Push Away From the Table - cont

I've been sharing a bit lately about fasting and resulting breakthrough when we deny ourselves and seek God's face. Again, this is taken from Christian Life Center 40 Days of Prayer & Fasting Devotional Guide.

Breakthrough to Solve Complex Problems - see previous post

Breakthrough to Revival - see previous post

Breakthrough Crippling Fear & Negative Emotional Habits - previous post

Breakthrough to Compassion/Missions-Consciousness - previous post

The final two areas of breakthrough noted in the CLC guide are as follows:

Breakthrough to Clear Insight for Decision Making

We get so caught up in the day to day rush of our lives that we often fail to hear from God. Stress acts like static in the receiver; clouding our ability to hear from God. While Saul was in route to Damascus, a bright light knocked him right off his "high horse" and spoke to him. He was humbled enough that he needed someone to lead him by the hand to a place alone. It was in that place, during a time of fasting and prayer that God was able to turn his life completely around from a persecutor of Christians to the greatest of all the apostles (Acts 9).

The thing we sometimes forget is that while Saul was putting Christians in bonds to be imprisoned and, in some cases, killed; he thought he was working for Christ. It is so easy for us to get it wrong. I'm not saying that we go out killing people in the name of G od, but it is easy to make the wrong choices all by ourselves. Periodically we need to push away from the table AND the stresses of life to listen to the voice of God. but subjecting our will to God's, He makes His will know to us!

Breakthrough to Physical Healing or Better Health
While we may hate to admit it, not everything we eat is healthy. Periodic times of fasting are actually healthy. According to scripture and medical science, it acts like a preventative and prescriptive medicine (Exodus 15:26). While for some people, those on medication and with blood sugar problems, it may be impossible to go completely without food and/or water for a period of time; it is not impossible to fast. Daniel 1:2-20; 10:2-3 describes a partial fast which only includes eating healthy foods. This type of fast is recommended when fasting for longer periods of time. To be completely honest, it was more difficult for me than going without food altogether. The bottom line is that fasting promotes health in all of us. God would not ask something of us that was not ultimately good for us.

Day Four - What a GREAT Dream Looks Like~

He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had." Genesis 37:6

In 1989, a movie called Field of Dreams was released. Kevin Costner played Ray Kincells, a 37 year-old man who had never done a crazy thing in his life until he heard a voice one day that said, "build it and he will come." You see, Ray had a stormy relationship with his dad. He rebeled against his dad, an baseball lover, by refusing even to play catch with him. His father died before he could make things right. When Ray plowed his cornfield over and made a baseball field, everyone said he was crazy for following his dream. Though the magic of the movie he could be reunited with his father as a young man. The theology is certainly not correct and the plot is nowhere near reality, but that is what makes the movies...well, the movies.

One thing is for certain, people will come to a place where their dreams can be fulfilled. God's field of dreams is not in Iowa., but rather in the hearts of His people. How do we know what a dream looks like? This list below give us a good description of what a God-given dream looks like:

A God-given dream will stir your passions
A God-given dream will be humanly impossible to accomplish
A God-given dream will make an impression on you for a lifetime
A God-given dream will cause you to have strong faith
The enemy of your soul will attack a God-given dream

Push Away From the Table - cont.

Yesterday, I was sharing about fasting and resulting breakthrough when we deny ourselves and seek God's face. Again, this is taken from Christian Life Center 40 Days of Prayer & Fasting Devotional Guide.

Breakthrough to solve complex problems - see yesterday

Breakthrough to revival - see yesterday

Breakthrough Crippling Fear & Negative Emotional Habits
A habit is a behavior pattern acquired by frequent repetition. We have all acquired a rather good habit of brushing our teeth. At least I hope we all have. Brushing our teeth keeps them in good enough shape to help them last our entire lifetime and it also helps with making friends. The point is...habits are things we do frequently enough that the behavior becomes almost second nature to us. A habit can be good or bad, beneficial or destructive.

Some habits are not as good fur us a brushing our teeth. In fact, they can hinder our relationship with God and others. For example, if I repeatedly allow myself to get worked up or irritated over small things, I will soon become an irritated and angry person over more than just external circumstances or situations. But rather, irritation & anger set up camp internally as a result of my choices over time. A person can eventually come to realize the problem is not with everyone else but with him/herself. However, it is often so late in the process that counseling and sermons do little to help.

After one of the most spectacular victories in all of Bible history, Elijah found himself paranoid, depressed and filled with self-pity. An angel appeared to give him supernatural food, though this did nothing to rectify the negative emotions controlling him. However, after his fast at Horeb, he walked in fresh purpose and perspective. Denying his natural desire for food helped him to h ave victory over his very human but destructive emotions. 1 Kings 19

Breakthrough to Compassion/Missions-Consciousness
Abundance of food has insulated us from the realities of a world in need. When my husband and I were missionaries to the Philippines, one of our students in the Bible school asked me one day "Ma'am, are you rich?" I replied that according to American standards I was not rich. Rueben thought about it for a moment and replied, "Ma'am, poor means having nothing to eat."

"Is it a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord? Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are cast our; when you see the naked, that you cover him and not hide yourself from your own flesh?" Isa 58:5-7 NKJV

One thing the American church often forgets is that fasting is not just doing without food. It is focusing on the needs of others rather than on our own. The widow of Zarephath was willing to give up her food to feed Elijah. Are you willing to divert some of your budget to meet the needs of others. Ask yourself: Should I give some money to help someone less fortunate? Who should I give it to? How much should I give?

Good food for thought~

Day Two - Chasing the Dream
"I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be." Philippians 3:12

Prayer Focus: Thank God for determination and passion to chase our dreams. Thank God for where He has brought you to today. Thank God for gifts, talents, goals and dreams He has placed inside of you. Ask Him to help you and help our church to see clearly how far He wants to bring us and then continue to have the courage to chase after it!