My Heart's Desire

-Marge Montgomery 

To my many friends at FBC,

I am so proud of all of you!! When I went to church on Sunday, I was thrilled to hear all the good responses of the ones who have never fasted before but were willing to try it.  I am sure the Lord is excited about you willingness to try fasting.  I heard from one who was fasting TV time, one was fasting sweets and some were on the Daniel fast.  All of you were excited about your first attempt to please the Lord by fasting.  I can hardly wait to hear how much the Lord has done for all of you. 

I had fasted one day last week to practice but this week it was the real thing.  The first day was certainly the easiest, no problem, I can do this.  The second day was much the same until about 4 o’clock in the afternoon.  I got quite sick and decided I needed a little more food in my stomach to take care of the medicine I had taken in the morning.  I had some chicken noodle soup and two crackers.  Guess what?  The Lord was not angry with me.  He just said it is ok just keep trying, I love you!  The next day we started on the Daniel fast with the fruits and vegetables.  Oh, they tasted good.  It has been fun trying new recipes from friends such as spaghetti squash with spaghetti sauce, vegetable soup with no meat and v8 juice in between.  As you know from my last blog, I am a snacker.  God knows that too and He understands.

We are learning things about fasting that we never knew before.  One thing was when you do not eat meat you body gets cold.  Lack of protein was the problem.  The solution was some peanut butter.  We also know that almost everything has sugar in it, so you have to read labels.  The greatest thing we have learned is that we can do it!!  We have decided that fasting is going to be a regular part of our life from now on.  Why do we wait so long to be obedient?  Actually, with God we can do anything.

Remember in Daniel 10, that Daniel saw a vision of the Lord, heard His voice, fell into a deep sleep, and an angel touched him and he fell on his hands and knees.  There was no strength in him. The angel said “stand up for I have been sent to you”.  There is much more to the story but the angel said to him “do not be afraid for from the first day that you set your heart on understanding this and on humbling yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to your words.”

I thank Him so much for the weeks of soul searching I went through before the fast.

Oh, to be a Daniel.  My heart’s desire is to please God and to follow in the path He originally set out for me!

God bless!

What I've Learned So Far

-Marcie Gribbin

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 about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong. (II Corinthians 12: 9-10, NIV).

Since the beginning of this fast, the phrase “My grace is sufficient” (from II Corinthians 12: 9) has been following me around everywhere. It reigns in my thoughts morning, noon, and night. At first I didn’t understand why; I mean, of course I KNOW His grace is sufficient for me. It gives me life, breath, and keeps me going when nothing else can. But I am just beginning, I think, to realize why this phrase is besieging me. See, after I fail (or, more aptly put, FALL)—and I am made aware of my failure—I have the tendency to overdo it a bit on the “good works” end. I do this not to do “penance” or to find favor with God, because I know His grace covers all of me, and there is nothing I can do to make Him love me more than He already does. No, instead, I tend to not be able to forgive myself, so I am constantly trying to find favor with myself.  During this fast, the one thing that I am being taught (although sometimes I am not a quick-minded student) is that His power is indeed made perfect in my weakness. Instead of trying to somehow “make up” for my shortcomings, I am to lean on His grace, to boast of my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me, reign in me and through me, since I am His and He is mine.

Here are just a few other things I have learned so far this week:

1.)  Knowing that others are going through the same experience I am does indeed give encouragement to “finish the race” of fasting. Truly, this like-mindedness in our church body has blessed me more than I can say.

2.) Having a fasting buddy is the best! J You know who you are, and I am so grateful for you! Somehow you always knew just when to text me some encouragement! 

3.) I lean on caffeine and sugar (and food in general) to sustain me far too often. Nourishment from the Word and a zip of energy from praising my Savior far surpasses any energy I get from a Diet Coke.

4.) Concentrating on praying for the needs of others blesses me beyond words. I am humbled by the privilege of discovering and praying for the specific needs of my church family.

5.)  After nearly three days with no food, that communion cracker on Sunday morning was THE BEST communion cracker I have ever tasted! I savored it! And it reminded me, as Psalm 38: 8 urges, to “Taste and see that the LORD is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him.”

I hope you will join us in our prayer vigil at church Wednesday and Thursday, and then, also, Thursday evening as we celebrate Breakthrough together with a potluck dinner and a time of worship and testimony starting at 6:00 pm! Come taste and see that the Lord is good!

Spiritual Warfare: Guarding Our Hearts

-John Brydon

I pray we don’t loose sight of the fact that fasting and spiritual warfare are fastened at the hip.  We really cannot separate them.  Our goal in fasting is:

¨ To be obedient and surrendered to our Lord

¨ To gain a new and increased intimacy with Him

¨ To be better equipped to love and serve Him

That will put us in conflict with Satan, who won't want any of those goals to happen.  Thus, our fasting necessarily involves spiritual warfare. 

We need to be prepared! The following Scriptures will help.  Can you think of, and perhaps share any others? 

Ephesians 6:11-13   Put on the full armor of God, so that you can take your stand against the devil’s schemes. For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms. Therefore put on the full armor of God, so that when the day of evil comes, you may be able to stand your ground, and after you have done everything, to stand.

John 10:10  The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy; I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full.

Ephesians 1:17-21   I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.  I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which he has called you, the riches of his glorious inheritance in his holy people, and his incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength  he exerted when he raised Christ from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly realms, far above all rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, not only in the present age but also in the one to come.

Colossians 1:10-14   So that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work, growing in the knowledge of God, being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may have great endurance and patience, and giving joyful thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of his holy people in the kingdom of light. For he has rescued us from the dominion of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of the Son he loves, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.

Colossians 2:10    And in Christ you have been brought to fullness. He is the head over every power and authority.

II Timothy 1:7   For the Spirit God gave us does not make us timid, but gives us power, love and self-discipline.

II Corinthians 10:3-5     For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds. We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.

A Radiant Light

-Heather Weismiller 

Is there something you desire so much that you pray it every day?  It may be about an unsaved family member or friend, about your marriage, health issues, your children, etc.  But what do you pray God will do to change you for His glory?

Here is what John Piper says his life prayer is (from desiringgod.org

 

):

"Make my life a means of people coming to reverence Your name and love Your name and praise and honor and cherish and treasure and glorify Your name."

Here is one from John Piper on George Mueller:

"Help me to choose a strategy of ministry and style of life that puts the reality and trustworthiness and beauty of God on display.  Let me be visible proof of the unchangeable faithfulness of the Lord."

I pray every day, among other things, "Help us (my family and me) to be a joy and a blessing to You and to everyone around us.  Begin a new work of love in me and help my love to overflow more and more!"

In Exodus 33:16, Moses says, "For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Thy sight, I and Thy people?  Is it not by Thy going with us, so that we, I and Thy people, may be distinguished from all the other peole who are upon the face of the earth?"  God never meant us to blend in with the world, in fact we should stick out.  Do people sense the peace of Christ ruling in our hearts?  See the joy of the Lord in our countenance?  Do they see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven?

Pray earnestly and unceasingly for the change you desire for God to make in you and trust Him to answer.  Be the radiant light you were meant to be in this world!

May your light increase more and more...

Preparing for Change

-Marge Montgomery

As I look to our time of fasting on March 1st to March 8^th I am preparing for a change in my life.  I want more of God and less of this world.

Since I had never fasted before I decided to try one day and see how it would be.  I have to take some medicine so I thought the best thing to do was take the medicine with some oatmeal for breakfast.  I would then skip lunch and dinner.  I forgot to prepare for a couple of days before the fast by not eating so much sugar and not eating between meals.  The morning went by with no problems but then it was time to prepare for the noon meal.  "Oh, I forgot I was fasting, no food."  I went to prayer and enjoyed the company of the Lord.  All afternoon I would think, “What I should have for dinner? No need, I am fasting.”  Going without food was not my biggest problem, instead, it was what to do with all the time I always spent on preparation, cooking, eating and cleaning up.  More time for prayer.  Dave and I prayed together.  We had no trouble knowing what to pray.  God seems to go before us and show us what to pray for.

One thing God has taught me is that I go through the kitchen too often.  Every time I go through I grab something to eat, maybe a cookie, a piece of candy, an apple or anything else in sight. 

I intend to fast again and listen for the Lord’s leading.  I feel He has something great in store for Dave and me as we live out our lives for Him.  I can’t wait for the outcome.

The verse that was on my lips for the day of fasting is “My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory according to Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).    

The Strength To Sustain

-John Brydon

Hopefully you will be encouraged, repeatedly, to make sure that your fast doesn’t consist simply of not eating or restricted eating.  That is not really a fast.  We are encouraging everyone (including ourselves) to deliberately modify our schedules to fit in specific times for Bible reading, prayer, and meditation.  If that doesn’t happen, then the primary purpose of the fast isn’t achieved. 

Turning to Bible reading, Jack Hayford (from Spirit Filled, with Jack Hayford) provided the idea that follows.  It certainly applies to me and perhaps will be of use to you.  I will read my Bible and a day or two later not be able to remember what I read.  That has bothered me, but Hayford related a story of someone who made the same complaint.  That person’s mother asked them, “Do you remember what you had for supper three weeks ago Tuesday?”  Of course, the person couldn’t remember.  Her mother then asked, “Did you get nourishment from that food, even if you can't remember what you ate?”   Of course, the answer was yes.  The same is true of our Bible reading.  It nourishes us as we read; we grow from it as we read.  Hayford says, “Just keep reading the Bible.  You may not remember everything, but the Word is flowing into your spirit, and as it does, it is giving abiding strength to sustain you as you simply obey – and read.” 

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”  (Matthew 4:4)

That is truly our “daily bread”. 

What If I "Fail?"

 -Pastor Bob Klecan

I suspect that more than a few of us are approaching this upcoming fast with one particular fear:  "What If I start it and can't make it?" Or, "What if I can't make three days without food," or "what if I mess up and eat the wrong things in the final four days"..."what if I...fail?"

I like the answer John Brydon gave Sunday in his message.  He compared it to learning to ride a bike.  When you're learning to ride, you will fall. You will fail. Get up, get back on, and keep riding! Truth is, there is actually no"fail" in this fast. We're not doing it to prove anything to anybody or get anything from anybody, including the Lord. We've been suggesting all along that some of us will not be able to fast food for health reasons, or that you might want to modify the fast and do just part of it.  That is great!  That's not failure!  Fast for part of it, fast something other than food, those are not failures but successes!  What if I only make it one day, or even just part of a day?  Did you spend that time in fellowship with the Lord?  Then great!  What if I alternate days, fast one day, skip a day then fast again?  Yay! What if I just fast lunch every day?  You rock! What if I fast only one day in the next week but make it an ongoing practice from now on?  You go girl (or guy)!  That would be best of all! 

One of the most common testmonies people give after fasts is that they are more aware than ever of their weaknesses, more aware of their failures,  and less attached to worldly distractions.  I don't know about you, but normally the Lord shows me my weaknesses through failures.  So... if I "fail" to fast as long as I had planned... that might be one of His teaching tools.  When I used to fast on Thursdays there were times I got impatient and cranky because I was hungry.  Those were failures, and they were teaching times.  There were days when I would not succeed in fasting the whole day, for a particular reason. Once again, these were teaching times.  Sometimes the lesson was as simple as "know thyself."  Sometimes it was more like, "Use the brain I gave you and don't try to fast a whole day when it's 95 degrees out or when you're doing especially heavy labor."

One more thing:  What if you don't seem to experience anything, or what if you have a bad experience with this fast?  It will likely happen to some of us.  Know that up front.   The goal of fasting is to grow our relationship with our Heavenly Father, to detach from things of earth, including false expectations.  

Sometimes we think that if we fast really well there is some great God-candy reward at the end.  Not so.  That is worldly thinking, anti-gospel thinking, one of the very things that the Lord wants to clean out of my life.  Lesson learned!  God wants to use our physical hunger to make us hungry for Jesus, the Bread of Life.  That isn't always easy to experience or define, and it isn't always pretty!

What if I fail?  The only failure in the next week will be to not seek to know our Heavenly Father in a more intimate way.  To not pray for breakthrough for our church family.

Almost There!

-Marcie Gribbin

Well here we are, one day before the official start of the Breakthrough fast.  Today my prayers are with everyone participating, that our hearts will be open to what God is teaching us during this time. I also pray that we will keep our minds and hearts on Christ, the author and finisher of our faith. I know without Him, I am nothing, and all my strivings for anything good are in vain. I pray that we remember that God’s grace (not our willpower) is sufficient for us in all other areas of our lives, so especially, as we strive to fast and pray and seek breakthrough in our lives, His grace is sufficient in our weaknesses.

If you have not had chance to pick up a Breakthrough booklet, take heart, the devotionals from the booklet will be posted each morning on this blog, starting tomorrow. Encouraging posts from the Breakthrough team will also continue throughout the week. A Breakthrough prayer list, including prayer requests made by our church family, are available through the church office.

We encourage you not to overeat today, even if the temptation may be to do so.  And, if possible, it might be best if we, today, finish purchasing food for the “Daniel fast” days, which will be days 4-7 (if you are following the Breakthrough fast schedule). 

As a reminder, if you are interested in following the suggested Breakthrough fast, Day 1 will be (starting Thursday, March 1 at 6:00 PM) a “true” water only fast. Days 2-3 (Friday, March 2 at 6:00 PM to Sunday, March 3 at 5:59 PM), water and juice only. Days 4-7 (Sunday, March 3, at 6:00 PM to Thursday, March 8^th at 6:00 PM), will be a type of “Daniel fast,” which includes water, vegetables, and fruit.

Of course, if you are medically unable to follow this fasting schedule, please contact your physician to find out what you may be able to participate in, if anything. If you are taking medications that require you to eat with the meds, please eat with your meds! If you cannot follow the fast due to medical concerns, we welcome you to fast from other things such as media, etc…, and we encourage you to pray with us and for us!

If you have any questions or concerns, please leave a comment below or contact the church office.

Blessings!

^“For this reason, ever since I heard about your faith in the Lord Jesus and your love for all God’s people, I have not stopped giving thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers. I keep asking that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the glorious Father, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and revelation, so that you may know him better.” (Ephesians 1:15-17, NIV).

Fasting-- The Italics of Spiritual Formation

 -Pastor Bob Klecan

I have found Douglas Rumford’s perspective in Soul Shaping to be very helpful in understanding the role of fasting in the Christian life.  He writes:

Fasting could be called the italics of the spiritual life; it adds emphasis to other activities we may already be pursuing, such as prayer or repentance or discerning God’s purpose for us.  It brings a sense of urgency and earnestness to anything else we are undertaking.[i]

Think about what Jesus said in Matthew chapter six. He was very clear that fasting was to be done not as a show before other men, but as a way to increase our fellowship with our heavenly Father and seek His reward (Matthew 6:16-18).  For over twenty years now one of the central messages I have been seeking to help God’s people realize is the reality of who they are as Children of God in Christ (i.e. 1 John 3:1; Romans 8:15-16).  I often wonder why it doesn’t always “take.”  Could it be that this type of breakthrough comes by prayer and fasting?  Not as a magic formula, but simply as a way to bring spiritual truth to life, to putting it into Technicolor for the discoverer! 

Think about why the Antioch church fasted before sending out Paul and Barnabas as missionaries (Acts 13:3).  Think about why Paul and Silas fasted and prayed as they  appointed elders in every church they were planting (Acts 14:23).  The reason is not that fasting is a magic wand that moves God’s hand.  The reason is that fasting brings earnestness and urgency to prayer.  If we need a time of concentrated and focused prayer fasting is in order! 

I certainly have experienced this.  When I used to fast every Thursday to pray for our church’s weekly evangelistic service my passion for the Lord, to reach the lost, and for prayer was intensified and focused like few other times I can remember.  This is why I look forward to seeing how the Father is going to form us as practice prayer and fasting!  Let’s be sure not to leave out the italics! 

---

[i] Douglas Rumford, Soulshaping, pg. 287

Waiting to Be Found

-Heather Weismiller


Jentezen Franklin said in his book, The Fasting Edge, "People may think those who fast, pray and seek God's face are fanatics but it's not nutty to go without food for a set portion of time to know God better.  What's nutty is settling instead for a mediocre, lukewarm relationship with Jesus."

You may not have a very good Christian walk right now or you may think it is going really well, but from experience I can tell you it will be even better if you fast.  When you fast you are choosing God over food for a set period of time.  The whole time you are fasting is like a time of worship to God even though you may not be "worshipping" every minute.  Also, you should try to choose God over other free time activities.  Every time you choose Him, it honors Him.  "Them that honour Me I will honour," said God once to a priest of Israel.  And then Jesus said in the New Testament, "If any man serve Me, him will My Father honour."  And thus He tied in the old with the new and reavealed the essential unity of His ways with men. (Tozer)

If there is even a fluttering of interest in your heart to fast, I am praying that you will do it.  Don't let the fear of being seen as "nutty" turn you away.  Seek Him again, and again, and again.  He is waiting to be found by you.

It's About the Focus

- Dave Montgomery

What does it mean to "devote yourselves to prayer?"  Are we to walk around all day praying?  Paul says in 1 Thessalonians that we are to pray continually.  How do we do that? 

I think that for me it means that I am to have God on my mind continually.  How would He want me to do the things I am doing right now?  I know that God is interested in every aspect of my life, not just the big things, but everything.

As we go through life, we develop personal relationship with others.  If we are around them enough we get to know how they think, what to expect of them, how they might react to a situation, what they expect of me, etc...   I want to be continually developing a deeper relationship with God, not only through my times of prayer, but also as I study His word and meditate on it.  I want to be better at listening to Him and allowing Him to give meaning and direction to my life.  I need to spend more time with Him.

 

As I go through this time of fasting and my old nature cries out to be satisfied and my new nature cries out to keep me from giving in, I will have to concentrate on drawing close to God.  It is not about the food, it is about the focus.  If I concentrate on what I am giving up (food) and not on what I am gaining (time to focus on my relationship with God), I might as well not do the fast. 

Clean Vessels

-Marge Montgomery


 I’M EXCITED
I have attended church all of my life.  I was saved at age 10 (a long time ago) but I have never fasted even once.  So I’m excited to fast so I can learn more about the Lord and how I can serve Him better.

The Lord goes ahead of us and gets us ready to do His will.  I have been reading several books lately and they all seem to point to sins that we don’t think we are doing or some that we know for certain we are doing.  Now I realize what the Lord was doing.  He was preparing me for the fast by showing me my sins and putting them under the blood.  We cannot expect much from our fast if we are bogged down with unconfessed sin.  We need to be clean vessels.  Jesus said, "If you love me you will keep my commandments"
(John 14:15).   

As you pray to the Lord remind Him of the verse in I John 1:9.  His word says, “If we confess our sins He is faithful and just to forgive us and cleanse us from all unrighteous”.

I am going to give this fast everything I have.  I so want to please the Lord and have Him draw near to me.  That takes obedience on my part.

We need to pray scripture concerning our needs and to trust scripture that if God said it, and it is true.  For instance, I John 1:9 tells how to be cleansed but we have to believe it and accept forgiveness and get on with our life and live the life God has planned for us.  God cannot use us if we are dragging our guilt around with us for the rest of our lives.  We need to break free from Satan’s influence

My Fasting Testimony

 -Pastor Bob Klecan

Fasting is one of my fondest memories of my days as a very young Christian.  While I have continued to fast up until the present day, I am sorry to say that I have not given fasting the place it deserves as a spiritual discipline, a means of growing closer to our Heavenly Father.  And I have not shared the benefit of fasting congregation-wide, for which I am sorry.  Now the Lord has blown the doors wide open!  Well, here’s my story. 

First of all, I accepted Jesus in the midst of a three-day fast during Holy Week 1984.  I was 19 and seeking the meaning of life, and was reading through the Gospel of Matthew.  When I came to the place where Jesus talked about fasting (6:16-18) I decided that I should fast if I was seeking spiritual truth.  I was pleased to know that Christianity affirmed fasting, because I was already positively inclined toward the practice due to my dabblings in Hinduism.  As we talked about last Sunday, those who fast should not feel spiritually superior to those who don’t.  Least of all me…I started fasting because of Hinduism!  J  Anyway, during the second day of fasting, in the evening, I read for the first time “Lo, I am with you always, to the end of the world” (Matthew 28:20).  I prayed “That’s it!  Jesus, be with me always!”  Not exactly the four spiritual laws, but the Lord hears the heart.  I fasted through Saturday and then feasted some on Easter. 

My original church had a weekly evangelistic service, much like a mini-Billy Graham crusade every Thursday night.  Because of this I started fasting every Thursday until after this service.  During the day this reminded me to pray, because I have always been prone to notice when my stomach is empty.  I couldn’t escape the reminder.  It also intensified my prayers because feeling this physical discomfort, especially when I was doing hard physical work (landscaping), caused me to be much more intent on seeking my Father.  Instead of eating during lunch hour I would spend this time praying and reading.  I was less prone to distraction and more prone to keep priorities straight during a day of fasting.

When I arrived at the service during this day of fasting I remained in a state of heightened prayer intensity for the entire time.  At the end I would usually counsel somebody at the altar and pray with them to accept Christ.  I was always sharp and ready for ministry because of the focused intensity fasting helped me experience all day along. 

Then came a really cool weekly tradition: there was a Taco Bell just down the road, and after the service my friends and I would go and eat.  I was usually not the only one fasting, so it was like a party!  And sometimes we would be accompanied by those we counseled at the altar!  Believe me, a burrito supreme in that atmosphere is like a gourmet feast!  It was a Thursday habit of fasting and prayer and ministry ending in feasting!  What could be better! 

Those are great memories.  And now it’s time to make new memories of experiencing God through fasting!  Can’t wait.  

Expect and Surrender!

-John Brydon

Do you ever enter prayer feeling weak?  There is certainly nothing wrong with that because, even as the children’s song suggests, “we are weak and He is strong”.  Nonetheless, there are times when I have found my weakness crippling my ability to pray.  I know I don’t have the ability or the authority to effectively change a situation and somehow I assume because I don’t, God doesn’t either.  Obviously, that is a serious mistake. 

When you pray, please remember who you are praying to.  Almighty God: 

¨ Has every possible resource available to Him.

¨ Loves you and those you care about even more than you do.

¨ Understands the situation you are in even better than you do.

It also helps to remember, that no one, anywhere in all creation, wants better for you than Almighty God.

When you pray through this time of fasting, remind yourself who you are and who He is.  Enter into His presence, at once expectant and surrendered.  Look again at the three bulleted thoughts above, and rejoice. 

One Last Grape

-Marcie Gribbin

(Adapted from John 15:1-11, and John 18, 19, &20.)

Imagine for a few minutes that you are one of the twelve disciples of Christ. You are relaxed, eating a meal with your best friends, and your Teacher begins speaking about vines and branches. Maybe He even picks up a cluster of grapes and plucks one, rolling it in His hand as He illustrates His point.

"Abide in me," He keeps saying, and though you are listening you don't quite understand what His point is. But you are having a good time, nonetheless. "Abide in me," He says again.

Someone passes the dish of grapes and you pick a cluster out, pull one grape off, and pop it into your mouth. You smile. Grapes are your favorite comfort food. They remind you of home. You recline a little and pop a few more grapes into your mouth. They are juicy and sweet and even quench the thirst you have been feeling.

"Abide in my love," the Teacher says, and you smile.

Of course I will, you think to yourself. I always will.

The Teacher says, "These things I have spoken to you so My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full."

You wrinkle your brow slightly as you pop another grape in. "How can I feel any more joy than I do right now?" you say to yourself. The Teacher continues and makes many intriguing points and you are captivated, as usual, by His wisdom.

But then, a few nightmarish days pass. In those few painful days you witness your Teacher being betrayed, tried, beaten, whipped, crowned with thorns, and nailed to a Roman cross. Then, He cried out and died. They buried Him in a stranger's tomb. And now you are together with your best friends again, in a locked room because you fear what your own people will do to you because you are a follower of the Teacher.

But this time everyone is quiet. No one knows what to say. Some are crying. Some are praying, but you are sitting quietly staring off at nothing.

Until you spot it-

That pretentious little bowl of grapes at the end of the table.

"Abide in me," you hear, and it sounds to you as if the Teacher was speaking into your ear. "Abide in me."

You stand and head to the grapes. You feel heat rising within you, passion born of helplessness and confusion. You know you are going to throw those deceiving clusters across the room. You pick up the bowl and are about to pitch it when a grape drops into your hand. On instinct, you cup your hand and pop it into your mouth. It tastes sweet and juicy and once again it quenches your thirst.

"Abide in me," you hear again.

And you cradle the bowl to your chest. You sit down and weep over it. It is the first time you have allowed yourself to weep in these last few wretched days. The tears flood like a river, but no one comes to comfort you. They are all weeping with you now. And you can feel the emptiness in the marrow of your bones, and you know they all feel it too. But you remember your Teacher saying something about joy. What was it?

These things I have spoken to you so My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full.

"But How will I EVER feel joy AGAIN?" you cry out. No one argues with you, or even looks at you. You know they are wondering the same thing.

"Abide in Me," you hear, though no one is speaking.

"I don't understand! You are gone! You are dead! I thought you were the Messiah! But they killed you!"

"Abide in Me."

"How can I abide in You? I can't even see You!" Your words cause some of the others to bury themselves further into their hands to silence their sobs.

And then there is a panicked knock at the door. You hear Mary Magdalene's voice, begging to enter. Someone opens the door and you look up. She stares right at you and says, "I have seen the Lord!"

You jump to your feet.

Mary explains that she saw Him at the tomb. You sit back down and wonder at her words. Your hand touches the bowl of fruit.

"Abide in Me," you hear again. And you think, maybe, you are on the verge of understanding. And then evening comes.

The doors are shut and locked, the windows closed. You are picking at the last cluster of grapes, occasionally tasting. You don't know what else to do with yourself. The others are still talking about Mary's testimony and you are sitting quietly, listening to them wonder aloud.

And then you hear.

"Peace be with you!" a voice says, so kind, so compelling.

You jump to your feet until you realize it is Him. Then you fall to your knees. He looks right at you, with eyes that show He knows you, every part of you. And you know He loves you, even still. And you see His scarred hands and feet.

And you KNOW…

Apart from Him you can do nothing.

You must always abide in Him.

He is the vine that gives nourishment—that quenches thirst, that gives life. And now you must bear fruit. And no matter what happens, from this day forward, you know that as you abide in Him, your joy will break through—and be made full.

Accelerate Your Destiny

-Heather Weismiller

In his book, The Fasting Edge, Jentezen Franklin says, "When you fast, pray for God to define His plans and direction for your life. God can do more in one moment than you or I can do in a lifetime...I truly believe that fasting often accelerates your destiny."

When I was reading that for the first time, I thought, "Yeah right."  But then when I thought back to what God has accomplished in me in the last year I thought, "Wow".  I would have never thought about it as God accelerating my destiny, but I guess that is what He has been doing. I have learned more about God and the Christian walk in the last year that I have in the last ten years!  And He has given me a whole new direction for my life.  Pray that He will empty you of all that is not pleasing to Him and humbly ask Him to fill you with the desires He has for you.  I can't wait to hear what He is accomplishing in your life!

Seek Me and Find Me

-Dave Montgomery


I have never been successful at fasting.  I think it’s because in the past, for me, it’s been all about giving up food, not about seeking God.  This time I think it will be different.  I want to be continually drawing closer to God and understanding His will for me.

In Jeremiah 29:13, God says, "You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."  What an encouraging promise this is.  If we truly seek Him he will hear us and reveal Himself to us. God is incomprehensible, that is we have nothing on earth to compare Him to.

A.W. Tozser writes, in The Knowledge of the Holy, "The yearning to know what cannot be known, to comprehend the Incomprehensible, to touch and taste the Unapproachable, arises from the image of God in the nature of man.  Deep calleth unto deep, and though polluted and landlocked by the mighty disaster theologians call the Fall, the soul senses its origin and longs to return to its Source.  How can this be realized? The answer of the Bible is simply “through Jesus Christ our Lord”. In Christ and by Christ, God effects complete self-disclosure, although He shows Himself not to reason but to faith and love.  Faith is an organ of knowledge, and love an organ of experience.  God came to us in the incarnation; in atonement He reconciled us to Himself, and by faith and love we enter and lay hold on Him."

Praise God that He sent Jesus Christ to redeem us and help us understand more about Him.  I hope that we will all individually and corporately grow in our understanding of God and His will for our lives through this week of fasting and prayer.