Therefore, I am calling for a church-wide, and all who will, time of prayer and fasting. This is not for my own good, but for all!

I would like to share some thought with you about fasting. I realize some of you may have a healthy handle on the subject, but I also realize many do not and avoid it, usually do to a lack of understanding.

Fasting is refraining from eating food. The Bible describes three main forms of fasting:

1. The Normal Fast, involving the total abstinence of food. Luke 4:2 reveals that Jesus “ate nothing.”  Jesus abstained from food but not from water.
2. In Acts 9:9 we read of an Absolute Fast where for three days Saul (became Paul) “did not eat or drink anything.” This was a life changing and transforming period in ‘Saul’s’ life. The total abstinence from both food and water seems to have lasted no more than three days at a time (Ezra 10:6 and Esther 4:16).
3. The Partial Fast – in Daniel 10:3 the emphasis is upon the restriction of diet rather than complete abstinence. The context implies that there were physical benefits resulting from this partial fast. However, this verse indicates that there was a revelation given to Daniel as a result of this time of fasting.

Fasting is laying aside food for a period of time when the believer (Christ-follower) is seeking to know God in a deeper experience. It is done as an act before God in the privacy of your own pursuit of God. Take a moment to glance at these additional Scriptures:  Exodus 34:28; I Samuel 7:6; I Kings 19:8; Matthew 6:16-18.

Fasting is to be done with the objective of seeking to know God in a deeper experience (Isaiah 58; Zechariah 7:5).  Fasting relates to a time of confession (Psalm 69:10). Fasting can be a time of seeking a deeper prayer experience and drawing near to God in prevailing prayer (Ezra 8:23; Joel 2:12). The early church often fasted in seeking God’s will for leadership in the local church (Acts 13:2). When the early church wanted to know the mind of God there was a time of prayer and fasting.

I don’t know about you, but I want to do what God wants, not you or I.

If you join with me, and you’re serious about Fasting, you must:

• Put God first;
• Persevere in Prayer;
• Remove barriers (disobedience to God/sin, obstacles, personal desires, etc)
• Check your motives (losing weight is not the reason for this fast)
• Be a blessing to the Lord (worship Him, praise, thanks, etc)

Someone once said, It is a piece of chalk with which we kneel and draw a circle around ourselves and then look to heaven expectantly and pray, “Lord God, send revival, and begin it right here in this circle!”

 I am praying for you and hope many of you will join me. If you have further questions, please comment (I’ll be posting this in my blog as well) or email me. It will be a great pleasure for me to help in whatever way I can.

Enjoying The Journey!

Mike

Mike Belt,Lead Pastor

www.northcrest.org

Recently, again, after so many years, I realized I’m not good at a lot, but love to try. The ‘Con’ side of my “ProCon Gift” has gotten the better half of me and, therefore, made a me weaker than I could be. I’ve been reading this book, “Strengths Based Leadership.” I have accepted that fact that I need to work on, emphasis and develop my gifted areas. I also need to purposefully find those who are gifted in my week areas and partner with them. Maybe I’m slow, but I’m excited, I’m finally getting it. I have always  had great intentions, but you know what they say about people with great intentions.

I came across this article recapping Stan Lee’s visit to the Dallas Metro area and thought I’d see how it went. While reading, I came across this piece and thought, “There you go, even the mind behind Marvel Superhero’s gets it.”  So, here’s a lesson on leadership from Stan Lee:

“How can someone duplicate Lee’s success: ”Listen, I’ve got enough competition,” he told the questioner, eliciting laughs. “First of all, if you want to be someone like me, you’ve got to be smart enough and lucky enough to pick guys like this [motions to Romita, Jr.] to work with. I was reasonably good at what I did, but I promise you, if I didn’t have John Romita, Jack Kirby, Steve Ditko, Gene Colan….I’d be one of the guys outside buying a ticket to come in and listen to other people talk. All I did was a lot of words. These artists make those words come alive, and make those words look magical.”  (Dallas Observer Blogs By Jayme Rutledge, Mon., May 23 2011)

Keep Enjoying The Journey!

Mike

 Joe moved to my neighborhood from California in 3^rd grade. I remember his very first day in my classroom. He looked like a stereo-typical California kid. Blond, shoulder length hair, very healthy and laid back. Since he lived down the street from me we developed a very close friendship. Eventually, we were together most all of the time. Sleeping-over,  sneaking out and, well, getting involved in what we call in our adult life, mischief. We marked up fresh poured concrete at the nearby school and would get chased by the crew. We were chased often by others in our pre-gangsta neighborhood for various reasons. Sneaking a cigarette from his parents open pack on the counter or faking we were purchasing a pack for our parents at the local corner gas station so we could hide behind the Planned Parenthood Center and smoke the pack together (I would try to eat Hostess Twinkies or Ding Dongs to hide the smoke on my breath – never worked…Just saying!). The stories are endless but I’ll stop before I reveal too much about me and get away from the point.

Our competitive nature was not limited to sports. Such other wagers might be related to ‘who could grow the thickest, darkest whisker?’ Yes, I said, whisker, as in singular. If it grew on the right, lower quadrant of the chin, well, by golly, you always stood where people could see your chins right-lower quadrant. Or, I vividly remember when we started to ‘hit the weights.’ Whose bicep was bigger, or who could bench press more?

Joe was taller than I was, so jumping was part of the battle. I would work out and play basketball wearing a 30 pound vest. When I took that vest off I could fly! I still have dreams that I can fly….because of the vest, I’m sure!  How about football? Yes, even though we were great friends, we tried to hurt one another, and, when we did, we celebrated! Granted, the other would be mad, but then we would walk home together discussing and forecasting the next opportunity. And, running was played out among our desire to beat one another.

I hate running. Hear me, I hate running! I’ve always done it and up until the last couple of years, I still attempted to do it in an attempt to be healthy, even though, I hate it. But you remember the mile run in grade school?  Well, I’m arriving at the point of this blog. In 8^th grade we had to run the mile twice a year. Joe and I always, (can you guess?) competed, unofficially, against each other.  

I will never forget the time I, by all means, did not want to lose. But I had to run the scheduled PE Mile in 8^th Grade. We stretched, we prepared and we began. If I remember correctly, we had to run around the school yard about 2 and ¾ times. I was on the 2^nd time around, coming up the back side. Joe was about 40 yards in front of me. It was then my legs felt like bricks, no, blocks! I did not feel like going on. The greater competition had now moved from wanting to beat Joe, into a battle within my own mind. I simply needed to convince myself that I could finish. The war was raging! Then, finally, I realized Joe was going to beat me in ‘this’ race, so I started to plot a how I could fake a twisted ankle and fall. “Do I?” I would say to myself. “No! I can’t!” Why not? I went on and on.

My mind was racing itself, let alone the mile I was attempting to complete. Then I realized, as I planned how to fail I was actually progressing and accomplishing my goal. I didn’t like it, but I realized I did not need to give up. By this time, I had less than 1/8 of a mile left and I sucked it up, finishing the race. Do you want to know something else? I did it in one of my best times. If my memory recalls, I ran the mile in 6 minutes and 20 seconds. I don’t know about you, but that was really good for me!

“I press on to take hold of that for which Christ took hold of me.” “Forgetting what is behind and staining toward what is ahead. I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ.”  (Philippians 3:12a, 13a, 14  New International Version)

To some, this is a common passage of Scripture, to some, it is not. Either way, I want to encourage you, regardless of your past, to press on, to keep moving forward. You may be moving forward and missing out on so much because your mind is dwelling on the past or trying to figure out how to give up because you are so tired, or hurting. You want to fake an injury so you can have an excuse not to finish.

So often, you are moving forward and progressing and not even realizing it. Realize it! Press on! I may have come in second when I was running that mile, but spiritually, you don’t come in second……you win!

ETJ! (Enjoy Today’s Journey)

 I remember a conversation with one of our boys while driving, one of those talks about “language.”  You know, the curse word, the bad words, cussing, filthy language. My son asked the common question, which was real and sincere, “who said those words are bad words and we shouldn’t, or can’t, say them?” 

This is just an example of the kinds of thoughts many have about what is right and what is wrong. “Who ever said that was right or this was wrong? You do not have the right to judge me.” And, just to throw  more in the mix, aren’t some things right and wrong whether you’re a Christian or not?  I mean, when we discussed this particular issue, I asked him if other people consider these particular words to be wrong. Of course, no one can deny that are some words commonly accepted as “foul.” I don’t know if it is current, but when we lived in the state of Michigan they had a law that if you used “foul language” publicly, in the presence of minors, you could be fined. Yea, really! 

My last visit to the Czech Republic (primarily atheist), I had the privilege of leading some discussion groups. One of the groups was “the Origin of Moral Law.”  Where did the innate moral compass originate? The answers started with parents, grandparents, then ones heritage. Their moral law had to come from something or somewhere, but where?  Then the discussion moved to more of a ruler, king or governmental influence. Some simply said that it could have been what the  majority thought, such as Hitler and his influence (but we see immoral law never prevails, may seem like it, but it doesn’t).  We have to land with a Supreme Being….God.

Now, back to the question (you thought I was running away from it?)   Do we judge one another based on what we feel others should be doing or not doing?

Are there moral absolutes, especially if you call yourself a Christ-follower? And, if so, does one have the right to hold another to standard, even if it ticks you off?  (“tick off” isn’t a bad word, is it?)

Do I have the right? Is it in the Bible?

Enjoy The Journey!

Mike

St. Peter met him at the gate and said, “Hey—wait a minute. What do you think you’re doing? You’re not allowed to take anything into heaven.” The rich man answered, “You don’t understand; I have special permission from God Himself to take this suitcase into Heaven.”

Peter rubbed his beard and said, “Well, that’s highly unusual. I can’t imagine God letting you do that. Let me look inside your suitcase and see what’s there.” The man opened his suitcase, which was filled with gold bars. Peter said, “Well, all right, no problem. If God said so, I suppose you can take that in if you want. But I don’t know what in heaven you’re going to with more pavement.”

To our earth-bound minds, Heaven is an abstract concept, a realm foreign to us. We accept by faith the reality of this spiritual realm, but it’s difficult to imagine what Heaven must be like. The Bible only gives us hints at what Heaven is like, and the descriptions we have appear in the form of poetry and metaphor. Galileo remarked, “The intention of the Holy Spirit is not to teach us how Heaven goes, but how one goes to Heaven.” The glories of Heaven far surpass our perception. Heaven is a real place, and the reality will exceed all images and symbols. The Apostle Paul was given a vision of heaven, but words failed him. Human language has limitations. All Paul could say was that he experienced things so astounding that they couldn’t be told (II Cor 12). Heaven is a reality unreachable to any of our senses.

Heaven is “Paradise restored”. Because of sin, “Adam made a grave of a garden, but Christ has made a garden of a grave.”. Sin resulted in expulsion from a garden, and salvation is restoration to Paradise. Some things will be missing in Heaven. There will be no death, no pain, no sin, no curse, no tears. God declares through the prophet Jeremiah: “I will turn their mourning into gladness, their weeping into laughter, lavishing comfort, invading their grief with joy.” (Jeremiah 31:13, the Message). The injustices and deprivations of earthly life will be fully and forever corrected. In Heaven we will be liberated from every loss. We will find Heaven a place where the Lord’s Prayer is fulfilled–where God’s Name is hallowed (something that needs restoration today), His Kingdom is come, His will is done.

Heaven is called the “New Jerusalem”(vs 2). The city of Jerusalem has been destroyed twice in history, by the armies of Babylon and Rome, and today it remains a place of great unrest. It’s an unlikely model for Heaven, but the point is that God will take and transform our human existence into something wonderful. He will heal the corruption and brutality and defilement and suffering. I’ve seen and heard of the devastation of war. In Jerusalem the streets are filled with soldiers bearing arms. The “New Jerusalem” will be a place of “former” soldiers—it will be a Holy City where we will study war no more!

Heaven’s been called “a prepared place for prepared people.” Jesus said He’s going to prepare a place for us in His Father’s house (Jn 14:1-4). Only those who have embraced Jesus would be happy living with Him for eternity. For people who haven’t been transformed by God, Heaven may not seem too inviting or attractive. Heaven is a holy place, hardly suitable for those disinterested in righteousness.

Eugene Peterson writes, “If we don’t want God, or don’t want Him very near, we can hardly be expected to be very interested in Heaven.” (Reversed Thunder, 185).

C.S. Lewis wrote a book called The Great Divorce, in which a group of people in Hell get a free bus ride to heaven, and a guided tour. In fact, they’re given an offer: if they want, they can stay. They look around at heaven’s splendor and feel very uncomfortable. They can’t wait to get back on the bus and return to Hell. Lewis isn’t claiming that people will be given a “second chance” after death; he is saying that heaven isn’t an enjoyable place for everyone.

Just as sinners wouldn’t feel overly comfortable in heaven, in comparison, believers don’t feel at ease on earth. Lewis states, “If nothing in this world satisfies me, perhaps it is because I was made for another world.” If we’re uncomfortable here, it’s because we’re not home yet.

Ralph Waldo Emerson was approached by a troubled man who said, with great anxiety, “I’m told the world is coming to an end.” Emerson answered, “Never mind; we can get along without it.” The hope of Heaven gives us confidence beyond this present world.

Heaven is a substantial place. We picture it as clouds in the sky, less solid than terra firma. Yet heaven is more substantive, more solid, more real than life on earth. In II Corinthians 5, Paul compares our earthly bodies to tents.  A tent is a temporary place; Heaven is our final destination. C.S. Lewis describes how every blade of grass in heaven is firm, rock solid. The author of Hebrews describes Heaven as a “city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God” (11:10).

Our permanent home is yet to come. Yet, our perception of heaven affects how we live today.
Our Scripture passage describes Heaven as a wedding banquet, with Jesus as our Bridegroom. The imagery indicates that we will stand before Him–purified and prepared and rejoicing!

Heaven is a place of fellowship and reunion. We’ll be re-united with loved ones, and meet saints from history.
The highest reward of heaven is to be with God. We will see God. A Bible scholar writes that “the whole character of heaven is essentially determined by the fact that it is God’s home” (Harry Blamires). Our supreme joy will be God’s holy presence.

Our eternal reward is often described in Scripture as “rest” (e.g. Hebrews 4). This doesn’t mean that heaven is a long nap. We live restless lives, filled often with anxiety about the past, present and future. St. Augustine wrote, “Our heart does not rest until it rests in God.” And John states, “we set our hearts at rest in His presence” (I Jn 3:19). Heaven is one long, peaceful, loving embrace by God. This is where some have a misconceived perception of what it means to experience heaven – it is amazing, not boring!

If you want to learn about caterpillars, the encyclopedia defines and describes them in terms of their future as butterflies. In the same way, believers are defined by our destiny as “citizens of heaven” (Phil 3:20). We’re not citizens of earth trying to get to heaven but citizens of heaven making our way through this world. For those of us who’ve been “re-born”, transformed through faith in Christ, Heaven is truly a wonderful place. Heaven is more than a comfort for believers—-it’s a promise.

“For the Christian, Heaven isn’t simply a destination; it’s a motivation.” (Warren Wiersbe)

If you perceive heaven to be just that, it will affect how you live today!

Isn’t that how you feel? Come on now, most people, in any “religious” circle, long time “Christian” does not like being told what to do, or not do. Am I right about that, or not?

It all starts during our childhood, and if you want to fool yourself, you can say that decreases as you get older, because, in most cases, it doesn’t get easier. You’ve heard it said, “you can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” Sort of true, isn’t it? I know it is. I’ve always been known to be a patient person, but my experiences have proven differently as I’ve gotten older. I have to be very intentional about my patience levels now days.

What got me thinking about all of this is the holidays. You know, the time of year that makes “everyone” feel good? Well, not really. What tends to happen, is people start getting irritated because of the extreme expectations that loom over us all. Like, pressure over gifts, how many, how costly. Family and friends gather, where do we go and for how long. Church, work and personal parties, school programs, not to mention the scheduled “down time” at home with your family. Whoops! Did I say that?

Can you imagine how many different opinions there are about Halloween? Thanksgiving? Christmas? Not counting the different implications weaved in and out of each?

Anyway, what I’m getting at, is everyone has an opinion. I won’t tell you what some of my friends of old used to say about everyone that has opinions. Truth is, everyone has one.

That is what leads me to this thought about convictions. Usually, most people talk about a conviction as though it is the only one that exists, when in actuality, there are too many to mention.

Discussing convictions causes many conflicts, heightened emotions, and, sometimes, division.

So many who feel convicted in a particular area, feel as though others should follow the same conviction. They are convicted, why are you not? Often times, this is viewed as legalism when in the “religious” arena.

The problem is, that you can have an opinion about every, yes, every area of life. Thus, leaving room for a conviction in every, yes, every area of life.

I saw the Cold Stone Creamery on the Food Channel the other day. They are known for their many, many flavor combinations. After seeing the brief documentary, I looked at their website to confirm just how many different flavor combinations they have. Did you know…”There are over 11 million possible Creations, ranging from the simple, to the quirky, to the sublime. We’ve named a few of our most famous and favorites our “Signature Creations.” But millions of people walk into Cold Stone every day and order up something they’ve invented themselves, which we call “Custom Creations.” We encourage you to try both, but at over 11 million possibilities, you’d better get started!”  (http://www.coldstonecreamery.com/icecream/cold_stone_creations.html)I mean, it is someone’s full-time job, coming up with just the signature creations!

Listen to what they said, “We encourage you to try both, but at over 11 million possibilities, you’d better get started!” How different combinations of convictions do you think we can come up with? WAY TOO MANY!

Therefore, in comparison, I think we should be very careful how we live, and what we attempt to push onto to others. The key, I think, is found right here, in 1 Timothy 4:12, 15, 16 which says, “…set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity.” “Watch your life and doctrine closely. Persevere in them, because if you do, you will save both yourself and your hearers.”

I do not see the Scripture telling us to throw convictions on people.  But doing the before mentioned is enough of a full-time task as it is. I encourage you to try this method…I believe this is effective.  

Enjoy Today’s Journey… It is on purpose!

Mike

                 “Now all who believed were together, and had all things in common” (NKJV)

“All” things NKJV

“Everything” NIV

The Greek word used here, is hapas, meaning absolutely all;   which comes from the Greek word, pas, including all forms of declension, meaning, all, any, every, the whole.

The first thing I think of when I picture this, is anyone’s family union, or holiday gathering, church or work related picnic, high school reunion… you get the idea. Experience and observation clearly depicts a picture of dysfunction when most gatherings take place.  No, I’m not being negative. I’m not saying that any one of these functions can’t happen without some sort of squabble, to some degree. I’m just saying that it seldom ever happens that some sort of dysfunction, pre-existing or birthed at the event, does not occur. 

With this idea of “having all things in common,” what do you envision? What does this kind of gathering, or fellowship, look like?

Don’t disengage right now.  In a sense this topic of “all” seems too broad, therefore, we have a tendency to  want to withdraw from this topic. Let me encourage you think about the implications of such a topic if you are one who desires to experience God in ways that we, typically, are not. This could be transforming, enlightening and extremely beneficial.

I’m thinking the first step for us is to understand what this means within the context of fellowship for those who are following the Way of Jesus. If we don’t do this, we associate “all” in context of people we can’t imagine associating with on this level. Some of you are thinking of your work environment, others are observing walking around the mall, or downtown, Wal-mart, well, or the like. And you can’t imagine having to get along with all these people! I can’t!  Let alone on some closer than acquaintance level. Whoa! God forbid! 

Therefore, let’s put this in context of its historical value, the culture that existed at the time this was written. Communities were closer, somewhat protected, by walls of security in most cases. Most of us are aware of what a subdivision looks like. Here in the DFW (Dallas-Fort Worth) Metro-plex, there are planned communities. These communities are, typically, surrounded by brick walls, with a neighborhood- community building, a swimming pool and, often, an elementary school.  This is similar to what it was like historically, except the conveniences were more related to the market place, the temple, and the like.

Our culture has gravitated away from community style living. Even in the event someone lives in a small town, they still drive wherever they want to go. Up until the 50’s and 60’s we were still thriving around neighborhood communities. You would have the local general, or grocery store, a school, post  office, church, bank and, sometimes, funeral home. So living with all things in common looks much different today, than historically in Scripture, or the recent past.

I’d suggest that we step back for a moment and examine practical ways that we can live together and fulfill this portion of life. It will not be a single decisive moment that will change everything, but a decision to implement and practice each new day.

What do you think?

Enjoy Today’s Journey – It is on purpose!

Mike