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“Similarly, fasting is peculiarly suited to glorify God in this way. It is fundamentally an offering of emptiness to God in hope. It is a sacrifice of need and hunger. It says, by its very nature, ‘Father, I am empty, but you are full. I am hungry, but you are the Bread of Heaven. I am thirsty, but you are the Fountain of Life. I am weak, but you are strong. I am poor, but you are rich. I am foolish, but you are wise. I am broken, but you are whole. I am dying, but your steadfast love is better than life (Psalm 63:3).’” A Hunger for God by John Piper

Our fast this week will be the same length of time as the previous two weeks. Next week our fast will be longer so, this week you should prepare to remember the ways and times in which you struggled most so you can guard yourself better and better to fight the temptations.

We will spend time during this fast giving thanks for the many ways in which we are blessed by God, both spiritually and physically. We will be trying to capture a better posture of humility and thankfulness. We are abundantly blessed by God and it is good for us to take time to reflect and to thank him (not saying that you don’t already regularly do this). Doing this while fasting will help us have clearer minds, be less distracted and be more focused on God, our spirit and the things that come to mind as we spend time reflecting.

1. On Monday after dinner (any time in the evening before bed) take some quiet time for yourself and make a list in your journal of all the ways you were blessed by God in that day. Be specific when you can be. Then, spend time in prayer thanking him for all of those things and people. Also pray for your focus and strength during your fast.
2. On Tuesday, for breakfast, spend time writing in your journal about the ways God has blessed you over the past three months. Spend some time in prayer about these things and give thanks to God. Read Psalm 33
3. For lunch on Tuesday do the same journal exercise as above but for the past year. Spend more time in prayer about these things and praising him. Read Psalm 34
4. After dinner on Tuesday, anytime before or at bedtime, spend time thinking about and thanking God for the gift of Jesus and the blessing he is to us. Spend some time reflecting over his life, sacrifice, death, and resurrection. Then spend time in prayer thanking God for him. Read the passage(s) of your choosing from the life, death, and/or resurrection of Jesus. You can journal about anything that comes to mind and about your readings and why you chose them.

Hopefully by dinner on Tuesday we will feel even more humbled by, thankful for, and aware of the many ways God has blessed us over the last day, last three months, and last year. Get excited about your dinner on Tuesday; be thankful for it and tell God; praise him for all that he provides us with. Something I enjoyed from our reading last week was to take your hunger and let it first be a reminder to hunger for God. Seek him first, pray to him first, recognize that He is our source of life, then give thanks for your food and enjoy it. It comes from Him and it is good!

“Praise be to the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in the heavenly realms with every spiritual blessing in Christ.” Eph 1:3

“3 [God] humbled you by letting you hunger, then by feeding you with manna, with which neither you nor your ancestors were acquainted, in order to make you understand that one does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD. 10 When you have eaten and are satisfied, praise the LORD your God for the good land he has given you. 11 Be careful that you do not forget the LORD your God, failing to observe his commands, his laws and his decrees that I am giving you this day. 12 Otherwise, when you eat and are satisfied, when you build fine houses and settle down, 13 and when your herds and flocks grow large and your silver and gold increase and all you have is multiplied, 14 then your heart will become proud and you will forget the LORD your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. 15 He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. 16 He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. 17 You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ 18 But remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.” Deuteronomy 8:3-18

“St. Augustine once said that God is always trying to give good things to us, but our hands are too full to receive them. If our hands are full, they are full of the things to which we are addicted. And not only our hands, but also our hearts, minds and attention are clogged with addiction. Our addictions fill up the spaces within us, spaces where grace might flow…The spiritual significance of addiction is not just that we lose freedom through attachment to things, but that we try to fulfill our longing for God through objects of attachment.” Gerald May “Soul Feast” by Marjorie J. Thompson

Fasting Week #2 – “Self-Emptying”

This week our focus will be around the theme of “self-emptying.” Our fast from food will be the same length of time as last week- a 24 hour fast from Monday’s dinner until dinner on Tuesday. Please drink water only during this time. Please remember the cautions and instructions from last week.

Reading: Our reading this week will come from a book Mitch shared with me called “Soul Feast, An Invitation to the Christian Spiritual Life” by Marjorie J. Thompson. It has a lot of important things to say about fasting and self-emptying and how the two help us move into a better relationship with God. An important point for this week is that when we give up something for a while we see better how God provides for us and we are that much more thankful for all that we have. Also, as we empty ourselves we get rid of some of the distractions and worries in our lives. We then can be better in-tune with the presence of God in our lives.

Journal Entry #2:
1. What are your general ideas and reactions to the ideas of fasting and self-emptying? What do they mean to you? Did something stand out to you in this week’s reading?
2. What are your motives behind wanting to study and participate in the discipline of fasting? What do you think good motives are?
3. What was your experience with the abstinence from some of our regular activities? (ex: music) What did you experience during your time of silence before God?

Focus on Self-Emptying:
Throughout the entire day of Tuesday we will practice “self-emptying” along with our fast from food. This part will not be broken until Wednesday morning (although we will eat dinner Tuesday evening) when we begin a new day. Take a look at your life and at the things you do each day that fill you up and even distract you from being filled with God. These things may not be intentionally meant to distract from God and His grace, peace, answers, and guidance but, they can do so nonetheless. We will give some of these up for a day while we are fasting so that we can better commune with God and listen to His Spirit working in us and guiding us.
1. Please give up TV, movies, music, computer time for play, and reading for pleasure (can read a book about spiritual disciplines and/or fasting) for the day. As is stated in our reading: “The discipline of abstinence is to learn rightly to enjoy God’s gifts. We need disciplines of abstinence because we have come to relate to food, drink, money, recognition, and many other things in life not as lovely gifts to be enjoyed in moderation and gratitude, but as objects of consumption to fill emotional voids.” (You can work from your computer as you need to but, try to not spend the whole day doing so).
2. Try not to have something scheduled every hour of the day but have some time for quiet, reflection, reading, meditation, and/or prayer. The point is to not try to fill up your day with things simply to distract from your hunger and time of fast. You can carry on with your work and time with people as you like and need to.
3. Spend at least 15 (I suggest 30 if you can) minutes in silence before God. Empty yourself of worry, of thoughts and distractions, of noise around you and simply sit and listen for God or focus on His peace within you. Try not to spend time thinking too much or talking to God. Let Him do the talking. You can do this more than once during this week to continue with our focus. That is up to you and your schedule. Please do not try to do it right before or at bedtime on Tuesday evening, especially if you are very tired. Do it during a time of the day when you are alert but also have some time to relax. Sitting up in a comfortable position may be better than laying down. We pray you enjoy this week’s focus and time of fasting!

“Superficiality is the curse of our age. The doctrine of instant satisfaction is a primary spiritual problem. The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people. The classical disciplines of the spiritual life call us to move beyond surface living into the depths. They invite us to explore the inner caverns of the spiritual realm. They urge us to be the answer to a hollow world. John Woolman counsels, ‘It is good for thee to dwell deep, that thou mayest feel and understand the spirits of people.’ We must not be led to believe that the Disciplines are only for spiritual giants and hence beyond our reach, or only for contemplatives who devote all their time to prayer and meditation. Far from it. God intends the Disciplines of the spiritual life to be for ordinary human beings: people who have jobs, who care for children, who wash dishes and mow lawns. In fact, the Disciplines are best exercised in the midst of our relationships with our husband or wife, brothers and sisters, our friends and neighbors… The primary requirement is a longing after God.” “Celebration of Discipline” Richard Foster.

This week we began our study on the spiritual discipline of fasting. We have chosen Tuesdays as the day we will practice this discipline together each week. We began this past Tuesday with a 24 hour fast and we will over the next eight weeks slowly extend the amount of time we spend fasting. We will at times accompany our fasts with another focus or discipline (such as prayer, service, etc). This week we spent focused time in prayer. Below you can read about the different things we brought before God in prayer. We also spent time reading on this subject from two different books- “Celebration Of Discipline” by Richard Foster and “God’s Chosen Fast” by Arthur Wallis. We invite any of you who have interest to share in this study and time with us. We will try to update our blog each Sunday with what we will be doing the next Tuesday so that you can participate with us if you would like to. Also, please feel free to share with us your thoughts and experiences on this subject.

The following is an outline of what we did to prepare for this past Tuesday.

Monday: Prepare to eat dinner around 6pm and having no desserts or snacks afterward. Drink only water after dinner, which will begin your 24 hour fast. We will break our fast with dinner on Tuesday around the same time. Your dinner, or any last meal, before beginning a fast should not contain a lot of fat or grease. One book cautions against over-eating and eating meals containing a lot of fat or grease before beginning a fast. It states that it can make you feel worse during the fast. Also, because your digestion will slow during your fast (from not eating anything to stimulate it) the heavy meal may not end up being digested properly.

Tuesday: Continue to drink only water throughout the fast but, if at any time you do not feel well (dizzy, too weak, headache), you can have a glass of juice. It is best to drink freshly squeezed or bottled 100% juice (with as little added sugar and preservatives as possible) and the best types during a normal 24 hour type fast are: Pear, multivitamin, pineapple, and banana (also some berry types but not cherry). Grapefruit, orange, and apple should be avoided as they can cause increased stomach acid and indigestion. Also, when drinking juice or water during a fast it is said that room temperature drinks cause less cramping and indigestion than cold drinks. If you feel ill and/or chilled during the fast it is recommended to warm your juice or make a small cup of warm (but not hot) herbal tea, with no sugar or anything added, to help with nausea and chills. It is important you be informed about some of these things just in case you become ill during this time or in the future when we will fast for a little longer than 24 hours. The dinner you break your fast with on Tuesday should also not be too heavy with grease or fat.

Journal: During this eight week study together we will each keep a journal on Tuesdays. For those of us here in Olomouc we will share together each week a little from our journals.

Questions/Considerations for this weeks journal:
1. What do you think about the readings? Learn anything new from them? Have any questions after reading them?
2. Record any prayer requests/thoughts/themes that came to mind during time of fasting.
3. Journal about anything else you want to- struggles or temptations physically during this time, how you handled them, what helped…

Prayer time:
1. For breakfast on Tuesday spend some time praying about this study and what we can all learn from it and how we can grow spiritually through it. Pray for yourself and any of the ways you want to improve personally and to grow with God.
2. For lunch pray for God’s work here in Olomouc (or whatever city you live in), that His Kingdom grows and that we can be a part of that. Pray for our relationships and growth as a team, and for our growing relationships with all the people we know here in Olomouc (or with your family and friends in the city where you live). Also, pray for the other churches we know in our community, in the Czech Republic and in Slovakia.
3. At dinner give thanks for all God provides us with. Spend some time praising Him!

Though the Lord wants us to be able to talk with others in a civil, loving and uplifting way and manner - this does not mean we have to become submissive doormats and be too afraid to engage with the wicked and evil people in this life if we are forced to.

Jesus Himself did not mince any words when attacking some of the high ranking Jewish leaders of His day. He also did not hold back when throwing out the money changers who were trying to do business in His house of worship.

The next set of verses are very interesting, especially in the day and age we now live in where everyone is trying to be politically correct and are to afraid to verbally engage with someone for fear of offending them. They tell us not to be afraid to engage when we have to - and be willing to take a stand and tell the truth even if it means initially hurting or offending someone.

1. “But those who rebuke the wicked will have delight, and a good blessing will come upon them. He who gives a right answer kisses the lips.” (Proverbs 24:25)
   
2. “Open rebuke is better than love carefully concealed. Faithful are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful.” (Proverbs 27:5)
   
3. “He who rebukes a man will find more favor afterward than he who flatters with the tongue.” (Proverbs 28:23)
   
4. “Blows that hurt cleanse away evil, as do stripes the inner depths of the heart.” (Proverbs 20:30)
   
5. “Therefore, putting away lying, each one speak truth with his neighbor, for we are members of one another … let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers.” (Ephesians 4:25,29)

Notice that several of these verses are telling you that if you would be willing to take a strong stand and express the Lord’s opinion on these kinds of hot issues and topics, that you initially may hurt and offend a few people, but afterwards you will end up finding much more favor with others, will help impart grace and knowledge to these people, and then possibly end up receiving a good blessing from the Lord for being willing to do this. - Michael Bradley -

So, I know the video that’s attached at the link’s a little cheesy, but I like the emphasis it makes on speaking positive words and truths into your life. As a natural pessimist, I appreciate the invitation. May hearing and saying positive things create us into more positive beings…

http://vids.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=vids.individual&VideoID=20442020

I just got done watching my favorite kind of movie, the kind that makes you reflect on life, how beautiful it is, and how adventurous and free it can be. It’s called Into the Wild and one of the key lines in the movie is “Happiness is only real if it’s shared.” Last weekend, a guy at the Czecho-Slovak Easter retreat was telling me and Graham how he loves to travel in the outdoors, to rough it and see new places. Most of his traveling, however, he does alone. At one point he solemnly said, I’d like it a lot more if I had someone to share my experiences with. There is a deep desire in mankind for community, a desire reflecting the very nature of the One God in three persons we worship.

Practicing praiseworthy speech is in many ways countercultural and therefore hard to keep up. It’s hard to sustain from day to day after having grown up in homes, schools, societies that model an often less than praiseworthy use of communication— throwaway words, selfish words, hurtful words, and on and on the list could go. Bucking the system and finding transformation is no easy task.

That’s where the Spirit-empowered community of believers comes in. We need each other. And, thank God, we have each other. Walking side by side as disciples of Jesus, Christ’s followers “spur one another on toward love and good deeds (Hebrews 10:24).” They take seriously their responsibility to remind each other of the quality of speech that should flow from their mouths. Because it’s so easy to forget. They encourage one another to keep their heads up despite failures, to get back up after each fall. Because it’s so easy to get discouraged.

And so they—we—give hugs. We give pats on the back. We praise each other for successes along the journey. We thank each other for good deeds and genuine effort. Via a death/resurrection lens, we point out new ways to view a certain problem or situation, or we help someone see something from their enemy’s / friend’s / spouse’s / whoever’s point of view, thus removing blind spots and enabling grace to do its healing work. And the praiseworthy posture we take before any of this teaching or advice takes place, is sitting patiently, saying, “Bend my ear.”

We also need to see examples and to be examples. We are to be living signs for each other and for the world of what communication can be in God’s righteous Kingdom—of how words can be used to set people free, to give life, to speak truth. And all along the way, we pray for each other and praise God. [Summary—what we need and get in community: reminders/accountability, encouragement, physical gestures, praise, thanks, new lenses, open ears, examples, prayer, voice to our worship.]

But beyond requiring community, this type of speech creates it. When you talk like Jesus it draws a crowd. When you use words the way they’re meant to be used it brings people together. Because, there is a hunger for truth in this world, for genuineness—with a healthy mix of humility. And there is a hunger for true praise—to join with all creation in unhindered praise for its Creator and to hear Him reply “Well done.”

As God’s people, we are a family of storytellers, witnessing to the goodness of God to give everything to transform us and show his love for all people through the death and resurrection of Jesus. This priesthood, through words of blessing and hope, connects people with God. As God’s co-workers we are conduits of mercy and love sharing the good news that every man and woman on this planet is a child of God. [Summary—words that draw us together: speaking like Jesus, truth, genuineness, humility, true praise of God, true praise from God, storytellers/witnesses/priests/co-workers, good news, words of love/blessing/hope/reconciliation/mercy, revealing true identity.]

Thanks for reading everyone, Mitch.