Last semester God taught me an amazing lesson on fasting that I wanted to post.  So here it is:

Fasting makes you physically weak.
Your physical weakness (in fasting) works it’s way inside to bring spiritual weakness.
Spiritual weakness is good because it makes you realize your need for God.
As you realize your true weakness and your need for God your faith increases.
And increased faith means more powerful prayer.
And prayer rid of all human strength is perfected prayer.

Therefore, fasting purifies your prayer.

God, let us be a people who are not like Esua, who trade our inheritance for food.  But let us be a people who would deny our stomaches and the world so that we might burn for you.

As promised on Sunday, here is an article to help you with practicals for increasing your intimacy with God.  It is a teaching I heard on the Monastery Retreat in December.  A monk gave a teaching on something called Lectio Devino which is a great tool to increase intimacy with God.  Click below to download the Word Document.  Enjoy

Download
Lectio Devino

Download (right click and “save target/link as”)

The Lord seems to be so heavy on this worship. IT IS POWERFUL! Use it for your prayer for Winter Retreat.

If you want to download the full 82 minutes of the worship session, search on iTunes for “Yearn, Faint, Cry” podcast. Click on the episode “Justin Rizzo onething 2007 12/28/07 2pm (AUDIO).”

OUR GOD REIGNS!

Here are some helpful articles to download on fasting.

Practical Guidelines for Fasting (pdf format)

Links:

Fasting Management 101

The Practicals of Fasting 

Juicy Essentials 

Enjoy!

The power of your words are filled with grace and mercy,

Let them fall on my ears and break my stony heart…

“Closer”  Charlie Hall

I put my Upper Room Staff Nametag Magnet, from my first year on staff, on my fridge.

That means that I am officially moved into Apt. A.  Aww… home sweet home.

If someone were to come and ask me “How was The Call?” I think I might have a hard time finding the right words.

If you don’t know what The Call is, it was an event were leaders in the Church gathered thousands of christians together for a day of fasting and prayer for America. The tag line was “It’s not a festifal, it’s a fast.”

So there I was, walking out of LP Field in Nashville Tennesseeat at 10:30pm, me and 70,000 of my closest friends, wondering how to tell others about it. Maybe some of these stories can help:

- At 9:30am, half an hour before the event actually started, I had my face in my hands praying. Then God gave me a picture: I saw my hands, in the same place they were in real life, putting blue paint on my face. Blue paint as in Braveheart blue face paint. To me, that was God symbolically letting me know that I was getting ready to go to war.

- They opened the day with Native American Christians praying for us because they are the Apistolic Fathers of our Nation. POWERFUL.

- We prayed that God would free America from all sexual sin for over an hour in intense, passionate prayer. He put a fire in me in that session that I am still walking in now.

- We prayed that God would bring a Third Great Awakening to America. I have longed for that since I was sitting in US History when I was a junior in High School. God make me a part of the Third Great Awakening!

- At the end of the day, 300 men blew Shofars (a musical instrument made from a ram’s horn used in the Old Testament i.e. the horns in Joshua used to bring down the walls of Jericho) and the crowd released a shout that was one of the loudest things I have ever heard. The Fear of God (in the very best way) came over me and I felt like we were in front of a cave, provoking the Great Lion of Judah to come out and meet us.

So how was The Call? It was life changing. It was insane. At the end of the day, I felt like I had been in a giant, epic battle standing in the gap for America.

“…and I …can hear the sound of rain… coming to America…again.”

Holy Visitation from The Call Nashville 07.07.07

Sound the alarm
Gather the people
Gather the elders
Let the ministers wail
God, take back the years that the enemy’s stolen
Lord, You are coming
Holy Visitation

Sound the alarm
Awaken the watchmen
Open their ears
Let their voices be loud
We prophecy, You’ll come to this nation
Touch this generation
Holy Visitation

We return to You
With fasting and weeping and mourning
Oh, my Lord, You’re returning
We lie here weeping between porch and altar
Pour out Your spirit on Your sons and Your daughters
We lie here weeping between porch and altar
Pour out Your spirit on Your sons and Your daughters

We dance, and we shout and we lift up our voice
Let your kingdom come down

Tomorrow I will write about The Call Nashville and you will hear about some of what I experienced. The audio clip was taken by someone with a recorder in the stadium and that moment was one of great power and intercession. The Lion of Judah was truly on the move.

and I can hear the sound of rain, coming to America again…

I want to be romanced by the King of the ages
I don’t want to sing of a passion I’ve never known
I want to get lost in the beauty of Jesus,
to dance through the night around Your throne…

so dance with me…

“Dance With Me” by Evan Earwiker  |||  on iTunes