Posts

21 Day Fast - Day 13

  Devotional You are chosen, holy, set apart, a royal priest--you are a child of God. You may be in need of an anchor right now. Set Christ as your cornerstone today. Write down the ways He has brought you from darkness into light. Spend time in prayer today thanking God for beginning a work in you with His Son set as the foundation for Him to build upon. 2  Therefore, rid yourselves of all malice and all deceit, hypocrisy, envy, and slander of every kind.   2  Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation,   3  now that you have tasted that the Lord is good. The Living Stone and a Chosen People 4  As you come to him, the living Stone—rejected by humans but chosen by God and precious to him—   5  you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house [ a ]  to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jes...

21 Day Fast - Day 12

  Devotional Food is a source of comfort for many. Reflect on how much your thoughts have been overtaken with craving certain foods, missing the things you're fasting from, or even how much weight you could lose. Is it often? If it were alcohol or a harmful drug, would you consider yourself addicted if you were this consumed with your desire for them? For many, this fast can begin an awareness of a harmful place food may have in your life. It can reveal an addiction. Pray that the God of compassion and all comfort will become your primary source of comfort. Ask Him to use this experience with suffering to remove anything in your life that has taken the Holy Spirit's place as your Comforter. 2 Corinthians 1 1  Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, To the church of God in Corinth, together with all his holy people throughout Achaia: 2  Grace and peace to you from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Prais...

21 Day Fast - Day 11

  Devotional This chapter has many convicting challenges--one being for you to match your faith with action. Don't just contemplate God's Word--do what it says. You are now beginning the second half of your fast. Reflect on whether your fast would be characterized more by listening or doing. Ask God for wisdom about where He wants to lead you during this second half of your fast. James 1 1  James, a servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ, To the twelve tribes scattered among the nations: Greetings. Trials and Temptations 2  Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, [ a ]  whenever you face trials of many kinds,   3  because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance.   4  Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.   5  If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it ...

21 Day Fast - Day 10

  Devotional Forty days of nothing? Not hardly. Even though Jesus fasted for forty days, He clearly came out stronger than ever based on the events following it. How is your fast strengthening you? Do you feel like you're floundering? Maybe you're not experiencing the outcomes you expected. Ask God to lead you into the same kind of preparation, power, and purpose that Jesus gained from His time of fasting. Luke 4 Jesus Is Tested in the Wilderness 4  Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, left the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,   2  where for forty days he was tempted [ a ]  by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. 3  The devil said to him, “If you are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.” 4  Jesus answered,  “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone.’ [ b ] ” 5  The devil led him up to a high place and showed him in an instant all t...

21 Day Fast - Day 9

  Devotional This is a great time to explore how you can present your body as a living sacrifice to God. This passage starts with that challenge and offers many ways to express it. In what ways has your fast been helping you experience true worship in new ways? Pray today and ask God to continue to reveal His will for you during this time of sacrifice and worship. Romans 12 A Living Sacrifice 12  Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.   2  Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Humble Service in the Body of Christ 3  For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yo...

A Haunting

  In the time of our innocence, we trusted in good because we had not yet known evil. On this side of Eden and our own experience of the Fall—whatever our own Arrows have been and however the adversary has woven them together into our particular Message of the Arrows—it appears that we are left to find our way to trust in good, having stared evil in the face. Most of us remember the time of our innocence as a Haunting. I (Brent) mean innocence not as being sinless but as that time before our experience with the Arrows crystallized into a way of handling life which is the false self. The Haunting calls to us unexpectedly in the melody and words of certain songs that have become our "life music": the crooked smile of a friend; the laughter of our children (or their tears); the calling to mind of a mischievous face that still believed in joy; the smell of a perfume; the reading of a poem; or the hearing of a story. However the Haunting comes, it often brings with it a bitterswee...

21 Day Fast - Day 8

Image
  Devotional You are entering week two of your fast! This psalm talks about entering God's presence with thankfulness, gladness, joy, and praise in your heart. If you've become focused on the physical hardships you're facing or the burdens you're bringing to God in prayer, then spend today just being joyful in the Lord. Write down some things that bring you joy today. Sing a song of praise to Him. Pray that God will stir an urgency to press in and see what God has for you beyond His gates. Psalm 100 Psalm 100 A psalm. For giving thanks. 1 Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth. 2 Worship the LORD with gladness; come before him with joyful songs. 3 Know that the LORD is God. It is he who made us, and we are his  [ 1 ]  ; we are his people, the sheep of his pasture. 4 Enter his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise; give thanks to him and praise his name. 5 For the LORD is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations...