Yesterday on the way home from work I had some deep worship on and was talking to God as I’m driving along. The fast is going well but I struggle while working, it’s hard to keep the focus spiritual while working and everything around you is flesh. Don’t get me wrong I work with great people but the hunger pains are a reminder to feed on His Word and to worship. Can’t always do that when you are working and running around. So, my drive home is a fantastic time to connect back with the Lord.

I have a few things that I am seeking from him during this fast, most are pretty personal and others are about ministry. One is this: I wonder how I can love Him so much, praise so hard, go so deep and the next minute when something shakes me I can be angry, say things I should not say about someone. For example road rage 🙂 you know when someone does something really stupid on the road, cuts you off or drives super slow in front of you when you can’t pass…. MAN I say things that are not Godly at all sometimes. It really bothers me how I can be this way….

Back to my drive home…. I am asking the Lord why? how? And I say out loud to Him you need to show me, tell me and help me with this. Not 2 minutes later I’m on highway 88 and I’m driving about 50 or 60 miles an hour when a car going the opposite way of me puts his blinker on to turn left, there is me and about 6 cars behind me so he can’t turn, so he pulls into my lane like it’s a left turning lane and stops, just sits there waiting for us to pass so he can turn….. I am approaching him quickly and I lay on my horn, yelling at him and calling him names, saying how stupid he is with some choice words in the middle of it all. I have to swerve into the oncoming traffic lane to avoid hitting him… to say the least I was not happy. As I passed him it was like in slow motion, I look over at him in anger and when I saw him everything changed. It was a little very old man that probably shouldn’t have been driving, but he had no clue what he had done. As I got back in my lane all of a sudden a wave of compassion swept over me, to the point where I teared up….I said a quick prayer for him and I understood how sad this was and how he must feel in his life.

As I am driving I HEARD…. HEARD the Lord say “A double minded man is unstable in all his ways” — I kind of ignored it and then it hit me like a ton of bricks!!! HE SPOKE TO ME, HE ANSWERED MY PRAYER that I PRAYED just minutes before when I cried out to him for help on this issue during this fast.

The truth is there are area’s in my life that I am still double minded… I thought I was way past that but I’m not…. there is no such thing as “parts of our lives that are double minded” we are either double minded or we are not!!! BUT he showed me, now it’s up to me to focus my life on “ONE THING” — All in, all the way!! No turning back.

I’m am thankful that He loves me enough to show me. Pressing in hard.

James 1:8 “a double minded man is unstable in all his ways”

After last night’s worship and prayer service I woke up excited to see what the Lord has for me today. First I want to say what an awesome job my wife did last night speaking to the church about fasting, it was well put together, spoken clear and full of Holy Spirit. I also want to thank Pastor Doug and Connie for supporting her and passing out so many of her books this week. We LOVE our church!!!

So, day 5 brings me to chapter 5 in the book of John. I am reading this book and asking God for new eyes, to see it in a new way, new depth. I have read, studied, preached, wrote about, and re-read this book hundreds of times over the last 30 years. Today I am reading about the sick man at the pool of Bethesda — a place where people were healed in the pool when the pool bubbles. This man was sitting there 38 years waiting to be healed. He had no one to put him in the pool…. 38 years!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Jesus comes along and says “stand up, pick up your mat, and walk” and he is healed, just like that… just a word and BAM it’s done.

Now, there are hundreds of sermons in this little part of scripture but today this is what the Lord showed me….

If you walk into Barnes and Noble or any other book store, or if you google “healing” there are thousands of books, thousands of pages on google of ways to be healed. There are formula’s, there are meds, there are ….. well just about anything you can think of or NOT think of ways to be healed. This man was convinced and knew that the first one in the pool was healed… why? Who knows? But that was the formula and the way it worked. Then Jesus comes along and speaks a word and he is healed.

What we need is JESUS! He is the healer, He is the one that touches and restores. Don’t get me wrong, I am not saying not to use Dr’s or medicine but what I am saying if we spend as much time seeking Him as we do “fixes” — this guy spent 38 years laying by a pool hoping.

On a side note later in the chapter Jesus meets up with this guy again and says to him.. “Now you are well; stop sinning, or something even worse may happen to you” I want to know what this man was doing that he was sinning. 🙂

Bottom line, SEEK HIM WITH ALL YOU HAVE!!! It’s a win win situation…..

Day 4 and I’m excited — I know that day 4 usually starts bringing the breakthroughs. Breakthrough the hunger barrier, breakthrough in the Word, revelation, restoration, repentance …..

Today as I’m reading John chapter 4 it’s the story of the Samaritan woman at the well. We all know this story pretty well, the disciples went into town to buy food and Jesus stayed back, he was sitting at Jacobs well and have an encounter with this woman… it’s a fantastic story about HIM being the Messiah and salvation.

When the disciples get back with the food they find him energized and having this encounter with this woman. Makes me laugh none of the disciples had the guts to say what they were feeling… WHY IS HE WITH A SAMARITAN???? Any way they come back with food and tell Jesus  “Rabbi, eat something” and Jesus response to them is basically no, I’m good…. they talk to each other asking “did someone bring him food while we were gone?” and Jesus explained:

“My nourishment comes from doing the will of God, who sent me, and from finishing his work….”

THERE IT IS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

As humans we eat, most of us eat when we do not even need to eat and for the most part most of us are all over weight and in not such good health from it. We eat to satisfy, to fulfill, to try and bring some type of satisfaction or happiness. Jesus said….

1. Nourishment comes for doing the will of God. The will of God as we all know is to love him with all we have, allowing Him to love us, and telling the world about it. SO, seek nourishment with Him. Know, live and walk out this in our lives daily. FEED YOUR SPIRIT-MAN, not your stomach. We will be healthy, have strength and probably eat right for the rest of our lives.

2. And finishing his work. Don’t check out, finish the work that you start with him, listen to his voice, his calling and GET out there. You will be nourished by finishing the work he has giving you!!!!

Such a good word today!!!!

Today I do not have much to write, I do want to encourage anyone on the fast today.

Today is day 3, I have found that this is the most difficult day. Our bodies are accustom to eating whatever we want, whenever we want. And like most American’s we do not eat very well, lot’s of fast food, lots of sugar, lot’s of JUNK. So these first three days our body is craving these things. Use this as a reminder how much God desires us to crave Him, crave time with him, crave deep worship, intercession, prayer, quiet time and just time in his presence.

I find for myself that the intense hunger I’m feeling is very humbling, my focus is on me right now as I’m call out to God….. I want to say STAY STRONG and when breakthrough happens it will be AMAZING!!!

It is the bridegroom who marries the bride, and the bridegroom’s friend is simply glad to stand with him and hear his vows. Therefore, I am filled with joy at his success. He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less. ~John 3:29-30~

This was part of my reading today as I’m going through a chapter a day in the book of John… this was one of me goals in this fast. To be a humble man with the focus ALWAYS on HIM and never on ME!!! In my flesh I crave the attention and I can tell you first hand that is NOT a good thing at all.

Have a very blessed 3rd day of this amazing FAST

Today begins day 2 of the 21 day fast. Day one went well, I was home and able to just do a whole lot of nothing. We went shopping and bought all our fruits and veggies for juicing, so we are set for about a week or so. Today will be the test, going to work, although I will be a meeting from 9-5 it will be easy BUT I’m sure they will have donuts, snacks and lunch served all day.

When I get hungry I pray, read the word, and tell myself why I’m doing this. I’m not doing this so I can whine while I’m hungry, complain how hungry I am, but I am doing this to SEEK God, find clear direction in my life, looking for some victories in my personal life, I’m looking for direction in my spiritual life in church, with my family and personally.

I am going through the book of John, today I finished chapter 2 — lol I just realized that there are 21 chapters in this book PERFECT!!! Today a section stood out to me that I want to dig into a little deeper…..

John 2:23-25 —

²³ Because of the miraculous signs Jesus did in Jerusalem at the Passover celebration, many began to trust in him. ²⁴ But Jesus didn’t trust them, because he knew all about people. ²⁵ No one needed to tell him about human nature, for he knew what was in each person’s heart.

I want to capture the thought of “Jesus did not trust them…” so off I go to study — I will write tomorrow about it.

Today I am starting a 21 day fast along with our church and thousands of other churches around the world. I have to say I am excited about it but I am also a little nervous about it. A few years back I had the experience of my life through a fast. I went 35 days on a water fast, well actually I started out with jello and broth and after a week I went just water.

Through the fast so many amazing things happened, I led my church through a couple fast after that. When it was winding down I didn’t want to stop, I journal-ed the entire fast and I wish I still had it to refer back to, but I deleted everything I had ever written back in 2012 (I wish I hadn’t now), the time was amazing ane life changing. But that was a few years ago now. I cannot live on that experience, what I can live on is I KNOW what fasting does, what can take place!!

Another aspect of this fear is when I went through that fast I was in full time ministry and I hammered people all the time that it was possible, everyone should experience this and should be able to do it. Well, today I work 50 or 60 hours a week not to mention I’m a little older. BUT with that said, I am a man and He is God, I trust Him and I believe He has called me to do this, so today I enter in.

My plan is a juice fast and I am going to dig into the book of John. Please pray for me as I enter into this and I will pray for all those who are joining me.

IF you are part of this fast share your experience, your plan, your victories and your struggles on our facebook group….    mcc 21 day fast

I plan writing blogs daily so check in for new blogs on what the Lord is doing

One day Peter and John were going up to the temple at the time of prayer—at three in the afternoon. Now a man who was lame from birth was being carried to the temple gate called Beautiful, where he was put every day to beg from those going into the temple courts. When he saw Peter and John about to enter, he asked them for money. Peter looked straight at him, as did John. Then Peter said, “Look at us!” So the man gave them his attention, expecting to get something from them.” Acts 3:1-5

In the 3rd chapter of Acts, it says that Peter and John were in Jerusalem and walked by a gate leading into the Temple, the gate called Beautiful. There sat a crippled beggar. They instantly healed him and brought him walking and dancing into the Temple. But did you know his soul was made whole as well? He had been touched by God’s love through the apostles’ hands.

The Hebrew worshipers were astonished because they had passed by this man day in and day out on the way to worship. Maybe some had contributed a small coin to his livelihood now and then when they had spare change. But, it never occurred to any of them to bring God’s healing love to the man. That would have taken more effort and faith.

As Christians, we are called to look around us and see who is hanging out just outside the gate called Beautiful—just outside our blessed lives—who may need God’s love, despite how “loveable” they may appear. It may be a street beggar, or a friend that sets your teeth on edge. Perhaps it is that really negative person at work who gossips about everyone, or a stranger who slips in and sits on the back pew.

We have experienced His love, being healed in spirit, and maybe in body too; therefore, we are to bring others into His Temple of Mercy. It’s our calling to take them by the hand and help them enter through the gate called Beautiful (because we are all precious in His sight) into His loving presence where they can be made worthy by His sacrifice.

Now go out and have an EPIC day today