Saturday was a good day.  I am North Carolina speaking for a church that helped Mars Hill get going.  This event was scheduled for nearly a year, long before the AWAKENING fast emerged for us.  A huge snow and ice storm hit the Carolinas which kept hundreds away from church, still there were several hundred who braved the weather to make it to the ‘Days of Blaze” here at Church on the Rise.  A great local church that was planted nearly 14 years ago.

It has in some ways, been a wonderful way to end the fast for me, I have had lots and lots of solitude… i miss my family terribly, but this time has served my soul well.  Relfecting on the fast here are my initial take aways…

Fasting brings clarity.

Fasting creates strength and courage to  repent.

Fasting brings vision.

Fasting defeats Satan’s influences.

Fasting unites a church.

Fasting makes a church  more spiritually minded.

I’m sure I will have more reflections tomorrow

Laslty, I came across a VERY POWERFUL verse yesterday.  Genesis 18:19.  It answers  this question … ‘Why did God choose Abraham?’ Here is the answer straight from the text. “For i have chosen him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing  righteousness and justice, in order that the Lord may bring upon Abraham what he has spoken about him.”

WOW

God chose Abraham because he TRUSTED him to TRANSFER God’s ways to his children… notice it says to ‘command’  [Tsavah - tsaw-vaw'] his children, that is a much stronger word than ‘encourage’.  It means to ‘charge them with’ … ‘to commission’ them.  God saw in Abraham the desire and commitment to impart the covenant promises to the next generation.

There is something here we need to pay attention to.  Nothing that happens to us, is just for us… it is always with an eye to those who closely follow.

We receive  … then … We release

Lets pass along our fasting experiences to our children and grandchildren. Let them know what God has and is doing in your life.  ’Command’ them to keep the ‘ways of the Lord’.  I know in our modern way of thinking that sounds crazy, but the scriptures do not lie… there is an influence to our lives when we ‘call our kids’ into the Kingdom.

live excellent!

“After he had fasted 40 days…” Matthew 4:2 Those words are palpable… especially after our 21 days of ’sun up to sun down’ or ‘The Daniel Fast’  or whichever  way it was you  participated  in the fast.

I cannot now imagine how Jesus  fasted a full 40 days as he prepared Himself as  my Lord and Savior… I have read that passage in Matthew my whole life but, it has never had meaning  until now.

I am so proud of our church family…. we are coming together and finding our ‘heart’ and ‘purpose’ as a last days local church here in America, more specifically the Sacramento region.   We are learning that God’s answer for the desperate needs of people will not be found in creating another ‘Disney Church’ experience, but in getting to the real ’cause and affect’ of God’s kingdom… that being prayer, fasting, total community and repentance… resulting in salvation, transformation, miracles and wide spread revival…

I am wondering if we could embrace the idea that this Awakening Fast was in many ways the ‘pre-season’ and not the Super Bowl of commitment?  I know that is my outlook, I am pressing in to see what God has next… will you join me?

stay hungry… stay tuned!

You’ve heard me mention my mom’s double knee replacement a lot this week… I still can’t get the image of a 72 year old woman gritting her teeth like an Olympic athlete as she bent her new knees a few more degrees than she did the day before.  I asked her how she was able to keep doing this… she lifted her finger to the sky and gave Jesus full credit… I then asked her this question…. ‘do you think mom you would be able to ‘face and embrace’ this kind of crazy pain each day if  you weren’t seeing PROGRESS?   Maybe it’s incremental, but knowing there’s progress and results on the other side of the pain… somehow gave mom a sense of  empowerment to face her pain once again the next day!

Huge lesson in this.

People need to see progress …  or their commitment to sacrifice comforts, such as food during a fast, will wear thin and they will lose heart.

So what God-results are you seeing during the AWAKENING fast?    We need to share those results with each other.  Why?   So God’s gets the glory, [remember moms uplifted hand?]  we also need to share our ‘progress reports’  because others need their hearts ignited, like mine was when i saw mom’s courage and perseverance.  People need stories.   Even if it’s incremental progress, the drive to face pain and further growth is enhanced if we believe  that our investments are working.

stay strong… stay enthused

i want to strongly encourage all of us to pay close attention to the ‘details’ of God’s presence, direction and voice during the fast… for guys like me, I tend to think about something key and specific, then lose it over time, I’m taking a different approach this time.

I am paying attention to the details!

Whenever you do something revolutionary for the first time,  there is always the question in the back of your mind…’ is this just an experiment that is doomed to fail?’   ‘Or, will a life giving habit emerge when this is all said and done?’

More about that in a second.

First though, have you ever wondered where the LAST  mention of fasting is located in scripture?  Here it is.

“Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders in every church. With prayer and fasting, they turned the elders over to the care of the Lord, in whom they had put their trust”   Acts 14:23

1 major  thing strikes me about this fasting passage… (1)  Paul and Barnabas were the recipients of spiritually focused leadership when they were sent out. Acts 13:3 ‘… so after more prayer and fasting, the men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way.” Paul and Barnabas were now the ‘leadership’ overseeing the new works that were started during the first missionary journey.  But as itinerant missionaries they had no intent on settling down in any given city.  But in order to keep the work of God strong and sustainable, Paul and Barnabas needed to release leaders (elders) to oversee the work.

So they used the same process of fasting to secure a sense of safety that the right men were in place.

It’s easy for me to practice intense spirituality  when I begin something … or if I am the recipient of something …  but I find it hard to maintain that focus, especially  if it benefits or applies to someone else…  as the last week of our fast unfolds I ‘m asking myself, “what are my take always?” …. or more importantly,  ”what spiritual experiments will now become my spiritual ‘habits?‘.

Also, did you notice in the Acts 14:23 passage,  that Paul and Barnabas  “turned the elders over to the care of the Lord…..”

it doesn’t say , “they turned the church over to the care of the elders”  This verse shows the true nature and theology of biblical leadership, that leaders must feel cared for … by the Lord…before they can care properly for the people.  That’s a beautiful picture.

stay true .. stay tuned!

Travels and busyness has keep me from posting much over  the last few days, so let me catch you up on a couple of things.

First,  I found myself on a cross country detour today while traveling to Grand Rapids, Michigan to visit my mom who recently had a double knee replacement.  She is doing extremely well, I missed her first grueling week of  recovery,  so the mom I saw today really doesn’t tell the story of  what she has been through.  A very painful journey.  But she wanted the quality of her life to improve, her  issue wasn’t life threatening,  but her mobility was greatly hindered.  So basically she invited  extreme pain into her life because the desire and dream  for a better life was bigger to my mom than the temporary pain and recovery process.

Way to go mom!

It’s also fun to visit the city  where our family spent five years as pastors of Grand Rapids First Assembly of God church.  Pastor Sam Rifkogel is doing a fantastic job.  Still, it’s January!  Which is the coldest month of the year for Grand Rapids.  It’s icy, windy and pretty much uninhabitable for more than a few minutes outdoors.  But we do miss the many friendships we formed in Grand Rapids…

The fast continues to bring focus to my life. I’m grateful.

I am blown away by how many people have jumped in at some level of participation in our 21 days of fasting. Our church is stronger already.

Sunday was great!  It was a ‘game changer’ for our church.

God is touching men and making them ‘LEADing men’

Get ready mars…. ‘From Neighborhoods to Nations’ is about to become part of your everyday language!

Over the past few days this verse has topped my ‘heart charts’ … Philippians 4:6 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.” With that in mind I posted a question to a buddy of mine and asked him what guys in particular wake up and feel ‘anxious’ about.  He gave me some great answers.  I posted his answers on face book and got a whole new slew of responses…  I have posted that whole thread on this blog.

No question, unchecked anxiety is a life and faith killer!  Anxiety in a biblical sense means far more than feeling ‘nervous’ about something.  It actually means to ‘promote one’s self interest’  That sounds like an odd definition, but here is the power and application of Philippians 4:6.  Anxiety,  which is a form of fear, can so overtake someone that they promote ’self -survival’ at all costs.  Every thought, every decision, every turn is processed with self survival in mind.  A person living like this has little impact on the world around them. That is why anxiety is such a faith killer.  When my life gets so wrapped up in my concerns for survival,  my neighbor or world gets nothing of God’s potential in me.

So here is what most guys are anxious about … according to my friend Rick…

1. Am I good enough? Do I measure up in front of my peers? 2. Age. Do I look old enough to be taken seriously? Do I look ridiculous keeping up with younger guys? 3. Money. Things cost more but I’m making less. I have to tell my kids “no”. I can’t do what I want to do because there is not enough $.

From Sarah “things I get anxious about: do i have what it takes? (to be a mother, to accomplish the things i want to). my memory: I forget the most important things sometimes, trying to remember the small things. as a woman: will i b enough to “wow” my future husband, till we leave this earth? concerning god: will he say”well done my good & faithful servant…”

From Greg  “as you can tell by the time of this post, I have trouble closing my eyes. I am anxious because as every day passes, I worry that I have not done enough. I was raised a certain way and I feel I have a lot to do to make the work done by others be fruitful! I have made a lot of mistakes!! If I close my eyes for good, will my mistakes do me in? That is the type of thing that makes me anxious.”

From Melanie “My brain never shuts off…I worry about everything! And then I feel guilty cuz I’m not “giving it over” 2 the Lord. The other 2 comments about “not measuring up” are right on target. Within every human being is a huge space that aches to know were significant…that we matter. I recently heard it described like this…”Do you see me?” What a perfect description…”

I am praying that the Awakening Fast works on all my anxieties…

Sorry for ‘clustering my days’ and reflections, but this weekend was BUSY! Great sunday that included our sunday night UNITY service. Nearly 4,000 people crammed into Capital Christian Center for a night of world-class music and worship and a compelling message from Sam Rodriguez! Very moving. Thoroughly inspiring! Over the weekend I hosted a good friend of mine and the Mars Hill family, Roger Bain. We are exploring the possibilities of launching the Mars Hill Leadership College this fall. It would begin as a 20 plus student cohort in partnership with the School of Urban Missions in Oakland, CA.

This weekend was hectic … but not so hectic that I forgot I was a part of a larger fasting and prayer journey with my church family. We are one third of the way though this ‘Awakening Fast”. Daniel chapter 10 talks of Daniel’s ‘emptying’ when confronted by the presence of God. Daniel’s strength and breathe left him. He was face down … almost lifeless… then came the touch that change the world. New strength filled Daniel. He rose slowly, first stablizing himself on his hands and knees trembling. Like a suddenly beaten boxer struggling to rise from the canvass … Daniel finally stood … but not in his old strength, but in new strength. In God-strength. The strength ‘transfusion’ was complete! That is the hope for all of us during this fast. That we would have a ’strength transfusion’... not an infusion … which is nothing more than a mixture of something new with something already there, but an actual ‘transfusion’… a total replacement. You see God is not going to ask you to do something new but ask that you do it with an old measure of past strength… like Daniel, God touches us with new strength!

I know this post is little long, but if you can take a moment to read this portion of Isaiah 53 from the Message Translation it will bless your fasting commitment!

“Who believes what we’ve heard and seen? Who would have thought God’s saving power would look like this?
The servant grew up before God—a scrawny seedling,
a scrubby plant in a parched field.
There was nothing attractive about him,
nothing to cause us to take a second look.
He was looked down on and passed over,
a man who suffered, who knew pain firsthand.
One look at him and people turned away.
We looked down on him, thought he was scum.
But the fact is, it was our pains he carried—
our disfigurements, all the things wrong with us.
We thought he brought it on himself,
that God was punishing him for his own failures.
But it was our sins that did that to him,
that ripped and tore and crushed him—our sins!
He took the punishment, and that made us whole.
Through his bruises we get healed.
We’re all like sheep who’ve wandered off and gotten lost.
We’ve all done our own thing, gone our own way.
And God has piled all our sins, everything we’ve done wrong,
on him, on him.

He was beaten, he was tortured,
but he didn’t say a word.
Like a lamb taken to be slaughtered
and like a sheep being sheared,
he took it all in silence.
Justice miscarried, and he was led off—
and did anyone really know what was happening?
He died without a thought for his own welfare,
beaten bloody for the sins of my people.
They buried him with the wicked,
threw him in a grave with a rich man,
Even though he’d never hurt a soul
or said one word that wasn’t true.

Still, it’s what God had in mind all along,
to crush him with pain.
The plan was that he give himself as an offering for sin
so that he’d see life come from it—life, life, and more life.
And God’s plan will deeply prosper through him”