The Formula for Renwal

Revival Prayer

 
Here at MCN, we are looking forward to our spiritual renewal week known as revival. If you are not familiar with the tradition, revival is a time we set aside for the renewal of our spirit. We will typically have a special preacher come and share the messages that God has specifically laid on his or her heart. We spend several services together listening for God to speak words of renewal into our beings.

 
The important thing to note is that the revivalist does not bring renewal with him or her in their luggage. Renewal is not guaranteed simply because we have spent the bigger part of a week in corporate worship services. There is no magic formula for revival. The only guarantee is that we do the hard work to prepare our hearts for revival.

Revival takes concerted, intentional, and intense prayer. 

In the Old Testament, in the book of II Chronicles, the nation of Israel was gathered around the new temple in which they would worship. During that dedication ceremony, God shared the key to the renewal of the people in times of trouble, of darkness, and of crisis. "If my people whoa re called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." (II Chronicles 7.14, NASB)

Renewal necessitates humility, prayer, and repentance. In a word, if renewal is to come, we but intentionally come to see ourselves in a new light, in light of God's truth. We are frail people, prone to self-deception and failure. We desperately need the renewing grace of Jesus Christ which reorients our life. His power released in us, through prayer and confession, renews the thoughts and patterns of our minds so that we can seek the renewing relationship with God that he desires for us. Through prayer, we acknowledge that we cannot renew our inner being. We need to seek the presence of God will a single minded passion.

Here at MCN, I have challenged those who really hunger for revival to personally devote 14 hours of prayer, over the next two weeks, to intense prayer for revival to come first to their hearts, and then to the hearts of fellow disciples around them. I invite you to spend significant time with God over the next two weeks seeking His voice, and the renewal of His presence in you.

Listening for Him,
Pastor Art

Just Do It!

Just Do IT!
 
People often ask for advice regarding how to pray, and how to pray more effectively. I have been on across the years of my walk with Jesus Christ to wonder how to improve the quality of my prayer life. I have read many books. I have studied who people that I perceived as great prayer warriors have prayed. I tried to pray like them. I didn't meet with much success. 
 
One day, as I was particularly frustrated, I remembered the tag line from a popular Nike ad campaign, "Just do it!" Nike challenged people to buy their shoes and their athletic gear and just do the sport that they enjoyed. They didn't challenge me to become Bo Jackson, (Good thing too!) they just challenged me to get up and do what I loved to do.
 
It occurred to me that that simple tag line was a critical key to developing a transformative and powerful prayer life. Simply put, the key to a strong prayer life is to "Just pray." Pray because we love to converse with God, who invites us into his presence. Pray because it is a natural part of our relationship with Him. Pray because we need his direction in our life. Pray because we just want to pray.
 
Notice, there is no magical formula. There is no specific pattern. When we pray, we just use the language, the relationship, and the grace that God gives us to invite us into his presence to communicate with him. Simply put, "Just do it!"
 
I invite you to begin this practice of conversationally praying with God, just because it is the thing to do! You will be amazed at how and where he transforms you. You will wonder how you missed his voice before. You will find an amazing, powerful prayer life just finds you when you "Just pray."
 
Listening for Him,
Pastor Art

Prayer Hints - Fasting 101

A Beginners Guide to Fasting

Much of the reason that fasting has fallen into disrepair in the modern church is that many people have come to misunderstand fasting. If you mention the word "fasting" to many people they thing of long periods of time going without food. While an absolute fast is one form of fasting, it is not the ONLY way to fast. Other people have come to believe that fasting is a discipline to be practice by spritual super-heroes and not the common disciple. The fact is fasting is a powerful tool in the life of the ordinary believer to create space for God to speak in new and special ways in their life.

If you are new to fasting, or haven't fasted in years, here are some practical hints to help you get started again.

Fasting should be prompted by the Holy Spirit. Fasting is an activity that the disiple should practice at the leading of the Holy Spirit. Too many people begin fasting in their own strength and leadership. This defeats the primary purpose of fasting. The point is to deny our base needs and desires to experience God in new ways and to be more completely open to his leadership. Human effort, human wisdom, and human strength gets in the way of the holy space. On the other hand, when God leads to fasting (through his many ways of speaking) he already has something in mind for us. We can begin to fast more aware of his presence and leadership.

Begin your fast at sundown and end your fast at sundown. In my own early attempts to fast, I sabatoged myself. By fasting one day, from breakfast to breakfast, I was actually fasting something closer to 36 hours. By the end of the evening I was ravenous. (There are times when this is the point, but not at the beginning stages.) A wise person pointed out to me that fasting in scripture is from sundown, to sundown, a natural 24 hour fast. In my early stages, this was much more managable and led to a great deal of success early on. I found the momentum made it easier for me as the Lord grew me and deepened my walk with him.

Take your personal limitations into account. Many people don't fast because they have physical restrictions that mandate a certain level of caloric intake, or certain kinds of food. I take a medication that I must take with food. Thus, when I fast, I have to take that into account. So for me, when I fast, I begin my morning with juice, or water and a piece of dry toast. I take in a minimal amount of calories that I might observe my fast, but still deny myself.

We also may fast things other than food. Their is great benefit in fasting noise and practing the disipline of silence, or holy listening, for a time. I have benefitted from fasting television and other distractive practices in my life that God might have more space in the rythyms of life to more fully invade my space.

These are only a few hints to help you on your journey. Ask God in your quiet time if he would have you fast something so that you might be closer to him. "Taste the Lord and see that he is good!"

Fasting

Fasting is a spiritual discipline that has fallen into little use in American churches today. It is little wonder. In our instant gratification, drive-up, feed-me-now culture anything that smacks of self-denial is looked upon with great suspicion. Anyone who shares that they do practice fasting is looked upon as something of an eccentric, or a hero. This misses the point of fasting.

Note that in scripture, fasting is assumed by Jesus as a normative practice among his followers. Jesus, when instructing his disciples in fasting says, "When your fast..." (Matt. 6.16-17). He is assuming that at different times in their journeys, they would find that fasting, as they prayed, would bring spiritual breakthroughs and progress not otherwise possible. Fasting is a key practice in scripture to growth and power.

Fasting is not a practice to be entered into legalistically. It is a means of humbling one's self before God to create the holy space through which God can speak to our spirits. Fasting reveals our dependence on people and things other than God. Through our hunger, we can come to more fully appreciate our dependence on the power and grace of God.

In my own life, some of the deepest revelations that God has given to me have come in those times when I have entered into fasting. Some of the deepest awareness of the grace and love of Jesus Christ have come when I have denied myself food and exposed the deeper motives and condition of my soul.

I invite you to pray and ask God if he would be leading you to practice fasting. Trust in him, follow his leading. You will be rewarded with a deeper and more powerful awareness of the power and presence of God in your life.

Dry Times and Prayer Blocks

There are times in life when it seems as though your prayers hit the ceiling and go nowhere. That can be an intensley frustrating and dry time. Praying can often become a chore and most difficult. We life in an instant gratification society. Like it or not, we often get pushed into that mold. We expect our prayers to be answered immediately and to our personal satisfaction. Problem is, it doesn't always work that way.

What do I need to do to experience the fresheness that comes.

First realize that spriritual warfare is a reality. The battle that we fight is with powers taht are far beyond ours. By recognizing who our fight is ultimately with, we can tap in to the spiritual resources that guarantee our victory. So, that being said, here are 4 hints to overcome the dry times in prayer.

Pray anyhow. The temptation when prayer gets difficult is to simply stop praying. This is absolutely the worst thing that we can do in our spirit. We disconnect from the one who is the source of life, power and deliverance. Even though we may not feel that anything is going on in us when we are in the dry times, God is working. We must continue to create the environment in which he can most clearly speak and move in our lives. Continue to pray.

Trust God. The dry times shake our faith. It makes us doubt our self, our spirituality, our fitness, and ultimately the love and power of God. Dry times in our life are times when we must most clearly continue to trust in and rest in God. As his disciple, we have faith that at exactly the right moment, he will break through and answer our prayers, deliver us, and minister to us. Dry times are times for unshakeable faith.

Pray Scripture. Dry times are confusing and disorienting. Things that previously made sense, don't. Old ways of coping are challenged. The words that we need often escape us. Simply put, we don't know how to pray. The disicpline of praying scripture, openly, honestly, and obediently often helps us through this difficult time. We can hear God's promises in our lives in fresh new ways. He speaks through the power of his word to reorient our life, our needs, and our hearts. His word lives in us in new ways.

One way that I often tell folks to pray is to look at situations in scripture that mirror your struggle. There is nothing new under the sun. There are parallels in scripture to everything that we go through. Do word searches, character searches, read parables. In short, do anything you can to identify with the biblical message and allow it to invade your space.

Engage a prayer partner. Something powerful happens in us when we partner with another person and link arms through prayer. Faith rises. Hearts are transformed. Find a person who is more mature in your walk. Let them teach you about faith and God's love. Share your heart. Allow them to help you shoulder your burden. Together, you will find your way from the wilderness.

I hope that these thoughts enliven and improve your prayer life!

Distractions

There are times that life seems like a life of distractions. I had a conversation today with a friend who marveled at how many times my study phone rang. He said, “That would drive me nuts!” Often times it does. So many times, when I am really trying to concentrate or to get things done, the phone rings, someone drops by to see me, I remember something that I should have done last week, or I simply get distracted from the task at hand. When the distraction is completed (if it ever completes), I have to begin all over again to get the momentum that I need to get stuff done.


Many times, I find the greatest enemy that I have to a meaningful prayer life is distraction. There are so many otherwise good things that can, so very quickly, interrupt my time alone with God and hinder my ability to hear his still small voice leading me and guiding me each day. Before long, I feel dry and isolated from him and realize that it is my own fault. I have not heard from him near enough. Or, I hurry my prayer time, trying to fit it in between distractions and diversions. The result is that I don’t have the depth in my time with God. Soon, we are just acquaintances rather than the intimate companions that he longs for that transforms my life according to his plan.

Here are some hints to deal with the distractions that hinder our prayer life.

Get away! Jesus frequently withdrew to solitary places to pray. Oftentimes at the zenith of ministry activity, he found the need to get alone with God and listen clearly to his voice. He encouraged his followers to “enter their prayer closet” to pray. He knew how powerfully God can speak when we slow down to focus on his voice and his will. Find a comfortable, quiet, regular place that you can set aside as your place of prayer. Make it comfortable to you. In time, you will look forward to that chair or couch, That place will be the cherished time when God will speak.

Take a notebook and pen with you. I can guarantee that the moment that you sit down to concentrate on prayer and touching the face of God, twenty-five things will cross your mind that you need to do or people that you need to call. These will be very important things that you simply cannot forget. As they come to your mind, just jot them down on a page of the notebook. Then you can give yourself permission to forget about them and come back to them later. Rather than interrupt your prayer time, you can put things in life in their proper place and stay connected to God.

Let the phone ring. Most of us have some sort of answering machine. Use it for what it was intended. We can return a phone call in a few minutes, after God is done with us. Nothing in life is as important as the time we spend with God, listening to his voice lead us, grow us, and direct us.

Try these simple hints to deal with the distractions that often cross our life. God will less you and draw closer to you as you draw closer to him.

Personal Prayer

People ask me many questions about how to pray. They are not quite sure that they know how, what words to use, or if God will hear them. One of the most significant pieces of advice that I can give a person, is to “be yourself.”

Jesus taught his disciples to pray to “Abba, Father.” The Hebrew term “Abba” is an intensely personal title for a father. Many have given it the connotation of our English word, “daddy.” The point of Jesus using this terminology to refer to his heavenly father is to remind us that God is intensely personal. He longs for an intimate relationship with us. He longs to hear our voice. He runs to us to embrace our feelings and our emotions. Our God is a personal God. There are two reminders that I would have for you here.

Pray in your own language. So many people begin their prayers using their best King James language and try to emulate the great “prayers” that they have heard in the past. God doesn’t want us to use all the flowery language that we can imagine. He wants us to come to him as we are our own dialect and all. Use the words and phrases that you would use to talk to a friend at the table as you share a cup of coffee. God wants to talk to you, not your childhood pastor.

Pray using your own emotions. The key to a relationship with God is to be real. If the Psalms teach us anything, it is that God is big enough to handle our feelings. David didn’t sugar-coat anything. He told God exactly what he felt. He shared with God his inmost joy as well as his bitterest disappointment. There is a release and a blessing that comes when we come clean with God. It is as we admit our feelings to him that we can hear his voice speaking to the deepest place in our lives.

As you pray, my encouragement to you is, “Keep it real…” then, know the deep love of God, right where you are now.