FreeTruth

What is TFC's More of God?

Someone asked me this today; here's my answer:
During our More of God seasons (3-4 times per year) we encourage folks to alter their lives a bit by giving up a little food for all or just parts of a couple of days, so that they can give a bit more time and focus to prayer.

The fasting part of M.O.G. is optional. We don't mandate that people fast. But just becasue it's not mandated doesn't mean that it's unimportant. Congregational fasting shows unity in prayer and in a display that we all, together, desire God even more than food.

The prayer part of MOG shouldn't be viewed as optional (unless folks have other unavoidable stuff going on). TFC members really should join us in the two day season of prayer since in the Bible church leaders have the responsibility to call congregations together for seasons of prayer, and every believer needs to be a part of this at least on some occasions.

During the days of each More of God event, we encourage people to pray alone, with each other, and with their families more than they might normally. We suggest that they spend time praying for their families, their care groups, their church, their pastors, the various ministries of the church, the mission of the church, and unbelievers that they are trying to reach for Christ.

It all comes to a climax on the Friday PM at 7:00PM, when we gather to pray specifically for "more of God": more of His love, more of His power, more of His grace to live transformed lives, more of His Holy Spirit to give us spiritual gifts and power to edify each other and reach our world, more of His presence to change us and to change others through us.

This Friday time is normally a free flowing time, with no set agenda by the pastors. We simply start by singing (normally) and then pray and speak and share prophetic words of encouragement as God brings these all to mind. We don't want to manage God on these occasions; we want God to control and lead us.

There you have it!!

Labels: Church, Fasting, Prayer

I've been a hold-out on Lent, and, as commonly practiced, I still am. All human traditions have a built in high-risk factor which is one reason why I try to undermine them every chance I get!

This gets me into a lot of hot water, but I believe that traditions about music, Sunday attire, men's and women's roles (other than those spelled out in God's Word), holy days, liturgies, and more, must be deliberately altered periodically, or else in time they will replace God's Law. I must intentionally change the way I've always done things or the way I've always done things will supplant God's Law in my conscience.

Spiritual growth should never depend on a tradition, but on God and all His ordained means of grace alone. All else is sand. Traditions are just tools to be used or not, as the moment may suggest, and the heart may choose.

But with all that necessarily said, I think there are helpful ways we can observe traditional holy seasons if we so choose. Regarding Lent you might choose from the following options (from various sources):

1. Take a deep repentant inventory of soul. This should happen regularly (do not wait for Lent!), but it can be helpful to use the Lenten emergence from winter as a kind of spiritual emergence from any soul-winter we may be in. You can ask questions like:

- What are my characteristic sins, and how can I work and pray for change?
- What idols have captured my imagination and cooled my love for the living God?
- In what ways is my devotion to Christ and his church less than wholehearted?

2. Memorize a gospel, cross-focused text like Isaiah 52:11-53:12.

3. Write one gospel-presenting letter each Lenten week to an unbelieving person expressing the love of Christ.

4. See Lent and the Good Friday/Resurrection Day event as a reminder of your solidarity with all true believers everywhere. It's undeniably stirring, if you have a love for the universal Church, to realize that in such "holy seasons" true Christians everywhere are united in repentance, faith, and love for Christ.

5. Read good books about the finished redeeming work of Jesus Christ--through Whom alone we have our salvation apart from works and traditions. Fill your mind with grace alone, faith alone, Christ alone themes.

6. Plan to make three visits to people who are lonely or especially needy. Read them Scripture on the death and resurrection of Christ and encourage their faith and hope in Christ.

7. Choose to fast, going without food for a meal or a day or longer, using the time and energy saved to pray and meditate.

Whatever you choose never think of your way as God's Law. Never think that your observance of Lent is penance or atonement for sin. Jesus' blood alone atones. By His blood and righteousness alone are we justified in God's sight. Trusting in Jesus alone, make your choice regarding Lent. This is an evangelical way to do Lent.

As we proceed now to offer 40+ readings on the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus--His Path to Glory--the way is clear for us to reflect and worship with no legalistic strings attached.

Labels: Fasting, Holy Days, Lent, Prayer, Repentance, Spiritual disciplines

Many of you know James 5:13-18. I feel like I'm just beginning to really know it, if you know what I mean. I've got a long way to go, but at least in recent time, this is what I've seen:
1. A brother in severe back pain just before a missions trip, stand and walk within minutes of prayer, and stay strong throughout the next days of his long ride and work.
2. Another brother have potentially serious surgery near his brain, go into the hosptial one day, be told he'd be there at least 4-5 days, and in recovery for months, only--in response to many fervent prayers--have the surgery, get a wonderful report, and leave the hospital the next day!
3. A mom's long and persistent prayers for a prodigal son answered this week with him "coming home" to Christ with a contrite heart and humble faith.
4. A sister and daughter travel to Haiti to serve; get there and back safely and with a deepening heart for Christ and others; having left a mark on dozens of children and families--prayed for all the way there and back again.
5. A brother in the Lord--and son of one of our TFC sisters in Jesus, prayed for on Sunday and now--this Thursday given a medical report saying his cancer is in remission.
6. Long damaged and even broken relationships prayed for, talked through, and on the mend.
7. A brother with a recent stroke--prayed for and experienceing the sustaining grace of God in trial.
8. Another brother with cancer, not fully healed but prayed for and tasting the very good, very sufficient grace of God.
9. A brother caught in sin, and earnestly prayed for, now repenting, and being restored to family and those around him.
10. A family mourning the tragic loss of a son, but through prayer and fellowship going on with God in grace.

I could add more my friends, but this will do to make this point: pray on dear ones. Pray on!

Labels: Faith, Prayer, Spiritual disciplines

Here is some very practical help from a great man of faith, and prayer warrior, George Mueller. He answers the question: How can I discover the will of God? I hope you find it helpful. Here are the 6 steps:

1. I seek at the beginning to get my heart into such a state that it has no will of its own in regard to a given matter. Nine-tenths of the trouble with people is just here. Nine-tenths of the difficulties are overcome when our hearts are ready to do the Lord's will, whatever it may be. When one is truly in this state, it is usually but a little way to the knowledge of what His will is.

2. Having done this, I do not leave the result to feeling or simple impression. If so, I make myself liable to great delusions.

3. I seek the will of the Spirit of God through, or in connection with, the Word of God. The Spirit and the Word must be combined. If I look to the Spirit alone without the Word, I lay myself open to great delusions also. If the Holy Spirit guides us at all, He will do it according to the Scriptures and never contrary to them.

4. Next I take into account providential circumstances. These often plainly indicate God's will in connection with His Word and Spirit.

5. I ask God in prayer to reveal His will to me aright.

6. Thus, through prayer to God, the study of the Word and reflection, I come to a deliberate judgment according to the best of my ability and knowledge, and if my mind is at peace, and continues so after two or three more petitions, I proceed accordingly. In trivial matters, and in transactions involving the most important issues, I have found this method always effective.

Labels: Guest Post, Prayer

The third question asked in response to my message on the end of the unbeliever (which is destruction) this past Lord's Day was this: How do I approach prayer for unbelievers (and prayer in general) knowing that everything has been ordained before I even existed?

This too is a question the answers to which are incomplete and shrouded in mystery. And having only a few minutes to post this morning I will have to reply very simply and succinctly. Having just read Jesus' words in Matthew 5:8 in my devotions this morning, let me answer simply with this: The fact that God knows what we pray for before we pray says to me that prayer is fundamentally not so much about what it produces (by way of answers) as it is about what it produces in us (by way of humility, desperation, faith, dependance).

I can only develop this briefly but I believe that prayer is mainly a means of grace to change us, to humble us, to remind us of our need for God, to deepen within us a sense of our utter inadequacy. God calls me to pray not so much that He can get things done through my prayers as so that He can get things done in me through my prayers. Prayer for the lost, prayer for needs, prayer for anything is always helpful if for no other reason than that it reminds me that conversion and provision are God's work and God's gifts. For a sinner like me who tends arrogantly to rely on self, this is a reminder I need multiple times, daily.

There is more to be a gained through prayer, but there is always this: I am forced to think about God's sovereignty and my need for His help. For that reason alone I will keep on praying for the lost, for the sick, for the hurting, for the lonely, and for today's bread.

Sorry I can't add more at the moment, but the heart and encouragement needs of a son bid me come.

Labels: Evangelism, Prayer, Spiritual disciplines

Some helpful practical guidance from Donald Whitney to assist us in prayer (and most of us need all the assistance we can get):

One of the most common struggles in the practice of spirituality is maintaining mental focus in prayer. When I try to pray, I often find myself thinking about my to-do list or daydreaming instead of talking to God. But walking as I pray—either in a large place indoors (such as a church building), or more frequently, outdoors—usually keeps my mind from wandering as easily. In addition, I typically bring a small Bible to prompt my prayer periodically during the walk.

The walking and the weather invigorate my sluggish soul. Looking up into the blue or out to the horizon refreshes my sense of the greatness of God. The sights, smells, and sounds of my Father’s world surround me with reminders of His presence. The cadence of my pace, or occasionally stopping to stare into the distance, often enables me to concentrate in prayer more easily than when I’m still and my eyes are closed.

Abraham’s son, Isaac, is an example from Scripture of walking while thinking on the things of God. Genesis 24:63 reports, “And Isaac went out to meditate in the field.” Four hundred years ago, an English Puritan named Joseph Hall wrote in his influential book, The Art of Divine Meditation, "All our teachers of meditation have commended various positions of the body, according to their own disposition and practice... But of all others, I think that Isaac’s choice was best, who meditated walking."

Perhaps no one in church history is more closely associated with a life of meditative prayer than George Müller. He lived in Bristol, England during the nineteenth century where he founded an orphanage and a literature distribution ministry. Müller recorded more than fifty thousand specific answers to prayer, thirty thousand of which he said were answered the same day he prayed. Notice that his normal mode of prayer was a meditative prayer walk:

"I find it very beneficial to my health to walk thus for meditation before breakfast, and... generally take out a New Testament... and I find that I can profitably spend my time in the open air.

I used to consider the time spent in walking a loss, but now I find it very profitable, not only to my body, but also to my soul... For... I speak to my Father... about the things that He has brought before me in His precious Word."

Simplify the struggle of staying focused in prayer, and refresh both body and soul with a leisurely walk in conversation with God from His Word" (Simplify Your Spiritual Life, by Donald S. Whitney, NavPress, 2003).

I am also reminded of Jonathan Edwards in this regard, who expressed that he was "often walking alone in the woods, and solitary places, for meditation, soliloquy, and prayer, and converse with God." I have personally found this recommendation to pray while walking to be most helpful in my own experience, particularly while walking in the woods or along the ocean. Perhaps you will too.

Labels: christian life, Guest Post, Prayer

The truth is I am always in a helpless position before God. The problem is, I don't always seem to realize it. I frequently forget, or act like I forget, that I am always in a position of desperate need of God and His enabling for anything I do--indeed for life and breath and everything. Because I am so helpless, prayer is so critical. Prayer is the means by which a helpless sinner reaches out in dependence upon the all sufficient God. I have recently been reading about prayer in an excellent, very practical new book titled, A Praying Life: Connecting with God in a Distracting World, by Paul E. Miller. Here is a brief excerpt--I offer it as an encouragement that it may serve to help us (myself, first of all) pursue helplessness before God, and from that posture of helplessness pursue in prayer the One who is our sufficiency, our all:

Throughout the book of John we see people coming to Jesus because of their helplessness. The Samaritan woman has no water (see John 4). Later in that same chapter, the official's son has no health. The crippled man by the pool of Bethesda has no help to get into the water (see John 5). The crowd has no bread (see John 6). The blind man has no sight (see John 9). And finally, Lazarus has no life (see John 11).

We received Jesus because we were weak, and that's how we follow him. Paul told the Colossians, "Therefore, as you received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him" (2:6). We forget that helplessness is how the Christian life works.

Paul was reminded of this when he prayed three times for God to remove his thorn in the flesh. It didn't happen. Instead, God reminded Paul of how the gospel works. "But he said to me, 'My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.' Therefore I will boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me" (2 Corinthians 12:9).

The gospel, God's free gift of grace in Jesus, only works when we realize we don't have it all together. The same is true for prayer. The very thing we are allergic to--our helplessness--is what makes prayer work. It works because we are helpless. We can't do life on our own.

Prayer mirrors the gospel. In the gospel, the Father takes us as we are because of Jesus and gives us his gift of salvation. In prayer, the Father receives us as we are because of Jesus and gives us his gift of help. We look at the inadequacy of our praying and give up, thinking something is wrong with us. God looks at the adequacy of his Son and delights in our sloppy, meandering prayers (pg. 55).

Labels: christian life, Guest Post, Prayer

In yesterday's RMMR reading, we found ourselves hearing Jesus say: "This kind cannot be driven out but by prayer" (Mark 9:29). Some aspects of spiritual warfare can only be won with prayer.

There are certain challenges, certain spiritual impediments (in this case demonic possession), and certain spiritual battles, in which the enemy can only be defeated, the sin can only be vanquished, the habit can only be broken, the demon can only be exorcised by real and prevailing prayer.

From the context of Jesus' life as recorded by Mark and the other gospel writers, it is clear that Jesus does not have in mind here simple, quick, or easy prayers on the run. He means prayer like the prayer He prayed. Look at texts like Mark 1:35; 6:46; and 14:32-42 to see what I mean. When Jesus prayed He prayed.

This is not to say that quick spontaneous prayers of gratitude or need are not real prayers; it's just to say--and this is Jesus' point in Mark 9:29--that there is a different kind of prayer needed for some kinds of needs. There are really hard, really tough, really entrenched, really supernaturally evil spiritual foes that we will confront at times that can only be faced when first we have drawn near to God in earnest, prolonged, fervent, focused, prevailing prayer. It is this that explains why some translations have added the phrase "with fasting" to Jesus' call to prayer. The early copiests of the texts were in tune with the fact that Jesus was talking about prolonged and sustained prayer. This isn't prayer lite; this is prayer with power.

When I ponder this, one question that comes to mind is this: what are the types of spiritual battles that can only be won through this kind of prayer? When is prayer the only thing that will work?

Can I suggest a few answers based on 27 years of pastoral warfare side-by-side with my fellow soldiers in the cause of Christ? This kind of prayer is needed:

1. When there is or may be demonic activity involved; when the struggles of a person's life seems beyond the norm, beyond the run-of-the-mill, garden variety spiritual problem. When it seems that the battle is born in hell, the prayer must increase.
2. When there is physical and spiritual addiction to drugs or porn or food involved. These bondgaes usually do not get broken without profound prevailing prayer.
3. When children are deceived by their flesh and the world to go prodigal on us and God. This blindness can be so darkening and senseless that only prayer can cause the light to shine.
4. When there is chronic long-term disease or malady or handicap being faced. These afflictions have a cumulative affect on people and their families that can eventually debilitate them if not countered and conquered through much prayer.
5. When there are long-standing habits, traditions, preferences, and opinions that are entrenched so deeply in people's mindsets and lifestyles that they have become to them as inflexible law and/or hopelessly enslaving bondage.

Just a few thoughts about battles and needs in which only prayer will work.

Can I suggest by way of application that you think through a few such needs in your life or in the lives of those you love, and then commit some prolonged seasons of prayer to wrestle with God until He gives the victory?

Labels: Prayer, Spiritual disciplines

In my devotions this morning I read the last two chapters of Jeremiah which describe the invasion of Jerusalem and its destruction. Then I read all of Lamentations which expresses the prophet's grief over that destruction. As I read I found my heart crying out to God for mercy on His church today and in coming generations.

Jerusalem had once been a city of great joy and holiness as it was the place of God's dwelling and blessing. She was a place of worship, of prosperity, of the real and felt presence of God. The temple was there. The kings lived there. The manifold grace of God was there.

But sin crept in, and it hadn't taken long. David had ruled Jerusalem with a whole heart for God; His son Solomon had ruled with half a heart; his sons and grand-sons with no heart. And from there, with only a few periods of revival mixed in, each generation had become more evil than the ones before. Finally God had enough and allowed Babylon to come in and destroy.

Jerusalem was laid to ruin. And as Jeremiah walked the desolate streets of the once happy, once glorious, once filled-with-God city, he mourned what once was, but was no longer.

This past Sunday, our church building was filled with the glories and beauties of God. Worship was sweet and glad and holy. The Word was preached. The hurting were comforted; the faithful were honored; the lost were found; the glory of God was among His people.

But what will become of this in years to come? As I read this morning, God moved me to cry out for coming generations; for this generation. How quickly we can wander! How quickly we can stray! How quickly we can become complacent! How quickly we can grow spiritually fat and forget God! And how quickly God can remove His favor so that the city, the church once glorious can become a ruin.

I pictured the building in which we worship, and imagined it desolate. I imagined it silent, with no songs of praise, no preaching of the gospel, no celebrations of God's grace, no holy transactions between God and His people; a place desolate and doomed. And I realized that there is an enemy still who seeks to destroy and devour the people of God as he always has.

Lifting my eyes from the page of Scripture this morning I raised them to a picture of my children that rests in the little room where I meet God each morning, and I cried out for each of them and for all their peers: "O God keep them faithful to the covenant; keep them faithful to Your truth; keep them faithful to Your gospel and to Your law--so that Your church will not be a desolation in years to come."

Friends, whatever church you attend can become a desolation in a few short years. It can become a desolation in your lifetime. It's possible for it to happen so quickly that before you die you could walk the halls of your church building and mourn the loss of what once was.

I do not mean to spoil your day with gloom and doom. But I do mean to call you to vigilance and prayer. O pray for your church. Pray for your pastor/shepherds. Pray for your own soul that you would have no delight but in God, no truce with any sin, no infatuation with the world, no compromise with any error.

Pray for this and the coming generation, that we would not see in our day or in any day to come, the doom and desolation caused by the enemy, or by a God who has had enough with the church.

Pray that the halls of Trinity Fellowship Church--both spiritual and physical--would always be filled with the songs and sounds of a holy people who are passionate for their God, who hate sin, and who love nothing but His Name.

Labels: Church, Prayer, Repentance

Alina was seven years old when the eye doctor she'd had her whole life noticed that her left-eye retina was detached. She'd had issues with this eye since birth. It was stricken with glaucoma congenitally, and was virtually blind from her earliest days. At one, she underwent surgery at the hands of one of the world's best eye surgeons to relieve the pressure and salvage the eye, though not its sight (BTW-pictures of the inside of Alina's eye from that operation have been seen across the world by people attending this doctor's lectures on eye surgery. Undoubtedly, the inside of Alina's eye is one of the most famous eye insides in the world!).

But as if blindness in the eye was not trial enough this new report in her seventh year was not good. A detached retina leads to screaming pain, the only remedy for which is removal of the eye and the implanting of an artificial eye, a trial on top of her other trials that we simply longed that she would not need to bear.

She was sent to the Wills Eye Institute in Philly, where surgeons tried to laser-rivet the retina back in place just to keep it there so it would not cause any more problems or pain. But a week after surgery when we followed up at the doctors, they grieved to report that the surgery had not worked. The retina was still detached, and they did not have any real clue what to do next. They told us to return in a week and they would give us any options they might suggest.

We'd been praying all along, as had hundreds of friends, family, and perfect strangers (who loved and trusted the same Savior we did). So we prayed on for God to save Alina's eye. Seven days later we returned to Wills Eye and awaited the doctors' advice. They took her in, examined her eye, and then hurried out to tell us what they had found: the retina was re-attached. That's right: that which was humanly, naturally and physically impossible and therefore unheard of, had happened. The retina had returned to where it belonged "on its own" and there it has stayed to this day.

In this case our doctors were humble and honest enough to say, and they do to this very hour, that they have no explanation for what happened except that it had to be a miracle. It was God. Retinas do not re-attach any more than the mute talk or the deaf hear or a dog flies. It just does not and can not happen.

But it did.
Friends this is the hand of God.
God is; God cares; God moves; God heals; God saves eyes.

And by the way: God saves souls too. He saves them from hell, from sin, from bondage to fear and drugs and anxiety and depression and anger and soul-hollowing despair. God saves eyes to remind us that He is God and that He is a Savior whose arm is not so short that it cannot deliver (Isaiah 50:2).

I invite you today to come afresh to Him to seek His salvation of your soul from your sin and need, for your joy in your God.

Labels: Blessing, Faith, God's Blessing, Prayer

"Let us tell to coming generations the glorious deeds of our God" (Psalm 78:4).
How God provides!
Morning by morning new mercies we see.

If you want further evidence of this be sure to read Peter and Brooke's testimonies responding to yesterday's post. Then read on here.

One Friday afternoon in the spring of 2000 Gayline and I spent a few minutes discussing our car situation. Once again we are not the type who sit around often talking about such things (it had been years since our last such conversation), but this moment seemed to demand it. You see, we had a Chrysler "K" car, which, as my old readers will remember, was not a particularly stylish make. Besides, our "K" was arKaic (sorry). It was old and it seemed diseased; at least it looked leprous. And of course most of all it was a mechanical mess; we weren't sure how long the old leprous thing would keep running.

So the talk revolved around whether to try to get another car. But how? We could pay cash for one, except that we didn't have the cash. We could pursue a second income, but in doing so we would have to neglect both family and church needs. We could borrow money for one but we really wouldn't have the money to pay it back. We could charge it on a credit card, but we just didn't think it wise to do life that way. We could beg for one, but I wasn't sure how that would reflect on the reputation of my Father above. We could steal one, but I wasn't sure how the morning headline "Local Pastor Caught Hot-wiring BMW" might affect church attendance and community good will. So we decided to pray and wait on the Lord.

We didn't have to wait long. Forty five minutes later the phone rang and on the other end of the line a friend asked if I was home. Since he had called me at home, it made no sense to deny it. He then asked if he could swing by to show me something, to which I of course said yes. Ten minutes later he pulled into the driveway in a car I did not recognize which turned out to be a one year old like new vehicle of which he had taken possession through a business deal.

Getting out he asked me if I thought our family could use a car like this. Unsure of what he was getting at, and inwardly wrestling with how to tell him that no matter how good of a car or deal it might be, we probably would not be able to afford it, I hesitated. "Yes, I'm sure we could," I replied tentatively . He said "Good!" and reaching into his pocket he pulled out the key, placed it in my hand, and said, "It's yours!"

A gift. Free. No costs. No payments.

It turned out that there was another option besides the paying cash, getting-a-second-income-and-neglecting-family-and-church-in-the-process, borrowing, charging it on a credit card, begging from others, or stealing alternatives I'd thought of: God could just give us a car. In fact, God could foresee months in advance the need for a car that we would have that Friday afternoon and long before that day set in motion a business deal for my friend that would end up including a car thrown in, a deal that would end up being closed on this particular Friday so that he would come into possession of the car the very day we were forced to talk about our need for a new one so that he would actually be driving our new car to our house while we were talking about our need for it, so that it could be delivered within 45 minutes of when we discussed that need so that we would have one more opportunity to experience God's jaw-dropping love in action.

"God knows even before we ask," Jesus said (Matthew 6:8). So why ever panic (Matthew 6:25-34)? And why not pray, and then wait and see what God does?

Two questions:

Does God always act so quickly? No, God's children often have to wait what feels painfully long as their Father makes sure not only to provide for their needs but also, in the process, to build their character. Sometimes to teach us patience, God drizzles His blessing over a long period. Other times to teach us awe, He sends a quick downpour! Be thankful for both.

Does God advocate passivity when it comes to our needs? No; if a man will not work neither shall he eat, He inspires His apostle to tell us (2 Thessalonians 3:10-12).

But here's the truth: if you are a Christian who works as hard as you can at a God-honoring job which He has provided, working with strength that you know comes from Him and which you daily and prayerfully depend on Him to give; and if you work hard without sacrificing time with God or commitment to the other priorities of life (like church and family), making sure never to neglect the kingdom and righteousness of God for the sake of work or physical concerns (Matthew 6:33), and if you still have needs that go beyond what your income can meet, then it's time to pray and wait on God to do His wondrous deeds.

Don't start by thinking about how you can work harder or borrow more or swing a better deal.

Start by asking your heavenly Father, and waiting on the good hand of the One Who provides.

Then, when He does provide, whether it be by drizzle or downpour, be sure to be amazed and grateful and in awe of Him.

And finally be sure to tell this and the coming generations of the wonders done by your God.

Labels: Blessing, Faith, God's Blessing, Prayer

I have only a moment or two to post a thought for the day, so here it is: I'm going to pull away from the normal routine for the next two days in order to pray, read, plan, and care for my flock through a personal, pastoral retreat.

I'm retreating in order to advance. I'll be avoiding the phone, staying away from the internet (so there will be no blog posts over the next couple days), breaking loose from pressing details and plans and administrative work, avoiding food, and more, in order to go before God in your behalf. In other words I'll be in retreat in order to help us advance.

Please pray for me as I pray and plan for you all. As I enter this retreat I do so with a heart aching for the spiritual strength and joy of all those I know and love and pastor. Very much aware of the ways the enemy is attacking souls and families and our world, I long for the joy and holy growth of all of us and our families. I am pulling away that I might serve you in a quiet place.

And I pray that I will see many of you Friday evening at 7:00, as we gather together to pray that God would dazzle our hearts, our church, our families, and our world with His glory.

Please prepare. Please pray. Please come.
God bless.

Labels: Fasting, Prayer, Spiritual disciplines

In past times fasting involved great sorrow and despair. And there may be occasions still--especially when a person is facing a battle with sin over which he/she has had little victory--in which a fast may be one of repentance with cries for mercy and grace. But there is a distinct difference in the starting point of fasting for the Christian today.

Whereas in the past fasting emerged from a posture of desperate need and perhaps even overwhelming grief, today we can fast from a place of great joy and overwhelming confidence. The believer need never be in despair. He need never be in a place of wailing hopeless sorrow. He need never be in a place of emptiness.

For the believer does not fast as a have-not, but as a have. She fasts, not from a position of longing for love or grace or favor that she does not have, but from a position of knowing that He who did not spare His Son but delivered Him up for us all, will also graciously give us all things (Romans 8:32).

Here's what the fasting believer carries with him/her into each season of abstinence:
1. Confidence that the fast will not make God love him/her more, though it will help us to love God more. God cannot love us any more than He already does. Fasting (or not) does not affect the love of God for us; it affects only the love we have for God.

2. Confidence that our standing before God is not dependent on the frequency or quality of one's fasts. Our standing before God rests on the finished work of Christ in our behalf, and the perfect life and obedience (which includes flawless fastings) which Jesus performed while on earth and credits to our account upon our faith in Him.

3. Confidence that our fasting is inspired, sustained and made fruitful by the Spirit of Grace within us. We need not fast in our own strength, but as with all works we do, we may fast in the strength of Christ through His Spirit.

4. Confidence that as we draw near to God through Christ in fasting and prayer, God is going to prepare a feast of grace for us as we linger in less distracted fellowship in His presence.

Have you ever been so hurried and harried that when some good news or circumstaces arrived you had to stop what you were doing, pause in mid-activity, put things down, take a deep breath, and then pay attention to take it all in?

That's something of what Christian fasting is. It's stopping the mad rush and frantic pace to pause, stop what you're doing, put things down, take a deep breath, get focused, and enjoy the news of all that God is and has for us in Christ! Try that out this coming week and see if maybe it transforms your abstinence from fast to feast!

I close with another Piperian moment:

"What’s new about the fasting is that it rests on...[the] finished work of the Bridegroom. The yearning that we feel for revival or awakening or deliverance from corruption or the mere presence of the Bridegroom is not merely longing and aching... We have tasted the manifestation of Christ’s glory, and our fasting is not because we are hungry for something we have not tasted, but because the new wine of Christ’s presence is so real and so satisfying.

"We have tasted the powers of the age to come...and because the new wine of Christ's presence is so real and so satisfying...because we have tasted it so wonderfully by his Spirit...[we] cannot now be satisfied until the consummation of joy arrives...[w]e must have all he promised" (John Piper, Hunger for God).

Labels: Fasting, Prayer, Spiritual disciplines

I'm back with a few more thoughts on prayer and fasting. My plan is to employ some material from John Piper's simply marvelous book entitled: A Hunger for God: Desiring God through Prayer and Fasting. This book is packed with simple but deep thoughts about God and our needed hunger for Him. It's been a joy-giver in my life, so I'm not hesitant to share some of its choicer fruits with you.

As the sub-title indicates, the chief purpose of fasting--and really all spiritual disciplines and (now that I think of it, the purpose of all of life)--is to desire and delight in God.There are many things that can interfere with such delight in God. For some it is legalistic religion and religiosity. You know what I mean: formalistic prayers, ascetic attitudes that we ought to abstain from certain foods or drinks or enjoyments because they are bad.

Such fasting and self-flagellation have certainly been practiced as a way of trying to atone for sins and win the favor of God. But I'm not guessing that that is a clear and present danger for many, if any, of us. I'm guessing that it is not abstinence that is dulling our affections for God, but indulgence. Dr. Piper says:

The discipline of self-denial is fraught with dangers--perhaps only surpassed by the dangers of indulgence (p. 9).

Let's face it: indulgence has killed a lot more grace in our lives than abstinence has. If our affections for God are going to go cold on us, it's not likely going to be because we've been too hard on our bodies but because we've been too soft. It's going to be because we've enjoyed the gifts of God more than we've enjoyed the Giver. We're full and forgetful.

Piper adds:

For all the ill that Satan can do, when God describes what keeps us from the banquet table of his love, it is a piece of land, a yoke of oxen, and a wife. (Luke 14:18-20) The greatest adversary of love to God is not his enemies but his gifts. And the most deadly appetites are not for the poison of evil, but for the simple pleasures of earth. For when these replace an appetite for God himself, the idolatry is scarcely recognizable, and almost incurable (p. 14).

Food is among those wonderful gifts which God gives which can steal our hearts away from God. One value of fasting from time to time is that it reminds us of that for which we should really hunger: God. It subdues for a time the appetite of the body (whether for one meal or one month of meals) in order to give freer reign to the appetite of the soul.

By fasting from time to time we are able to say to our souls: "I love God more than food." This is what Dr. Piper has in mind (at least in part) when he writes:

Therefore when I say that the root of Christian fasting is the hunger of homesickness for God, I mean that we will do anything and go without anything if, by any means, we might protect ourselves from the deadening effects of innocent delights and preserve the sweet longings of our homesickness for God (p. 15).

Are you hungry for God? If you fast occasionally you might find that you get even hungrier. If you are not hungry for God it could be that the very thing you need is a time in which you pull back from your normal appetites and give space and time and thought to the One Who alone can fill your heart.

Things to think about.

Labels: Fasting, Prayer, Spiritual disciplines

We've been announcing recently our upcoming quarterly More of God fast and prayer season (May 28, 29). If past history is an indicator it's likely that many have hardly given this event a second thought. So far the commitment we've made to corporate fasting and prayer has not caught on much, and it sets me to wondering why.

The reasons may be many:

1. People somehow have had (by an almost unbelievable series of providential circumstances) other unavoidable commitments every time we've scheduled one of these (I'm not suggesting that there not valid occasional scheduling conflicts; there are).
2. People forget to put it on the calendar (just to remind: with few exceptions, we plan these every time there is a fifth Friday in a month; go ahead and mark the calendar now for July 30, 31; Oct. 29, 30).
3. People really aren't that interested.
4. People have decided that they don't need these times despite the leadership of their pastors who have determined from Scripture that such events are important.
5. People prefer a more traditional approach to prayer meetings (by the way, one reason we have not gone the traditional route is precisely because we do not want more of the same; we want more).
6. People are full and forgetful.

Here's what I mean by suggestion #6. Hosea 13:4-6 is one of many Bible texts which warn us of the danger of becoming full and forgetful. Among other passages are Deuteronomy 8:11-19 and Proverbs 30:8,9. When people are experiencing material, physical, and I'd suggest even doctrinal fullness, they tend to forget their need for God and their desperate dependance on Him for more.

This was the Israel experience time and again. And it is ours too. One reason we do not pray more, and fast more, and then more often combine our prayers and fastings in corporate events is because we've lost our sense that we need more.

Ours is the complacency that comes from living in a culture that feeds us well physically and in a church that feeds us well spiritually. One reason why fasting is a good spiritual discipline is because it reminds us of what hunger feels like, and in so doing it reminds us to hunger more for God and for more of God.

Are you hungry? If so, please tune in in coming days as I review some thoughts on fasting. If not, may I ask you why you think that is? Do you really have all you want of God, or is it possible that you have been nibbling on so much of the stuff of this world that you've lost your appetite for God Himself? I leave you with a few thoughts from John Piper:

If we don't feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because we have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because we have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Our soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great (John Piper, Hunger for God).

Labels: Fasting, Prayer, Spiritual disciplines

Psalm 90:16, 17 presents a model for prayer that is well worth imitating.

Recently at a wedding reception I heard a blessing prayed over the newly married couple. The pastor prayed for God's favor on them in such a way that they would know His gracious touch on everything they put their hand and hearts to do, for His glory! I don't remember all that he prayed but in essence he prayed that their love would be sweet, that their work would be prospered, that their union would be fruitful, that their children would be many and godly, that their laughter would be rich, that their witness would be strong, that their health would be good, and that every endeavour to which they applied their hand would succeed.

It was not at all a health and wealth/prosperity gospel/word-faith type prayer in which he presumed to think that everything in life would be pain and suffering free. But it was a prayer that dared to believe that God loves to bless. This brother clearly believed that God is neither stingy nor reluctant nor sparing in His gifts.

It was a really cool and frankly, a really biblical prayer; the type of prayer I hear myself praying more often these days. It was psalmist-like.

In light of his awareness that life is short and our days are few (Psalm 90:3-12) Moses gets right to it with God. Here's the gist of his thought and prayer: "Lord we don't have a lot of time here, and there's lots to do. So please let your work be shown to us (Psalm 90:16) so that it'll become our work. Then let Your favor--Your beautiful, pleasant, delightful, gracious favor (the Hebrew word means all that)--be upon us and all we do. And Lord, please establish the work we do; yes Lord establish it."

Moses is praying for God's favor, God's blessing, God's success-producing grace on all he and the people of God did.

It does remind of the well-known "prayer of Jabez" in 1 Chronicles 4:9, 10. I know the recent best-seller by that name raised some concerns (which I would share). Some seemed to turn Jabez's prayer into a daily mantra with almost magical powers. People abused the truth for personal gain (not including the author, he gave away most of the proceeds from the book as I understand it!). But let's be reminded: the abuse of a truth does not argue for the non-use of a truth. It argues for the right use of the truth.

The right use of the truth that God blesses and favors and establishes the work of our hands for His glory and our happiness, is that we pray boldly and believingly in the light of it, and then live expectantly as a result. I say it again: God is neither stingy nor reluctant nor sparing in His gifts. He loves to bless and He promises to move mountains, build the kingdom, heal diseases, save souls, rescue our children, and bless labors when His people pray in faith.

Today, God enabling me, I'm going to spend about 3 hours in study and the minstry of the Word. I have a doctor's visit (to keep a watch on my health). I'm going to spend a couple of hours encouraging a hurting brother. I'm going to plan a Ministry Fair. I'm going to spend time with the pastoral team in prayer and care for you all. And I'm going to lead a care group meeting at the end of the day. In between and after all that there's a wife to love, and children to raise. All as the Lord enables.

So here's my Psalm 90 prayer for today:
"Lord in my study and teaching of Your Word establish the work of my mind and heart by making my mind clear, by giving me insight for the blessing of Your people, by filling me with your Spirit that the truth I learn may become life and power and joy for my heart and for all who hear it.

"And when I visit the doctor's office, I ask that You give me at least one opportunity to speak openly and clearly of the Savior's love. Make today be a day in which I am able to point someone to Jesus. And Lord remember the prayer I offered a few weeks back and have prayed a few times since: please establish the work of our hands and the words of our lips by giving us at least 50 new believers in our church this year.

"And when I encourage my brother with truth and grace may he be overhwelmed by the love of Jesus, and rise up in new courage and faith to face the challenges of his life. May he leave my presence knowing that he was in the presence of grace. Shine Your favor on him o Lord.

"And when the pastors gather to pray, Lord may we pray with the filling and power and leading of Your Spirit. Give us spiritual gifts, biblical and prophetic insights into the needs of Your people, and a clear leading for the shepherding of Your sheep.

"And Father, establish my care group as a place of refuge for the hurting, of strength for the weak, of correcting grace for the wandering, of hope for the despairing, of faith for the doubting, of fellowship for all. And come by Your Spirit with gifts and blessing for all.

"And yes o Lord--please establish Gayline's and my work in our home. May our marriage be strong and sweet. And may our children become men and women of faith and courage as leaders of the next generation of Your church. Lord, do not just save them; please make them mighty in Your kingdom.

"And I pray all these things not for myself only, but for everyone of those You've entrusted to my care, or who read these words today. O yes dear Lord, may Your favor be upon us all today, giving us mighty God moments of grace and frutifulness and strength.

"O that You would do it Lord--for Your glory! Amen."

Go with God my friends.

Labels: God's Blessing, Prayer, Spiritual disciplines