Day 1 | Prayer & Fasting
Pastor Andrew Owen
Dear eNews friends, church members and all ‘Count Me In’ people,
Day 1 Prayer & FastingReset the set point
And while they were ministering to the Lord, and fasting, the Holy Spirit said…...Acts 13:2This account turned out to be completely life-changing for Paul (Saul) and Barnabas, and us to, because from here the apostle Paul’s ministry began to impact the world, and then our world by the revelation he carried and the things he wrote in the New Testament.Here, and many other places in the Bible the power of prayer & fasting is highlighted.The truth is however, that you will find more books and literature on the positive effects of fasting in a health store than a Christian bookshop. It’s become a forgotten practice by too many believers.Fasting works, in that it provides a very unique focus for our praying.Why do we fast?We pointed out in our Vision Sunday last night (and again next Sunday morning) that one of our key values is:
WE ARE READY TO GIVE UP WHAT WE LOVEFOR THINGS WE LOVE MOREWe will seek first and foremost God’s kingdom in our lives
And on this occasion, we are giving up food which I’m sure we love, for that which we love more. We want to see our city and region reached, we want God to move and we need His guidance, provision and presence in all that we do.Prayer & Fasting resets the set point. Just like a room's temperature is set by the thermostat, and then stays constant at that point, we kind of get used to living in a certain way, at a certain level, using our faith on certain occasions.But in this week, we the church and as individuals are resetting the set point. We are turning up the heat and turning up our faith.We can all fast this week to one level or another - it will do you good. Many of us are fasting for the full 7 days. Abstaining completely from food but drinking fluids. Please participate with us and pick a level of fasting that works for you and your journey.So today as we pray & fast, please pray:- THANK GOD for his total faithfulness to us as a church family. Every last bill was met in 2018, we saw over 1,000 responses for Christ and 500 of them first time responses.- PRAY Thy kingdom come, thy will be done. Pray over your life, family, work, community and ministry, that everything will align just as God intended. This is both a powerful prayer to pray and maybe a challenging prayer to pray, because God might speak right back and ask you to change something, do something or take a step of faith.- We need people to VOLUNTEER to move to new areas that we wish to reach.- To STEP UP and lead or involve in a new or existing ministry.- To tithe and increase your GIVING.- To SPEAK to your neighbour or colleague.Just like in today’s verse, that moment really did reset the set point for Paul and Barnabas, today is designed by God to take us up, take us on, take us in to all that He has in mind for us.Join us Wednesday night for the Holy Spirit Night (7.30pm, City Location).Love you guys,Andrew
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