Like other spiritual disciplines, fasting is shared by many religions. The Christian discipline has an ample biblical witness from Moses to Jesus himself. 40 days in the wilderness being tempted by the devil is a very well known event in Jesus’ life. So, what is the purpose of fasting?

Unlike fasting for political purposes, it is not to draw attention to yourself. Quite the contrary. When Jesus spoke of fasting he said,

Matthew 6:16a
"And when you fast, don't make it obvious, as the hypocrites do…”

Fasting is to focus your mind, body, and spirit on Jesus. It isn’t meant to be difficult or painful. In fact, according to Jesus, you may be “eating” anyway (John 4:32). Fasting can be abstaining from different items of food or drink, or a period of time without any food or drink, or just without food. Throughout the ages, Christians have tried a variety of fasts. Sunup to sundown, once a week for 24 hours, even strict fasts, like twice a week, fasting from eating.

When you fast, you might have cravings, and this is a good thing. You fast to show yourself you don’t always get what you want. This focuses your attention on Jesus, the reason for the fast. This can be a spiritually sharp time to tune in to God, and so take advantage of the opportunity.

Try it
I recommend a fast from dinner one night until dinner the next. During this time, still drink as it relieves dehydration headaches. Relish the cravings…Oh, no did I say relish? As in hot dogs?

Stop!

"My God is not my belly…"

Posted via email from how to be a christian without being a jerk!

Posted via web from LIFEhouse

Transforming the heart is the central vision of renovation, because the heart is where all choices are made. When you actually intend to surrender to God’s will in your life, your heart will try to figure out every way possible why you can’t or why you don’t need to. This will come out of your own nature; fueled by the tempting of the evil one.

This is why as you begin this heart “transplant,” don’t expect it to be easy. It is simple to understand and hard to do. What is necessary is to confess your need for transformation and to continue surrendering to God. In other words, "Repent."

Now "repentance" isn't just about repenting from sin. To repent is to "change our thinking." "Change our mind." We repent from sin, indeed, but we also repent when we change direction to new focus in our lives.

God works with us along the way, and makes it more and more possible for us to actually participate with him. There are tools God has set up for transformation. Let's look at some of these.

silence and solitude
“Jesus went out in the desert alone."

”Lord, where did you go? We couldn’t find you.”

Before most major decisions he makes, as recorded in the Bible Jesus spends time alone and prays. Why?

Silence and solitude are spiritual disciplines with a rich history. Spending time alone and quiet is a refreshment for your very soul.

When he was younger, I asked one of our sons why he thought Jesus was so fond of being alone and he said, “To get away from all the sin for awhile."

Like soldiers at war spending time alone before battle; it is good to get away. As followers of Jesus, we do battle with the forces of the Evil One. And also with silence and solitude, we break from all the busyness of business, the ups and downs of our daily lives, and we begin to give them over to God.

How do we do this? Here is one suggestion:

• Start with 10 minutes or so at the end of each day, reviewing what happened. Go to a room alone or go for a walk and reflect on the day's events. Review where you may forgiveness from God, and pray what is on your mind. Then just spend time listening.

  After all, you wouldn't talk to a friend about life and then when you were done, say, "OK, gotta go…"

• This practice may turn into more than 10 minutes, but begin here and see what happens.

Posted via email from how to be a christian without being a jerk!

Sermon 20September 2009 by Pastor Dana  
Download now or listen on posterous

Sermon 20 Sept 2009.mp3 (5863 KB)

We are called to give all of who we are to Jesus and be used in the "greatest cause in the galaxies" (thanks KC)
if this does not energize you….must already be dead

Posted via email from LIFEhouse

God knows every person’s heart. He knows how we deceive ourselves. He sees us as we are and is ready and able to transform us. This is the only way we can be saved from ourselves. God callus us to a life of surrender, abandonment, contentment, and participation.

We “surrender” to God and place our complete confidence in him. If we try to hold anything back, renovation isn’t possible. It’s not that God couldn’t change us on his own, but for the sake of our precious freedom he wouldn’t. It’s time for us to surrender.

“Surrender” is not a term that denotes strength, obviously. Yet, in the case of dying to yourself and your own self-worship into a life of self-denial, the one who surrenders is a giant. For years AA has used a slogan, “Let go; let God.” It is just as meaningful today.

Holding on to the “me” that isn’t really the “me” God designed me to be, well, that’s just plain foolish. (I’m sorry, but whenever I see the word “surrender” I see the Wicked Witch skywriting, “Surrender, Dorothy!”)

We trust God enough to give up and now we are ready to go all the way. “Abandonment” means everything. Every part of who we are. We do this in fits and starts, but the more we give God from what holds us back, the more freeing this becomes.

We will then experience “contentment,” where we are satisfied with what we have and live lives knowing we are completely safe immersed in God’s Kingdom reality. It doesn’t surprise us nor upset us when we don’t get our own way. We know God will carry out his plans. Our destinies are interwoven with those plans.

When we die to ourselves and live for God and others, God can trust us with his power. More and more he will use us to be beacons of hope and assurance in a world in desperate need of this. The things we do in our lives will look more and more like the things Jesus did when he was on earth. Yes, that kind of power!

It’s not that God doesn’t want us to have this power beforehand, it’s just that without transformed hearts, power without humility is dangerous. By transforming us, God invites us into this life of “participation.”

What is the greatest challenge you face? How do you want to face it?

Posted via web from how to be a christian without being a jerk!

This is the central place for transformation to happen. The renovation of the heart. New life is possible with a change in character itself.

Character= the internal structure of yourself that is revealed by outward patterns of behavior.

Under times of stress and fatigue, our character reveals itself. This is not a widely known fact. We can try to live a positive, gracious image for others when things are going smoothly, but when pressure hits we can’t keep up the defenses. Who we are is exposed by our circumstances.

We have some renovating to do. How often do we say or do something hurtful and then apologize with this kind of line?

“I have been under a lot of pressure lately.”

We also see this line of thinking when someone lashes out violently and injures or kills someone. In the interview of a family member or neighbor you often hear this:

“He seemed like such a nice guy. I wonder what happened to him to cause him to snap like that?”

No, he was not a nice guy. He was someone who was skilled at hiding his dominating self-worship but got caught up in circumstances where his real character was exposed.

Why doesn’t God just force us to do good? Our freedom is what makes us so precious in God’s sight. It is a key part of being created in God’s image. God honors our freedom to choose. He will not force us to love him. Instead God sends Jesus as a sacrifice to make it possible for our relationship to be restored. It is by being rescued by Jesus that our relationship with the Father can be restored.

We are not a lost cause. Under the power of the Holy Spirit, our true character can change for the good. This takes effort on our part, though we cannot change ourselves by the direct approach.

Posted via web from how to be a christian without being a jerk!

Here are the Bible’s antidotes to destructive feelings.

Faith and hope
These go hand in hand. Faith is confidence based on reality. Our reality is Jesus. As we trust in him, we are capable of “seeing the future.” This brings us to hope. Hope is the anticipation of good that is coming. When we combine faith and hope we act as if the good God has in store for us is already happening. It is.

Love
Love is to will the good of others.
To desire good for another and to act upon it.
To make choices that bring good in someone else’s life.

Love is not the same as lust, which is to desire for the sake of what we can receive. Love is giving of yourself so that other people receive benefit in their lives. Love produces the healthy feelings we are hoping for. When we are being transformed by Jesus this is what our lives look like. It is a process.

We are loved by God.
We love God.
We love others.
They experience God’s love, and love us.

A life filled with love produces feelings of love. Fear, pride, resentment and such are all dying out because we have the power of Jesus to show us we are completely safe in a life with him.

Joy
Joy is a deep sense of well being. We face life knowing all is well in spite of any circumstances of challenge and hardship. Jesus means for us to have a life of joy (John 15:11). This makes it possible for us to be secure in all circumstances. We aren’t on an emotional roller coaster, where every trouble brings feelings of fear and anxiety.

Peace
This word has two meanings.

1. To be at peace with God is to be reconciled to him through Jesus.
2. Peace is also a sense of well being based on confidence in Jesus.

We live in peace when we know God is in charge. Then destructive feelings of anxiety and fear disappear. Not because there is no trouble and pain, but because we face everything from within the Kingdom perspective and can take the long view.

A transformed life has an environment where faith, hope, love, joy and peace can flourish.

Whatever troubles you recently, what is the absolute worst thing thatt could happen, as a result? What could God do if that would occur?

H

Posted via email from how to be a christian without being a jerk!

Sermon 13 Sept 2009 by Pastor Dana  
Download now or listen on posterous

Sermon 13 Sept 2009.mp3 (8331 KB)

The power of the Holy Spirit is limited by our own resistance
abundance and blessing come with clearing the circuit

Posted via email from LIFEhouse

Yesterday, we saw what doesn't work in transforming our minds. Here's what does work.

What will Work

1. Work on feelings that move you away from sin instead of trying not to sin.

At the very earliest stages, focus on cultivating revulsion at the feelings you now have that are sinful even if they don’t bother you. Along with this, focus on being attracted strongly to feelings of good even if you don’t have those feelings to begin with.

Take anger as an example. I don’t simply try to avoid feeling angry. I begin to look at how unattractive I must appear when I am angry. I focus on the sense of uneasiness I have afterwards. At the same time, I have a vision of what it is like for people to be in my presence where they are relaxed and comfortable.

2. Remove the underlying condition, not just the feeling.

Why do I have the destructive feelings in the first place? What are the conditions that lead up to them? Let’s stay on the anger example.

What conditions lead to the anger? Perhaps it is a sense of privilege. If I think I deserve good things in my life and then they don’t go my way, I am offended by my circumstances. I lash out at whoever is around me. I begin to project my disappointment on anyone whom I perceive as a source of my “injustice.”

It's time to move myself from the sense of privilege, and realize the whole world isn't going to end if I don't get my way.

3. Replacing the underlying condition; the feelings will take care of themselves.

It isn’t enough just to remove the underlying condition that fuels the destructive feelings. In the anger example, it isn't enough to try not to feel like I must always get my own way. I must replace those conditions with healthy alternatives.

One way to start is to set yourself up in situations where you practice deferring to others. Letting someone come in to your traffic lane is a good place to start. If you live in an urban area especially, you can practice this every day.

Of course, the person behind you may then have to start working on anger issues!

What is one destructive feeling you struggle with? What can you do to stop feeling that way?

Posted via email from how to be a christian without being a jerk!

Feelings are at the front of the line when it comes to our minds. People ask “How are you feeling today?”

Has anyone ever asked you, “How are you thinking today?”

Watching the news after a terrorist attack brings an unfortunate lesson in this focus on how one feels. Newscasters ask "experts" these kind of questions:

Why do you think the terrorists feel the way they do? What is causing them to feel that way about Western countries? What more can we do to understand why they feel the way they do?

No one asks the obvious.

What kind of thinking is the source of such diabolical actions? What are the ideas and images the terrorists use as their sources that fuel this type of response?

Feelings are absolutely necessary because they make us come alive and they drive our activities. We accept we have feelings and we learn to channel them in the right places and in the right way. Dallas says,

“Feelings can be good servants but they are a horrible master.”

So how do we work on a vision to transform our mind’s feelings? Here's what doesn't work.

what won’t work
1. Trying to take on our feelings directly
We don’t know the power of feelings if we think we can just face them directly with willpower. The direct approach at changing our mind at the spur of the moment is not helpful. If we are being strongly influenced by feelings of anger, fear, sexual attraction, the need for approval, and such, to just say, “Quit it!” to yourself, or to simply give in and allow your feelings to rule, “I can’t help how I feel," well… There is a better way.

2. Denying our destructive feelings or pouring them out on others
It doesn’t do any good to ignore the fact we do have destructive feelings like anger, greed, jealousy, lust, and the list goes on. The Bible even has these lists in several places (e.g. Colossians 3:5-8). We can’t deny we have these sinful feelings and we can’t try to just keep them inside and then they will naturally go away. There is another way.

The other way is not to act these feelings out. We don’t give in to them and take it out on our others. Like screaming at someone and then thinking, “Now I feel much better.”

The way to transform destructive feelings is to replace them with helpful feelings. This is one of the central keys to living a transformed life. It is only under the partnership of Jesus through the power of the Holy Spirit that we can become the kind of people who lose these awful feelings, and have feelings that are helpful to others as they build us up.

Posted via email from how to be a christian without being a jerk!