Pastortimteague's Blog

I will never not be amazed at the ability of politicians to politicize every major event that makes the headlines.  Someone once told me that the definition of politics comes from two words: poli which means “many” and ticks which means “blood suckers.” Once again the politicians have shown their utter insensibility toward human suffering by pointing fingers at the arena they love to play in – political party demarcations.

This is upsetting to me. It angers me. This past Saturday morning, January 8, at a grocery store in Tucson, Arizona, a lone, crazed and suspected lunatic went slap happy with a weapon and shot and killed six people, one being a nine-year old girl and a minister, and wounded 14 others. Arizona Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords was among the wounded – being shot through the head. She lies in critical condition in an Arizona hospital fighting for her life – the life a moron with a gun nearly took from her. The families of these victims should be kept in our prayers as they go through grief and healing – physically, emotionally and spiritually. Loughner was a selfish moron who snapped long before January 8. Human morals faded from his ability to process thoughts a long time ago.

I am angry because politicians are rushing to their pulpits to preach what they have now termed a “climate of hate” created by those in the USA who have found a boldness to speak truth as they see it. Americans have articulated their opinions and for that they have been classified as hate-mongers.  Becuase American’s voice their opinions does not mean they are promoters of such violence as Loughner’s.  Loughner is a lunatic. He is a card-carrying moron. How do you politicize lunacy? How do you politicize moronic behavior? Why would you want to, unless you were considering the absolute mindless, thoughtless and compassionless actions of Jarred Loughner – as equal to the moronic actions demonstrated by selfish politicians singing the lyrics to the same song. Different music – same lyrics.

This isn’t about a “climate of hate” proposed by some politicians. What has been created in America over the last several years is a climate of hope – not hate. People are rising to speak about a government they are not happy with. In rising to speak – certain politicians have labeled their acts of free speech as “targeted hatred”. Hog wash! America’s free speech is at a crossroads. Incidents like this one in Tucson, Arizona will be used – or I should say – abused by politicians to pave the way for their socialist, selfish and anti-Constitutional agenda.

Then there are the gun control freaks. There is a group of politicians who want to ban all American’s from owning weapons. Again, they will politicize Jarred Loughner’s actions to support their socialist “no weapon” agenda. Makes me want to vomit. Loughner could have purchased his gun from someone on the street just as easily as he did from the sportsman’s store. Gun ownership is not the question here – managing lunacy is. You can’t manage lunacy. You can’t manage with judicial or social effort the mind of men. Loughner was an absolute moron. “Moron” is defined as: a person who is notably stupid or lacking in good judgment. He is “borderline” mentally retarded by definition. A moron’s IQ is normally below 70 and rarely above 60. How do you control such men? What percentage of the population fits this description? Do you jail all of them? Do you put them all in an institution? I think not.

This is bigger than the moronic behavior of Loughner. It is an issue that is invisible to the natural eye. No one knows what a man is capable of under the right – or wrong conditions. Someone once said that there is a monster residing in all of us only to be released by the unknown of our future.  Scripture says that the heart is deceitful above all – who can know it? (Jeremiah 17.9). Paul wrote to Timothy and told him there would be deceitful spirits loose in the last days. Put it all together and you have the makings of what most assassins are made of in the first place – the inability to know themselves and the ability to be deceived. When you mix the anti-Christ spirit gaining strength in our nation along with the increase of moronic behavior – you have the results of what manifested on Saturday morning, January 8.  Passing laws will not change the mind of men. Hate to burst the politicians bubble here but they can’t manage the mind that has yet to manifest itself in moronic behavior. Paul wrote to the Romans and said every time he attempted good – evil was present, staring him in the face. That is true for all of humanity.  Morons can’t make moral decisions. The root of the issue here is moronic behavior – not weapons or a climate of hatred. The same politicians proposing a climate of hate are the ones who are attempting to create a nation of pluralistic gods, no right and no wrong, gods unto ourselves and have catapulted “politically correct” speech to universes unknown.

 This isn’t about politics. Loughner could have targeted ministers. He could have targeted bankers, doctors, teachers, lawyers. He could have targeted anyone or any group of people. What we know about him is he targeted a politician. In doing so he gave license for his target audience to make his actions a case for their actions. I’m close to the opinion that his moronic behavior has now become the moronic behavior of a larger group of politicians. I am amazed at how intelligence can appear to be so absolutely stupid. Sad but true.

Whatever happened to the constitution? Whatever happened to our freedom of speech? When did freedom of speech become solely subjected to the FCC? When did a group of politicians and their governmental appointees become the voice of the constitution? We are in serious trouble in our country. We need prayer for our blood sucking politicians more than ever. We need to pray for righteous leadership in our government. When governing officials trump a tragedy of this magnitude to wave their own political flag we have surrendered moral sense and human compassion to the spirit of deception. Problem is: these politicians have deceived themselves and this is the worst kind of deception – deception defended by the deceived. Come to think of it – this may be the closest thing to the definition of a moron.

My morning started out with a several phone calls and then a meeting at Panera’s for coffee with one of our young men.  The conversation was good and I certainly enjoyed our time together.  It was in the middle of this conversation that we engaged discussing arrogance and confidence in the life of the believer.   What I shared with this young man is something that I want share with you.

Fasting is about getting close to the Lord.  It’s about that “in-to-me-see” thing I keep bringing up.  It’s about the Lord inspecting our hearts.  It’s about total surrender to the One who knows the spirit of a man as only He can (1 Corinthians 2.10-16).  I’m reminded of what the Psalmist wrote so very clear:

Psalms 139:23-24

23  Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me and know my anxious thoughts; 24  And see if there be any hurtful way in me, And lead me in the everlasting way.

This passage in Psalms helps us know the difference between arrogance and confidence.  The young man I was with this morning shared with me that he struggles with his strong sense of confidence being misunderstood as arrogance.  I certainly have been a rider on that accusatory bus before!  Let me clarify something here: there is a difference in one’s confidence being placed in his self (flesh) and in the Holy Spirit’s resident ruler-ship in his life (spirit man).  One can easily mistake confidence in his spiritual life as arrogance.

Arrogance is confidence in the flesh and the flip side of the arrogance coin is pride.  Confidence is a personal trust in the Holy Spirit’s presence in one’s life and the flip side of this coin is humility.  Pride and humility are the roots of each of these dynamics.

When arrogance is present – there is the absence of humility.  One takes pride in who he is, what he has accomplished, his trophies, awards, educational accomplishment and secular promotions. 

When confidence in the Spirit is present – there is an absence of pride and one is humbled by his accomplishments, he counts it a privilege to have any level of education and realizes that all promotion comes from the Lord (Psalm 75.6-7).

You can see Paul’s confidence and humility in several passages of scripture:

2 Corinthians 10:1

1  Now I Paul myself beseech you by the meekness and gentleness of Christ, who in presence am base among you, but being absent am bold toward you:

Galatians 2:20

20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

1 Corinthians 15:9-10

9  For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.

10  But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.

Ephesians 3:8

8  Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;

During this fasting season I would that we could discover and experience the difference in arrogance and confidence.  Arrogance is discovered in “churchy” folk who think they live better than others.  They have a sense of self-righteousness that causes them to “look down their noses” as those of a different behavior or expression or level of faith.  They are quick to condemn new believers for their lack of discipleship. 

 Confident believers are not moved by the applause of men nor the trophies attained with any effort of the flesh.  They realize their very existence is in Christ.  We are who we are in Christ alone – not in and of ourselves.  Paul said that he counted all but “rubbish” in his relationship to Christ.  Take a look at how Paul the apostle lays out his philosophy of ministry:

Philippians 3:7-11

7  But whatever things were gain to me, those things I have counted as loss for the sake of Christ.   8  More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ,  9  and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith,  10  that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; 11  in order that I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Paul had simple philosophy of ministry.  It was simple in that he knew where he came from, who he was at the present, where he was going and Who he represented in getting there.  He had this unique way of submitting every day to the power and presence of the Holy Spirit in his life.  He was not arrogant.  There wasn’t an ounce of pride in his life.  On the other hand there was a boat load of humility which gave fruit to the confidence he had.  Ask yourself rather there is pride in who you are and what you have accomplished in life.  If there is anything that points to human pride, human effort or human ability – you need to crucify the flesh.  All pride should have nail prints in its existence.  It needs to be crucified so that humility can be resurrected in its place. Then and only then can one have confidence to walk with his head high and his shoulders squared.  We might start by quoting this passage every morning in our prayer and devotion time…really quote with it with a sincere heart and don’t be surprised when He checks you on your thoughts or the expression of your words…because He will!

Psalms 19:14 

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.

Penny for your thoughts?  This is a question that some will ask when we have that faraway look in our eye or we are caught day dreaming when someone is trying to talk to us.  You and I have both been asked that question in the past and it will probably be directed toward us in the future.  Just what is going on in that brain of ours?

Seems to be something that Jesus was concerned about in Matthew 16.15 when He asked His disciples: “Who do you say that I am?”   I think if Jesus we here today He may pose this question to some of us. 

Who do you say that I am?  Who is Jesus to you?  What does he mean to you?  Is he really a significant part of your everyday life? 

Heading into 2011 we are fasting to get close to Him.  We are pulling away from the table of physical satisfaction to increase our spiritual satisfaction.  In doing so I can only pray that all of us will ask ourselves this question – Who is Jesus to us?

Is He our Savior?  Do we know in our spirit that Jesus has cleansed us from all unrighteousness?

Is He our Lord? Have we surrendered every part of our life over to Him?  No hidden crevices in our heart we don’t want anyone to know about?

Is He our Friend?  Do we converse with Him as our confidant?  Do we really share our thoughts with Him?

Is He our Healer?  Do we really rely on Him for our healing – physically, emotionally, spiritually?

Is He our Counselor?  Do we go to Him in times of trouble, heartache, pain, grief and tribulation?

Is He our Protector?  Do we live under the shadow of His wing daily?

The list could go on and on.  The idea here is to provoke your thoughts.  Just who is Jesus to you?

We are embarking on what could be the most powerful, intimate and fruitful year in our life in relationship to Christ.  I honestly believe this is a year of intimacy.  I mentioned in an earlier blog that intimacy actually can be defined as “in-to-me-see.”   Have you really given Christ an opportunity to see into your heart?  Start now.  Open the door to your heart – for real – and let Him come in in a fresh way. 

I remember years ago having a head on collision with Christ.  He won.  It was a defining moment in my life that I have had to remember on more than one occasion.  I was at a crossroads in my ministry.  I was struggling.  It was at the intersection of Self and Surrender that we ran into each other.  The question was posed to me by Him – “Who do you say that I am?”  It rattled my spiritual cage.   Are you kidding me?  I’m struggling and He asked me that question?  I was humiliated that He had to ask this question in the first place.  I was angry with myself that He had to ask this question.  Then I was…well, angry with the Lord because of how the question was asked.  He didn’t say, “Who do you THINK I am?”   He asked, “Who do you SAY that I am?  This hurt.  This question goes beyond the ability to think and reason.  It reaches for the heart of a man.  It cuts apart the bone from the marrow.  It separates the soul from the spirit.  It was Jesus who said, “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Luke 6.45).  As if that wasn’t bad enough the next verse drove a stake into my spirit.  “Why do you call me Lord and do not what I say?” (Luke 6.46).  He didn’t leave me hanging.  He led me into a reasonable answer to the question He posed.  What I was speaking and what I was doing were not meshing.  I was speaking one thing about the Lord, ministry and calling – but I was moving away from performing my call.  I was about to get a lesson in professing and performing the Word.  Remember now, I was struggling with various areas of my ministry.  The Lord was going to show me that what I was professing as my calling and what I was engaging in were two different dynamics.  

In Scripture He then goes into the parable of building a house on the rock and building on the sand.   The person who does what His Word instructs is building on rock.  The person who ignores attempting to fully obey the Word is one who is building on the sand.  When the “torrent” comes against the house – it survives or falls not on hearing the Word but on our obedience to the Word. 

What the Lord was saying to me by asking this question was that I had failed in obeying some areas of command from Him to me for ministry.  My ministry world was shaking, trembling, and slipping away because of my foundation of sand.  Disobedience.  I wasn’t doing anything immoral.  I wasn’t engaged in any type of gross sin.   I WAS moving away from some direction of ministry the Lord had anointed me for.  In doing so I was sensing the shakiness.  It was this piercing question from Him that led to some directional change for my ministry.  When I made the change to “hear from Him and speak for Him” and move away from other distractions of ministry – the shakiness disappeared.

I challenge you today to answer the question, “Who do you say that I am?”   I ask you reasonably search your heart and find out if you are doing the Word or just hearing it.  There is a huge difference.  James 1.22 pokes us right in the face with a challenge to become doers of the Word and not merely hearers of the Word.  Why? Because when we hear without doing – we deceive ourselves.  That’s the worst kind of deception.

Allow me to thank you for your prayers for Hack (my daughter-in-laws uncle).  Hack’s fever has come down but his kidneys are still causing a problem.  He is still on the ventilator but the external heart pump is now pumping every other beat.  These are all good indicators of improvement but Hack still has a long way to go.   I ask that you still continue to pray for him and his family.  It’s going to be a long week for all involved because the doctors told the family it will be somewhere between four and seven days before they can do open heart surgery.  Waiting for improvement for the necessary heart surgery is extremely difficult.  But it does give us time to pray for the manifestation of healing.

Our prayer time this morning in church was a powerful season.  We sang a praise song and prayed for healing.  This was after the model of Acts 16 – prayer and praise opened doors of a prison.   Hacks “prison” is his critical physical condition.  His prison has rendered him inactive as much as Paul and Silas were in their prison nearly 2000 years ago.  We need to understand that Paul and Silas didn’t praise the Lord to open the prison doors – the doors opened in response to their praise.  We praised God for the same reason as did they – He is worthy of our praise and we count ourselves privileged to suffer for Him.  We believe God is going to move on Hack’s behalf and bring healing to his body.

Another principle we shared out of Acts 16 this morning is what I call the “he” and “we” principle.  It is a model of leadership that I believe is a scriptural law set in motion by God.  It works with the idea that divine leadership is one person leading and others following by commitment.  It eliminates dissension, disillusionment, discouragement and destruction. It invites unity, commitment, cooperation and continuity.   Paul received the Macedonian vision and Silas and Luke and their mission team followed in pursuit.   “He” and “we” worked hand in hand to accomplish success in the kingdom.  Paul was given divine direction.  Those whom he led followed.  Simple.  Noting complex about this model. 

You can see this “he/we” principle in the life of Christ.  Christ received direction from the Father and the disciples followed.   I don’t think scripture could be any clearer on this issue.  It really works.  It works with you and I as individuals.  When we receive divine direction from the Holy Spirit in relationship to our everyday lives and we follow in obedience – there is fruitfulness to our lives.  It works in our marriages. When the father as the priest of his home receives direction from God for his family and the family saddles up in pursuit – the family is blessed and favored.   It works with a business.  When a business owner seeks direction from the Holy Spirit and doesn’t rely on his flesh all the time – he experiences the favor of God on his business.  It works with you as an employee.  When you submit to the leadership of your employer without dissension – you are favored and will find success.

This “he/we” principle will work for you.  You can have an awesome 2011 if you will submit to the authority of the Holy Spirit in your daily life.  Listen to Him.  Hear Him clearly.  Honor His voice.  Desire His voice.  Lean on His voice. Trust His leading.  Please.  For your sake and those around you I hope you find it in your heart to listen to Him.

That’s part of what our fasting season is about.  Learning how to be intimate  with the Lord.  Desiring closeness with Him.  Learning to live under the direction of the Holy Spirit every day of your life.  Honestly.  It can be done…the New Testament is our model.  Try it…you will agree.

As most of you know by now my daughter-in-laws uncle suffered a terrible heart attack this past week.  He is in very critical condition in Huntington, WV. He is an outstanding pastor and a great man of God.  I love this man dearly.  He is full of life and full of Jesus.  It doesn’t take but just a few minutes of being around him to know his love for the Lord Jesus Christ. We have had our intercessors praying and others from all over the nation are praying for him and his family. 

During our fast I am calling you to pray for him with intensity.  Pray aggressively.  Pray fervently.

I was preparing for my message for Sunday and was reviewing Acts 16.  You know the story.  Paul and Silas respond to the Macedonian call and wind up in prison for their obedience.  They sang a song at midnight and the doors were opened and they were released. The result was Mr. and Mrs. Jailor and all the little Jailors were saved. Great ending to a difficult journey that got there.

This is where I want to mix things up a bit.  The Lord spoke to me tonight about Natalie’s (my daughter-in-law) uncle.  His name is Paul Haskel (“Hack”) Farley.  When I was preparing my message the Holy Spirit showed me that after receiving his Macedonian vision (Acts 16) there were direct attacks on the success of that vision.  First, there was the demon possessed woman who followed Paul and Silas around proclaiming these men were men of the “most High God.” This was an attack on the Message.  This didn’t work.  Paul discerned the distracting move of the enemy – to sow seeds of discord, confusion, disillusionment in relationship to the message.  He cast the demon out of the woman.  This of course didn’t go over very well with those of the world.

When the attack on the message didn’t work – the enemy choreographed and attack on the messengers – Paul and Silas.  They were beaten and thrown in prison.  Not a good situation to be in.  Instead of reversing their efforts, backing up and quitting – these two men engaged forward motion faith.  They prayed and sang praises at midnight.  They probably sang the Psalms committed to memory.  No PowerPoint or songs off the wall in their world.  All they had was what they had in their heart.  After being beaten all they had was a song.  They were chained to a wall.  They couldn’t lift their hands.  They couldn’t dance.  But oh, they could sing.  I’m confident they didn’t sound like the Brooklyn Tabernacle Choir after being severely beaten. The pain by the time they started to sing was at its peak.  But they sang praises and prayed.   They were probably off key.  They probably didn’t get pitch and tone exactly right.  No band to “strike up”.  No Hammond B-3 organ.  No orchestra.  They simply sang songs out of their heart.  They didn’t sing to be released they sang for the privilege of being there in the first place.  The doors to their prison were opened by praise.  Pure praise!

1 Peter 3:14

14        But even if you should suffer for the sake of righteousness, you are blessed. AND DO NOT FEAR THEIR INTIMIDATION, AND DO NOT BE TROUBLED.

There has risen in the land an ungodly theory that is being preached by parasitic wolves in sheeps clothing that one will never suffer for the gospel.  Nothing could be more false.  These so called “preachers” are no less than the woman who followed Paul and Silas.  Babbling parasites who need to be put in their place spiritually.  This false message is as confusing as she was with her reputation and being in agreement with Paul and Silas.  Bad stuff! 

We will suffer for the kingdom.  It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to discover this in scripture. 

See 1 Timothy 1:12; 2 Corinthians 2:14; Act 5:40-41; 2 Thessalonians 1:3-5; Romans 8:16-18;

2 Corinthians 1:5-9; 2 Timothy 1:11-12; 2:3; 2:8-13; 1 Peter 2:20; 3:14; 1 Peter 4:19.

The point the enemy wants us to miss is the one that motivated Paul and Silas with forward motion faith.  It was an honor to suffer for the kingdom of God.  They didn’t sing praises to “make something happen” – they sang praises because they were worthy of the suffering in a cold dark prison.  It is this attitude of the heart, this forward motion faith that God responded to with open doors.  The Lord didn’t open the doors because of their praise – He opened the door through their praise. 

I’m not sure Paul and Silas expected the doors to be opened.  They just wanted to praise God for the opportunity of suffering for the kingdom.  Haven’t heard this preached in a long time! 

My good friend Hack Farley is a privileged man in the eyes of the Great Healer.  We will sing songs and entertain the Lord Jesus Christ as the Ultimate Healer not to “make something” happen for Hack,  We will pray, fast and sing songs of praise because Hack was found worthy to suffer an attack of the enemy.  That means he is a prized warrior.  He is an anointed man of God.  He was found honorable in the Lord’s sight.  The enemy couldn’t stop the message Hack was preaching so he upped the stakes.   He attacked the messenger.

I honestly believe the church, through lifting up our voices, fasting, praying and singing songs of praise to the Lord can entertain God on Hack’s behalf.  Collective praise is collective spiritual authority that opens the heaven’s. 

I challenge my readers to join our fast.  Fast for reason and purpose.  My fasting is targeting this wonderful man of God.  My praise will be “forward motion praise” on his behalf.  I believe as God the Father, Abba Father receives our praise something will happen through our praise for Hack. 

Join me.  Put on the full armor of God and let’s go to battle for this anointed messenger.

Lord, we praise Your name in all the earth!  We ask you to accept our prayer, our humble request for this man of God.  Praise, honor, power and dominion be unto Your Name on his behalf.  We are humbled that our friend and fellow soldier of the cross has been found worthy to suffer for Your Name’s sake.  Just as You honored the prayers and praise of Paul and Silas we ask You to honor our prayers and our praise.  We approach you as instructed by the apostle Paul in Ephesians 6.19-20.  We ask that You raise up “Hack” so he may continue to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel.  Raise him up so he may proclaim the life-giving message of Christ with boldness out of his healing.  Raise him up in honor of his suffering.  In Your Mighty Name we pray – Amen.

I am so excited about an event that is occurring during the season of our congregational fast.  On January 23 several churches will come together for the purpose of praying about the drug epidemic that has fallen over our city.   We will meet at the United Brethren Church here in Lancaster at 6 pm.  We will pray and call out to God as believers who make up the church.  I can’t wait!

We have been praying along with these churches for many months.  We are all doing our jobs as congregations in the city but on January 23 we will send a collective signal to the enemy’s camp that the church is dressed for combat.  We mean business with this demonic scourge over our city.  Shame on the church if we don’t put our faith in Forward Motion!  We need to announce to the drug dealers in this city that their day is done!  We will pray them out of the city!

Revelation 2.13 speaks of “Satan’s seat” in a city.   Bible scholars teach that this is a demonic influence in a city, a spiritual stronghold over a territory.  In Las Vegas the seat of Satan is obviously gambling.    Some cities are ruled by a spirit or influence of murder.  Lancaster, Ohio is dominated by a spiritual influence of drug addiction.  This spirit knows no age limit.  It doesn’t honor families of faith.  It attracts both male and female genders.  It knows no social or economic limits.  It strikes the poor man and the rich man both.  It is a nasty demonic force that is wasting no time adversely affecting our city.  It leaves victims in its wake.  It turns teens into premature adults who sell their bodies and souls for another false utopia.  It turns adults into unemployed professionals.  It spreads disease from head to toe and leaves the phenomenon of the human body looking like a rail road train yard with endless needle tracks.   It causes mothers to weep and moves fathers to grieve over their children.  It leaves widows and orphans alike.  It gives birth to fatherless children as unwed mothers chase the shadow of this tormenting demon.  It takes money for groceries and utilities and feeds the famished spirit of addiction.  It maims and kills equally.  It is an equal opportunity killer.  How dare us turn our heads and look the other way.

Knowing where the seat of Satan is -is one thing.  Doing something about it is another.  I believe that Victory Hill can make a difference in our city.  We can join other churches and unite our faith to eliminate this violent spiritual influence from our city.  It is time to put on the full armor of God.  It is time to hoist our shield of faith.  It is time to sharpen our swords.  We can do what some cities said cannot be done.  We need not bow to sin. 

Ephesians 6:10-19

10  Finally, be strong in the Lord and in the strength of His might.  11  Put on the full armor of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.  12  For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.   13  Therefore, take up the full armor of God, so that you will be able to resist in the evil day, and having done everything, to stand firm.  14  Stand firm therefore, HAVING GIRDED YOUR LOINS WITH TRUTH, and HAVING PUT ON THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS,   15  and having shod YOUR FEET WITH THE PREPARATION OF THE GOSPEL OF PEACE;  16  in addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one.   17 And take THE HELMET OF SALVATION, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.  18  With all prayer and petition pray at all times in the Spirit, and with this in view, be on the alert with all perseverance and petition for all the saints,   19 and pray on my behalf, that utterance may be given to me in the opening of my mouth, to make known with boldness the mystery of the gospel.

Spiritual warfare is not about you and I as individuals. Spiritual warfare is about the church at large.  It’s not about fighting for victory – it’s about fighting from victory.  Why do I know we can win this war on a drug epidemic?  Because the Word has already guaranteed us the victory!

1 John 5:4

4  For whatever is born of God overcomes the world; and this is the victory that has overcome the world–our faith.

Remember, we win this war!  The unemployment line for drug dealers is about to get longer!

It’s Wednesday night and I’m sitting at home writing tomorrows…uh…today’s Forward Motion blog.  It’s actually Thursday morning approximately 12:45 am.   I guess I can say that “last night” (Wednesday night) was an awesome prayer meeting.  The presence and power of the Holy Spirit was tremendous.   I believe the five-week fasting journey has already having an effect on our folk.  Tonight we prayed with a powerful anointing in the house.  You could literally, physically sense the Presence of the Lord with us.

Although we enter into these prayer meetings with no real agenda – I call them “go and flow” prayer meetings – we really wanted to pray about the drug epidemic in our city and the Holy Spirit favored our desire tonight.  We started out by praying for the city and moved into praying for families who have been victimized by drugs, substance abuse, alcohol or prescription drug use.  We laid hands on folk tonight and prayed with fervency.   I really believe the gift of faith was released tonight in our prayer meeting and some powerful testimonies will come out of our efforts. 

We had some visitors tonight who I noticed joined right in with us in praying.  After church they approached me to greet me.  They were so appreciative for the prayer meeting and the Presence of the Lord among us.  They went on line to look for a church they could attend and found ours.  They are from one of the area churches going through a very difficult time and they just wanted a chance to worship and pray.  Their heart was touched and were deeply ministered tonight.  I was so pleased with what they were saying. I guess what made me feel so good as a pastor is to know that although they are hurt, disillusioned, feel betrayed by ministry and or ministers, heartbroken and displaced – they found a place they could settle into without intimidation and be ministered to.   I am so thankful that VHC has been praying for our city, churches in our city and for an out pouring of the Holy Spirit to invade every church in Fairfield County.  While the enemy is at work to destroy the faith community by disruption and disillusionment – we are going to combat Him with fervency and authority. 

Tonight spoke several things to me.  1)  God is good to VHC and has favored our prayer times.  2) We have to be on guard for any attempts of the enemy to sow seeds of discord, dissension and disillusionment in our own congregation.  We have set up watchmen on the towers of prayer.  3) I think of a passage of scripture in the New Testament that speaks to what happened tonight and I can only thank Him for His divine presence.  That passage is:

Luke 5:17    And it came to pass on a certain day, as he was teaching, that there were Pharisees and doctors of the law sitting by, which were come out of every town of Galilee, and Judaea, and Jerusalem: and the power of the Lord was present to heal them.

I like the phrase: “the power of the Lord was present to heal them.”  That speaks volumes to me.  That means there was a tangible manifestation in the room.  He was there.  His presence was there.  And they noticed it.  They sensed it.  Just like tonight.  The power and presence of the Lord was present to do healing.  I believe our fasting and intimacy with Him is already proving we’re in for an outstanding journey of Forward Motion Faith. 

I can’t wait till Sunday!  My, my, my!

The primary motive for our five-week congregational fast is to draw close to the Lord.  We call this intimacy.  My iPhone dictionary defines “intimacy” as “a close association with or detailed knowledge or deep understanding of a subject, place, period of history; an act or expression of serving as a token of familiarity, affection.”  Let me highlight this definition: close association or understanding; expression of familiarity or affection.  When you put this together like a peanut butter jelly sandwich you have the makings of inward inspection of your spirit man.

I define intimacy as “in-to-me-see.”  This is a simple definition of intimacy.  Allowing the Holy Spirit to reveal our hearts, to “see into our hearts” with microscopic detail.  The Holy Spirit in us takes a real hard, deep and familiar, affectionate look at who we are as a believer.  The closer we get to His divine Presence in our life – the more He reveals about us that we often times don’t like.  Intimacy!  Affectionate familiarity.  Allowing the Holy Spirit that place in our heart we typically wouldn’t let anyone into.  In-to-me-see! 

Fasting draws us into intimacy.  It is self-denial that pushes the flesh man out of the way – along with our pride, our pet peeves, our whining, our lack of humility, our irrational complaining, our unjustified condemnation of most everything around us – and allows the Holy Spirit to plow up the flesh and produce genuine fruit of the Spirit.   Self-denial is coming to the conclusion that living for Christ is not about us – it’s about Christ in us.

Let me give you three scriptures for you to meditate on for today.  Come back to the blog and read them, write them down or mark them in your Bible – but come back to them during this fast.

Psalms 19:14

14  Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart Be acceptable in Your sight, O LORD, my rock and my Redeemer.

• Look at my heart and hear my words today, O Lord and draw me into intimacy with You.

Matthew 22:37

37  And He said to him, ” ‘YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND.’

• O Lord! Let my every heart-beat, my seat of emotions and the thoughts of my mind love You with passion and seek Your direction throughout the day.

Hebrews 4:12

12  For the word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart.

• Today, O Lord, let Your Word separate my heart from my soul, work to divide my spirit man and my soulish man and judge the thoughts and intentions of my heart!

When we pray these simple Word focused prayers we are in Forward Motion.  We are moving forward allowing Christ to be seen in us.  Fasting draws us into self-denial and allows a true introspection of who we really are.

That New York strip didn’t look so good after all…did it?

Day three of our fasting experience has brought some good questions from our participants.  One question was in relationship to the Daniel Fast.  This seems the most popular fast available to us because it offers a safe fast while at the same time leading us to sacrifice at the table. 

Let me start by bullet pointing some issues that you want to pay attention to.

• This five week fast can be endured every day of the schedule or can be broken up into segments.
• For instance, you may fast three days, skip a day or two and fast another three days. 
• You can fast on and off at whatever schedule is convenient for you.
• You can do a complete fast and mix it with a partial fast or a Daniel Fast.
• The idea of fasting is self-denial and personal sacrifice.   It doesn’t do you any good to say you’re going to fast breakfast when you don’t normally eat breakfast to begin with.  Not much self-denial or personal sacrifice there. 
• In engaging a complete fast you need to consult with your physician first.   Be sure you are healthy enough to endure the rigors of this type of fast.

Someone texted me today and asked about eating rice while practicing the Daniel Fast.  I don’t see where this would be a problem.  The Daniel Fast is exemption from meat.  Some people include fish and poultry in this list of meats to deny and others just include red meat.  It is up to the one doing the fasting.  The Daniel Fast exempts you from meat – according to scripture and only allows for vegetables and fruit.  What you consider “meat” can be subjective as far as fish and poultry are concerned but red meat is not allowed at all.

I practice the Daniel Fast.  I have a daily helping of salad or a bowl of boiled  vegetables (brocoli, cauliflower, etc.).  I may include fruits throughout the week but I will exempt myself from meats completely.  I will have soup and sometimes this may include a minimum amount of meat in the soup (chicken noodle for instance).  The idea is not to get legalistic about the fast but sacrificial and to deny self pleasures found in any of the foods we eat during a fast.  Elmer Towns and Jentezen Franklin have books that detail fasting options to a greater detail.  Elmer Towns suggests that you drink a V-8 at the end of the day to keep your metabolism balanced.   Again, the idea is sacrifice – not becoming so legalistic that pride enters the picture.  Fasting creates in us a spirit of humility – not arrogance over what we are fasting that others are not.

The idea is to replace the time at the table with time in the Word, meditation and prayer.  It is good to have a motivating force behind your fasting effort.  Our congregational and personal motive is intimacy with God.  Finding time for the Word and prayer is vitally important for this five-week fast.

Here are some ideas:  in the market place you may want to exempt yourself from the lunch room and find a quiet office to read scriptures and meditate or even pray.  Construction workers or those individuals who do not have the convenience of an office building may have to be creative with finding space and time to draw more intimate in your devotional time.   Instead of eating a meal at home try sitting with family members and sharing with your spouse and or your children the motive for your fast.  Slip away in the evening and make time for prayer, mediation and devotional scripture reading instead of watching television, sports, sitcoms, movies or the news.  The idea here is to make time where you have not previously made time for Him. 

You can respond to this blog and I encourage you to do so.  Write me and let me know some of the ways you have practiced fasting in the past.  I am confident our readers would like to here some fresh ideas as to how you approach becoming more intimate with the Lord.

Please visit these websites for some great information and ordering resources for reading about fasting: www.elmertowns.com and www.jentezenfranklin.org/fasting/.  Also the January issue of the Church of God Evangel (available at our media desk for free) has a great article on fasting.   I encourage you to do get information from these two websites and or books from these two trusted sites for your reading and devotional purposes.

Today is our second day of a five week church wide fast.  I am so excited about this fasting journey.  We have called this fast to accomplish two things:

1. Personal intimacy with God.

2. Congregational unity and intimacy with God.

One is accomplished through personal discipline of prayer, study and application of the Word and the other is accomplished through corporate worship and the application of the Word to the activities of the entire church.  The genesis of this process starts with the denial of self.  Nothing difficult to understand about this principle – deny yourself.  Jesus taught this principle and made it very clear.

Matthew 16:24  Then Jesus said to His disciples, “If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me.

I don’t think you can get much clearer than this.  If you truly want to be a follower of Christ – not just a professor of Christ but a follower of Christ – it starts with self-denial.  First we have to have a “present desire” to follow Him.  This is fact of heart – “if anyone wishes to come after Me”.   The heart has to have a passion to follow Him.  Second, the denial of self and all of our earthly and worldly interests.  In other words nothing supersedes our relationship with Christ.  Absolutely nothing.  Paul made brings to the forefront of our relationship with Christ when he writes in Colossians 3.2-3 that we are to set our affection on things above and not on the things of the earth.  A true disciple of Christ will crucify the flesh and the lusts thereof (Galatians 5.24) and simply dedicate himself to the cause of the Gospel.

Next step is to take up our cross.  Take up that which is our lot in life.  Take up a failure as much as a success.  Celebrate our pain as much as our healing.  Take up our appointment with life.  Jesus denied Himself totally with not only accepting the cross – but dying on the cross.  To take up our cross is to not just talk about it but actually take it up, pick it up, carry it, endure it.  Whatever condition we have been led to in our life journey of faith – we take it up.  We accept it and we move into it with forward motion faith. 

Last but not least – we simply “follow Him.”  We exemplify the life of Christ.  He endured His cross (Hebrews 12.2).  To follow Him is to endure our cross and move into victory.

Fasting takes us deeper into the arena of self-denial.  I trust your second day of fasting will be one step toward many successful steps of drawing closer to Him.  Personal intimacy with Christ which will lead to congregational intimacy with Christ.  The results will be powerful and life changing for us all.