Private pray for Public Power

"Jesus, while being a very public figure, was actually a very private person. He is not seen praying in public nearly as much as He is seen praying in private. In fact, our Savior was so committed to prayer that He would often pray for hours on end, even through the night. He seemed to crave intimate moments alone with His father in heaven." - Jentezen Franklin

Dry Bones Dance

Rise up O men of God,
Have done with lesser things.
Give heart and soul and mind and strength,
To serve the King of Kings,
To serve the King of Kings.

Rise up O men of God,
His Kingdom tarries long,
Bring in the day of brotherhood,
And end the night of wrong,
And end the night of wrong.

Rise up O men of God,
The Church for you doth wait.
Send forth to serve the needs of men
In Christ our strength is great,
In Christ our strength is great.

Lift high the Cross of Christ,
Tread where His feet have trod,
As brothers of the Son of Man,
Rise up O men of God,
Rise up O men of God.

Rise up O men of God,
Have done with lesser things.
Give heart and soul and mind and strength,
To serve the King of Kings,
To serve the King of Kings.

One day at a time.

Still Fasting. That's right. The Daniel fast is still on.

God is so good to me. There is so much more that He has for me if I will just surrender.

Where are the tears?

Stop! When I stop long enough to expose myself to the light of God's love (which can in no way be absent of truth) I begin to see myself for who I am. I am a beggar and a thief who has been brought into the King's palace. The sheer brilliance of the King is in stark contrast to my dark and dingy self. God's intent is not to expose me as a fraud, for that is evident. No the Kings intention is to help me be honest about who/what I am. Put off the dingy cloths and to put on royalty.

Pure Awe! Pure Joy! Here come the tears.


"My eyes are dry
My faith is old
My heart is hard
My prayers are cold

But I know how I ought to be,
Alive to you and dead to me

What can be done
For an old heart like mine
Soften it up with oil and wine
The oil is you, your spirit of love
Please wash me anew in the wine of your blood"

- Song lyrics by Keith Green.

Hitting the mark, getting specific!

The following is from My Utmost For His Highest, July 3rd.

The Concentration of Personal Sin.
"Woe is me, I am undone! Because I am a man of unclean lips..." (Isaiah 6:5)

When I come into the presence of God, I do not realize that I am a sinner in an indefinite sense, but I suddenly realize and the focus of my attention is directed toward the concentration of sin in a particular area of my life. A person will easily say, "Oh yes, I know I am a sinner," but when he comes into the presence of God he cannot get away with such a broad and indefinite statement.

There is never any vague sense of sin, but a focusing on the concentration of sin in some specific, personal area of life.

The effect of Isaiah's vision of the holiness of the Lord was the directing of his attention to the fact that he was "a man of unclean lips." "He touched my mouth with it, and said: 'Behold, this has touched your lips; your iniquity is taken away, and you sin purged' " (6:7) The cleansing fire had to be applied where the sin had been concentrated.

What are the odds?

What are the odes that I would get a stomach bug the day I am to start my fast but that’s exactly what happened. Oh, it seems that it was only a 24-hour thing. Thank God for that!

I worked hard at staying hydrated. I needed to take some medicine for the diarrhea and I also ended up drinking some Gatorade for electrolytes.

What doesn’t kill you…
I am committed to continuing with my fast.

Some may ask why I have chosen to talk and blog about my fast. After all is fasting to be a private matter. Fasting is both a personal and private matter. Our primary reason for fasting must be to seek God face, drawing near to Him. It should not be done to draw attention to one’s self (Matt. 6:16-18, Matt. 23:28).

However, I believe the discipline of fasting is such a under appreciated, and for many misunderstood that I wanted my experience to act as an encouragement for others. If one person can be encouraged in this disciple I give God all the glory.

May you be blessed as you seek our Father,
Joel

So What's The Plan?

*One should into a fast taking into consideration that it will be taxing on the body. It is recommended that you consult with your physician before you start a fast if you have any medical conditions.

You can fast a meal or longer. There are full food fasts when you just drink water or there’s something called a Daniel fast when you only eat fruits and vegetables.

I’ll be sharing more about the details about fasting in the coming days but for now what I’m I doing.

For the first 7 days of July I will be fasting all food and only drinking water.

Then for the next 21 days I will be doing a Daniel fast.


I’m fasting first and foremost to seek God’s face. Beyond that I’m looking for clarity in regards to God’s calling on my life. I’m also seeking to see some breakthroughs in my life.

We’ll talk about seeking God for breakthroughs on tomorrow’s blog.