21 days begins:::
(Monday, April 25th – Sunday, May 15th)
Why is Greenbrier Church doing 21-days of prayer fasting?
God is providing us with some incredible opportunities as a church. If you missed the announcement at the end of our services yesterday, here is the “IT’S TIME!” video link. During these “21 Days of Prayer Fasting”, we are asking each person in our church body to seek God’s face about their role in our Next Steps as a church. We want to do whatever it takes to Connect disconnected people with Jesus …together!
What is fasting?
Plain simple it is giving up something great to pursue someOne greater: Jesus! Though many people view fasting as a chance to diet or to give up something to please God, this is NOT what fasting is all about. In fact, it may not even be food be that God would have you fast from as you seek Him. Fasting is an opportunity for us to remove some of the distractions that keep us from worshiping and hearing from God. It allows us to refocus our hearts and minds on Jesus Christ and His will for our lives whenever we think about that thing we have given up to seek Him.
Fasting Ideas: Below are a few things that have been fasted from…
-food (ie. modeled by Jesus, Moses, Elijah)
-some foods (ie. modeled by Daniel)
-a meal each day
-sweets or caffeine or ???
-electronics or TV or Facebook or ???
-a hobby
-other: ???
Seek God about what He might have you fast from, but remember that it’s not so much about the What you “fast from”, as it is about the WHO you are fasting to – Jesus!
Your Next Step:
We are about to make some big steps as we lease approximately 12,000 square feet of Lenox Plaza. These steps require ALL of us to be the church together.
We have asked each person to pray about three areas:
1. a One Time Gift - over above your tithe: this will be for facility renovation and new equipment supplies. It will take sacrificial gifts from all of us to tackle this project.
2. Automate Your Tithe – Whether you have been faithful in tithing or you are taking a step of faith to begin tithing, by going on-line and and intentionally ”automating” your tithe, ministries in our church will be able to operate consistently rather than if funds are available or not.
3. PRAY – seek God’s face about your role/about our role as a church in impacting this community for Jesus Christ like never before! As part of the fast, i’ll ask you to read Isaiah 58 . Other passages will be sent out to our body as well.
*We will celebrate the commitments decisions made by our church body on Sunday AM, May 15th – in our morning services!
How is prayer related to fasting?
In the Bible and in the church today, we often hear the phrase “prayer and fasting.” While fasting removes distractions from your life so that you can better hear God, you must communicate with God in order to hear from Him, just like in every other relationship. And that is what prayer is—talking and listening to God, plain and simple. During your fast, leverage the craving or desire for food/hobby/habit to remind you to pray seek God.
Greenbrier Church…
My heart prayer is that this time of prayer fasting will be the beginning of a fresh, intimate relationship with you and Jesus Christ! The beautiful incredible reality is that He has invested himself fully to walk close to you…and the cross is proof of that. Your investment in this relationship through prayer fasting over these 21 days can be huge!
Praying for you & Praising God for you!
Chuck
Scripture references:
Isaiah 58:1-6, Nehemiah 9:1, Joel 2:12, Matthew 4:2
Matthew 6:16-18, Matthew 9:14, Mark 2:18, Luke 2:37
