Take it up a Notch

We have spent 5 weeks talking about seeking God through prayer. Hopefully we have been doing more than talking. Hopefully we have been talking to God himself and listening for His voice.

One way I think we seek God with our whole heart is to seek him with our whole gut. I am talking about a time of fasting. One of the simplest definitions for fasting is: A fast is a conscious, intentional decision to abstain for a time from the pleasure of eating in order to gain vital spiritual benefits.

In essence by sacrificing food (or some other pleasure) for a time you are saying to God that he is more important to you than the very food you need to sustain yourself. It’s a pretty powerful statement to make.

Just after Jesus teaches about the Lords Prayer he says, “When you fast, stop looking sad like hypocrites. They put on sad faces to make it obvious that they’re fasting. I can guarantee this truth: That will be their only reward. When you fast, wash your face and comb your hair. Then your fasting won’t be obvious. Instead, it will be obvious to your Father who is with you in private. Your Father sees what you do in private. He will reward you.” - Matthew 6:16-18

A couple things to notice here is Jesus didn’t say if you fast, he said, “When you fast”. We also know that Jesus himself fasted for forty days before beginning his ministry.

My advice to you is to definitely fast. Just start simply.

• Maybe skip lunch one day a week and spend the time privately praying.
• Maybe as a small group you could agree to fast a meal and pray together wherever you might be.
• God might call you to longer fast as issues arise in your life or in the ministry of the church.
• The most common fast is twenty-four hours. After eating dinner you don’t eat again until dinner the next night. I have done this many times and there is no doubt it helps me focus and hunger for God.
• One suggestion could be that every first Wednesday you could fast all day until first Wednesday prayer. Then you could come and pray or if you need to be home you can pray together with those of us here while you are at home.

Think about the power of coming together before the Lord and seeking him as a body through prayer and fasting. What a statement of our love and need for God.

Ask any questions about fasting and I’ll get back to you.

Griff

Just Imagine...

I felt excited about the response from people this weekend after being so challeged by what scripture has to say about the need for us to pray together and "seek God's face". We have about 1500 adults attend most weekends. Every year we have 156 weekend services. Do the math. Just imagine if every adult committed to praying over just one of those services a year. We would have roughly 10 people at every weekend service gathering to seek God's face and ask his power and presence upon our people. That is about as small a comitment as we could make. Even so, how do you think God might respond? It's about 10 times what we are doing now as far as gathering for intentional committed prayer over the weekend. JUST IMAGINE...

Griff

We need to talk… about us.

I remember once hearing a guy say something about making love to God. My first reaction to that was, “That’s inappropriate and kind of gross.” The thought though has obviously stayed with me for several years. I guess it kind of shocked me that someone would say that about God. Maybe that was his point because it stuck with me and has made me reflect on what he said.

The more I thought about it the more it seems incredibly appropriate. The more I come to understand God, the more I see our lives are supposed to be always “making love” to him. He wants us to be passionately and fully obsessed with love for Him, from Him and through Him for others. Forget the sexual thought that “making love” brings to mind (except that God gave that to us as well as our deepest level of expressing love for the one person he intended for us to share life with and he gave it to us as an act of love that brings new life. Now I am rambling, but, “How cool is God?!”) and just think about your life being an act of love to God. That gives prayer, our constant communion with God a whole new depth and texture doesn’t it? It brings a whole new picture of living out of deep intimacy and passion with him.

Hopefully you get what I am saying. I hope you have a whole new hunger and excitement for what prayer with God can bring your life. So why don’t you stop what you are doing and talk to God about what prayer, love for Him, and His love for you all have in common. Go on, talk to Him, you need to more than you know.

Griff

Living In His Spirit

From Prayer Intern Ryan:

We heard last week a little bit on the “how to” live into the lifestyle of Romans 8 by not feeding the “big dog” sin, and by feeding the little dog “our spirit, or spiritual life” to over come that sin that is hindering us. My goal is to expand on the “how to” feed our spirits in a healthy way.

The first thing I have found helpful in my personal walk is to truly picture and believe that Jesus is a man! It is possible to have an alive, loving, affectionate, passionate relationship with the man Jesus. An easy way to do this would be to open up Revelation 4 and read it a few times and then just sit, close your eyes and picture Jesus on the throne. Once you get your mind clear begin to speak with that man. He wants to talk with you more then you want to talk with him. I have recently found myself sitting and listening/ gazing more then I talk. About 15-25% of my prayer time I actually talk. The rest of the time I just sit in the presence of God and slowly but surely the very presence of God begins to transform you!

Now this doesn’t happen over night. It takes a long time to develop this habit. I still become unfocused every 1-2 minutes thinking about what I need to do and I have to refocus myself. Jesus is not concerned about the amount or effectiveness of the time. He is filled with joy because deep down we want to spend time with Him. All He asks of us is that we would continue to try and spend time with Him. If we put the time in He will give us the power to stay focused on him and live a life lead by His Spirit! (Romans 8)

Ryan

No Condemnation... How's it feel?

So, I am wondering how sitting in Romans 8 is going for you? Have you thought about the chains this week? Have you picked them up without realizing it? How is your study going?

The feedback has been great I hope and expect that God has something good for you in the next few weeks of study.

I would invite you to share your reflections on the readings each week. I think God will teach us things through each other. Don’t be shy, bring it.

Griff

Where Ever We Find Ourselves

There are two things that strike me about Glen’s message last week.

The first is how easily some of us choose to flee difficulty without thinking though the consequences. Some of us find ourselves facing marital difficulty and our first desire is to get out. We think it will be better and easier. I often sit with people who are contemplating this reality. I try to get them to think down that path a while. One thing that every divorced or blended family will tell you is that there is never a major holiday that doesn’t bear some scar of the broken family. Every Thanksgiving and Christmas, etc. there is the tension about who will be where when. That’s life long, that’s a big deal.

The other thing that struck me is no matter what life hands us or that we create, it’s in our best interest to make the best of our circumstance; to talk out issues, to agree to work together, to resolve and not suppress issues. My wife and I had a long but good talk about an issue we are facing. I wouldn’t put it on the top of the fun to do things list but I was grateful for her willingness to broach it with me and her grace to listen.

Where ever you are in life, what ever life has handed you, embrace it and live up!

Griff

Getting It Right

I have to be honest and it probably won’t surprise any of you but I felt myself well up with emotion several times on Sunday during Glen’s message. When I heard the things that wives were saying about their husbands who were getting it right, something touched me deep inside.

I know, as a man, respect is a huge motivator. When I get anything right and my wife notices and then verbalizes it back to me; WOW! You would have thought I just got the Nobel Peace Prize. I also think as men that is what we are all looking for; to be valued and respected. The reality is we end up looking for it in different places. If we don’t find it at home, or we are too wounded to experience it at home, or we have seen other role models seek it in different ways it can lead to fruitless and destructive searches.

I was appreciative of the encouragement and challenge to “get it right” as a Dad. A word of advice for kids or wives who are reading this: Dad’s need your respect. They live by it and for it. They thrive on it. I don’t know if you have a good or bad relationship with your dad but find something you do and can respect about him and let him know. Write a note, tell him face to face, or get a tattoo; just make sure he knows you respect him. If you do it often enough you will see a new life arise inside him. Before you know it there will be even more you respect about him.

Griff