Tami and I went to Schlotzky’s today for lunch. She ate something with jalapeno’s on it and her face turned red, along with red blotches on her chest. It’s not the heat, but her condition called dermatomyositis. It’s an autoimmune disorder where the body rejects it muscle and skin. She was having a flash. The end game is a lung and heart transplant, if she can qualify for one.
I have something to pray about.
My son Zach plays is a freshman in college. Need I say more?
My daughter Lauren went on a date week before last. Need I say more?
Kyle is driving now. He's a good driver, but a new driver. Any questions?
I have some things to pray about.
How about you?
We’re preparing for a special “Miracles & Breakthroughs” Sunday at Faith on May 1st. To get ready, starting Friday, April 1st, we’re challenging everyone who attends Faith to participate in a month of fasting and prayer. The following is a guideline for fasting that we’ve used extensively in the past. Please choose a form of fasting that is appropriate for you, and a schedule that works for you. For those with health issues or advanced age, please contact your doctor for guidance.
FORMS OF FASTING [This is the same material from 3.28.11 blog. More new information follows if you've already read this.]
For each form of fasting, it is understood that the individual who fasts will pray during those times that they give up food as an offering to the Lord. This means that you would find a place to pray, possibly write a journal to God, or do some other form of expression for our Savior during mealtimes, and/or other set times during your day. [As a side note, it may be more appropriate for you to give up an activity, something that dominates your life – which is also a form of fasting].The following is a list of five kinds of fasts; the first three are actual forms of personal fasts, with the last two speaking of corporate calls. Again, this list is not meant to be exhaustive, but are provided for your understanding.
1. The Normal Fast.
A normal fast means abstaining from all food, solid or liquid, but not from water. This is possibly the type of fast that Jesus went on for those 40 days and nights in Matthew 4. Since the body can normally function no longer than three days without water, we assume that He drank water during this time. If you have never fasted before, you might try a juice fast, using "soft" juices like unsweetened apple or grape juice. Avoid juices with citric acid.
Bill Bright, founder of Campus Crusade for Christ went on his first 40-day fast in 1994. During that time he drank the fluid from boiled vegetables, receiving their natural vitamins in the process. Should you decide on an extended fast (seven days or longer), you may wish to use this method.
2. The Absolute Fast (Acts 9:9) "For three days he ... neither ate nor drank."
An absolute fast is abstaining from food and drink. Normally, this type of fast went on for no more than three days; any longer period may prove injurious to your health. (Ezra 10:6; Esther 4:16; Acts 9:9). In these instances the fast of food and drink occurred in the midst of great crises or change.
3. The Partial Fast (Daniel 10:3) "I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth."
The emphasis here is on restriction of diet rather than complete abstinence. Daniel 10:2-3 tells of a special season of seeking God with a restricted diet. This is an excellent way to begin if you have never fasted before, or have health issues. A partial fast could also include cutting out one or two meals during the day, or the elimination of foods that you enjoy eating on a regular basis. If you choose to allow your children to participate in this fast, you might remove candy or ice cream from their diet.
4. Congregational Fast (Joel 2:15-16)
This is the kind of fast that our church will be participating in. Joel 2 says, "Blow a trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. Gather the people, consecrate the assembly." NIV
At least a part of the congregation of the church at Antioch were fasting together in Acts 13:2, as evidenced by Luke's words, "While they were worshipping the Lord and fasting."
During our fast, there will be normal fasts, absolute fasts, and partial fasts taking place throughout the congregation. The prayer focus is based on a sense of the leading of the Spirit over the previous several months by the pastor and other church leaders.
5. National Fasts (2 Chronicles 20:3).
Here is the response of King Jehoshaphat to an invasion in 2 Chronicles 20:3: "Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah."
The Jews were called to a national fast in Nehemiah 9:1 and Esther 4:16, and the king of Nineveh proclaimed a fast in response to the message of Jonah.
Over the course of our fast, please check back with this blog for tips and devotions to encourage/enhance your experience. You have the address on your sheet.
Let’s look at some Scripture:
Luke 18:1 - One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up.
Jesus never asked us to do what He wouldn’t do Himself. The gospels depict 23 unique instances where Jesus prayed. Each one is an amazing window on whom the Savior is. We can make a big deal about praying like Jesus. And yet I admonish each of us to learn how to pray like…whom God has made us to be.
The following is from Enrichment Journal [Spring 2011, pp. -35] in an article by our General Superintendent, George O. Wood titled, “A Better Way to Pray – Praying Like Jesus.”
On February 9, 1958, a young Assemblies of God pastor in a rural town in Pennsylvania was watching the late show on TV while his wife and small children were asleep. On that night he evaluated his life. How much time am I spending in front of the TV each night? he asked himself. A couple of hours at least. What if I sold the TV set and spent that time praying? The next morning he and his wife agreed to sell their TV if, after putting the ad in the paper, it sold within ½ hour after the paper hit the streets.
At the 29th minute the phone rang. “How much?”
The young pastor had not even thought of the price — but he instantly said, “$100.”
The caller said, “I’ll take it. I’ll be there in 15 minutes.”
On February 25, a late Tuesday evening near the end of his prayer time — just 2 weeks and 2 days after the decision to sell the TV — this young pastor was in his study praying and began to feel a great heaviness. He felt an urge to pick up Life magazine, but resisted at first because he didn’t want to fall into a trap of reading a magazine on his prayer time. He had been fidgeting that evening — his wife and children had been away visiting grandparents in Pittsburgh. The magazine beckoned to him from his desk. Finally, he said, “Lord, is there something You want me to see?” He sat down in his brown swivel chair and opened the magazine.
He leafed along and came to a page that at first seemed to have nothing to interest him. It carried a pen drawing of a trial taking place 350 miles away in New York City — a place he had never been. The eyes of one of the seven figures in the drawing, on trial for murder caught his attention. The look in the boy’s eyes was one of bewilderment, hatred, and despair. The young pastor began to cry. He said aloud to himself, “What’s the matter with me?”
He looked at the picture more carefully. The boys were all teenagers. They were members of a gang called the Dragons. They had brutally attacked and killed a 15-year-old polio victim named Michael Farmer. The seven boys had stabbed Michael in the back seven times with their knives, and then beat him over the head with garrison belts. They went away wiping blood through their hair, saying, “We messed him good.”
The story revolted the young pastor. It turned his stomach. And, then a thought came — Go to New York City and help those boys. On Friday morning the young pastor was in the courtroom — and the rest of the story is history. Had David Wilkerson not given himself to prayer, Teen Challenge would never have happened.
Since that time the ministry of Teen Challenge has transformed hundreds of thousands of lives. Around the world today and every day, 24,000 men and women are currently in a center being sent free by the power of Christ.
There’s a needlepoint in David Wilkerson’s office from his daughter, Bonnie: “My dad is famous not for who he is, but because he dared to listen when God wanted to hold conversation.”
May we also listen when God wants to hold conversation. The Early Church father, John Chrysostom, expressed it eloquently and succinctly: “God can refuse nothing to a praying church.”
Back to the Scripture:
Luke 18:1-8 - One day Jesus told his disciples a story to show that they should always pray and never give up. 2 "There was a judge in a certain city," he said, "who neither feared God nor cared about people. 3 A widow of that city came to him repeatedly, saying, 'Give me justice in this dispute with my enemy.' 4 The judge ignored her for a while, but finally he said to himself, 'I don't fear God or care about people, 5 but this woman is driving me crazy. I'm going to see that she gets justice, because she is wearing me out with her constant requests!'"
6 Then the Lord said, "Learn a lesson from this unjust judge. 7 Even he rendered a just decision in the end. So don't you think God will surely give justice to his chosen people who cry out to him day and night? Will he keep putting them off? 8 I tell you, he will grant justice to them quickly! But when the Son of Man* returns, how many will he find on the earth who have faith?" NLT
Look at whom we’re dealing with here – the Creator of the universe! Am I telling you to sell your television? No. Actually, not at all. But I am asking you not to waste your life. There is so much for you and I to do as we aim towards eternity. Live, have fun, laugh lots, and be a servant of the King. Come to think of it, life is about being a servant of the King. Have the time of your life doing it!
Make a list of things to pray about. It won’t be hard. Pray for your family and kids. Pray for faith, and pray for Faith Christian Center. Pray for more and better jobs. Pray for God's power to be released in our city for revival.
Ben encouraged! The best is yet to come!
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