One of our last teachings at Aaron Keyes’ school was with Pat Barret from the worship band Unhindered. Pat wanted to talk a little about John 8:31-47. In this passage Jesus says, “…If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples. Then you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.” If the truth sets us free, then what does believing a lie do? Just a little further in this passage Jesus speaks of the Devil saying, “When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.”
So we have this battle going on in our lives. Christ is the truth, His Spirit is speaking truth to us, His Word is available to inject truth into our hearts. Then there are the lies. The dark forces are speaking lies to us, the culture we live in; people we come in contact with, even our own selves may be speaking lies. It’s the battlefield of the mind. Christ won the battle for our salvation, but we must choose everyday to walk in the victory He has bought us!
The devil’s language is lies. His power comes when we agree with a lie. His fiery darts are lies that come against the truth of God. The only thing that can prevent me from stepping into great things in life is if I believe a lie. What we believe sets our limits. “With God, all things are possible.”
Look at John chapter 15 where Jesus tells the parable of the vine and the branches. “I am the vine; you are the branch. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing” (v.5) Jesus among many other things, is the Truth. If we remain in the Jesus, in truth, we will bear much fruit! Don’t you want to live a life that bears much fruit for the Kingdom of God?
Check out verse 7. Jesus says, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you. v8. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”
“…ask whatever you wish, and it will be given to you.” That is one scary verse. We must be careful here to not take this out of the context of the scripture. There is a lot of controversy over teaching on this subject. But I also think we must be careful not to choke the life out of what Jesus just said. If we remain in Christ, and His words remain in us, we will be changed people. Not only that, but anything we ask for will be given to us! It glorifies the Father that our lives would bear much fruit for His Kingdom! Is what you are asking the Lord for fruitful for the Kingdom? Or is it fruitful for you kingdom? Whose kingdom are you going to choose?
“Word” – anything that was spoken or written, that they would teach you, or something that someone has spoken to you; “The act of speaking, or the words spoken.” Jesus said that “if…my words remain in you.” What does that even look like? Let’s skip back for a second to John chapter 10. “…and His [Jesus] sheep follow him because they know his voice. But they will never follow a stranger; in fact, they will run away from him because they do not recognize a stranger’s voice” (v.4-5).
How many of us know the stranger’s voice better then our shepherd’s?
If I hear my Dad’s voice, I don’t even have to see him to know it’s him. I can be in a crowded place, but when I hear my Dad call my name I know immediately who it is. That familiarity comes from intimacy. I lived with my parents for 18 years. They raised me. They provided for me. I spoke with them, had meals with them, traveled with them, did just about everything all the time with them. I know my Dad’s voice. It’s the voice that instructed me, that blessed me, that encouraged me, that warned me. It takes time to become intimate with someone, to really know their voice.
Let’s press into that intimacy with our Heavenly Father! We have the same Spirit that raise Christ from the dead living in us, let’s listen. Take time to be still before the Lord, really still. Take time to be alone with the Spirit, and just wait. Let’s meditate on the Word of God, and let it marinate in our hearts and minds. Try speaking promises of the Bible OUT-LOUD to yourself. The power of life and death is in the tongue, use it to speak truth (life) and not lies (death).
We can live life in two ways. Living from the truth of God, or living from belief in lies. Lord, uncap our potential to bear exceedingly abundant fruit for your Kingdom, by believing in the truth of your words, and casting down every lie that comes to rob us!
-dave
So its the end of December, and the end of a significant chapter of my life. On the 28th August, having had only 6 weeks notice, I took off from OR Tambo International Airport (Johannesburg, South Africa), and made my way to Atlanta, GA. Well, I thought it was Atlanta…later found out it was a little city called Snellville, 30 minutes north of Atlanta. Despite it’s name, it turned out being an amazing little town/city. It was a rad suburbia, with a great sense of community – possibly due to my fairly church-focussed involvement. There’s a few things you need to know about the South East (Info for the folks back home in South Africa):
- Southern Hospitality is no joke!
- Har-bowl-peanut (Hot-boiled Peanuts) exist in abundance! – Monkey nuts that are boiled in salt water…
- Sweet Tea is the local water … its basically cold black tea, with a bucket-load of sugar.
- You gotta love Mexican food, and
- Sprite is one of the flavours of coke.
Atlanta, and its surrounding areas, are awesome! Dare I mention that, if given the opportunity, I would move here in a heartbeat… I’ll leave that right there…
To give you a little summary of my time here I need to be super selective – there is far too much to try squeeze into one email. The following is therefore just a taste of some of the amazing things I got to experience.
I arrived in the states with about 7 months of experience leading worship. To be honest, I felt inadequate coming into the group of super talented musicians, who all had vocal training. This insecurity and feeling of inadequacy was one of the biggest points of development for me over the last four months. The Lord used a bunch of different people, and various circumstances, to teach me that I had been clearly CHOSEN BY HIM to be there for that season. And I learnt that, because He had placed me there, He would give me everything I needed to do what I was called to. It was an amazing thing to learn that He believes in me!
Another lesson that I learnt super quickly, through some deep-end experiences, was that we play for a “one-man audience”. On our first Sunday there, we all led worship together in the main service – it was a terrifying experience for me – 1200 people in a service…talk about being in the spot light…not my favorite situation. But in a lesson taught by Aaron’s guitarist, Austin, I was reminded that we play for one person only. He spoke to us about Ephesians 1, being adopted as sons of God the Father. He taught us that, especially as worship pastors, we need to have our “identities” prioritized correctly. He suggested the following:
1) Child of God
2) Pastor
3) Musician
With this order you don’t get hung up on trying to seek the approval of man. As a pastor, or musician, you can be replaced in a flash. BUT no one can take away your title as a child of God! That brings heaps of comfort when you’re up on stage leading.
One of the most encouraging things that I witnessed, and experienced, in the Grace community was discipleship. It is strongly encouraged and, from what I saw, widely practiced. They encourage three way disciple – every person should be under the discipleship of someone they aspire to be like, and at the same time should be a disciple to someone. It got me thinking about Jesus time on earth. He was obviously a ’spiritual mentor’ to his immediate disciples. But then I also thought of John 5 where He says He only does what He sees the Father doing. I wander if this could be a form of discipleship that Jesus receives from the Father? Even without biblical backing though, I haven’t met anyone who hasn’t benefitted from drawing on the knowledge and wisdom that comes from experience of someone further down the road. Its something I will encourage everyone to do!
My last little bit of advice (for now) – something I’ve learnt and need to pass on. Matthew 6:33 – Seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and He will give you everything you need. If we could live our lives based on this verse, I guarantee that we would begin to understand what Jesus meant by the abundant life Jesus described in Jn 10:10.
Those are literally a couple of the hundreds of life-changing teachings I’ve received in the last 4 months. Its pretty rad, I now has this wild desire for scripture. I think I’ve seen and experienced the power it holds. I pray that no one misses out on the abundant life that Jesus came to give us.
So school is done, which I’m super bummed about. And my time in Atlanta ended on Christmas day. It ended with a bang, though. A couple months ago, I had the privilege of sitting in some planning meetings for the Christmas Eve Service. It was better described as a “dreaming session”. Some of the ideas that were being thrown around were blowing my mind! But it all culminated in a service at the Gwinnett Arena. It was incredible! All the ‘crazy’ ideas I heard in those meetings happened! haha – oh me of little faith. About 7000 people spent a couple hours celebrating our saviour through worship, a short teaching and baptisms! Powerful. Saying goodbye to my amazing Grace family wasn’t much fun! Luckily, I went to a movie with a friend afterwards, so it saved me from prolonging the sad process, and then took my mind off of it for a couple hours! All that to say, I could never squish my gratitude into a few words. I don’t know what I did to get picked for this opportunity, but I grabbed onto it with both hands and never looked back! I know that I will always look back on this time as a significant chapter in which I learnt heaps about my heavenly father, and intimacy with Him. I hope to now lead worship in light of this new depth of knowledge.
On a mixed emotions Christmas day, I flew from the South East to the North West. I’m in Seattle until the 5th. I couldn’t come to America without seeing my brother and sister-in-law, and little niece…kinda. It has been so much fun! I’ve been promising my buddy, Gareth, for months that I’d come snowboarding with him, and finally, on New Years Eve I fulfilled that promise!! It was amazing. So my trip is coming to an end, which is both sad, but exciting.
Thanks to all of you who have prayed for me while I’ve been over here, and to those of you who have read my updates. I apologize for the poor update effort in the last month!! It got pretty wild near the end. But I look forward to seeing you all, and seeing what the Lord has planned for 2010!
Ryan
The worship leading team is more than the people on stage during the singing. I’ll be forming the rest of this paper around Bob Sorge’s leadership structure, which is:
Pastor – Worship Leader/Chief Musician – Orchestra/Singers – Congregation
The first person we should discuss is the pastor of the church. He usually plays a large role in the development of the churches vision and goals. He is, after all, the shepherd of the people. More and more, I’m seeing how important it is that there is a good connection between the pastor and the worship leader. This becomes significant if, like me, you believe that we should be worship pastors more than worship leaders. I’ve been on a journey filled with revelations and experiences that have lead me to believe that simply leading songs is not ok. There is SO much more available to us! I cannot get the promise of abundant life (John 10:10) out of my head. There are tons of people out there who are good music leaders. Sadly, though, there are only a few true worship pastors leading the people in song. Until a few months ago, that was me – and it was only because I hadn’t been told about what was possible. We have the insane privilege to lead people to an encounter with the living God, through the medium of music. This is why it is so important that the pastor has good vision for the church, and that the worship pastor is on the same page and shares the same vision. With this in mind, it is obvious how beneficial it would be if the worship pastor and the teaching pastor work together as they shepherd the people. I’ve been privileged to witness and experience this over the last few months. It is something I have committed to doing whenever I get the opportunity to lead people. In a single sentence, the practical execution of this would simply be a worship pastor finding out the theme of the teaching, and picking a set that provides the people with an appropriate way of responding to God’s truths. Maybe in a seperate paper, I will discuss this in a little more detail. All this to say, the church pastor is very much a part of the worship team, and he needs to be aware that his sheep are watching him – in the context of this paper, he is their example of what a worshipper should look like…a massive responsibility.
This same responsibility obviously falls on the shoulders of the worship pastor. He is the person that is looked to for direction as people sing out songs of praise and worship. This happens naturally as he is the person literally leading the musical aspects, and leads their thought process through the things he says. For this reason he needs to be intentional about displaying the joy of the Lord as he leads. Two or three weeks ago, this was pointed out to me by a great friend of mine who has been graciously mentoring me for a couple months. Over a cup of coffee, I asked him if he had any input about the way I had led worship that previous Sunday. I thought it had really well, and had received some encouraging feedback. It was an amazing service, and the joy of the Lord was all over me…the only problem was that it wasn’t truly evident. In his wisdom, my friend had noticed that, what was going on inside didn’t match up to what was being displayed. He encouraged me to be intentionally over the top with expressing the joy. This might be helpful for those of you who, like me, are more reserved, and less expressive than others. This was super helpful for me because, in my mind, I was super joyful, and almost reluctant to go too ‘crazy’ on stage, but in reality it didn’t show. So now when I lead I’m very aware of that. I’m intentional (without faking it) about being ‘over-expressive’. As a little side note – I would encourage everyone to have that person in their lives who will point out those little details that are super helpful to know.
Aside from the musical leadership responsibility, there is the spiritual shepherding that a worship pastor has the opportunity (and possibly responsibility) to take part in. I cannot stress enough the importance of personal time with the Lord – the times of intimacy, in the secret place, in stillness. I believe the Holy Spirit uses those moments to reveal bits and pieces that are not only benefit you in your personal sanctification, but are also useful for the guidance of his people. In the account of Moses’ leadership, given in Exodus and Numbers, the Lord often calls Moses away from everyone else in order to give him instructions. The life of Moses is an amazing example for those in leadership. Also remember that it is dangerous leading people to a place that you have not been to yourself. Think of a worship pastor as a river guide – I am in no hurry to head down a river with a guide who hasn’t been down that section before. People are going to get hurt. So it is our responsibility to be experiencing the ‘new sections of river’ in the safety of the secret place, in our personal time with the Lord.
The musicians and singers bare more responsibility than is often realized. Simply being on stage makes them an example to the people. Everyone on stage is an example – make sure you’re a good one. Being on stage, even as a musician or singer, means that you need to make sure that your life is a consistent representation of Jesus. You don’t want to find yourself in a situation where you’re trying to explain your way out of a bad decision that you made when you thought no one was watching. Live above reproach.
There is something awesome that happens when a team, unified in purpose, leads people in honest, unhindered worship, with a joy that is outwardly evident.
Whenever a group of people gather together for the purpose of achieving a goal, there needs to be an assigned leader. At some stage in our lives, we have all been a part of a group project which has had no specified leader – it’s a disaster! The fact that groups need leaders is proven by the countless books that have been written on the topic of leadership. Leadership is a common principle in the scripture, both old and new testament. In the old testament there are countless examples of people leading others. Moses led the Israelites, as did Joshua. The leadership of many kings is recorded as well. Then there are examples that are specific to music; The Psalms often start with “For the director of the choir”, or “Chief musician”. The new testament also speaks strongly to leadership in churches. 1 Timothy 3 gives some requirements for the position of overseers (elders) and deacons – two positions of leadership in the church. I’m certain that most people need no convincing that leadership is important.
We need to seriously consider the importance of having strong leaders in our our church music ministries. Unfortunately, in too many instances, there has been a subconscious lowering of the importance of half of our Sunday gatherings. We devote a huge chunk of our corporate worship services to music, and often it functions as an introduction to the sermon, but not in a helpful preparing way. I’ve even heard it been used as something which allows for late-comers not to miss the beginning of the message! We need to realize that this is a huge opportunity to pastor people – equally as much as the sermon. In order to make use of this pastoring opportunity, there needs to people a leader, a shepherd to guide the sheep. With strong leaders, god shepherds, this can be an amazing time of growth for people.
What makes a good worship leader? There are a few things that need to be considered. A worship leader must be a worshiper! You cannot lead people to a place you have not been to. Well, I guess you could, but its dangerous. A helpful analogy is that of a river guide. If you, the river guide, have a raft full of people and start heading down a section of the river that you have never been down, its going to get messy! In a more optimistic light, think how much more authentic and meaningful the worship experience would be if you lead the people with an uncontrollable passion of what you’ve experienced in your private intimacy with Christ, and knowing what is possible. A worship leader must also have a good reputation, and be respected by the group. People will look to a leader as an example, and so its important that they are a good example. This is especially important when you are involved with children. Kids will unintentionally idolize the musicians on stage, viewing them like pop stars. We need to be aware that they’re watching our every move, watching that our behavior is worthy of imitation. It also ties in with consistent christian living. You cannot be Holy on stage, and be living it up the other 6 days of the week. People will find out, and your reputation will go out the window, along with your potential pastoring influence. Be honest with your group, especially when its hardest. Your “street credit” will be way higher if you allow yourself to be vulnerable with people. People will be more reluctant to open up with leaders who pretend to be perfect. In light of this, its good to be able to accept and admit failures. The leader plays a huge role in creating an environment where its ok to be not ok, which is what church is meant to be. In Mark 2 Jesus is questioned for hanging out with the sinners, to which He replies, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.”
Another huge topic of debate in churches is the level of musical excellence we should be striving for. Should we be settling for anything less than the best “secular” bands? Or is it sufficient to offer the best we can? Should there be auditions, after which some people are not accepted? I could list ten more questions, but I think you get the idea. I heard an interesting position on this topic, “Excellence is not judged by the current position, but by the direction of heading.” I think I agree…I think we need to realize that sometimes some churches simply don’t have the resources for achieving amazing music, and so to say that their music isn’t conducive to good worship, would be unfair…and would be limiting the power of the work of the Spirit. On the other hand though, it is extremely beneficial to have a tight, slick band. When there are no musical train wrecks, it allows for a distraction-free worship experience. I think it all boils down to being good stewards of what you’ve been given. Do the best with what you have, while being diligent in improving your skills. We cannot ignore Psalm 33 which says to play skillfully. I definitely think that we have a responsibility to be refining our area of skill, no matter where we find ourselves on the skill scale.
I conclude by passing on some advice I received. The majority of the work can be done before you even get up on stage. Part of that is obviously a band rehearsal to get comfortable with the songs and structures, etc, but even beyond that. You need to be on the same page as the teaching pastor, making sure that you’re working together in enhancing each others ministry – presenting the same message. So talk with whoever is speaking to find out the topic, then spend loads of time in prayer. Ask the Lord what He wants to teach the people, and which songs will best accomplish that. I’ve also learnt that, as part of your preparation, it is super helpful to have a scriptural backing for the songs you’re singing. It gives them a lot more weight when there is a connection made between the songs and the scriptures. Whether you mention the verses or not, can be decided during the set, in accordance the Spirit’s guidance. But, even if just for yourself, its good to know that what you’re singing is truth.
Get to know the Lord in the secret place, and learn to hear His voice so that you will hear His guiding voice as you lead His people in songs.
If you’ll put up with a moment of honesty, the second section of Franklin’s book didn’t blow me away. And that’s not to say that it wasn’t good! I think its because in the first section I discovered something huge – like that last piece of the puzzle that was missing…except, I know that its far from the last piece!
In section two of the book, he speaks more about some secondary ideas around the idea of fasting. For example, he explains how fasting helps break a spirit of heaviness, and in another chapter he talks about the correlation between fasting, faith and patience. Franklin also spends a chapter describing how God’s priorities will become clearer as you become more sensitive to the Father’s voice while fasting. Its good material, and a lot of his points are illustrated with inspirational stories. I want to touch on a couple ideas that stuck out to me.
Franklin says, “We need to stop measuring our faith by the size of the problem.” I think he was making the point that as we fast our focus is realigned to where it should be, on Christ. In my newly acquired desire for, and the practice of, fasting, I have experienced this to be so true. In a recent sermon by a friend of mine, he spoke about the well known story of David’s brave stand against Goliath. This story is a powerful illustration of Franklin’s point. David displays a confidence that we would struggle to understand without the knowledge that his eyes were on the King of kings. His focus was on the Lord, and so his confidence was nothing less than amazing! If he focussed on the size of his problem, either literally or figuratively, his faith and confidence would have been crushed. We have access to the same level of faith – it requires only that we look at God, instead of focussing on the problem we face. It is not something that comes naturally – I think it is a discipline that needs to be practiced. When we find ourselves in moments like those described in 2 Corinthians 4:8, we need to be intentional about making our first response one where we immediately turn to Him, the author and perfecter of our faith. Be confident!
One of the privileges of having access to the scriptures is it gives us the opportunity to look at the people that God used to spread the gospel. Franklin mentions a great verse in Hebrews 13 which says, “Remember your leaders who have taught you the Word of God. Think of all the good that has come from their lives, and try to trust the Lord as they do.” Its a privilege to be able to look, not only to the leaders around us, but to the leaders throughout the bible. It brings me hope to see that their imperfections didn’t give God reason to not use them. David screwed up in a significant way, yet he will forever be known by his God-given title as “a man after my own heart” (Acts 13:22).
Another example is found in Exodus 3 and 4. The Lord appears to Moses in the burning bush and tells him that he needs to go to Pharaoh and tell him to release the people. Even after the Lord promises to be with him, Moses is reluctant. He tries to make excuses for two chapters, even to the point where God’s anger burned against him (4:14). But, despite these regrettable moments, later in Exodus we see Moses meeting face to face with the Lord, resulting in a face that literally glowed! He is significantly used by the Lord in the leading of the Israelites. Its encouraging to see the Lord using ordinary people!
Why should we be fasting? There are many recorded fasts in the bible. I want to mention a few examples that I can think of, and examine what the purpose of the fast was.
- The first is in Judges 20 where the Israelites fast while inquiring of the Lord whether they should go into battle against the Benjamites.
- The second is an awesome story in 2 Chronicles 20. Jehoshaphat hears about a huge army that is coming up against him. So he proclaims a fast for all Judah while they seek the Lord’s advice and direction.
- The third comes from the story of Esther. We see her proclaiming a 3 day fast while, I believe, she was before the Lord, seeking His favor before she carried out the potentially deadly act of going before the king.
- We see another fast by Daniel, recorded in Daniel 9. While he was fasting and praying, the angel Gabriel came to offer him insight and understanding.
- The last I’ll mention is the prayer and fasting that took place in Acts 14. Paul and Barnabas fast and pray during the appointment of elders for a bunch of churches in Antioch.
Ok, those are a few fasts recorded in the bible. Each of these fasts is in conjunction with asking for guidance/advice from the Lord. We need to understand that we’re not twisting God’s arm when we fast! If this is your belief you’re going to be sorely disappointed. Fasting helps with making you more sensitive to hearing the guidance of the Holy Spirit. I honestly couldn’t tell you how it works, but can testify that it does. I know from scripture that God is a Father who desperately wants to give us good gifts (Mt 7:11). I think when we fast is when we hear from Him, and in those intimate moments He reveals amazing truths to us, and gives us good gifts. Try it!
A few weeks ago me and the guys in Aaron Keyes’ Worship School had the opportunity to have dinner with song writer/worship leader Chris Tomlin. I just want to share some of the stuff that I took away from the meeting with you…
First off, Chris is legit. It was so refreshing to see so much of Christ in him. He was such a nice, real, honest, and open guy. The worship school guys and I are so blessed!
We talked a lot about songwriting with Chris. There definitely is no formula to writing. It takes a lot of hard work and perseverance. Write out of intimacy. Write scripture back to God. Chris shared how a bunch of his songs were written, and each had it’s own unique story and process. Something interesting Chris said was that we should, “dare to suck.” In other words, if you are afraid to share your ideas, you will never learn which are the good ones. You’ve got to get past the fear of rejection, and just be brave and open with your ideas, but at the same time be ready to receive the fact that they may suck. haha. Collaboration is also a great idea. Many of Chris’ songs were co-written. Collaboration can help get past that writer’s block. It brings a whole new perspective to the song, and another brain full of ideas.
Something that Chris said that stuck with me the most is to not forget to love. What is the point in leading thousands upon thousands of people, if you don’t have love for them? Love fuels ministry. It is easy to get burned out on ministry if we are doing it for any other reason then for our love for God, and for our neighbors.
If you can do anything else with your life, do it. If you could be happy doing anything else with your life other then full-time ministry, do that thing. It seems like Chris has quite a difficult job, and he works very hard at it. He told us that only if in our hearts we could do only music ministry, then should we continue to pursue it. It’s the whole lay down your life to find it thing I guess.
Maybe the body of Christ deserves worship pastors and leaders, and song writers who honestly and truly desire to minister with all there hearts. People who don’t do it because they are good at it, or because it comes easily to them, or because it’s an easy way to be a rock star, but because it is all they can do with their lives (in the best way). Because they are called of God to do it. Because they are marked.
www.fingerofgodfilm.com
So the worship school guys and I just got done watching this short film called “Finger Of God”. Just to be honest and open with you, I was brought to tears three to four times as we watched. It is a powerful film. God’s beauty is moving, and His love changes everything.
God is real. God LOVES us so very much. He wants us to live in the fullnes of life, as He did when Jesus was on the earth. God is real, and in three parts; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. “I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father” John 14:12. Do I believe that? Am I afraid to believe that? If what God says really is true, shouldn’t our lives look much different then they do?
I want to begin to step into what God really has for me. Like the Isrielites at the Jordan river; they had to stand in th water, then they saw that it had been dried upstream, and they could cross. (Jos. 3:15-16) Give me boldness Lord, to stand in the river, and see You do wonderful things before my eyes. Help us Lord, help us all.
-dave
Fasting
By Jentezen Franklin
“Fasting: opening the door to a deeper, more intimate, more powerful relationship with God.” In this book the author, Jentezen Franklin, thoroughly writes about fasting and gives the keys to unlocking the power of Biblical fasting. Jentezen Franklin is the pastor at Free Chapel church in Gainesville, Georgia. He is a well-known author and speaker; he also has a nationally televised program called Kingdom Connection. In this book Franklin expresses the deeper, stronger relationship with God that comes through prayer and fasting.
In this book, Franklin covers the basic Biblical truths about fasting. This book was great and truly opened my eyes. I have heard the term fasting and knew what it was before, but I never realized how important and Biblical it is. I felt like the first section was very repetitive. In every chapter I felt as if Franklin was speaking the same truths from a different angle. This is not necessarily a bad thing, for me it was just emphasizing important truths. One of those truths is that fasting is a secret source of power that is overlooked by many. In my experience, I feel as if the church has acknowledged fasting but has neglected to put it on the level that it should be. If deep down people don’t truly believe in the power of God, then it would be hard to put major emphasize on fasting. This was crazy for me because these ideas had never even crossed my mind. In this book Franklin, shares several stories of people fasting and experiencing God’s power in crazy ways. Here is one of those stories, “One year, only three days into the fast, Melissa testified that her father had been battling prostate cancer and that she had began the fast on his behalf. When he went to the doctors for a procedure, to their shock, the doctors found no signs of the cancer anywhere! God healed him. What I loved about her testimony was that she did not stop after the three days. She said, ‘I’m going longer to see what else God wants to do’. God is no respecter of persons. His delight is to reward His children. He is honored and magnified when we are willing to seek Him at all costs”.
Another truth that I got out of this book is that Jesus fasted. If he is the example by which we should live (1 Peter 2:21), then we should definitely fast as well. Jesus started off his earthly ministry by going into the desert and fasting and praying for forty days. Wow! Luke 4:1-2, “Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.” If Jesus could have accomplished all He came to do with without fasting, why would he fast?
Fasting is Biblical. That is a “na-duh’ statement but I never realized just how Biblical and important fasting was before reading this book. I never realized how so many amazing stories that happen in the Bible during a time of fasting. Jesus prepared himself for his earthly ministry by fasting for forty days. Moses also fasted for forty days, “Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.’ Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant-the Ten Commandments. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord (Exodus 34:27-29).” Moses received the ten commandments, the same ten commandments that are around now, that are prevalent now, that are so strong that they bring media attention to themselves when placed in a state building, while on a fast. Ester fasted for three days and as a result the Jews were spared from Haman (Esther 4-7). In 1 Samuel, when Hannah is distressed about not being able to bear a child, she wept and did not eat (1 Samuel 1:7).” God obviously heard her cry; He gave her Samuel. David also fasted. His fasting is recorded in Psalm 42 when he is crying out to the Lord describing his tears as food, “As the deer pants for the water brooks, so pants my soul for You, O God. My soul thirst for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually say to me, ‘Where is your God?’.” Fasting is all over the Bible, it is so Biblical! Jesus talks to us about fasting in Mathew 6,”Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” Notice how Jesus says when you fast, not if you fast. Jesus tells us assuming that we will act in obedience. Fasting is truly something all Christians should practice.
This book was awesome and was well worth reading. I have already told several of my friends that I am giving them this book when I get back. Why haven’t I heard these truths before? Since reading the book I have applied fasting to my own life for the first time ever. Fasting works, the Lord honors it! It is crazy, but it makes perfect sense. Fasting truly opens up the door to a deeper, more intimate, more powerful relationship with God. Imagine what could happen if we all began to trust the Lord in faith and fast!
-Jake
Tonight I had the opportunity to again lead the middle school group at FBCW. FBCW is a baptist church located in Woodstock, GA. Its always a high energy time with lots of middle schoolers going crazy. We played:
You Lifted Me Out
I am Free
You Never Let Go
Mighty to Save
I really felt like the Lord was moving on our back two songs. We played our first two songs, then there was announcements, and then the youth pastor spoke to the kids for a second and prayed. He really set the tone for those last two songs. I really felt the spirit of the Lord moving those last two songs. It was stronger then I have ever felt at the middle school ministry there. I am learning more and more that middle schoolers can worship and truly experience the Lord. The Lord is expanding my view on them more and more each time I play for middles schoolers. Tonight was great, I really felt like we went somewhere, I felt like we took a step up. I felt like tonight was a stepping stone for me and them.
-Jake
Ryan – 11/14/09
Fasting (Pt. 1)
The first section of this book is about the “private discipline that brings public reward”. The foundational passage for this book is Matthew 6:1-18 where Jesus addresses giving, prayer and fasting. This was a huge revelation to me – I have read this section of the bible for years, but for some reason I’ve always stopped just after verse 15. Why have I never paid attention to the piece on fasting, even though its part of the very same passage? I have no idea! But having read this book now, fasting will definitely be one of those things I just do. In fact, I hadn’t even finished reading the book before I had started a personal fast. I say that with the risk of sounding proud, but I’m just trying to make the point that for the first time I realized how seriously God considers fasting. He says “when you fast”, assuming that you will fast! Looking back through both the old and the new testament, you will see that fasting was just a part of the spiritual life.
In his book titled Fasting, Jentezen Franklin goes into a bunch of things that you might benefit from when you add fasting to your spiritual disciplines. He speak of things such as health reasons and breaking a potential bondage to food (gluttony). He also discusses some of the practicalities involved, such as how, when and how long. Its all very interesting to read but, for the purposes of this short review, I want to rather focus on why we should all be fasting.
First reason is simply because the bible tells of many of our spiritual fathers fasting, and our greatest example being Jesus. The early church were not referred to as Christians, but as followers of The Way (Acts 22:4) – our faith was called The Way. Jesus referred to Himself as “the way” (John 14:6) which is interesting when you look at the original Greek – its the same word (hodos) in both of those references. So if our faith (the way) is the way of Jesus, then He’s our greatest example. Its obviously crucial, then, to observe His ways while He was incarnate. This is confirmed in 1 Pet 2:21.
In Matthew 17 we read of a situation where the disciples could not heal a demon-possessed boy. When they ask him why they had no power over the demon He replied that it was because of their lack of faith (vs 20). Then in the next verse (vs 21 – which is left out of some manuscripts?) He states that that particular kind of demon would not go out but by prayer and fasting. Without sufficient understanding of why this verse isn’t found in all bibles, I cannot state this with absolute authority, but if verse 21 is legit then fasting adds an extra dimension to our faith. It gives us access to greater power!
There is a section of scripture which Franklin doesn’t mention at all, but I feel is so important when discussing fasting. In Isaiah 58 the Lord describes the kind of fasting that He desires. It has nothing to do with giving up food, but rather caring for the helpless. My thoughts on this are still in the “development stage” but I think it has something to do with the fact that they were missing the entire point of fasting, and it was actually causing them to sin – they were beating the daylight out of each other, and having mad arguments. The link between the fasting described in Matthew 6 and the fasting described in Isaiah 58, is definitely something I want to spend some time trying to understand. I hope to have more concrete thoughts on this in part 2 of this paper.
