Fasting to Begin the Year

My church and I are in the second day of a 21-day period of fasting and prayer. Since 1995 we have engaged in an all-church season of prayer and fasting each year. For years our pattern was to fast during the days leading up to Easter. Over the last four years we have called a season of fasting at the beginning of the year and discovered that it is an amazing way to begin the year and consecrate the remaining twelve months to God.

 

My experience has been that most personal breakthroughs and church changes have been on the heals of fasting, prayer and seeking God intensely.

Fasting has been defined as the voluntary abstinence from food and/ or drink for a designated period of time for the purpose of seeking God more intently concerning specific matters.

Abstaining from food creates a physical hunger that is a constant reminder during your fast of your spiritual hunger and prayer pursuits before God.

Church Father Augustine (354-430 A.D) said; "Fasting cleanses the soul, raises the mind, subjects one’s flesh to the spirit, renders the heart contrite and humble, scatters the clouds of concupiscence, quenches the fire of lust, and kindles the true light of chastity."

Fasting is a discipline that God uses to prepare us for our next season.

·       Moses fasted for forty days in preparation for receiving the Ten Commandments (Exodus 34:28).

·       Daniel fasted for three weeks before receiving his vision (Daniel 10:2-6).

·       Elijah fasted forty days before receiving fresh direction from God (1 Kings 19:8).

·       The Church fasted in preparation to launch into a new season of planting other churches (Acts 13:2,3).

·       Jesus fasted for forty days in preparation for His temptation and beginning of his public ministry (Matthew 4:1-11, Luke 4:1-13).

Fasting at the beginning of the year becomes a type of “First Fruits” offering of our year to God.

 "But seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you" (Matthew 6:33).

As a congregation we have committed pursue "first fruits" living. Here are some practical ways we try to do this.

Give God the first minutes of each day (devotions-Bible reading and prayer)

Give God the first day of the week (Sunday Worship)

Give God the first of our income (tithes and offering)

Give God the first priority of your heart (Make God first in every decision)

Give God the first days of the New Year (fasting and prayer for 21 days)

In Matthew 6, Jesus said …when you give (v. 2)…when you pray (v. 5)…when you fast (v. 16). There seems to be an expectation that those habits will be part of every believer’s life.

I encourage you to consider taking some time during the month of January to offer the “first fruit” of your year to God through a season of prayer and fasting.

Andrew Murray described fasting as “reaching out after the unseen…”

“Fasting is reaching out after the unseen: fasting is letting go of all that is seen and temporal. Fasting helps express, deepen, confirm the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything, even ourselves to attain what we seek for the kingdom of God.”  

  

For more resources on Fasting go to http://www.facebook.com/NewLifeChicagoFast

RE-DEFINING SUCCESS

A few years ago I wrote out my personal vision statement. It was a soul-searching process that forced me to think through what I consider "success". The definition of success I chose to pursue is very different from what most of our popular culture embraces. 

Not the praise of men, not the admiration of co-workers, not the fame of publicity, not wealth or riches, not a life of leisure or pleasure, not the mention in books or magazines, not invitations to speak at prominent events but the gaze of the Father whose eyes say loudly WELL DONE MY GOOD AND FAITHFUL SON is my purest desire. My fleshly heart looks for man-centered ways of measuring my success and significance while my spirit looks to the Father to find divine approval.  Deep inside I know that to act outside of the will of the Father motivated by anything other than his glory is nothing but waste and loss. Men may applaud it, the young may admire it, the crowds may celebrate it and my flesh may be tempted by it, but the Spirit of Jesus quietly side steps all that does not please the heart of the Father.

At the end of my life I hope to measure my success by the standard I have set in the statement below.

Mark Jobe - Personal Vision Statement

I want to be true to my call.

Walk with integrity

Stay in love with my wife while raising a great family

Influence multitudes

Reach the end of my life loving God

above all things and others genuinely as myself

I want to know Christ deeply, be like him increasingly

and make him known where ever I go

I want to hear “Well done good and faithful son enter into

My Kingdom. You have been a man after my own heart.

If you do not define your life's goals than others will define them for you. If you do not live with the   end in mind than your life will tend to drift to the place of least resistance and greatest comfort. If you do not define what success you will pursue you might find yourself succeeding at that which doesn't really matter and failing at that which really does matter. 

When God's Power Shows Up

Several weeks ago I attended a meeting with our pastoral team and I heard the speaker Francis Chan say a phrase that God used to spark expectant faith for this season. Chan said, “the power of God is most manifest when we are on the edge of mission with God”. The obvious reason that God poured out his power at Pentecost was to enable the disciples to be witnesses to the living Christ throughout the region. The greatest manifestations of the miraculous power of God occur when we are being bold witnesses in a dark world to the resurrected Jesus.

It just so happened that our team was preparing to start preaching through the first chapters of the book of Romans that next Sunday. I was struggling with unpacking the thick theology of Romans to our congregation on Chicago's South West Side. It dawned on me that Romans was a letter all about a big gospel to a big city and that what I needed to do was proclaim the Gospel through each chapter calling people to respond to the message. The first Sunday I preached Romans 1:1-16 and called people to repent and believe. To my surprise 35 people came forward to receive Christ. Many of them were visibly shaken and moved to tears.

I began to sense a growing burden for people to come to know the Savior. The next Saturday I woke up a couple of times in the middle of the night. Immediately I knew I was to pray for those who would be at the service and did not know Jesus. I arrived at that service burdened and full of faith for people to come to the Savior. I ask our staff to prepare for baptisms even though we had not announced baptisms and did not have anyone preparing to be baptized. 

That morning I preached through the second half of Romans chapter one. I called people to repent, believe and be baptized. The congregation and I celebrated as 38 people came forward for spontaneous baptisms. All were baptized in their street cloths and went home very wet. It felt like a scene out of the book of Acts. People were coming forward moved by God getting ready for baptism and being prayed over by groups of celebrating believers. It was a little chaotic but full of joy. God was drawing people in an unusual way to himself. One couple that had never attended New Life was watching via live-stream and got in their car and drove an hour and fifteen minutes from Aurora Illinois to Chicago to give their life to Christ and be baptized. A couple of other people that had been watching the first service on live stream came to the second service with tears running down their face declaring they had come to repent and be baptized. One lady felt such a sense of urgency that she drove to the church in her pajamas, double parked her car and ran in to be baptized.

For the past few weeks I have been continuing to wake up at random hours early Sunday morning burdened to pray for people that need Jesus. Each Sunday dozens have responded to repent, believe and be baptized. The congregation has been praying and inviting family members and friends who need to hear the gospel. As of last week 162 people had responded and been baptized at our Midway campus in five weeks. Many others have been baptized at our other New Life locations as well. 

Two Sundays ago I sensed the presence of God so strongly I asked those who knew they needed to give their lives to Christ to come forward right after the worship time before the message was even given and seven people came forward moved and broken ready to give their lives to Christ.

Many times we live our lives in such a way that the power of God is not necessary.  Our expectations are low, our prayers are mundane and our witness is bland. The power of God tends to show up when we throw ourselves with abandon into God’s mission and expect his power to truly make a difference.

God shows up where people are depending on him.

1 Corinthians 4:20 For the Kingdom of God does not consist in words but in power

Guard Your Heart

Guard Your Heart..It Determines the Course of Your Life Many people attempt to clean up their life without getting to the root issues. You may find yourself consistently mopping up sewer water in the basement of your house until you fix the leak in your sewer pipe. Proverbs 4:23 says, Keep your heart with all vigilance, for from it flows the springs of life (ESV). Another translation puts it this way, Guard your heart above all else, for it determines the course of your life (NLT). In other words whatever is in your heart will spill out shaping your life and destiny. Contaminated Spinach In September of 2006 salad eaters became alarmed when a strain of bacteria in spinach began to sicken people. The Centers for Disease Control stated that the E.coli spinach outbreak infected 203 people in 26 states, caused 95 hospitalizations and one death. Authorities were intent on finding the source of the contamination. Ultimately the source was a farm in California where irrigation water was contaminated by wild pigs and cattle. Only when they found the source were they able to stop the contamination from spreading. I see many struggling people that have been contaminated by a serious poison called anger that has turned to bitterness. This bitterness affects their attitude, marriage, spiritual life, view of God, mental health, and even their finances. Scripture says, “...make sure that no root of bitterness shoots forth to cause troubles and many become contaminated by it” - Hebrews 12:15. Bitterness is described as a root. You cannot see a root because it is underground, but you see the effects of a root in the plant it produces above ground. Pollutant of Unresolved Anger Unresolved anger turns to slow simmering bitterness. A root of bitterness can contaminate your heart and everything that flows out of it. The writer of Proverbs warns us to “guard our heart above all else”. Guarding My Heart from Contamination How do I guard my heart from contamination? The Apostle Paul gives us a concise practical three-fold formula to keep our heart from being contaminated by poisonous anger that turns to bitterness. Ephesians 4:26-27 “In your anger do not sin: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” 1. Don't let emotions turn into spiritual poison: In your anger do not sin.

Anger is an emotion - not a sin. Anger can turn from a neutral emotion to a dark sin if we let it take a negative shape. This is true when I am angry and I let my tongue spout mean spirited, critical words intended to wound. This becomes a reality when I am angry and allow my emotion to morph into vengeful actions. Instead, use the energy of anger to find a positive solution. Martin Luther the 15^th century reformer once wrote, “I find nothing that promotes work better than angry fervor. For when I wish to compose, write, pray and preach well, I must be angry. It refreshes my entire system, my mind is sharpened, and all unpleasant thoughts and depression fade away.” Luther had learned to put righteous anger to good use.

If you can’t find a good solution than walk away until you have cooled off. There is a fine line between feeling anger and sinning in our anger. 2. Don't keep unresolved issues in your life: Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry. Practice the twenty-four-hour rule. Deal with your anger before the sun goes down. When you postpone dealing with your anger you allow it to turn into something even more devastating- bitterness and resentment. Bitterness is the result of unresolved relational anger. Bitterness is one of the deadliest spiritual poisons to affect a heart. John Ortberg writes, “Bitterness is like drinking rat poison and waiting for the rat to die.” 3. Don't let emotions open the door to darkness: Do not give the devil a foothold Unresolved anger is a door opener for the enemy. When the enemy gets a foothold he will try to slip as much dark poison through that foothold as he can. Anger and lust are intimate cousins. Show me someone who struggles with unbridled anger and I will show you someone who battles with lust. Anger opens the door to lust, rebellion, depression, pride, and many other contaminating influences. What happens at the source will affect every part of the stream. What happens at the source of your heart will affect every part of your life. If my heart is clean I will flow in life giving energy. If my heart is contaminated than all that I do will be tainted with that contamination. Examine Your Heart If you have been struggling lately with your spiritual life, then it is time to take a close look at the condition of your heart. Have you allowed contamination at the core of your heart that is spilling into your life? It is time to allow the fresh clean stream of a pure heart to flow through your life.

I encourage you to find a quiet place alone with God and pray what David prayed in     Psalms 139:23-24 Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, 
and lead me in the way everlasting. Like the Centers for Disease Control and the spinach we must trace the source of contamination and clean it out.

When the Holy Spirit reveals any source of contamination you must be willing to confess it before God, repent of allowing it near your heart and take steps to remove the pollutant. Psalm 51:10 Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.


May you experience again the joy and energy of life that flows from a clean heart before God.

Pastor Mark Jobe

Fresh God Encounters

Tomorrow is Resurrection Sunday commonly referred to as “Easter”. Millions of people around Chicago-land will do something religious this weekend only to go back to life as usual on Monday. Some, however, will have a God encounter that will shake their world and alter their destiny permanently. Their faith will be ignited by hearing Gospel message and stirred by the supernatural life giving work of the Holy Spirit. They will have an encounter with the God "who gives life to the dead and calls things that are not as though they were" Romans 4:17. This will be the awakening moment and the beginning of many God encounters to come. 

Romans 4:20-21 Yet he did not waver through unbelief regarding the promise of God, but was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God, being fully persuaded that God had power to do what he had promised. Abraham was "strengthened in his faith". We can never underestimate the currency of faith in God’s economy. Faith is the heavenly transportation system that connects heaven and earth. All good things come via the bridge of faith. Many of us become frail and stumble in the waiting periods between the promise and the manifestation of the promise on earth. Abraham "was strengthened in his faith and gave glory to God.” The "waiting" season is where most of us grow weary and fail. How did Abraham strengthen himself and give glory to God when he had to wait decades for the promise? Periodic powerful encounters with God reassured him of what was to come. Only with these encounters can our frail souls endure the battering of doubt, assaults of cynical reason and deception of the enemy that attacks our clinging faith. 

May you experience a fresh encounter with God this season that fills you anew with resurrection power as you wait for the promise of the coming Son. 

He has risen and He is coming again!