Pentecost Fast
I'm just coming off a dessert and soda fast for Lent and it really helped prepare me to experience Good Friday and Easter in a deeper way this year. I don't think I've ever anticipated Easter more. And it's not just because I couldn't wait to drink soda and eat desert :) I've found that when once sense is deprived another sense is heightened. Animals who can't see as well often have a keen sense of smell for example. They see with their nose. In the same sense, when my flesh is deprived my spiritual awareness is heightened.
Something is rumbling in my spirit. I've been reading a book titled When Heaven Invades Earth and it's stretching me to believe God for the supernatural. I've accepted what is abnormal (the lack of miracles and wonders) as being normal. I want my life to be a testimony not just to God's grace but his power as well.
This year I'm experimenting with different spiritual disciplines. I think I know what my next experiment is going to be. I'm going to do a ten day Pentecost Fast. Pentecost Sunday is May 15 and I want to fast and pray for ten days like the 120 who met in the upper room.
This traces back to something God put in my spirit a few weeks ago that I can't get out. I feel like God wants to do something unplanned and uncontainable in my life and the life of NCC. I'm already seeing pockets of revival. I feel like we're on the verge of God doing something supernatural. By supernatural I simply mean something that man cannot produce. I don't want to pastor a man-u-factured church. I Corinthians 14:25 has been my true north when it comes to planning services. It says that people will fall down on their faces and declare "God is really among them." Anything less isn't good enough. We put alot of planning into our services. And that's a good thing. But planning without prayer is a prescription for predictability.
I had a thought a few weeks ago: you can't plan Pentecost. All you can do is pray. But if you pray with intensity for ten days, pentecost is bound to happen!
I'm going to read the gospels in the month of April as a way of walking in the disciple's footsteps. Adn then I'm going to read the book of Acts during my ten day fast. I've never done a "Pentecost fast" but I'm excited to see what God is going to do in my life and the life of our church. If that resonates with your spirit I invite you to join me in a "Pentecost Fast." It doesn't have to look just like mine, but I'm believing God will speak to us and heal us and fill us and empower us in unique ways!
Something is rumbling in my spirit. I've been reading a book titled When Heaven Invades Earth and it's stretching me to believe God for the supernatural. I've accepted what is abnormal (the lack of miracles and wonders) as being normal. I want my life to be a testimony not just to God's grace but his power as well.
This year I'm experimenting with different spiritual disciplines. I think I know what my next experiment is going to be. I'm going to do a ten day Pentecost Fast. Pentecost Sunday is May 15 and I want to fast and pray for ten days like the 120 who met in the upper room.
This traces back to something God put in my spirit a few weeks ago that I can't get out. I feel like God wants to do something unplanned and uncontainable in my life and the life of NCC. I'm already seeing pockets of revival. I feel like we're on the verge of God doing something supernatural. By supernatural I simply mean something that man cannot produce. I don't want to pastor a man-u-factured church. I Corinthians 14:25 has been my true north when it comes to planning services. It says that people will fall down on their faces and declare "God is really among them." Anything less isn't good enough. We put alot of planning into our services. And that's a good thing. But planning without prayer is a prescription for predictability.
I had a thought a few weeks ago: you can't plan Pentecost. All you can do is pray. But if you pray with intensity for ten days, pentecost is bound to happen!
I'm going to read the gospels in the month of April as a way of walking in the disciple's footsteps. Adn then I'm going to read the book of Acts during my ten day fast. I've never done a "Pentecost fast" but I'm excited to see what God is going to do in my life and the life of our church. If that resonates with your spirit I invite you to join me in a "Pentecost Fast." It doesn't have to look just like mine, but I'm believing God will speak to us and heal us and fill us and empower us in unique ways!
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