Thinkin' on Fasting

        The first of January, before Covid,  I decided to make 2020 the year of my spiritual growth spurt.  My word of the year is Immanuel, God with us. The chorus that kept running though my mind was “I’m hungry for a mighty move of God. . . I long to see the hand of God move mightily, inside of me.”   Be careful what you ask for.  I didn’t really want it to happen this way.  Covid, racial unrest, a planner full of cancelled stickers, but it is happening. 

           One of my home churches asked the congregation to fast this week. They usually do 14 days of fasting at the beginning of the year but we can all agree on the need to revisit that this year.  I’ve read, listened, and studied about fasting in an effort to understand it and frankly, get something out of it.  Most teachings concentrate on giving up food, praying during meal time and seeing God move.  That hasn’t been my experience.   Fasting frustrates me, I get hungry, really hangry.  I try to pray during meal times but I’m not sure how to pray.  I struggle that my longest, hardest fast was unsuccessful.   At least from the standpoint of getting what I wanted. 

          So, as I am likely to do; I got out my Bible, my commentary website and a pad of paper to study fasting.  again.  In the Old Testament, fasting is mentioned in regard to trouble.  Joel, Daniel, Nehemiah and Esther all called the people to fast when they were in trouble.  It was always accompanied with weeping, mourning, and sorrow.  They fasted in hope of deliverance.   In the New Testament, fasting illustrates an intense prayer.   Anna fasted in prayer to live to see the Messiah.  Matthew warned Christians to fast in private and not put on a show like the Pharisees.  Paul and Barnabus were fasting when they received specific directions.  When the disciples were unable to cast out a demon, Jesus said, “But an evil spirit of this kind is only driven out by prayer and fasting.”  (Matthew 17:21 Weymouth New Testament).  Ellicott says the “intensity of evil demanded fasting”.   Tough situations must be met with fasting.  Our spiritual life and faith are made stronger by self-denial and communion with God (Cambridge study Bible). 

            We understand “fasting” as willfully giving up food or pleasures for a specified time.   So, we give up lunch every day for a week and we pray during our lunch hour and God answers our prayers.  Done! So why are our prayers still unanswered?  God’s chosen people, the Israelites, had the same experience.  Their fasting didn’t seem to change anything and they complained about it.    Isaiah 58:3-7 addressed their complaints.    

Isaiah pointed out six reasons  that their fasting did not result in answers.  I wonder if these are relevant to us. 

1.       In their fast, there was no repentance or call to repentance. (I have never heard a speaker include repentance in their call for a fast). 

2.     Unforgiveness   We know prayers are hindered when we harbor unforgiveness against someone.   Matthew 5:24.

3.      Wrong Motives   Why are fasting?  What do we hope to gain?    Every fast I have ever participated in was for something I wanted badly.  Is that a ‘right’ motive?

4.     Hypocrisy, going through the motions with no real repentance.  Fasting because everybody else is and making sure they know I’m doing it too, Pride? 

5.     Good Works must follow the fast.  Fasting approved by God will be followed by “deeds of justice, kindness and charity.”  (Barnes)

6.     The fast does not result in a changed heart.  They had all the outward dressings of the fast but there was no change in their hearts.  

      Fasting that the Lord accepts   must be devoid of pride.  Matthew Henry says, “If it (a fast) does not express true sorrow for sin and does not promote the putting away of sin, it is not a fast.”    A fast is about the heart, not the stomach.  A fast requires self-denial of food but also denial of worldly desires.   John Piper says we must fast “for our own holiness”.  True fasting must include a change of heart which results in changed behavior. 

Thinkin’ ‘bout that. 

Triple Cord Prayers

   In 1984 Dr. Paul Yonggi Cho was pastoring a large church in Korea.  As a scholar of the Bible, Dr. Cho knew the only catalyst for revival and safety from the government was prayer.  However, the logistics of his congregation made gathering for a weekly prayer meeting difficult.  Taking his plan from Ecclesiastes 4:12, (GNT) “Two people can resist an attack that would defeat one person  alone.  A rope made of three cords is hard to break.” Dr. Cho asked his congregation to connect in groups of three and set aside fifteen minutes one day a week to pray.  They did not have to physically come together for prayer, simply stop and pray where they were at the same time of day once a week.  With his large church, he believed that there would be three people praying 24/7 across his city.  The Korean Christian church exploded.   12,000 converts a month were being added to the Kingdom of God.

   I have borrowed Dr. Cho’s idea on several occasions in my life.  For three years, four Mama’s with prodigal sons prayed every Sunday afternoon for their boys. One of the four has returned to the Lord, the remaining three have reconnected with those Mama’s and are slowly turning their hearts to home. 

   Three RFK camp staff members from three different camps in two states joined together on Sunday nights for a year to believe for our summer camps that minister to neglected and abused children.  One director reported her staffing issues had never been easier or more efficient in ten years.  Another camp experienced extreme opposition during planning that was overcome in implementation.   

   Over the course of the last few months, many calls for prayer have gone out from churches; many congregants have answered.   I was one, but I confess, I have grown weary.  However, I also confess that I am desperate.  If He does not act, we will not survive.  So, I ask two things of you today:

1.      Commit to CBN’s September 26^th event, The Return.  www.thereturn.org

2.      Gather three friends and set a time to pray together weekly between this week and September 26.  Some suggest 7:00-7:15 am or pm in honor of 2 Chronicles 7:14.

We are God’s children and we must humble ourselves, pray and turn from our wicked ways.  It is our only hope.   Don’t think about it, do it!

A little Political

      At the risk of controversy, I have to be a little political today.  I want to talk about Presidents, Governors and government leaders.  I won’t have to name names.   I live in a country ruled by a President who has his faults, a state with a Governor who has his faults and a county with a government who is going rogue.   All these leaders have offended me in one way or another over the course of their terms.  Apparently, Paul had some issues with his government also.  He wrote to the church of Rome, under Roman control.  “Obey the rulers who have authority over you. Only God can give authority to anyone, and he puts these rulers in their places of power. People who oppose the authorities are opposing what God has done, and they will be punished. Rulers are a threat to evil people, not to good people. There is no need to be afraid of the authorities. Just do right, and they will praise you for it. After all, they are God's servants, and it is their duty to help you.” 

(Romans 13:1-4CEV) That’s a lot to swallow and gets unpopular very quickly. I have many opinions about those four final sentences but I want to concentrate on sentence number 2.    Only God can give authority to anyone, and he puts these rulers in their places of power.  The ISV translates to say “for not authority exists except by God’s permission.”   Like it or not.  Our faulty President, faulty Governor and all the rest were elected by God’s permission.   Before I can lift these names in prayer, I must believe that.  I have neither the space nor the inclination to argue all the reasons that God could not have wanted this person or persons in charge.  His Word states clearly that He has given them the authority. I admit, I’m struggling with this but if I disagree with them, isn’t that all the more reason to pray for them?

    Again, we are commanded to pray for our leadership.  I Timothy 2:1-3 CEV, “First of all, I ask you to pray for everyone. Ask God to help and bless them all, and tell God how thankful you are for each of them. Pray for kings and others in power, so we may live quiet and peaceful lives as we worship and honor God. This kind of prayer is good, and it pleases God our Savior.”   I do not struggle with wanting to please my Savior, so I must pray for those in power. 

   We should know that prayer is effective in changing circumstances.  If we are unhappy with our leaders and their behavior, all the more reason to pray for them. Specifically, our leaders need wisdom, humility and a spirit of servanthood.  Our prayers may be the very thing that changes even the heart of a President.  

    When Paul wrote to the Philippians, his final greeting had an interesting phrase, “All God’s people here send you greetings, especially those who belong to Caesar’s household.” (Philippians 4:22 NIV).   What!  There were people of God in Caesar’s palace!  Hopefully, there are people of God in the White House and the Governor’s mansion. They are in desperate need of our prayers.

    The families of our government leaders are in need of our prayers.  I have a friend who is a wife of a leader in a small city.  She asked for prayer for him as he chaired a meeting recently where threats had been made.  She was afraid for his safety.  Opinions about our leaders and their families are  irrelevant for the people of God.  Melania Trump must experience fear for her family in these times.  The children of our leaders endure all manner of isolation, criticism and judgement.  Imagine the toll that takes on a marriage and a family.  I’m convicted that I have not called the names of these families in prayer.  

    I often feel helpless in what I can do to help my country in these trying times.  I’ve wondered how little ole’ me can turn the tide.  I think I know.

Thinkin’ about that. 

Did God Really Say?

 Did God Really Say. . .?

       They come.  From north to south, east to west and across the oceans, they come.   From the congregation of twenty-five to the mega church of 5000 and four services, they come.  The semi-annual meeting of our denomination takes place in various cities around the country in August, the hottest month of the year and they come.  They come for renewal, reunion and evaluation. 

    On this night in 2001, they came.  On this night, the head of the denomination brought the crowd to tears with his message about the difficulties of ministry.  He called the discouraged, the battered who needed a fresh anointing and encouragement to the altar. 

   They came.  Pastors and wives, tears streaming, holding hands, joined by the leadership of the denomination.  Men placing their hands on their brothers’ backs, women embracing, the room swelled with prayer. 

    That’s when I saw them.   A short, chubby, couple with coal black hair.  From behind, they had matching green shirts; even a quick look belied them as double knit.  He was wearing khaki  with his wife in cream double knit pull on pants.  Their hands clasped, she used her free one to brush at her eyes.  They had come, out of place aesthetically, but clearly in need of a touch from God.

     “Go, pray with them,” the Holy Spirit whispered to my heart.   I shook it off.

     “Go pray with them,” He spoke into my heart again. 

     “Not me,”   I answered from my brain.  “This room is full of distinguished

Christian ministers, evangelists, missionaries, ordained and licensed.  Who am I?”

     “Go”, the Holy Spirit was shouting inside me.  I looked up from under my

 lashes of my bowed head to see if someone else had heard.  

     “Not me,”   I argued the more.  “Everyone in the room would wonder who I am

 to step up.”

     The next voice I heard was one who had successfully deceived me many times.

“You’re just trying to draw attention to yourself.  You wanted to be a pastor’s wife,

 but you’re not!”

    “Go!”  the Spirit thundered.

    “Yeah,”   the other voice said, “Go, make a spectacle of yourself.”

     I sat down in my chair and the Holy Spirit went silent.  I didn’t feel like praising

 or worshipping and He wouldn’t be pleased anyway.

      I looked away when the double knit couple turned to go back up the aisle.

     Later, much later, I tossed and turned in the hotel bed unable to sleep.  My

daughter in the other bed rolled over toward me.    “What’s wrong?”

    “I can’t sleep.  I refused to listen to God tonight in the service.”

     “What?”

     “God told me to go pray for someone but there were so many people there,

much more qualified to pray than me, I didn’t do it.  I feel bad.”

     Guilty was the real word, but “bad” sounded better.

     I saw her shadow sit up in the bed across the room, “The double knit couple?”

 she asked.

     “Yes”.

     “He told me too.  And I thought the same thing.”

    We were quiet for a minute, and then we hit the floor between the beds on our

knees.  Several minutes passed while we repented and called out to God for the

 nameless couple.  Then my nineteen year old daughter asked a haunting question,

 “Is it ever wrong to step up and pray for someone, whether God ‘tells’ you too or

not?”

     We agreed that it couldn’t be, that Satan had used our weakness.   Certainly,

we never want to be motivated by pride.  However, there is a distinction between

God’s correction and Satan’s deception. And we decided that "bear ye one another's burdens means  just that."  Paul's letter to Timothy "exhort" (ed) him to pray for all men, "FIRST OF ALL".  James is famous for his words on praying for others.  Why would we wait for God to tell us to pray for someone,  He already has!  Repeatedly in His Word.

     From that day on, I vowed to never let a person stand alone at an altar, in a

hospital waiting room, a courtroom, a graveside.    And to the couple in double knit

who did stand alone, tears streaming down their faces, feeling and looking out of

 place at the front of auditorium back in 2001, I think of you often.  I pray you

 continued your ministry.   I missed a divine appointment with you that night and

 robbed both of us of a blessing.  I hope we meet in Heaven and the Lord allows us

to know each other. 

     The experience taught me a lesson that has served me well since that hot August night. 

  

The whole verse and nothing but the whole verse

  Jack Hayford continued his instruction in the July section of Moments with Majesty (see last week’s post)  with instruction regarding praying for our country.  2 Chronicles 7:14 has become the Christian’s motto during this pandemic, racial tension and economic chaos.  I, along with many others, have been guilty of spouting this verse and leaning heavily on “heal our land”.  We Christians are very good at remembering the promise of God, without much thought on the conditions placed on those promises.  In 2 Chronicles 7:14, we lean heavily on verse 14b.   

   However, 2 Chronicles 7:14 clearly gives us some requirements before God can heal our land.  He even starts the verse with “IF” meaning it’s not happening unless. . .  “IF MY people, who are called by my name.”   this is not addressed to anyone outside the church.  Christians are the people who need to “humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways.”   God thinks His people are proud and have wicked ways.  YIKES!

    It doesn’t take a Bible scholar to see the answer to our country’s difficulties, Confession of our sins and Repentance.  The Hebrew says we need to bend the knee, search out God and stop being so evil.

 Few of us consider ourselves “evil”.  During my years of teaching in a school where 89% of families did not speak English, I had a precious little guy who constantly used the word “evil” in regards to other students and me.  I was “evil” for giving homework, “evil” for a pop quiz.   The kids were “evil” if they beat him at a game or chose the center he wanted.  It really bothered me.  One morning I spent a half hour on the word “evil”.  We did a lexicon, we looked up the meaning in several texts, discussion groups were formed.  Finally, in triumph, I asked if anyone could name someone who was truly evil.  These were kids from Mexico and it took less than a second for a chorus of “El Chapo” to ring out. Okay.  But, in comparison, I could easily rest on my laurels, for I am not evil like El Chapo. 

    And that’s what happens.  We start to compare our evil to another’s evil and we become proud.  That pride leads to a multitude of sins that hinder our power in prayer.  That’s what has happened to our country, to our churches. We are not evil like ________  fill in the blank. 

 So today, I’m praying though the references from Hayford’s book and thinkin’ that I am need of repentance.

IF for "my people"

  In 1980,  Jack Hayford penned a worship chorus entitled Majesty                      (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OaRwD2Y7C0s).  Ten years later, he published a “meditation” manuscript called Moments with Majesty.  It features nine short essays for each themed month. Over the years, I’ve pulled it out and read bits and pieces of it. In March, I pulled it out again and started reading two or three selections every Sunday.  Three entries from July’s section are ideally relevant for today. My next three posts will be based on these entries.

    In Ronald Reagan’s first inaugural address, he tells the story of a WWI soldier who died in battle.  The soldier’s diary was found underneath his body.  On the flyleaf of the diary, he wrote, “I will fight cheerfully and do my utmost, as if the issue of the whole struggle depended on me.”  Let that sink in a minute.  What if?  What if we believed the salvation of our nation depended entirely on me. . . and you?

   Four scriptures suggest it might.    In 1 Timothy 2:1-3, we are commanded, not urged, mandated to pray for our country, “for Kings and all those in authority”.  All those in authority include those we disagree with. 

  The much quoted 2 Chronicles 7:14 offers us opportunity to pray “If my people”.  Notice, “if” we can choose not to pray.

    We are empowered to pray by the Holy Spirit according to Romans 8:26 “.  We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us.”  I can certainly attest that I do not know how to pray for this mess.

  And finally, we will see victory.  There are many examples of answered prayer in the Bible but thnkin’ about the story of Jehoshaphat.  In 2 Chronicles 20, Jehoshaphat calls his nation to prayer as they face an overwhelming foe.  Verse 24 says, “When the men of Judah came to the place that overlooks the desert and looked toward the vast army, they saw only dead bodies lying on the ground, no one had escaped.”   They hadn’t even fought yet, and it was over. 

   Last week I asked you to join me in prayer.  This week I’m suggesting you have no choice if you are a child of God.  Think about joining me.  

Two

   I love to read, it really transports me to other worlds.   I can smell and hear what’s going on. Different characters have different voices in my head.  The Israelites and I are living in the Promised Land under the rule of King Hezekiah.  As I read and studied through 2 Chronicles 32 and the book of Micah, it occurred to me that the “Promise Land” wasn’t always peaceful.  Nor was it just fun and games and love and easy street.  The Promise Land of Moses had it’s share of trouble, confusion, divisiveness and heartache. 

  Today, the King of Assyria, Sennacherib, got very vocal.  I will not dignify his words by reprinting them here, (2 Chronicles 32:10-19) but he had some nerve.  He actually tells the people to ignore their King and his words. Worse, he insults God by proclaiming that no other gods had saved people from him so the God of Israel can’t and won’t either.  His perseverance and decibel level begins to affect the people.  However, King Hezekiah and Prophet Isaiah “cried out in prayer to Heaven”.  Spoiler alert: (verse 22) “So the Lord saved Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem from the hand of Sennacherib, King of Assyria and from the hand of all others.  He took care of them on every side.”  "On every side,  took care of everything they needed. In other words, God provided, guided, protected and gave them rest.  

   As I watch the nightly news, I am heartbroken at our overall citizenry and their actions, including our government.  While I have heard only one newscaster verbally insult God by name, the undercurrents and the actions of so many are certainly insulting. The scourge of Covid 19 and the destruction of our cities has seemingly had no spiritual effect on people; still, they will not call out to God.  I confess that I often feel like we are hopeless.  But this story offers me hope.  Often, I read that the kings would call the entire nation to pray but this time, two was enough.  Because two men “cried out to God”, they were heard and God answered. 

   I needed to know that.  I needed to know that in the midst of this chaos and confusion, if I do my part, if I cry out to God, He will hear and answer.  The same power that raised Christ from the dead dwells in Me!  And You!

Think about crying out to God today for our country.   That’ll make two of us!