Fasting isn't very fast at all.

Fasting is unusual. It's different. I don't know if any of my really close friends actually do it. They never say if they do at least. But that's probably a good thing. I have fasted before but I tried not to tell anyone about it. I think that's also a good thing. It's also probably not the best thing to brag about your fasting. It' something between you and God. It's not something to be boasted about. No one wants to hear how much better you are then them! However we do want to know about what God is doing in your life. It's kind of complicated.

Anyways, fasting is interesting. What good does it actually do? Does it do any good at all? It sounds pretty selfish to me. I think Americans in general struggle with the idea of fasting. We struggle with the idea of self discipline. To tell ourselves no to something is to deny one's self and that doesn't make any sense. Why not just give yourself everything you wanted? My heart and sinful nature knows what is best right? A wise man once said the heart is deceitful above all things. A slightly less wise man said, "Whenever I’m about to do something I think, would an idiot do that? And if they would I do not do that thing." One of these men correctly understood how our hearts work. 

This week I did a little fasting. My college group decided it would be a good idea to go down and hand out sandwiches to the homeless people in Grand Rapids. I'm not bragging I'm just stating a fact. This happened. This was also really out of my comfort zone. It wasn't actually about the peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, it was about sharing the gospel. The sandwiches were just a conversation starter. But anyways, I decided it would be a good idea to fast. These people were hungry so I was going to be hungry too. I was trying to put myself in their position, hoping God would make me understand and feel the same way they did. Also it reminded me of why I was there and gave me focus. I wanted a PB&J so bad by the end of it. I could sympathize with those who asked for three. These people were out on the streets and needed help. I could only partially relate to that. This experience opened my eyes greatly. 

I think fasting is good for two things. One is putting all your focus on God and taking it off of yourself. With a constant reminder of hunger, we can realize how much God gives us and how much we owe him and can't repay. This act should be worshipful of God. It's putting away your selfish desires and taking up selflessness. 

Secondly, fasting is about being disciplined. People really struggle with this. Taking away the idol of yourself and replacing it with the glorification of God is the most important thing a Christian can do. We are constantly struggling against our sinful nature. We are inherently evil and trying to change that is what Christ wants for us. He ultimately wants us to be saved from ourselves. Only God has the power to truly change us from evil and fasting is an example of how we are changed. It is an image of what Christ did in the desert. He fasted for 40 days. He has given us a good example to follow.

Thanks,

David

Prayer is difficult

Prayer has always been a complicated subject for me. It's difficult to think we can talk to God and that he hears us. It's a problem because we are so sinful and he isn't. So how does that make sense? Does God actually hear you if we are so full of sin?

But it's true, he does actually listen. But why don't we always get the answers we want?  It's probably because we are so sinful. Is God just a jerk because he doesn't answer us the way we want? What if he actually gave us what we wanted all the time? Wouldn't he just be giving us into our own vices? I don't think God answers our prayers the way we want all the time because he has to love us, because he wants to love us.

What about all the other evils then, shouldn't they be taken care of? Yes we can pray for every evil in the world and God hears our prayers but why does he let them happen? Is it because they must happen? Is God teaching us to rely on him. I think prayer is definite result and sign of us relying on God and trusting in him. Coming to God with our decisions, wants, and needs shows God how much we love him and trust him.

I have never been one of those "prayer warriors" or one who would volunteer to pray a lot in group settings. Corporate prayer has always been a tough thing for me. Even when I am not the one praying, sometimes my thoughts wander, sometimes it's a real problem. But lately I have been praying more in groups and for longer times. This past week I went with a college group to pray in front of the abortion clinic. I had never really done something like that before. It was public and it was against something that's overwhelming to think about. At first it was kind of scary but I prayed about it and God eased my anxiety. Yet we were still honked at and yelled at on the street. But I don't think that was the hardest part of it.

We had to talk to God for an hour. Each one of us got a turn but still an hour? I could list off all the prayer concerns in way less than that very easily. But it was about the hour and not exactly how we prayed. Coming up with something new to pray about was difficult however praying about the same thing over and over again was really important. It also didn't turn into a competition for who is the most creative in prayer. No it was about praying to God and crying out to him for what is the most important thing. Saying it again and again, begging God to hear our prayers and answer them. I think God desires discipline in these subjects, especially prayer and fasting. Paul says he prays continually for the saints and that we should also. Many times in the Old Testament prophets have done crazy difficult things while trying to pray to God. I think this is a definite need and we forget about that need.

Thanks,
Dave

What is meditation?

Hello again. This week I was supposed to study meditation and actually take time to meditate, and so I did. Before I begin explaining the experience I think it's important to know what meditation is. I didn't really know when we first talked about it in class. I thought it was just a time to sit around and think about stuff, and I figured that sounds really boring or I could just get caught up in so many thoughts that I would eventually go crazy. My friend Jon Delger put it that meditation was about going into the woods and dancing naked with the fairies. I think there's something wrong with all of those approaches.

"The essence of meditation can only be truly achieved while naked, I feel as though clothing hinders my communication with the divine aura. Clothing keeps the bad in and keeps God out, which is counter productive towards the genuine practice of the discipline. Nakedness on the other hand allows God the freedom to enter into your mind without being hindered by fabric." says Josh Rumbarger. I think there is something wrong with that approach also.

Coming to God in a time of peace and tranquility is not about how you do it but what goes on when it's happening. Meditation is spending a quiet time with God and focusing on the communication between yourself, the Holy Spirit and God the Father. (Jesus is in there too because he is our mediator) I think it's really important that this time is focused only on that relationship.

I was talking to my friend the other day about being personal with Jesus. They said a book they read (it wasn't the Bible) described Jesus so personally it made it so much easier to focus on him in her devotions and prayer. Understanding who Jesus was and who God is, is really important if we are going to communicate and build our relationship with him. This is also why meditation is so important. It focuses on how you view God and how you apply that to your life.

In my time times of meditation this week I found it easiest to meditate while I was at work, driving my car, or even sitting in my car talking to God. My Ipod has recently broke so having these times with God have become easier to find. Distractions should probably be left for a different post so I'm not going to touch on that yet. So with all distractions aside, I really found these times effective when talking with God.

When I found time to meditate, I laid it all down in front of God. I gave him all my problems and said "I don't really want to deal with this any more, you can deal with them." It wasn't really all that difficult to do. The difficult part was understanding that I still had to deal with those things after I gave them all to God. He wasn't like a magical genie that took all my problems away. No instead he just made them more apparent. Yes I had been screwing up and God does forgive me for those sins but I still have to deal with the consequences. I still need to struggle to fight the good fight even and take it all on personally. But there's an irresistible calm that I got from meditating. Realizing that God is bigger than anything I can give to him really gives you the confidence that you can work through it. No matter what happens God knows what's going on and it will be for his glory.

So next time you look upon meditation as something a crazy person would do, rethink it, and try and do it. Give everything to God and listen for his response. You maybe surprised in what you will find.

Cya next week.

Dave

Confession can't be what it seems.

Confession really always gets a bad rap. The one scene I always think of is from the movie The Ringer. Johnny Knoxville is at the confession booth telling the priest that he is rigging the Special Olympics. Instead of saying his sins are forgiven, the priest throws him out of the church and calls him a sick man, or something like that. Wouldn't that be unfortunate if only some sins were actually forgiven? But that simply isn't true. Christ forgives all our sins.

Does he actually forgive all our sins? The answer is yes, but this brings up another problem. If we have these sins and we keep asking for forgiveness for the same sin, will it really be forgiven again? Is it really repentance from sin if we go on and keep sinning?

John Calvin defined sin as this, "a true conversion of our life to God, proceeding from a serious fear of God, and consisting in the mortification of the flesh and of the old man, and in the vivification of the Spirit."

Repentance is turning away from sin, it's the only way that we can show that we are truly converted. This disheartens me because I wonder what about those that fall back into sin and keep doing it and have to repent all over again. Are they really converted? Are their sins forgiven or do they not actually want the forgiveness because they don't try hard enough to stop sinning? The fact of the matter is that Jesus calls us to repentance and Christ forgives sins through his death on the cross.

Confession, I think, is a primary part of repentance. It is of utmost importance. The first thing we do when confessing is examining the conscience. We must first examine ourselves and see our sin. God does have rules and laws that he wants us to follow in accordance with his being. Not following God's moral will, leads to sin. If we don't understand that we don't know our sin and we can't confess. There isn't anything to confess.

Once we realize our sin, the direct product of that is sorrow for sin. We regret the sin we took up against the almighty God. Feeling regret or sorrow is the product of a changed heart. If you don't realize it was a bad thing and want to turn away from it then you obviously are not confessing or repenting correctly.

The tricky part with confession is, who do you confess your sin to? Yes confessing your sin to God is really important. But I think that can get repetitive. We can start to not feel bad about sin because God's so far away and we can just think, "Oh I'm sorry I won't do that again," and immediate proceed to do it anyways.

Martin Luther one of the great fathers of the reformation against Catholicism loved the confession booth. He loved having someone to tell his sins to. He knew however that the priest couldn't actually forgive his sins but the reaffirmation that his sins are actually forgiven by Christ was always joyful. Luther would be so convicted of his sin that sometimes he would be told that the small things he analyzed weren't really all that important.

Luther is one of the reasons why I think confessing our sins to another human being is really important. Confessing our sin to other people not only can help us realize it has been forgiven but keep us accountable to not keep on sinning. The other night my friends and I went for a walk and hung out at a gazebo on a lake just down the road. There we confessed what had been troubling us. One after another we talked about what we struggle with. Each one of us seemed to have a big dilemma in our life. Nobody knew how to fix it but getting it out there and talking about it seemed to help. Through confession we realize were our real faults are. Openly confessing the things we deal with on a regular basis really makes us think through them and it helps make clear what we should do to fix it. Also that other person we confess to, can and hopefully will keep us accountable. Accountability is really important because sin is so overwhelming and consistent, that we need something consistently pulling us away from it.

So next time you find yourself caught in the same routine of asking for forgiveness over and over again, just ask a friend to listen or find a mentor. It really helps and I promise it will make you feel better. :)