If we have the audacity to ask, God has the ability to perform. That’s how God turns His amazing promises into everyday reality in every generation- for Joshua’s and for ours.
Steven Furtick, SUN STAND STILL
Category: Random
Nervous Breakdown
The trouble with success is that the formula is the same as the one for a nervous breakdown.
Charles Swindoll
Jacob’s Dream
Some people stumble on the truth and walk away still not believing; others dream about the truth and wake up as believers.
All I Ever Have to Be
All I ever have to be is what you’ve made me,
Any more or less would be a step out of your plan,
As you daily recreate me help me always keep in mind,
That I only have to do what I can find,
And all I ever have to be is what you’ve made me.—Amy Grant
Fasting Wrong
Just a little confession here: Before I read Joey Bonifacio’s book “The Mystery of the Empty Stomach,” I really thought that fasting is ALL about food deprivation and looking somber. Without meaning to, the images that come to my mind when I hear the word fasting include sack clothes, ashes, weeping and dozens of other depressing scenarios.
Joey Bonifacio’s book came as a pleasant surprise to me. The biggest shocker that I came across while reading it was the fact that fasting IS NOT supposed to be treated as an ordeal but an outflow of a joyful communion with God. Taking Luke 5: 33- 35 as main text, Bonifacio pointed out that when asked about fasting, Jesus recalled images of a happy wedding, not of a mirthless gathering of unhappy faces.
Prayer and fasting is a spiritual activity to be enjoyed, not a religious duty to be endured. Our attitude and approach to fasting should be like a bride who is too excited in all the wedding preparations that she wouldn’t mind skipping a meal or two.
Book Review: FASTING by Scot McKnight
I read this book because our church has this annual 7-day prayer and fasting every first week of January. I pretty much had a list of the things that I wanted to pray about when the author, Scot McKnight, jolted me with the word “repentance.” For some weird reason, this word never crossed my mind in the last few days when I was preparing to fast. I was so consumed with my wants that I forgot to think about what God wants from me.
McKnight also clarified something that has been bugging me for years- the Biblical definition of fasting. I often hear some people say that they are fasting from television, or from the internet, or from certain kind of food. I just didn’t know it but there was something about the lose definition of fasting that didn’t feel right.
McKnight wrote:
“To say that fasting means “not to indulge” opens up the door for some creative ideas. Some today use the word fasting for not watching TV during Lent, abstaining from desserts, or not watching sports on Sunday. Each of these can be a good discipline for specific individuals, but I do not believe it is accurate to call these things fasting. Why? Because fasting in the Bible describes not eating or not drinking. In the Bible, fasting is about not eating food or (rarely) about not drinking water. To choose not to watch TV or not to eat savory meats on Friday is not fasting but abstinence. I think it is important to distinguish between fasting and abstinence…”
A big OUCH to those who think they can custom-make their fasting to specific food or activities.
Jojo Agot 