05 Jan Faith for Your Life

It’s 2017, and a New Year is upon us, and I’m so excited about it. I’m excited about new possibilities, new opportunities, and seeing all the good things God will do in our city and lives this year.

Perhaps the greatest way you can start the year is to begin by fasting and praying. If you are unfamiliar with the concept of fasting, it is the spiritual discipline or setting aside a portion of your life and denying the body something (usually food) to create space for God to speak and move.

Fasting regularly is one of the greatest single habits that Carrie and I have woven into our lives. It helps remind us that we are utterly dependent on God for His wisdom and help in our lives.

Let me say this to you: No matter who you are and no matter how smart or strong you are on your own, you are not smarter or stronger than God! You desperately need His presence and His grace in ways you aren’t even aware of, and fasting helps bring you back and remind you of perhaps the central tenet of the Christian faith: that the poor in spirit inherit the kingdom of heaven.

I know many of you aren’t able to fast from food for health reasons or job reasons, and that’s ok! If that is the case, please consider fasting from something else significant in your life that would be a nearly equivalent sacrifice. If there’s one thing we see from many stories in the Bible, it’s that sacrifices provide spaces for God’s power and fire to fall.

There are always a million legitimate reasons to not fast, but there is always one good reason to fast: a desire and a hunger for more of God!

So, I hope you can participate at some level this week, and that you can join us this Friday night for a focused time of prayer and worship and crying out to God for our nation and city and church. Childcare is available for that night.

And, this Sunday, I’m excited about starting our series for the month of January called “Better Together”, where we will be taking a look at what it’s going to take for us to be great at the mission God has for us—honoring Him and making disciples in a multiethnic, multigenerational context. We really are better together and I can’t wait to unpack that idea this month. This Sunday we will also have a special guest just to visit, but not to preach—a member of our Board of Oversight, Kevin York. Kevin is the Executive Director of Every Nation Churches and will be talking briefly about our joining with Every Nation Churches and Ministries.

It’s going to be a great weekend—I’ll see you there!

Morgan