“The tongue is our most powerful weapon of manipulation. A frantic stream of words flows from us because we are in a constant process of adjusting our public image. We fear so deeply what we think other people see in us that we talk in order to straighten out their understanding. If I have done some wrong thing (or even some right thing that I think you may misunderstand) and discover that you know about it, I will be very tempted to help you understand my action! Silence is one of the deepest disciplines of the Spirit siplmy because it puts the stopper on all self-justification.

George Fow often speaks of “the spirit of bondage” and how the word lays in that spirit. Frequently he identifies the spirit of bondage with the spirit of subservience to other human beings. In his Journal he speaks of “bringing people off of men”away from that spirit of bondage to law through other human beings. And silence is one way of bringing us into liberation.

And as the conclusion, D. Bonhoeffer writes: “Real silence, real stillness, really holding one´s tongue comes only as the sober consequence of spiritual stillness.”

I f you do not mind I sent it to you as a comment, I got an e-mail from joshua I think, where he was describing your commitment (all of you) for the next few months. I thought I could add some thoughts..
May God bless you all.k

Thank you so much for your kind reply, Joshua.

alina

Thank you for your postings. Please, no worries; your comments are not “unwanted,” but rather appreciated insights, questions and inspirations, whether you were anonymous or not!

Yes, you seem to have noticed that our prayer responses are often focused on our group because of the effort we have given collectively toward this purpose. However, we invite you and anyone else to join with us in study, practice and conversation concerning prayer or any other discipline we focus upon in the future. We are thankful for your prayers!

As to fasting, yes we sometimes do. We have noticed the richness to fasting the few times we have done so, and I think it makes us wonder why we don’t perhaps do so more often. Usually, when I fast, I do so for a period of only about 18-24 hours and I abstain from food but not from water. I think prayer and fasting aren’t required to always go together but should on more occasions so that we learn (among many things) to better rely upon spiritual, rather than physical, strength for our prayers. I think fasting can also involve abstaining from things other than food and drink, like activity, TV and computer, etc. so that our focus is being trained more upon God.

Wouldn’t it be nice to study “fasting” at some point? That we must do! God bless!

Joshua

There’s a lot of “we” in your response and this has made me think that, maybe, the daily quotes on prayer are only for the team members. IN that case, I want to apologize for leaving “unwanted” comments. I wanted to ask only; I did not want to accuse when I put the question “do you fast”.

I have not left my name for I have always wanted to pray for people and not draw attention to myself or thefact that I pray for them. I have changed that because you find it probably unpolite.

in Jesus Christ,
alina

Thank you for your thoughts and questions. Yes, we do believe in the discipline of fasting as mentioned in the scriptures. We, at this time, are taking one spiritual discipline at a time and focusing heavily upon it in thought, in study and in practice so that we may learn more about each one and more about what God has to teach us as we strive to serve Him and grow closer to Him through the process.

Thank you again for your comments.

God bless!

I also appreciate the Jeremiah quote a few days ago. That one is right up there with Jer. 9:23-24, 10:23, & 12:5).