Day 21 - Continue the Story

Psalms 105:1-6 Give thanks to the Lord and proclaim his greatness.
    Let the whole world know what he has done.
² Sing to him; yes, sing his praises.
    Tell everyone about his wonderful deeds.
³ Exult in his holy name;
    rejoice, you who worship the Lord.
⁴ Search for the Lord and for his strength;
    continually seek him.
⁵ Remember the wonders he has performed,
    his miracles, and the rulings he has given,
⁶ you children of his servant Abraham,
    you descendants of Jacob, his chosen ones.

God is looking for people of action to follow Him.  Notice all the action words of this Psalm.  Give, proclaim, sing, tell, exult, rejoice, search, seek, and remember!  Seeking God on a continual basis takes action on our part.  If we want to find God's blessing for 2013 we must continue the story of our lives following Jesus.  

The story of our lives being a follower of Jesus won't come from watching more television, playing more video games or reading more fashion magazines. We must take action in this coming year to create the story that will give glory to God.  

Day 20 - Contentment

Hebrews 13:5 Don’t love money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said,  “I will never fail you. I will never abandon you.”

When we think about praying for God's blessing in our lives for 2013 it would be easy to focus on all the things we would like to have.  God bless me with success.  God bless me financially.  God bless my family so they will be healthy.  Our prayers for blessing can easily be for really good blessing from God, but they may not be what is best for us this year.  Will we trust that God will bless us with exactly what we need.  That we will content with whatever blessings God sends our way.  

Will we remember this year that the greatest blessing in our lives is that God is with us!  He will never abandon us!  No matter how we feel or what live circumstances bring us, God is with us!  We must come to the place where we realize that God does not fail us.  He does not forget us and our situation.  He does not just want to torment or torture us.  He does not fail!  So where ever you are and whatever you are going through; it is not because God has failed you or forsaken you.  

Day 19 - Sweet Aroma to God

Ephesians 5:2 Live a life filled with love, following the example of Christ. He loved us and offered himself as a sacrifice for us, a pleasing aroma to God.

Paul reminds us that if we follow the example Jesus set before us that two things will happen in our lives.  

One: we will live a life of love.  Our lives need to overflow with the love of Christ and it will impact every area of our lives.  God's love will be displayed in our family, friends, jobs, school, and every other area of our lives.  The clearest way to know that you are following Christ is to ask people around you if your life is characterized by love.  What is your reputation at work or school?  A complainer? A manipulator?  A nice person? Friendly? Don't mess with them?  Your family knows you better than most other people, so how do they characterize your life?  We must allow the love of God to so fill us that we are first and foremost known as people who love.  

Two: Jesus life and sacrifice became an pleasing aroma to God.  So if we follow Jesus our lives will be a pleasing aroma to God.  When we are willing to sacrifice for the Kingdom of God with our worship; we are a pleasing aroma to God.  When we are willing to sacrifice for friends, family, or strangers; then we are a pleasing aroma to God.  I am amazed at the Bible passages that communicate that we as the created beings have the ability to please God!  I don't completely understand it, but by faith I believe and it motivates me to sacrifice for the cause of Christ.  

Day 18 - Win the Prize

Philippians 3:14  I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

As a kid my goal was to become a NBA Basketball player.  I was one of those kids who was focused on the goal so much that I drove my friends crazy.  I always wanted to play basketball and my friends had other interest.  In the winter I would shovel the snow off the driveway in order to play.  In the summer when my friends wanted to go swimming I would try and convince them to play a game before we went swimming.

God wants us to have that same drive and determination when it comes to our spiritual lives and our goal of following Jesus.  That nothing would get in our way of following Jesus!  Nothing would come before our spiritual training!  That people might even think we are a little bit crazy because following Jesus is our first priority.

Of all the things we pursue in life - family, money, recognition, friendships.  All these things are good and fine when they are not our priority!  Jesus must be the prize we long to obtain and the focus of our best energy and desire.

Day 17 - Mindset

Colossians 3:2  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.

I have met a few people in my life that I believed were so focused on heaven and life after death that they seemed to not really live well in this life.  But most of us tend to have the opposite temptation.  We tend to focus so much on this life and all the details of life here on earth that we fail to focus enough on the spiritual realities.  

The reality is all our earthly concerns will pass.  Nothing here on earth will matter all that much once we are gone.  You might leave a legacy with your family, business, friends, and community for a while, but sooner or later you will be forgotten.  Your good deeds, your efforts, your lifestyle will all fade.  

Margaret Feinberg tells an account of a missionary who spent his whole life here on earth in Africa as a missionary.  In his old age, he finally retired and returned to the United States on a ship.  There was a large crowd at the docks and for a moment he was so excited that someone was welcoming him home. But then he realized the crowd was there to welcome home a movie star that was on the boat.  No one was there to welcome him home.   He prayed to God in his distress  "Could just one person welcome me home?"  And God answered his prayer, "You're not home yet!"  

Day 16 - Stubborn Heart

2 Chronicles 30:8 Do not be stubborn, as they were, but submit yourselves to the Lord. Come to his Temple, which he has set apart as holy forever. Worship the Lord your God so that his fierce anger will turn away from you.

God warns us about the reality that our hearts and minds can tend to be stubborn.  I was talking to a friend today who was putting up some kitchen cabinets and talked about how he had rigged up all these things to hold up the cabinet so he could connect them to the wall.  I can so relate.  How often do I stubbornly do things myself when it would be so much easier to ask a friend to give me a helping hand.  

Similarly in our spiritual journey, we often get so stubborn that we refuse to ask God to help us.  We often do not have help because we have not asked for help.  We continue to struggle and resist God when He wants to help us if we will simply ask.  

The encouraging part of this verse it that if we worship God it will help us overcome or stubborn spirit.  That is good news for us.  We can overcome our stubborn heart with true worship of God.  Worship helps us put God in the rightful place in our hearts and lives and helps us to call out to God for help. 

Day 15 - Following Jesus

Numbers 9:23  So they camped or traveled at the Lord’s command, and they did whatever the Lord told them through Moses.

God is looking for our willingness to follow Him in obedience.  We can try and sugar coat that all we want, but God is still looking for us to obey! We still believe in grace and God's love.  Because of grace and love we are called to believe God is good and following Him is the best possible life. 

On this Martin Luther King Jr. holiday,  I encourage us to continue to become a people and a church that follows God in the area of treating others with love and respect.  Identify your prejudices.  Pray that God would help you overcome those prejudices.  Let's become a church known for our fighting injustice and racist in obedience to God!  

Pray for our president today!  Whether we agree or disagree with him is not the point, the point is to pray for him.  I had a friend pray for the president the other day, but the prayer we degrading and insulting.  Not sure that is the type of prayer that God honors.  

Day 14 - Marathon Running

Hebrews 12:1 Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily trips us up. And let us run with endurance the race God has set before us.

Running has never been something that I have excelled at in my life, either for competition or for enjoyment.  I have always preferred to get my exercise through playing a sport like basketball than just plain running.  That might have been because I was not that fast.  And now it is just painful. 

But the idea of competing in a sport to develop endurance I can relate to.  In all sports there are moments that are key, but yet it is the whole of the event that is most important.  If a team can play basketball really well in the first quarter that is a nice start, but they will give up the lead unless they play all 4 quarters.  One of the things God is telling us by talking about endurance is that God sees the whole picture of your life and the Kingdom of God more completely than we do.  God is not surprised when we have great victories or failures.  The point is not the victories or the failures, but the whole picture of our lives and our connection with God.  Will we keep going and complete the journey God has put before us?  Will we finish the race? 

What a great assurance that in our journey there is a great crowd of witnesses that are cheering you on.  When you think you are all alone and no one cares what you are doing, don't believe it!  Remember someone is cheering for you!  

Running shoes and clothing and getting lighter weight and less wind resistant all the time to help improve the running experience.  We sometimes will need to get rid of some of the weight of our lives that keep us from following Jesus with all our hearts.  But remember it is worth it!  

Day 13 - Facing Your Fears

Isaiah 41:10  Don’t be afraid, for I am with you.
    Don’t be discouraged, for I am your God.
I will strengthen you and help you.
    I will hold you up with my victorious right hand.

I have a couple of embarrassing and unreasonable fears.  I have a bit of claustrophobia in me that makes it difficult to climb under my house and complete a simple project. It really irritates me when that feeling comes over me and I have to climb out from under the house.  I blame that fear on my brother who always thought it was so funny to capture me in a sleeping bag and close off the end and drag me around the house.  I also have a silly fear of needles.  I say it is silly, because I can take a sewing needle and stick it in my arm and it is no big deal.  But when I go to the doctor's office and they want to take blood or give me a shot, if get really nervous and I start to sweat.  It is so strange.  

We can face fears in our spiritual journey as well.  Unreasonable feelings that come into our hearts and minds as we follow Jesus.  Sometimes we fear what other people will think of us.  Sometimes we fear what other people will do to us.  God longs to remind us that we do not have to fear if we really believe God is on our side.  If God is for us, who can be against us?  He has all the strength we need to live a life that we can face our fears and overcome our discouragements. 

Day 12 - God's Words to Us

Psalms 119:105 Your word is a lamp to guide my feet
    and a light for my path.

I have the ability to make simple jobs really complicated.  Well, at least when I start a project I think it will be simple, but it usually seems like something makes it complicated.  Many times the complication comes down to the fact that I might now have the right tool to do the job.  But instead of just biting the bullet and paying for that right tool, I often try to figure it out with what I have.  Those home improvement projects that don't just take one trip to Home Depot on a Saturday, but two trips.  

Many times in our spiritual journey it is easy to try and manage our relationship with God without the most essential tool, God's Word.  We get too busy to spend time reading.  We get too prideful and think we know the Word well enough, we really don't need to study it more.  We doubt God's ability to lead us through the Word.  Fasting, praying and seeking God for His blessing in our lives in 2013 will be powerless without adding God's Word into the mix.  

So many times we choose to walk around in the darkness of this world when God says simply: "His Word is our Light!"  If you are not sure which direction to go with your life, the first thing to do is not visit with your friends and seek wise counsel.  The first thing to do is not to make a list of pro's and con's and try to make a logical decision.  The first thing to do is to read the Word and ask God to use the Word to direct your path!  

Day 11 - Hopeless?

Jeremiah 32:27  “I am the Lord, the God of all the peoples of the world. Is anything too hard for me?"

Many times our disappointment with God's lack of action causes us to believe that God is not capable of acting on our behalf.  When God seems to be severely late in arriving or answering our prayers.  When God seems to be distant and uncaring in our darkest hours.  When God seems to neglect our prayers for healing and we feel the emptiness of loss and grieving.  Our disappointment in Him brings bitterness and resentment which blocks our ability to hope and believe in God's power.  

We pray for healing, but don't really think God will answer the prayer. 
We pray for life transformation, but don't really believe people ever really change.  
We pray for our nation, but we really believe the world will continue to get worse and worse.  
We pray because we know we are should.  We pray because we still believe God exist.  But we pray with little or no hope.  

But God says He is the Lord of the world and nothing is impossible for God!  So we have hope and we must pray in faith and believe in a God who can do anything and everything. 

What area of your life has reached a place of impossibility and hopelessness?  Ask God to renew your hope in His might ability to do the miraculous.  

Day 10 - Lift Up Your Eyes

1 John 4:11-12 Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other.  No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.

One of the key skills to teach kids about basketball is to keep your head up and to keep looking forward.  It is easy for a kid to want to keep their eye on the basketball, especially when dribbling.  By doing this they miss the opportunities to pass or score.  It is easy for all of us to keep our heads down and to only focus on what is right in front of us. Our circumstances tend to dictate what we do and we become focused on our reactions to situations more than people who live life.  

God reminds us that we are not here to merely react to our circumstances, but rather we are here to experience the love of God and to love others.  When we look up from our circumstances and we remind ourselves that God loves us unconditionally, we are free to love others.  When I get just a glimpse of God's unconditional love that says: "Even if I was a super saint and fasted for a year and prayed 3 hours a day, God couldn't love me more!"  "Even if I gave every moment of the my life feeding the hungry, God couldn't love me more!" "Even if I became the laziest couch potato the world has ever seen, God couldn't love me more or less!"  All these things might impact my life, my family, my friends, my community; but they won't impact God's love for me.  John says when we lift up our eyes and see the love of God for us, we don't have any choice but to love others.  

Day 9 - Heart of Thanks

1 Thessalonians 5:18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.

James 5:7-9 Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains. You too, be patient and stand firm, because the Lord’s coming is near. Don’t grumble against one another, brothers and sisters, or you will be judged. The Judge is standing at the door!

I am always amazed at the brains capacity to see the things through the most negative lens possible.  I can easily believe people are against me.  I can easily believe that God is against me.  I can easily believe that my circumstances will continually get worse and worse.  Why does it seem to be so easy to think negatively?  

One aspect of renewing our hearts and minds is that we allow God to help us look at life through a heart of thanksgiving instead of complaining.  It takes me praying - God help me to be thankful for all my blessings or I tend to focus too much on my grumblings.  It is God's will that I learn to give thanks for all my circumstances, not just the ones I like and enjoy.  

Pray that everyday God would help us to be thankful and positive about all God is doing in our lives and in the world.  

Day 8 - Learning from Life's Pain

Psalms 119:71 It was good for me to be afflicted
    so that I might learn your decrees.

I don't like pain any more than anyone else.  I always joke with my kids during sporting activities that pain is irrelevant.  It is just nerves sending a message to your brain - ignore the message.  But the reality is sometimes pain feels like an elephant stepping on you more than irrelevant.  

Fasting is a painful experience and it helps us to learn how to trust God.  I have had a new experience with the Daniel fast - stomach cramps.  The kind that kept me in bed for a couple of days.  I finally had to come to the conclusion that my body and the Daniel fast do not agree with each other.  That is hard for me because of my pride.  I once at 12 "Air Head's"  (super sour candy) at one time because someone told me I couldn't.  It was no problem until I realized it fried my taste buds and I couldn't taste anything for 12 hours.  So God is teaching me through this fast that I can't do it because I am prideful, but must learn obedience from God.  Many times God starts us out in one direction and then changes the plan and we have to adjust.  So I am adjusting.  I am learning humility and am reminded of my human limitations.  I am learning that I often judge others because of their inability to follow through, when I don't always know what they are going through.  

Each of us will have our own learning experience with God and our fasting.  God is so good to work in us uniquely for what we need today and what He is longing to teach us. 

Day 7 - God's Plan for You

Philippians 1:6 And I am certain that God, who began the good work within you, will continue his work until it is finally finished on the day when Christ Jesus returns.

God has a plan for you that is a "GOOD WORK"!  God didn't mess up when He created you the way that you are.  God isn't surprised when you mess up.  God create in you a spiritual life that is the breathe of God, therefore you have God in you!  Trust in God's good work that is in you and that God has a plan for that from today until the day you meet Jesus face to face.  

Our job is to be confident in God and His ability to complete the work in us that He has started.  Not to be confident in ourselves and to be conceited, but to be confident of God in us.  God is trustworthy!  God works miracles!  God is awesome!  I am certain that if I make all my decisions I will mess up my life completely.  I am confident that if God continues to work in me that He will create something beautiful out of my life.  I fast and pray in order to remind myself how completely dependent I am on God to do the work in me!  

Day 6 - Ropes of Kindness & Love

Hosea 11:1-4 “When Israel was a child, I loved him,  and I called my son out of Egypt.
² But the more I called to him,  the farther he moved from me,
offering sacrifices to the images of Baal and burning incense to idols.
³ I myself taught Israel how to walk,  leading him along by the hand.
But he doesn't know or even care  that it was I who took care of him.
⁴ I led Israel along  with my ropes of kindness and love.
I lifted the yoke from his neck,  and I myself stooped to feed him.

I find great comfort in the patience and compassion of God with His people Israel.  He loved them and was so patient with them.  God says He sent them rope of kindness and love.  What an image of a people who have put themselves in a pit because of their own rebellion and their own selfishness.  Totally trapped and confined in a pit of their own making.  God could have easily left them in the pit, but instead God lowers a rope to rescue them.  

I know I have put myself in many pits of my own making and my own selfishness.  I have found myself in places I never wanted to be, in messes of my own making.  I have often found the rope of kindness from the Lord and He is able to raise me up from my pit.  I have also found myself in the pit of other peoples decisions.  Living through difficult days because of the choices of other people.  Those pits may seem even deeper than the ones we dig for ourselves.  But even then, Jesus sends his rope of rescue and pulls us out of the pit and sets us on solid ground.  

God, through Jesus, has stooped down to lighten our load and to feed us when we are hungry.  Are you in a pit of loneliness, depression, toxic anger, bitterness, jealousy, unforgiveness, rebellion, selfish habits, etc.?  Reach for the rope!

Day 5 - Air I Breathe

Job 33:4 For the Spirit of God has made me,
    and the breath of the Almighty gives me life.

I can remember those days in church where we were so bored we use to see who could hold their breath the longest.  Of course the key was to not make too much noise when you finally gave up and took that breath; or we would draw attention to ourselves and get in big time trouble.  You would think college students would be more mature than that... sad reality is I probably participated in that as a grade school kid and a college student.  Church didn't always seem to be as relevant as breathing.   Many times I didn't realize that the God I was there to worship was really my very breathe and without Him I would cease to exist.  

Worship takes on a whole new meaning when I finally realized that God is literally my breath of life and without Him I am completely lost.  When I finally quit trying to figure out everything with my own logic and planning; I finally started trusting God to be God in my life.  Worship finally became something I couldn't wait to be a part of!  I can't wait for Sunday to come and for the Body of Christ to join together and give God praise!  So I don't wait, I worship God today through prayer, singing and God's Word in my life!   I need God everyday!  I can only go so long without the breathe of life, before I get weak and long for air. 

Day 4 - Thirsty

John 7:37-38 On the last day, the climax of the festival, Jesus stood and shouted to the crowds, “Anyone who is thirsty may come to me!  Anyone who believes in me may come and drink! For the Scriptures declare, ‘Rivers of living water will flow from his heart.’”

Growing up in Idaho I took for granted the cold and refreshing water that came right out of the tap.  At that elevation the water was always cool even in the hottest of summer days.  Then I moved to Phoenix and the water from the tap was never cold in the summer time.  It would be a little cool when you first turned the water on because the pipes under the air conditioned house kept the water cool for a moment.  In the heat of the Phoenix desert you found yourself often very thirsty.  

Then I think of Jesus audience that day who probably had to work very hard for water to drink and who really knew what it was like to be thirsty.  How they must have longed for a source of water that would give them clean and fresh water.  But Jesus was using their physical thirst to let them know God longed to fulfill their spiritual thirst. That those who believe in Jesus may drink!  The spiritual supply of living water is not limited or restrained by God, only by us.  We may drink in all the spiritual living water that we can ever consume.  

God is not out of spiritual food or drink for those who believe!  We must put ourselves in a place to receive and drink/eat the bread and water of Jesus! 

Day 3 - Glory To God

Psalms 72:19  Praise his glorious name forever!
    Let the whole earth be filled with his glory.
Amen and amen!

As we spend time seeking God as our number one priority; we have the privilege of His presence and we experience God's glory!  God is Holy!  God is so far beyond our comprehension that we simply have to be in awe of who God is! As I realize who God is I must give Him glory and praise.  

Imagine if you were rescued from a fire filled building by a brave and courageous firefighter who risked his/her life to rescue you.  And after that amazing event you would want to make sure that person who rescued you was thanked and praised for their brave actions.  You wouldn't just say, "well I guess that is their job, isn't it?"  No!  We would be so grateful and would want to tell everyone how this person saved our lives!  Brag on their bravery and courage.  

As we fast and pray and seek God and we have moments that we realize we are experiencing God's Holy presence in our lives; we must give God the glory for all He has done for us!  

Phil Whickham Lyrcis - At Your Name 
At Your Name, the mountains shake and crumble 
At Your Name, the oceans roar and tumble 
At Your Name, angels will bow 
The earth will rejoice, Your people cry out
Lord of all the earth, we shout Your Name, Shout Your Name 
Filling up the skies with endless praise, endless praise
Yahweh, Yahweh,we love to shout Your Name, Oh Lord

Day 2 - Priority One

Exodus 20:3 You must not have any other god but me.
God has always wanted to have a place of number one priority in His creations lives.  This is not because God is petty or controlling.  It is because God knows what is best for us and longs help us.  When my kids were young they wanted things that where not good for them.  As parents, Julie and I had to tell them "NO" at times to keep them on the right path.  Often times kids don't appreciate their parents direction.  Often times we don't appreciate the guidance God gives us in our lives.   God asks us to place Him at a place of priority in our lives because He loves us and wants the best for us.  What is it in your life that keeps coming before God?  Relationships? Family? Habits? 
Matthew 6:21 Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be.
God also knows our hearts and He knows if God is our number one priority that He will have our heart.  If we can learn to treasure God and His presence over all other things, our hearts will belong completely to God.  We can always know what we really treasure by the way we spend our time and money!  If we say we treasure God and we don't spend any time of money on our relationship with God, we are only giving God our words and not our heart. 
Matthew 6:33 Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.

Day 1 - Confession

1 John 1:9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.

The best place to start a journey of fasting and prayer is to confess our sins to God and to seek His forgiveness and grace.  

I was watching an interview with David Letterman the other day and David said something like: I thought I was a pretty decent guy, but I came to this place where I realized my actions where not consistent with the decent guy I thought I was.  We all pretty much believe we are a pretty decent and good people.  However, our actions don't always match up with our concept of being a good person.  

I often go back to this scripture as a comfort and reminder that I need to be a person who often comes to that reality that my actions don't match my heart to be the follower of Jesus.   I want to be who God wants me to be, so I must confess my sins and my faults and seek God's forgiveness.  

David was reminded of his sin and wrote these words (Psalms 51:3-7) 

For I know my transgressions,  and my sin is always before me. Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight;
so you are right in your verdict  and justified when you judge. Surely I was sinful at birth,  sinful from the time my mother conceived me. Yet you desired faithfulness even in the womb;  you taught me wisdom in that secret place.   Cleanse me with hyssop, and I will be clean; wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.

What do you need to confess to God today to start the journey of blessing? 

Daniel Fast

I encourage you to start 2013 with a Daniel Fast - take a day or two or 21 days to fast and pray to seek God's blessing in your life and family.

Daniel 1:11-17

¹¹ Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah,¹² “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. ¹³ Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.” ¹⁴ So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.

¹⁵ At the end of the ten days they looked healthier and better nourished than any of the young men who ate the royal food. ¹⁶ So the guard took away their choice food and the wine they were to drink and gave them vegetables instead.

¹⁷ To these four young men God gave knowledge and understanding of all kinds of literature and learning. And Daniel could understand visions and dreams of all kinds.

Things to eat on a Daniel Fast: fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, vegetable oils, water, herbs and spices. 

Foods to avoid: meat, dairy, sweeteners, leaven breads & yeast, refined and processed foods, deep fried foods, solid fats, carbonated and caffeine beverages.

Develop a hunger for Spiritual food by changing your eating habits and through prayer.