--Jason
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Cru Fast Sharing Board
Hey everyone...as we fast together this week, let's make this space a place where we can share comments on how we see God working, post prayers and prayer requests, and give encouragement. Please post a comment and use it to write out a prayer, send a note of encouragement or thanksgiving to God, and share what God is doing through the week. Let's keep a visible list of what God is up to!
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6 comments:
Lord, I pray this for myself but I also pray this for all believers who are seeking you.
Break through my selfishness and my desire to do things my way. Constantly remind me that you are the knower of all and that while you are so powerful you are so loving--help me to not forget that. Increase desire of you in my life and increase my willingness to forsake anything for the sake of you! I admit that it's not easy for me to relinquish control, and I need your help to do so, to live in abandon only for you.
Also, a thought:
I'm thinking about how we consider ourselves as Christians to be "followers of Christ" which got me thinking about what that verb really means: to follow. When I say that I am following someone here on earth I don't just try to end up in the same spot as that person, but I try to follow each step exactly. When following, I surrender control of my direction to that person and need to put complete trust in their wisdom. In the same way, as Christians ("followers of Christ") we should pursue the guidance of God not simply for some end goal but for every step along the way.
thanks Tom! i'm excited to pray and fast with you all! it's hard to make sacrifices but i know it's worth it and i'm excited to hear all that the Lord does in our lives this week!
In the first post I wrote about fasting, I wrote this line: "And who knows how He may answer us as we cry out to Him? Nothing may happen - yet, at least - or we may see God move in ways we could not believe." As I was reading the Bible today, I was convicted over a deeper reason I wrote the words, "nothing may happen": unbelief in my heart. Today I read John 14:13-14 - "Whatever you ask in my name, this I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. If you ask me anything in my name, I will do it." Jesus promises to move and respond when we ask, and as we fast and pray for Him to change and transform us and our campuses, we are asking something close to His heart and something in His will. We can be sure that He WILL move. It's true that it may not be immediate or be in the way we expect, but He WILL answer our prayers as we humble ourselves and seek Him. I'm glad I threw the caveat "yet, at least" in there, but please forgive my deep-seated skepticism and unbelief. Certainly part of why I wrote what I did was in an attempt to cover my butt should nothing happen, indicating a lack of faith in God to hear our prayers and respond. I'm truly sorry if anyone was led astray by it.
I'm reminded of the man in Mark 9, who says, "I do believe: help me overcome my unbelief!"
As we pray and fast this week in the name of Jesus, we can be 100% confident that He will answer.
--Jason
I've been reading Isaiah 58 today which talks about "True Fasting":
"'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and you have not seen it?'...Yet on the day of your fasting you do as you please...Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD? Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke...Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard."
I am remembering that fasting is not just a ritual we are doing to GET something from God--for God does not delight in empty rituals. Instead I am also focusing on ACTION and how I can turn this time of closeness to God in to outward displays of Christ's love in my life.
-Allison
Psalm 139:11-12: If I say, "Surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness will not be dark to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you.
It's nice to have a reminder that God's perspective is more often than not COMPLETELY different from mine. Isn't that comforting? What we see and "know" is so limited compared to the knowledge of our God.
I'll confess that along with Jason, I too was a bit of a skeptic, wanting to always include "maybes" and "ifs" when talking about God showing up this week. As He's been showing me through the years, giving me no reason to doubt, He ALWAYS provides and hears our prayers...my prayer for all believers and especially for myself as I've been burdened by it, is that we rely on the Lord's perfect timing for things in our lives to happen..lack of immediate results does not mean that He doesn't hear and love us: quite the opposite! I'm praying for humility and the ability to surrender control, trusting God to work in the hearts of unbelievers, as well as for us to take advantage of opportunities to share His truths.
"We do, however, speak a message of wisdom among the mature, but not the wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. No, we speak of God's secret wisdom, a wisdom that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. 1 Corinthians 2:6-8
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