31 DAYS OF FASTING AND PRAYER -BLOG
31 Days of Fasting & Prayer
Evangelism
Lallah Brilhart I was at a friend’s home several years ago, when she began telling me about this amazing new bathroom cleaner she had discovered. I mean she was TELLING me! And not just telling me, but showing and demonstrating. She grabbed my arm, dragged me into her bathroom, threw back the shower curtain, and said, “Look!” She continued her enthusiastic monologue. “See here? There used to be a brown stain here – but no more! See there? There used to be a ring around the tub – but no more! I had tried everything, and nothing worked. But now look – it almost sparkles!” she exclaimed with a sparkle in her own eyes.
As I recall the scene, it was really quite humorous. The conversation had begun while simply sharing a cup of tea at my friend’s kitchen table. Two women – just talking about our everyday lives. But you know what? She was so excited and enthusiastic about her new discovery and the changes it had made in her life, she was very convincing. So, on the way home from our visit, I stopped and bought some of that “miracle” cleaner. If it worked for her, it was worth a try to work for me too. It did, and here, years later, I am still using it.
Wow! All that over a bathroom cleaner. As believers, we have something much more exciting, much more effective, much more powerful, much more needful, and much more life-changing to tell people about – the love and forgiveness of Jesus Christ!
Although Christ is never literally referred to as a “Cleanser” in the Bible, in a very real sense that is what He is. His work on the cross cleanses us of our sin. His work on the cross cleanses us from the stains of this world on our lives. His work on the cross cleanses our minds from “stinkin’ thinkin’”. His work on the cross cleanses our hearts from wounds, pains, and bondages. His work on the cross cleanses our spirits from unrighteousness. His work on the cross cleanses our bodies from infirmity. His work on the cross clothes us in white robes of righteousness that sparkle.
Now THAT is something to get excited, ecstatic, and exuberant, about. Not everyone needs a bathroom cleaner, but everyone needs Christ in their lives. Not everyone will be transformed by a bathroom cleaner, but everyone has the potential to be transformed by Christ. No one’s eternity will be influenced by a bathroom cleaner, but everyone’s eternity will be determined by their relationship with Christ. Which bathroom cleanser someone uses is not a monumental matter. Whether someone has Christ in their life or not is only monumental, but the most vital, critical, and important decision they will ever make.
Before Jesus ascended into Heaven He gave this command – go and tell others about Him. It was not a suggestion. It was a command. Each of us has been commissioned to tell others and spread the good news of Christ. We are the plan for bringing all men, women, and children to salvation in Christ. Quite a tall order, but also a statement of trust.
None of us can tell everyone, but each of us can tell those around us. Then they can tell those around them, and they can tell those around them, and the news will exponentially travel until the whole world hears. It can be as natural as two women sharing their lives over a cup of tea.
My friend was quite a commercial for her bathroom cleaner. Her enthusiasm was contagious because she truly wanted me to experience what she had. Do we truly want others to experience the love, joy, freedom, peace, strength, wisdom, salvation, and relationship with Jesus that we have? If your answer to that question was, “yes, of course,” then go and tell with contagious passion about the Mighty Miracle Working Cleanser named Jesus Christ.
As we bring this 31 days of prayer and fasting to a close, let’s continue the mission of making sure that every last person sees God’s love, hears God’s Word, and experiences God’s family through us.
Revival
By now Christmas seems like eons ago. The tree has been dismantled and either packed away or thrown out. The trinkets are back in their boxes, stored until next December. All the hustle and bustle of the holiday season has reverted to a more normal and steady pace. The shopping, wrapping, decorating, baking, entertaining, and way-too-much-eating are only distant memories. (Well, maybe the effects of the way-too-much-eating still persistently linger on.) For the most part, the excitement and wonder of Christmas have succumbed to ordinary routine.
For many of us, even the New Year’s resolutions we pledged to just a few weeks ago have lost their significance and inspiration. Obstacles arise and foster disappointment. Frustration and seeming failure convince us that the results aren’t worth the effort. Gray winter skies and shortened hours of daylight zap our energy. What was once determination turns into discouragement. What was once zealous commitment turns into complacency.
We’ve known the scoop all too well. When it happens in our individual lives we can later look back with regrets of what might have been. We see squandered opportunities, neglected possibilities, and unfulfilled goals. We then suffer from the “should have, could have, would have” syndrome.
The thing is, it’s not just an occurrence in our personal and individual lives. In a much broader and deeper sense, it can be seen in the Church of Christ.
Bear with me for a moment. I’m not just referring to how the Church handles the season of Christmas. I’m talking about the fact that the Church was created to be the most dynamic, most powerful, most influential, and most formidable body that ever existed. I’m talking about the fact that the followers of Jesus were given the Holy Spirit to continue the works He did when He walked the face of this earth. I’m talking about the fact that because His followers are thoroughly equipped with the Holy Spirit, we are to walk in the power and authority of Christ in this realm. I’m talking about the fact that as believers we are commissioned to bring His Kingdom to this earth. I’m talking about the fact that those that bear the name of Christian are empowered to be world changers.
The early disciples got it. They walked in the footsteps of Jesus and did as He did, wherever they went. They healed the sick, brought deliverance to the captive, spoke truth to leaders of nations, boldly and unashamedly proclaimed the Gospel of Christ. And they changed the world they lived in.
When did the Church stop walking in these things? When did it stop even preaching these things? When did it pack these commands up and put them away as we do our Christmas decorations? When did we allow obstacles, frustration, disappointment, and weariness to diminish our dedication to our calling? When did our determination turn into discouragement or even unbelief? When did zealous commitment turn into complacency? I certainly don’t think the Lord instructed us to do so.
Almost every area of the world today is in a hot mess. Governments, politicians, movie stars, sports idols, education, money, nor any other thing of the world can fix the mess we are in. There is only one answer: a Church that is revived and empowered to bring the message of the love, peace, and power of Jesus Christ to a lost and dying world.
Historically, revivals sometimes referred to as awakenings, have occurred multiple times in America and throughout the world. They are times when The Spirit of God moves upon a magnitude of people, turning their “formal, cold, and callous profession of Christianity, to the lively exercise of every Christian grace and the powerful practice of our holy religion.” (Jonathan Edwards, 1736).
During revivals, people have a profound sense of the Presence of God which is accompanied by increased spiritual interest, genuine repentance, vital and fervent worship, and intimate relationship with God. There is a passionate turning to God which is contagious, and lives are dramatically and permanently changed. I think we could use all of that!
The interesting thing is that revivals typically follow times of deep moral and spiritual decline. I think we definitely qualify. Although man cannot manufacture revivals, they also follow times when groups of people, even small groups, commit to fast, pray, and entreat God for His intervention.
I long for God to send revival on the Church. Don’t you? I long to be one that prays for that sending. Don’t you?
In Habakkuk 3:2, the prophet cries out,
“Lord, I have heard of your fame;
I stand in awe of your deeds, O Lord.
Renew them in our day,
In our time, make them known;
In wrath remember mercy.”
Church, let’s storm the gates of Heaven and believe God for Revival in our time!
Loving Others
In retrospect, 2018 was a year filled with multiple catastrophic natural disasters. Due to the advancement of technology, we could often watch those disasters occur in real time. With horror, we could watch the mudslides in California destroy homes and entire towns. The flooding of Ellicott City, Maryland, for the second time in two years, was devasting. Hurricane Florence ravaged North Carolina; while Hurricane Michael decimated Mexico City, Florida. Most recently, the wildfires of California destroyed much of its forests, and completely engulfed the town of Paradise. In every situation, we witnessed the gruesome damage and heard the traumatic testimonies of those who had been affected. Their stories were heart-wrenching, as in many cases they had lost everything; in a few cases, even the lives of loved ones. What they had endured had been the most harrowing experience they could ever imagine. There was no doubt that lives have been forever tragically disrupted.
Yet in every single one of these horrific situations was this wonderful story of hope and promise. Moved by compassion, thousands of people rushed in to help those in distress. Many willingly gave of their time, finances, expertise, equipment, and energies to help people they didn’t even know. Many traveled great distances to give a helping hand; some even from other countries. Months after the event has ended, many are still extending their services to those in need.
That is a beautiful and admirable thing – people caring about and helping other people. Often crisis will bring out the best in us. But we don’t have to wait for a crisis for that to happen. Maybe the severity of crisis has the ability to jerk us out of our own little worlds and cause us to see a need. But the truth is every day we are presented with the opportunity to be a Good Samaritan to at least one person. Every day we are presented with the opportunity to love others as we love ourselves. Every day we are presented with the opportunity to, in one way or another, touch the lives of those around us with the love of Christ.
We need each other. You need those around you and those around you need you. There is a song entitled “No Man Is An Island” that says, “No man stands alone.” That is a truth, but not because the song says so. Long before the song was even written, God created us to live in community with one another. He values our relationship with one another second only to our relationship with Him. The greatest commandment is to love God with all our heart, mind, strength, and soul. The second is to love each other as we love ourselves. Beyond that, Scripture contains 31 “one-anothers” of how we are to treat each other. I challenge you to find them!
As you begin this third week of prayer and fasting, think about those around you – your family members, your church family, your friends, your neighbors, your co-workers, your mail person, those who provide various services for you, your government officials, or anyone else God might bring to your mind. You may know their story; you may not. It doesn’t matter because God does. Some of them may be in their own personal crisis right now; some may not. All of them need to be lifted before the throne of grace in prayer. And God has given us the ultimate privilege of doing that.
We may never know the full effect of our prayers this side of eternity. But won’t it be exciting to anticipate what we will discover in Heaven? Commit to being a biblical “one-another” to those around you and watch your world change for the good.
The Local Church
Steve Robbins If you had an important, life-changing message to share, what strategy would you use? In this age of lightning-fast communication, what app or systems would you utilize? There are so many options! Snapchat? Facebook? Text messaging?
After Jesus accomplished his goals on this earth of redemption and salvation, the next task before him was to set up an efficient, lasting system that would spread the good news until his return. What a task! This system would need to work in every environment and culture. It had to last thousands of years and need to be easily exchanged and reproduced. This system was to bring the message of the Gospel across the globe to every people group living in every nation. To date, there is no system created by mankind capable of such a feat.
What is intriguing is that with unlimited resources at his disposal, Jesus chooses to use one of the most basic forms of communication known to mankind, to accomplish this task…word of mouth. With every option on the table, Jesus chose us, His church, to spread the most important message.
The church is crucial to the health of our culture, nation, and the world. It is the carrier and deliverer of the message of the greatest gift for mankind that brings hope and healing to every individual. Without the church living, speaking and sharing this message, cultures are left with no spiritual direction or purpose. Essentially, they are left to rot. This task must be taken seriously and requires intentionality and sacrifice to accomplish.
As you are fasting this week, take some time to remember the responsibility given to the church to share this wonderful message of hope, grace, and love. Also, take the responsibility personally. What does this mean for you? You are the church. You are an instrumental piece of God’s plan for the redemption of mankind. Are you functioning in that capacity? How, and to whom does God want you to share his good news?
Searching for Treasure
Pastor Sherri Robbins
The Curse of Oak Island is a television documentary series that focuses on the plight of two brothers and a group of their comrades, who are searching for buried treasure on an island off the coast of Nova Scotia. These two men have spent millions of dollars and thousands of hours trying to find proof that supports ancient legends about The Knights Templar sailing to Oak Island in the 1300s and organizing the building of a network of underground tunnels where they hid many precious treasures, including the Ark of the Covenant and the Holy Grail. These brothers are not the first to spend their life-resources in search of these treasures. For two hundred years, men have been attempting to find the aforementioned treasure and six men have lost their lives while trying.
Some people spend their entire lives trying to find earthly treasure while missing out on the treasures that bring true fulfillment. Take, for example, the disciples…even though they spent day after day with the Messiah, they argued about which of them was the greatest (Luke 22:24-30), they worried about drowning in a storm on the sea (Mark 4:35-41), they doubted that Jesus could provide food for 4000 people after they had already witnessed him multiply food for 5000 (Matthew 15:33), and they even did not recognize that he was with them after he rose from the dead (Luke 24:13-35).
Many of us miss the treasures that God has for us because we spend our time and resources in pursuit of the wrong treasures. Some treasure pursuits may even seem like good and noble pursuits but they may not be the ones that God has called you to pursue. Other times we fail to pursue the right treasure because we do not take the time to rest and hear from God.
Elijah was one of the greatest prophets of God but even he messed up in his pursuit of finding his treasure in God. After praying fire down from Heaven and defeating the 450 prophets of Baal, Elijah ran to Mt. Horeb and prayed that God would take his life (1 Kings 18-19). When God asked why he was on the mountain, Elijah spouted off all the great things he had done for God (1 Kings 19:9,10). In Elijah’s moment of exhaustion, all he wanted was his own death but God wanted him to be still and hear his voice. He wanted to renew him, encourage him and refocus his attention on his true treasure.
As you start 2019, take some time to rest and hear from God. Spend some time in prayer and fast from something that might be a distraction or hindrance for you. God wants to give you emotional, relational, physical, and spiritual treasures. Most of those treasures will never be realized outside of the blessings that come from obedience. Like Elijah, if you sit and listen for the whisper of God’s voice (1 Kings 19:12), he will direct you, restore you, and point you to the treasure he has for you.
“For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Luke 12:34
CREDIT: https://thehopechapel.org/category/31-days-of-fasting-prayer/
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