Fasting for Joy

“Rejoice in the Lord always.” Phil 4:4

To the question, “Where would we be without women?”, a sarcastic male has unfairly replied “Back in the garden of Eden!”  A closer look at the Genesis temptation reveals the significant place of our physical appetites to lead us astray and particularly that of food. Last time I made mention of prayer and fasting. I want to focus on the subject of fasting today.

In recent decades the subject and practice of fasting has enjoyed renewed attention. Its benefits are many and if you are not familiar with the subject you may be surprised at just how many Biblical references, let alone historical references, we could assemble to reinforce the point. For instance, we are told that Elijah, Esther and David practiced fasting and Ezra and Nehemiah proclaimed fasts in times of crisis. In the New Testament our Lord is a prime example and it is clear that He expected His disciples to fast (Matt 6:16). Paul should be listed and the life of the young Church and its missionary endeavors refer to the importance of fasting.

What is fasting and why fast? Going without food and perhaps even water may be the first answer that comes to mind but fasting is broader. It is a form of expressing “gospel poverty” in which we model the simplicity of life and the single-eyed passion of our Lord as he expressed the "zeal of the Lord". Primarily, fasting revolves around food and water but a helpful definition comes from Ronald Dunn who says: Fasting is the voluntary abstinence of satisfaction from certain physical appetites, for spiritual reasons.

Also, consider that behind the fasting and the quest to model Christ’s life is the motivation of happiness. Our bodily appetites pander to pleasure but our hunger for something deeper and more lasting is the longing for joy. Joy springs from beauty, goodness and truth. Over indulgence in the things that make for pleasure produces adverse physical consequences (e.g. intemperance, addictions, and boredom) but there are no ill side effects from joy. Stop and look at a flower in bloom and contemplate the genius of our creator God. Joy! Fasting is a form of recalibrating the soul because it opens us to appreciate heavenly realities. The more joy, the greater is one’s health as a person.

Nebraska For Life

“But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” Matt 17:21

Huskers will play 12 games this season and maybe 2 more if you count a red-white game and a bowl game. That adds up to 14 games. Now just for a math project imagine these were 14 games played at the Husker stadium in Lincoln and they filled the present stadium to capacity; a total of 81,000 spectators. Let’s now come up with the total attendance: 14 x 81,000 = 1,134,000 people. Now that is a lot of people in attendance!! The mind boggling and rather depressing fact is that this is just a little under the number of people, babies in the womb, our country records killing every year through surgical abortions. And by the way, Planned Parenthood is the nation’s number one abortion provider. From 1970 to 2010 PP reported performing 5,649,048 abortions. Folks, the numbers are staggering but they get worse.

There is truth in the statement that, “All of history is changed based on our sexual decisions". Now, I do not want the Big Red stadium to be now a symbol of the dead, but rather to act as an illustration to motivate each of us in Nebraska to support life by opposing Planned Parenthood establishing more abortions mills here.

Starting next Wednesday, September 26, and extending till November 4 many communities will be entering a 40 day period of prayer and fasting centered around the issue   of the sanctity of life. Christ taught us that some evils can only be driven out by combining prayer with fasting and down through the ages there have been significant breakthroughs when this has been adopted. I would encourage you to consider how you might sacrifice to express your concern for our state and our nation.  Since the 1960’s we have entered a time of silent genocide in our land. Just the surgical abortion business alone records 50,000,000 abortions since our government legalized it 40 years ago. Please pray and consider fasting; our country’s future is at stake. Let’s pray for an end to abortion and for a culture that values life no matter who is President.

Burning Tornado

“I urge you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggle by praying for me.” Rom 15:30

“It would be too dangerous to try to get here, JUST PRAY.” These were the frantic words Bonnie, a member of Broken Bow Berean Church, uttered as she faced the impeding devastation. Late last week Bonnie and her husband Tom fought to save their home and lives as they came to grips with the frightening realization that a wildfire, which was sweeping across hundreds of acres of parched farming lands near her home, was threatening to destroy everything in its path.  From their country home they could see the flames and smell the smoke of the advancing predator. By late afternoon they were busy removing furniture and valuables from the residence which they had just completed building a year ago. Now the fire was just half a mile away; their fate looked inevitable as they faced the foe alone.

It was a burning tornado! Like a red hot blowtorch the raging flames were consuming trees, grass, crops and buildings. Nebraska is now the driest state in the nation and the fire that was raging up by Anselmo was one of many that have broken out as the state battles extremely dry conditions. The landscape is so parched and sunburnt. Oh, do we need rain!

Tom and Bonnie’s pastor acted as a life-line. Though he could not physically get help to them because of the life-threatening conditions, he offered to pray for them and to get the Broken Bow Berean's praying. An email went out to all members and Pastor Larry personally called 40 plus people and relayed the news of Tom and Bonnie’s predicament. The result, in this case, was a stunning display of mercy and grace to the couple and their new home. But it was also a clear indication that God had miraculously intervened - the fire had jumped the road, the last barrier, which stood between their home and the inferno and just stopped. Stopped! The wind direction reversed and the fire was starved. Coincidence? I don’t think so. God graciously answered the cries for help in a mighty display of His sovereign power. He also reminded me, and most probably many others, that corporate prayer is potent to change history.

May your church be encouraged to pray and don’t hesitate to cry out to the Lord when the fires that seek to consume your lives are coming at you and look for others to pray and intercede for you.

Bright Idea

“Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light for my path.” Ps 119:105

Listed as one of the 100 inventions that shaped world history, the electric light bulb was invented in 1879 by Thomas Edison. The bright glowing filament within the glass bulb was the product of channeling a consistent flow of electrical current through the specially designed circuit. It was this silent, invisible current that was the source of the bright glow that has changed our lives and now led to a myriad of other electrical inventions. Likewise, it is the inner life, our thoughts/prayers and desires, that most affect the outer life, our words and works. The observation has been made that when we look at the words and works of Jesus we can summarize them as visible manifestations of His prayer life. In St Luke’s gospel (Chapt 11) we have the record that the disciples watched Jesus praying and asked if He might teach them to pray. How glorious a request! They noted the correlation, I am sure, that it was His life of prayer that was connected to His dynamic ministry. So where did Jesus learn to pray, and what did he pray? Most probably it was within His home life. At His mother’s knee and together with His earthly father, it was the influence of His godly parents that shaped his devotional life. And like other Hebrew boys, he learned to pray the Psalms. Praying this portion of sacred Scripture was the school of prayer.

Can I suggest that to follow Christ in His school of prayer means getting used to reading and praying the Psalms as source of scriptural devotion. When we open up the 150 Psalms contained in the OT we see that it largely means to follow in the footsteps of King David who we know authored at least seventy-three of them. Under his tutelage we learn to honestly acknowledge the highs and lows of the Christian walk and to be able to express those feelings and grow through them. Our Christian life is very much like a pilgrimage and the psalms of ‘ascents’ allude to this journey onward to the great goal of arriving at the House of the Lord. We journey to our heavenly home and should regularly reflect on this joyful theme in our prayer life. Talking of joy, the Psalms are also reminders to give thanks and to live in a spirit of thanksgiving.

Vibrant, heartfelt prayer is like electricity that lights up a life to shine the life of God to our world.