Fast Enough

All the time. Even when He isn’t doing what we think He should be doing! I love how God just messes up our plans and does things His way. This fast has been a perfect example of that: We pretty much expected it to go like a normal fast. Get past the three day hump, and have a couple rough days here and there, but otherwise just be enjoying a much greater connection to God. It seems as if God has other plans in mind, because we are paying a high price. But I believe it is worth it. I don’t know what is going to happen, if anything visible, but I know when this is all said and done it will have been worth it. 

God is calling us into something deeper. He’s giving us a hunger that dwarfs even our physical hunger (which right now is quite immense). The hard part is to not get discouraged, and just keep pressing in. If you’re reading this, please pray for us.

It isn’t merely enough to call for a change in the way we love people we must actually love people. Why is it that we are so proud when we have a good thought about loving people, but never act on those thoughts? I hear people all the time saying, “Oh it would be cool if we did this or that for this person!” Their excitement is full and their passion is set, but the connection is never made.

Part of what I see is a lack of vision from God. Let me unpack that thought. If someone doesn’t ever feel like God has “approved” of them or that he “gives them the ability” then they won’t act. Their insecurity and complacency will always get the best of them. What is the problem with this besides immaturity? I mean let’s call it what it is. The bible clearly talks about the fact that Christ indwells us. So if Christ indwells us then we have all we need to love. You see, we can’t love God without Him giving us the love to give Him. That is because nothing in our flesh desires to love God, so the only way we can actually reciprocate His love is because we have His love. John says, “We love God because He FIRST loved us.” So if God put us into Christ and Christ in us then we have a source for every need that ever comes up. If God tells us to love Him and love people then He is going to provide us with the needs that we have. 

Secondly, regarding the issue of insecurity. The problem with insecurity is that it puts the solution on us. That isn’t biblical at all. Our strength isn’t what loves people, it’s God’s strength. God uses us not because we are special, but because He is special in us. The love that comes from us, again, isn’t ours. The love that we need to demonstrate to others comes from above. If this is true than our validation isn’t found in our abilities, but rather God’s. If we can dwell in His ability to fulfill what He wants then we don’t look to ourselves, and therefor bypass the need to be insecure because our security comes from Him. 

I hope all that makes sense. All I know is this. Christ loves us, so we need to love others. AND it isn’t the “thought that counts” when it comes to people. They don’t know your thoughts, so they need to see your thoughts put to action. So go out today and love someone extravagantly because that is how you are loved!

Dustin

I’m so hungry I can barely contain myself! Holy smokes it’s gettin me. Must….press…..in….

dustin

It is day 13 and I have been lousy at documenting this, but there really hasn’t been anything for me to write about. It is typically the same every day- hunger, tiredness, seclusion etc. Although my hunger has been diminishing over the past few days I am just choosing to ignore it. At this point I really don’t care if I am hungry I just want God to be my hunger. I can’t seem to get Jesus’ words out of my head, “Man cannot live on bread alone, but by every word of God.” Luke 4:4  I have a peace when I realize that this isn’t about me wanting to eat, but a deciding factor to live on each of God’s words.

So, then I began a quest today. What is every word of God? Sure it’s referring to scripture, but it’s also referring to the spoken word of God into us. I can only tell you that every day is different and every minute can change. BUT one thing remains the same the love. The one word that will never change in the heart of God that we must learn to live off of is love. His love beats for us as steady and consistent as our hearts. Every pump of our heart flows life into our mortal bodies, but every pump of God’s heart flows an eternal love that we can have now. This eternal love never fails. This love casts out fear, confusion, anxiety and impatience. So the word that I am feeding on today is love. I will eat up the love of God by acknowledging his goodness, faithfulness, and compassion today. God is love.

God, let your love pour down and shine down on us this day and every other. May we learn how to receive your goodness and joy at this present moment.
Amen

Dustin

So I laid down in bed tonight to the sound of the bass-line of some U2 song and thought to myself, “Well, guess this is the night.” I contemplated for about 5 minutes whether I was really going to have the courage to go over there and do it, but decided that the Lord wasn’t gonna let me sleep if I didn’t. I grabbed the bottle of wine from the counter and started praying over that thing, and boy if the power of the Holy Spirit didn’t flow through me into it then I don’t know what happened. I prayed that it would be a trojan horse, and that it would be a seed planted that would lead to their salvation. 

So I set out, and discovered they were sitting just out of earshot from their fence, and out of view. I yelled a couple of times but they couldn’t hear me over the music, and I didn’t feel right just barging into their yard uninvited. I prayed for a few minutes, waited a little longer, and was about to give up when I decided to go around to the other side of the house and noticed it allowed me to walk right up to where they were sitting. The wife had gone inside, so I introduced myself to the husband and told them that I had heard the music and just wanted to wish them a good evening, and bless them with a bottle of wine. He looked kinda surprised for a moment and said, “Oh you didn’t have to do that… Do you want a beer?” I thanked him, but said I had to be up early… And that was that. 

I’m excited to see what God does next.

Chris

We’re after it, but we don’t have it yet.

This thing has been REALLY hard. We’re on day 11, and I’m just as hungry this morning as I was on day 2. Here’s the thing though: I’m really excited, but I was so close to giving up last night, because I’m frankly a little frustrated. I don’t mind not having food, as long as I can have God, but over the past 11 days I felt like I’ve had neither. So as I’m lying on my bed contemplating whether this is even worth it last night, I breathed in through my nose and all of a sudden smelled a strong fragrance of flowers – no idea what kind though. I breathed again and it was gone. I thought I must have been imagining it until a couple minutes later I smelled it again for one breath, and then gone. This happened 2 or 3 more times as I laid there, and I just got the sense that we were getting really really close to breaking through – close enough to smell it! This wasn’t just an ordinary smell. It was the same thing I experienced at the Calvary Campground: An aroma that permeated your nostrils and throat, but wasn’t abrasive. It was so strong you could taste it, but it wasn’t irritating. It was heavenly!

Lord, let us endure this thing, even if it means being hungry every day for the next 29 days, we’re not giving up!

Chris

So I write this while sitting on a cooler a few feet from the stage of The Call DC ‘08. Things get rolling here in about 2 hours, and there’s not nearly as many people here yet as I would have expected.

This is the morning of the 9th day of our fast, and all 3 of us have been struggling pretty bad. We were hoping it would have gotten much easier by now, but our resolve is set and we’re going to see this thing through.

The Lord has really been speaking to me a lot about transition, and I believe that for me this fast marks the transition that I’ve been waiting for. I don’t know what that looks like, but I’m expecting some really great things from God over the next season of my life.

So today I’m going to stop somewhere on my way home from work and pick up a nice bottle of wine… Then the next time I hear the music I’m going to go give them the wine and wish them a good evening. They may not turn the music down, but it’ll certainly soften my heart and kill them with kindness.

Thanks for the idea Dustin.

Chris

So we have neighbors who like to sit at their pool till all hours of the night drinking some beers and having a good time just about every night. Nothing wrong with that I suppose, except that they also like to have music during their revelries… Again, nothing wrong with that because they don’t keep the volume up too high. However, their sub appears to have been placed in the perfect spot to reverberate right into my house, just to the point where you can only hear it if you’re in the bedroom and its quiet. ie. You’re trying to sleep.

I kindly asked them if they would just turn the bass down on Saturday night, and the woman didn’t like that idea very much, insisting that since they were the 5th house on the block, they felt as if they owned the neighborhood and didn’t much care for some young guy coming over to their house at 9pm asking them to turn down the music. (They actually said that, even the part about owning the neighborhood.) They begrudgingly agreed that they would turn down the bass some, but I went back to bed to the thumping beats of some 70’s rock anthem.

As I’m lying here tonight contemplating whether calling the cops would do any good since its not after midnight and I don’t think they legally have to turn it down yet, I have this nagging suspicion that my inconsiderate neighbors are actually an answer to prayer. I’ve asked the Lord to teach me how to love more, and this sounds like a way He would choose to show me how. I feel like there is an answer to this conundrum in love, that will minister to my neighbors and hopefully give me an opportunity to introduce them to Jesus.

I don’t know what it is yet, but I’m going to find out!

Chris

This morning is pretty tough. It started out pretty well with a good time of prayer at church, but afterwards I was completely drained and dead tired. Even a nap in the car didn’t help. Oh well though, this is worth it. Pressing in to God is always worth it. 

I had some good times with the Lord yesterday when I was able to sense His presence very strongly, sometimes to the point of being overwhelming. Looking forward to that increasing!

Chris