52 Day Fasting and Praying…Almost Half Way Up!

 We just completed two weeks “In the Valley”.  If you missed the Louie Gigleo videos, please click here: HOPE When Life Hurts Most Part 1 and here: Hope When Life Hurts Most Part 2  (for this one you will have to click through about 4 times to watch it all). But we are now coming around the side of the wall to the next gate…the Dung Gate.  Ladies (and perhaps, gentlemen), I’ve lived down near this gate probably all my life in one way or another.  I asked each of you in class yesterday to start thinking this week of the picture of a HUGE dump truck in the parking lot.  We are all shoveling our piles of “dung” up on that truck.  On Sunday we will drive that truck collectively to the Dung Heap and we’ll be done with the digging…the dung will be heaped on the pile of constantly burning rubble but we will be back in the nice, clean camp with half a wall built!

 As the daughter of the garbage man…I used to giggle when people would ask my dad how business was going.  With his twinkle in his eye, and his classic crinkle that slightly twitched  by his eye whenever he was going to give you a joke, he would reply, “Business is always picking up – even when we are down in the dumps!”  In the case of cleaning out our camp and rebuilding a wall however, we won’t be picking anything up, even if we are down in the dump.  No bringing any of the dung back in the camp, ok?  In fact, this week as you dig, don’t study the clumps of junk you are piling up on the truck.  Don’t sort through the rubble that God is asking you to clear away, looking to see if there is something you want to keep.  Trust me.  Stuff that has been buried in the dung pile doesn’t clean up well!  Just let the Lord start FRESH in your life from here on out!

The Old Gate – Getting Down to Bedrock

Well ladies, we’ve completed a week!  Give yourself a little pat on the back!  This last week was about getting down to the bedrock.  We came through the Sheep Gate, or perhaps we came in through the Fish Gate, but we are inside the city through what JESUS has done for us.

This last week, as we let the Holy Spirit examine us, we started to realize that there were some things we needed to heap up on the wheelbarrow to drive down to the Dung Gate in a couple of weeks.  Our whole week may have been spent letting the Holy Spirit point out the messes.  Perhaps some of the messes in our marriages or our kids lives have been compounded by our own messy condition.  So this past week was a week of brokenness and repentance.

Today we looked at The Old Gate.  This is where we begin to realize that we have a choice.  We can either let Jesus do the digging and scraping in our lives so we get down to the root of our “stuff”, or we circle around and go out the Old Gate.  The Old Gate represents the death of our “Old Man”.  In some cases, our Old Man has been driving us for a long time.  Oh, we met the Shepherd, and we have our ticket to get into heaven, but we haven’t done one bit of work on dying to self.  We are still in bondage to our old habits and our sins of choice.

This coming week is the week of choice.  We say to ourselves, “Now that I’m in this fast, and God is knocking down the last bit of rubble, will I stick in there even if the going gets even messier?  Or will I turn to that Old Gate and go back out?”  In Nehemiah 6, the enemy was telling them to retreat.  But Nehemiah prayed one of my favorite prayers!  He groaned out to the Lord, “Strengthen my hands”.  (Nehemiah 6:9)  Ladies, DO NOT QUIT!  Keep letting the Holy Spirit dig!  Keep scooping up the rubble.  The GAPS ARE CLOSING!  PRAY!  Just like Nehemiah, let prayer be your FIRST RESPONSE!  When the dust clears, you will see that there has actually been a lot of progress.  Put on your respirator and safety goggles.  It’s getting messy because we are getting down to bedrock.  Remember that JESUS is our CAPSTONE.  Just keep digging!

Find the Ancient Boundary Stone Daniel Fast Call to the Wall

Well ladies,

Today (Sunday), we talked about the Ancient Boundary Stone.  Proverbs 22:28 tells us, “Do not move an ancient boundary stone set up by your forefathers.”  A boundary stone was a stone that designated where the boundaries were.  These stones were to show everyone whose property began and ended at a certain point.  Since we are looking at the “Old Gate” this week, we saw that it is tempting to give up on the Christian life and just go right back to our old ways.  But if we will instead, dig down to the foundation, find those ancient boundary stones and let Jesus Christ be our focus, we will continue on with HIS rebuilding in our lives.  The Old Gate was not one that Christ rebuilds.  Instead, The Holy Spirit KILLS the deeds of our flesh through regeneration.  Christ starts doing a NEW THING in our lives.

When someone moves an ancient boundary stone, they decide to abide by their own set of rules and this then leads to bondage.  Bondage leads to sin and sin leads to more bondage.  It is only Jesus Christ that can set us free from this cycle!  1 Peter 2:8 says, “A stone that causes men to stumble and rock that makes them fall.  They stumble because they disobey the message – which is also what they were destined for”.

For some, Jesus becomes a stumbling block and they choose to reject Him altogether.  God says, “I am laying a stone in Jerusalem that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall.  But anyone that trusts in Him (Jesus) will never be disgraced.” (Romans 9:33)

So how do we go back to the Ancient Boundary Stone?  We look to JESUS.  He was before the world was made.  Jesus was always the “Plan” for our redemption.  There was no “Ooops” moment for God.  God knew we would sin; He knew we would need a savior; He had the plan for salvation all along; Jesus is that salvation.

This week, determine that you are not going to circle back out the Old Gate.  Instead, dig down till you hit the bedrock of Jesus Christ.  Start to think about Him. Read scripture and write on your cards the verses that speak to you.  The assignment is to look for Scriptures that tell you that YOU ARE IN CHRIST JESUS.  Look for how HE IS WITH YOU.  Look for verses that you can meditate on where He is your focus.

Keep digging, ladies.  This week we are digging to find that Ancient Boundary Stone…King Jesus!

Day 3 Call to the Wall

As I flip over my daily devotional here at work, I just about fall out of my chair.  I was just thinking/praying about this this morning!  Perfect (for me) on this day 3 of The Call To The Wall!

I tend to argue with myself over what, when and how much to eat.
I have strongholds related to food that have kept my walk with Christ limited.
I have the ability to be obedient to Christ during this fast / call to the wall!
I will put my work glove on and have my sword at the ready to defeat the enemy, in the name of Jesus Christ!,  trying to whisper anything different to me!

every thought
every thought
every thought
every thought………..

Fast on, girls, tomorrow we are in the 40s…we’re making progress!!

Day Two in the Call to the Wall – Drink some WATER!

Can I just take a minute to say, “WAY TO GO!”? For some of you, today may have been the hardest day of your life. If you have never fasted before, day two or three is usually the hardest day in a fast. It is starting to really sink in that you are depriving yourself from your normal eating, and it’s not as fun as it was with the adrenalin of the first day in your system.

My advice? DRINK SOME WATER! Seriously, one of my biggest fasting mistakes is that I get so absorbed in my daily activities that I forget to drink enough water. My brain is so focused on maintaining a fast – in whatever form that is taking shape, that I am not telling myself to DO something, like drink water.  Oh, and have some LONG sips of Living Water!  Remember, the spiritual aspect of a fast is the most important point.

Another piece of wisdom here is to get enough sleep. I know that sounds so simplistic that it seems foolish to even say it. But in all seriousness, you need to take some extra care of the physical side of your life and water and sleep are a big part of that!  Let yourself REST in the Lord.  Rest in knowing that HE cares even more about the mess you are fasting over than you do!  Rest in knowing He has a plan of exactly how to fix our messes and that He trades our little heaps of ashes for something beautiful.

So with those little kernels of advice, I will leave you with a few verses to munch on tonight:

Let Tyson Be the Chicken, We’ll Be Brave

A Tyson Text or Message is Like Blowing the Trumpet for Help

I know, you are scratching your head and asking yourself, “What in the world is she talking about?”  Chalk it up to my weird personality.  I make odd connections and Tyson Chicken is one of them.  Remember in the post about How to Get Ready for the Fast, I told you to plan to be a pack animal as you do this Call to the Wall (See step 5)?  I told you how the Gap Sisters text each other when they need prayer with the one word of, “Tyson”?  Well, I was talking to someone last night about that and she thought I was saying we use “Tyson” because we were reminding each other not to be CHICKEN!  After I had my giggle over that, I realized it was a new angle to the Nehemiah story we are fashioning this wall rebuilding fast around.

See, in Nehemiah 4:19 & 20 we read, “And I said to the nobles, the officials, and the rest of the people, “The work is great and extensive, and we are separated on the wall far from one another.  At whatever place you hear the sound of the trumpet, rally to us there.  OUR GOD WILL FIGHT FOR US”.  When I read this a couple of weeks ago, I realized that the Gap Sisters have been blowing a trumpet – in the form of a text, so we would rally in prayer and that the LORD HAS FOUGHT FOR US!

What to eat on the Daniel Fast

Hey Neighbors,

I am going to put up a bunch of links to helpful books that you can use on the Daniel Fast.  Remember, don’t get all hung up on the fasting part of this 52 day Call to the Wall!  If you are going about your day on one of these days and all of a sudden you realize that you absentmindedly popped something into your mouth that is not on the fast, just stop and tell the Lord you’re sorry and don’t let the old snake of this world beat you up about it.  (Trust me, he will try to convince you that you might as well quit altogether because you just blew it.  Ignore him.  The opinion of the snake does not count.  God is looking at your HEART)

Ok, with that disclaimer, I am going to write a little list here which is taken from the book called The Daniel Fast, written by Susan Gregory. The official Daniel Fast website for this book is daniel-fast.com/index.html where you can find downloadable copies of her book as well as tons of helpful information and recipes from her blog. She says, “All Fruits, All Grains, All nuts and seeds, All legumes, All quality oils, Water, Soy foods (she includes tofu, and TVP), Condiments and cooking ingredients such as salt, soynnaise, spices, vanilla, mustard, fruit juices and vegetable broth.  (pg. 99-100)

Foods to restrict:  All meat and animal products, All dairy products, All sweeteners, All leavened bread, All refined and processed food products, All deep-fried foods, All solid fats and all nonwater beverages. (pg 101)

Put on your old clothes, it’s gonna get messy!

God woke me up this morning.  It’s Saturday and I really wanted to sleep in, but He was whispering to me that I needed to write you a letter in the form of a blogpost.  So here I am, sitting at my computer trying to get the jumble of thoughts down on a page for you.  If you are reading this, it is likely that you are being chosen to go on the 52 day adventure of a Daniel fast.  God has been combining a couple of stories which are all interconnected and has been telling me to call for an Ezra/Daniel fast.

Ezra was trying to get the exiles through the desert to Jerusalem.  He headed out the door with a few thousand people, all loaded down with treasure that was going to be put back into the temple.  Refusing all outside help, he tromped out toward the desert and started on a God-adventure, only to promptly be faced with the hot, dry winds of desert sand.  It was about that moment that he suddenly realized, “I am not cut out for this adventure, yet now I can’t turn back!  So he did the only thing he could do…he prayed!  He stopped the caravan and called for a fast.  He openly admitted to God that he had no idea how to get this big job done and all the people shook their heads vigorously up and down in agreement with him as they fasted right along with him.  Moral of that part of the story?  God may be calling you to attempt something that seems bigger and more impossible than you realize at this moment.  Maybe you just realized it.  Here’s my pearls of advice:  Stop, drop and PRAY!

The Inspiring Story of a Fellow Runner in a Foreign Land

Kisses From Katie

I‘m going to share a link to one of my FAVORITE blogs. It is Katie Davis’ blog, a 22 year old who lives in Uganda where she takes care of her 13 “children” (orphaned and abandoned girls that she has taken in). Her love for the Lord and radical devotion to serving Him is so inspirational and encouraging! I can’t say enough good things about her… She is a modern day Amy Carmichael or Elizabeth Elliot! Just read her blog and I promise that you will be inspired!

Wesley Korir Wins Race and Gives God the Glory

This article was originally written by Ruth Schenk and first appeared in the Southeast Outlook Newspaper. It is reprinted with permission from the Outlook and Wesley Korir.

Korir stops to give thanks to God after winning the 116th running of the Boston Marathon.

This race was different than all the rest. When the pistol fired in Hopkinton, Mass., for the start of the 116th Boston Marathon April 16, Southeast member Wesley Korir was not sure what would happen.

He had trained, but still battled weakness and fatigue after a bout with typhoid fever while training in Kenya. Weather was not ideal. More than 4,000 of the nearly 27,000 runners registered for the race decided not to run because of record high temperatures in the 80s. Newscasters talked of the 1909 Boston Marathon when they called the race “an inferno” and the 1976 marathon that they called the “run for the hoses” because they turned garden hoses on runners to cool them down.