One of the action steps of our current One Prayer series is to fast. Fasting generally means to give up eating for a specific time in order to focus more clearly upon God. We’re encouraging everyone to fast each Tuesday in June and to join hundreds of thousands in prayer for the Church.

If you’re like me, giving up an entire day’s food is a huge step. So, maybe you want to consider giving up something specific for the rest of this month. Then throughout the month when you crave whatever you gave up, you can use that as a reminder to pray. I’ve heard several people around Grace throwing out ideas for this sort of fast. Here are some ideas I’ve heard of things to fast from this month: sweets, fast food, soda, coffee, television, sex, movies, snacks, french fries.

Here’s a video with some more advice on fasting from JT Moody, the Campus Pastor at the Stillwater campus of LifeChurch.tv:

Check out our website each Tuesday morning for tips on what we can pray for as the Church. Today’s prayer topic is for salvation of people we know.

Are you joining us in this fast? Have any suggestions of things to give up this month to help you focus on prayer? Share your stories.

This past Sunday’s message really got me thinking about the last time I was in complete awe before God. When was I last totally overwhelmed with who God is? Unfortunately, it doesn’t happen often enough in my life.

Why am I not completely consumed by things I’ve experienced, like those that are expressed in Psalm 96?

• His salvation
• His glory
• His marvelous deeds
• His greatness
• His creation
• His strength
• His splendorous holiness
• His judgement and equality
• His righteousness

Normally a place that puts me in awe is when I’m out enjoying nature. But today I was out in the woods along a gorgeous river and I totally missed God. Why did I miss Him?

Here’s the video we were going to end with on Sunday…

How would you like to grow in awe, abandonment, and intimacy with God?

Here’s a clip from this past Sunday’s message, which concluded The Warrior series.

One cool thing about this clip is that these are the campus pastors at LifeChurch.tv’s 12 campuses.

In what ways have you become a warrior in the past few weeks? Are you becoming that man?

Here’s a preview of the opening from this Sunday’s message.

Yikes!

What is your captor? Are you held hostage by bitterness, malice, or rage?

Here’s a short video clip from Craig’s message last week:

What did you think about what Craig had to say about tithing and giving richly?

Want to know more about trusting God with the tithe?

Or, Grace’s 3 Month Tithe Challenge?

• Tithing Challenge Form

This is one of my favorite greek words…and it is the root word for the english word “manifestion” in the key verse for today, 1 Cor 12:7. Call me wierd but I just like the way it sounds. Phaneroo, phaneroo, phaneroo.

Its a larger than life word meaning to make visible or clear, to plainly reveal or show.

So in the verse it says “Now to each one the manifestation of the Spirit is given for the common good.” Each one of us is a display of what God is and what the holy Spirit is up to. Each one of us is a display of God so that the goodness of God shine onto all around us.

Do you have an example of a phaneroo (an obvious display of the Holy Spirit in someones life today) you can share?

Here’s the Franciscan Benediction that Craig referred to in this Sunday’s message:

May God bless you with discomfort
At easy answers, half-truths, and superficial relationships,
So that you may live deep within your heart.

May God bless you with anger
At injustice, oppression, and exploitation of people,
So that you may work for justice, freedom, and peace.

May God bless you with tears
To shed for those who suffer from pain, rejection, starvation, and war,
So that you may reach out your hand to comfort them
And turn their pain into joy.

And may God bless you with enough foolishness,
To believe that you can make a difference in this world,
So that you can do what others claim cannot be done.
Amen.

I was having some trouble identifying my burdens this morning, but I’ve been giving it some more thought today and getting more understanding. Are you identifying your God-given burden and embracing it as a blessing?

Every once in a while, something happens in my life that really fires me up. The kind of situation they had in Acts 2:43 where it says that “everyone was filled with awe”. Amid the chill of the past few weeks came Easter weekend at Grace. It started actually on Palm Sunday weekend when I proved my culinary skills with some great salsa made right there- yep right there on stage (see the Grace blog for the recipe). We got the universal truth that Jesus and His followers have to die (to our self, sin and stuff) if anyone is to truly live.

Anyway, then the sundown Good Friday service of darkness ended with a dark room full of people under a glowing cross taking communion and getting the death of Jesus etched on our souls. I love it.

The real fire-up came for me Sunday morning when after I taught about how the resurrection of Jesus “shredded” death, people jumped to their feet and came forward from all over the auditorium to shred their fears, sins and who knows what. It does not matter now. We left them there…shredded. As the shredding went on and on, I watched in awe and listened to that little machine whining away. It was a beautiful communion with the truth that Jesus won all this freedom and hope just for us.

And then it was silent. Over. Done. Shredded. Silent.

Something beautiful and God-sized is happening at Grace now and it fires me up!

Many of you have told me how you shredded something that morning and now you are done with it by the power of the resurrected Christ. Many of you have thanked me for the creativity and courage to put that shredder on stage. Actually, I thank YOU deeply for encouraging me with your willingness to leave all that stuff behind in the shredder. It is the power of God.

And it fired me up.

So…the Cubs got snowed out today (one less loss early in the season as I look at it!), skies are cloudy and all that. But I am sitting here at Espresso Royal with tears in my eyes giving thanks for what God is doing in your lives these days. I am warm on the inside with the love and presence of God and I thank you for that.

Your fired-up pastor,
Dave

PS- I didn’t even mention how KidStuf is firing me up…what a miracle! Hey, make a plan to invite someone you know to KidStuf this week. The whole gang will be back on stage this Sunday at 10:15 with more of this great focus on RELATIONSHIPS. Go for it, you KidStuf team!

INNER YOU OUTER YOU

This reality of the presence and companionship of the Holy Spirit strikes me as on of the most essential asoects of our inner life. We try to figure it out but JC says it is like the wind (John 3:8)…go figure that out!

HOLY GHOST

This is the moniker for the HS in my roots. It used to freak me out to think of God as a ghost! Then I began to realise that he is a person and a personal encourager and companion.

LUBBOCK, 1972

My first church experience was at a church in Lubbock, TX that was FULL of the Holy Spirit and it was fun! There was movement, strange verbage, and ecstatic worship. But somehow, it didn’t stick. I remember those days fondly.

Dave