudes toward food, which had a lot of unhealthiness in them.  Actually, I didn't learn as much as I thought, because I went back to some of the old habits, but not ALL of them.  Just as my month of committing to 100 hours of prayer, means that I'll never go back to months of only 30 hours of prayer, so a week of fasting, will give us the ability to see what needs to be changed in our eating habits so that the food area of our lives honors God.  We may not change everything as a result, but if we change ANYTHING, and give God the glory that is a win.  The goal is NOT that we will be more pious or religious than everyone else--the goal is that God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit will be more in control of our lives than EVER!  The result of a week of fasting is hopefully a closer relationship with Jesus than we've ever had, or at least a closer relationship than we had at the beginning of the week.  That way when we go back to "normal" next week, "normal" will actually be a littler more like Jesus!

Fasting--Day Five

By now, you are probably "over the hump" if you've been participating in a normal or partial fast.  The hunger pangs have subsided to a large degree.  Certainly, you'd be glad to eat, but it isn't as pressing a desire as it was on Monday or Tuesday.  Now's the time when your attention to God is probably becoming heightened.  Is He speaking to you more?  Or is it that you are focusing more?  Either way, remember this:  Jesus said, "If you know these things (His commandments), you are blessed if you do them." (John 13:17)  Only as we live out the words God speaks to us in this time of fasting--either through the Bible or through prayer, will we receive His blessings.  God always blesses obedience.  His grace is available to us all--but His blessing only to those who obey in faith.  Once we are blessed through obedience, we are halfway to God's intention for our lives.  The other half?  Being a blessing to others!  Invest the day--particularly the times when you would ordinarily be eating, in living out what God has been showing you--BE A BLESSING, since you're blessed!

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!