Preparing for the Fast

The past few blogs we have been preparing and encouraging the women of Calvary to get prepared, to get ready for the fast and for revival. For this Sunday, God laid some pretty heavy stuff on my heart to ask the ladies in the small group I lead, and I want to pass those along to you.

1. What are your motives for fasting?
   

   
    

   In Isaiah 58, the people were fasting but getting nothing from it. You know why? Because they did it for appearance sake. They Bible says, they "seem eager." Their fasting was on a superficial, ritualistic level. Are you fasting simply because everyone else is? Are you fasting because you want that time of cleansing and getting your relationship with God on a deeper level? In Isaiah 58:1-5 the people were fasting the way they wanted to and then they were doing what they wanted. The result of their fast – quarrelling and strife. Their definition of fasting was not God's. What is it that God wants you to fast?
   

   
    

2. Are you willing to fast God's way?
   

   
    

   God's definition of fast was connected to behaviors. He wants his people to live an over-comers life not bound to our sin or to be controlled by our sin. He wants the "ropes of the yoke" to be untied. What are you in bondage to?
   

   
    

   God's definition of fasting was very different from their definition of fasting. The results of fasting God's way led to drastically different results than those who fasted their own way.
   

   
    

3. Are you willing to do what the Lord leads you to do during the fast and as a result of the fast?
   

   
    

   The way God desires us to fast means He will lead us to action. In Isaiah 58, fasting God's way lead to social action – feed the hungry, house the homeless, clothe the naked. That means getting outside the church walls to serve him by ministering to others. It can be uncomfortable, but that's when you know you're growing. It won't be your idea, and that's when you know that God is leading you to put aside yourself to put others first.
   

   
    

4. What are the benefits of fasting God's way?
   

   
    

   In verses 8 and 9 it shows if we fast God's way and IF WE ARE OBEDIENT, the reward is recovery/restoration. The reward is that he will be found.
   

Fasting is a denial of our selfish desires putting God first and foremost in our lives. By focusing on God, we are choosing to feed our spiritual life. WHAT YOU FEED FLOURISHES. WHAT YOU STARVE SHRIVELS. When you feed your spiritual life it grows, and your fleshly desires shrivel up. When we feed our fleshly desires (food, anger, spending, pride, you fill in the blank) then those fleshly desires will flourish. They don't stay contained to just one area of your life. Satan has a foothold with one sin in your life, he does not stop there. It spreads.

Ephesians 4:21-31 shows that by accepting Christ and being baptized we are bound to him. He died and conquered sin once and for all. We don't have to live in bondage to our fleshly self. We don't. "The thief comes to steal, kill and destroy, but I have come so that you may have life more abundantly." John 10:10. Romans 6:1-14 says we are to count ourselves dead to sin and alive in Christ. We have to die to our fleshly desires daily and choose to follow Christ. We do not have to be bound to our sin. It's a choice. What will you feed? Will you feed your flesh, or will you feed your spiritual life? And if you decide to feed the spiritual and God leads you to do something during the fast or as a result of this fast, ARE YOU GOING TO DO IT?

Ladies, it's time for some spring cleaning a few months early. We need to get rid of the things we cling to that are of our fleshly desires and embrace those things that God leads us to.

Preparing for the Fast -- REPENT

Last week in my small group on Sunday morning, we talked about preparing for the fast, preparing for revival. We talked about how John the Baptist's destiny was to prepare others to meet Jesus and how, like Elijah, his message was REPENT.

Ladies, we need to prepare ourselves for this fast. We need to prepare ourselves for revival. We need to confess our sins to our Creator, and when I say "confess our sins," I mean more than saying, "Please forgive me of my sins." By saying that, we are white-washing our sins and distancing ourselves from our sins. We need to name them. If you don't know what your sins are then pray Psalms 19:12 – 14. God will reveal them to you.

By naming our sins, we may become more like Mary, Martha and Lazarus' sister, who was known in the town of Bethany as a sinful woman. When she came to Jesus, she knew her sins. She wept at Jesus's feet for her sins; she dried his feet with her hair; she kissed his feet. Ladies, she poured the most expensive, extravagant, precious gift she had on his feet – herself and the perfume from the alabaster jar.

Jesus said she did this because it was ordained that she prepare him for his death, but having lived a life so separate from Christ because of her, she poured herself out (her old self) till she was empty, and there was nothing left of herself so HE COULD FILL HER UP. Isaiah 59:1-3, "Surely the arm of the Lord is not too short to save, nor his ear too dull to hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God; your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear. For your hands are stained with blood, your fingers with guilt. Your lips have spoken lies, and your tongue mutters wicked things." Our hands are covered with Christ's blood – it is because of our sins that he died for us.

When was the last time you wept at the feet of Jesus because of your sins? When was the last time you truly repented of your sin?

Ladies, you can go through this fast and not get a thing out of it. Isaiah 58 shows Israel fasting but not hearing God in it. We have to repent – no more white-washing.
Repentance isn't a one-time deal either. Repentance is a lifestyle. I'm not talking about a lifestyle of self-loathing or self-deprication. I'm talking about daily dying to our selfish desires and wants. We need to daily put on the armor of God, choose to follow him, and put aside our selfish, immature, self-centered, toxic ways.

If we want to prepare for this fast coming in January of 2011, if we want revival to happen in our lives, WE MUST REPENT. NAME THEM.

Take Jesus Out of the Manger…And Live

So, we've taken Jesus out of the manger and carried him everywhere around the Shreveport/Bossier area. I encouraged you to take Jesus out of your purse every time you make a purchase. You may be wondering what the point to all of this is…it is a physical reminder of something you do every day. You carry Jesus with you every day, everywhere, every minute. He hears what you say with your mouth, in your mind, and in your actions. He sees your actions and the intentions of your heart. Are you living your life like that? Are you living your life in such a manner that his heart is reflected in you? Are you seeing others through his eyes?

Do you remember how we started off this Mary/Martha challenge? Remember how much God loves you and what he was willing to do for you? Let's live like it. Let's dig in his love letter to us and share it with others this Christmas season.

Merry Christmas.

Love ya'll,

 

Kristy

Take Jesus Out of the Manger…And

I have some wonderful girlfriends around the country who have a heart for serving God and for ministering to women. I’ve challenged them to challenge their women to take Jesus Out of the Manger just like I’ve challenged you. You may be wondering, “What’s the point?” Good question.


We decorate every year. We decorate our homes, our cubicles, our yards and even our cars for the holiday season. What if we all left baby Jesus out of the manger? Some do already. Some only put baby Jesus in the manger on Christmas morning and celebrate His birthday. But what if, we take baby Jesus with us wherever we go. I challenged you last week to carry the baby Jesus in your purse. This week, I challenge you to take baby Jesus out every time you open your wallet to buy anything. Set baby Jesus up there right beside the card reader. Keep Him there until your purchase is finalized.

Do you think this has the potential for starting a conversation with the sales clerk? Do you think the person behind you might wonder why baby Jesus is in your purse? So, now, not only are you focused on Jesus, but the cashier and the person behind you. Isn’t that what Christmas is about? This is your opportunity to say, “I believe in saying Merry Christmas because I believe in Jesus Christ, so Merry Christmas.” How simple is that?

Now, what if there is a woman in that same line an hour later who takes her baby Jesus out and places it beside the card reader? What if she does the exact same thing? She has taken the challenge to say, “I believe in saying Merry Christmas because I believe in Jesus Christ, so Merry Christmas.” Do you think it will make an impression on that clerk?

You know what else that means? We will have to be on our best behavior! That clerk will be watching and listening. Are you different from all the other customers who haven’t looked her in the eyes the whole day? Will you be like the others in her life who barely recognize her existence, or will you take the opportunity to look her in the eye and say, “I believe in saying Merry Christmas because I believe in Jesus Christ. I’ve taken Jesus out of the manger and take Him wherever I go. Why don’t you come to our Christmas Eve service?”

Ladies, when the shepherds went to the find baby Jesus, they didn’t keep Him all to themselves. Luke 2:17 said they told everyone what they had been told about the child and that those who listened were amazed. We don’t need to keep this to ourselves. It’s not enough to carry Jesus around in our purses much less our hearts. We MUST share Him, so take Him out of your purse every time you pull out your wallet. I challenge you, and I’d love to see the faces on those who start seeing us pull little baby Jesus’s out of our purses. I want to hear about lives changed because we were bold enough to share Jesus in this simple way…my guess, it is your life that will be forever changed.

His Daughter,



Kristy

Take Jesus Out of the Manger

At the Christmas Tea, I issued a challenge, and I want to challenge you as well. Too often we get caught up with the shopping and the “to do” things that we totally miss opportunities to focus on the true meaning of Christmas. We miss opportunities to serve Jesus. We miss opportunities to love others from the overflow of our love for Christ. So here is the challenge – take Jesus out of the manger and put Him in your purse!


Do you go anywhere without your purse? Not often, if at all. So I challenge you to put that baby Jesus in your purse and take Him wherever you go.

When you go to Hobby Lobby to buy just one more thing (like that’s possible) and you reach for your wallet, your hand will graze the baby Jesus in your purse. I hope it reminds you that before God created the world, He knew He was going to create you (Eph 1). He knew how much you, like me, were going to screw up, and yet He still wanted to create you. LISTEN TO THIS – He knew that by creating you He would have to send His only Son to die for your sins to redeem you, and HE STILL CHOSE TO CREATE YOU ANYWAY!!!! How awesome is that? What an amazing love! It’s the kind of love that people are looking for today. Are you sharing it with those who are in the checkout line with you?

When you are searching for the tube of lipstick to reapply before going into a Christmas party, your hand grabs the baby Jesus, I want you to remember that God made Himself so vulnerable as to come as a newborn baby and made Himself available to the lowliest of people because He wants a personal relationship with you and every person in that party. HE BECAME DEFENSELESS SO WE MIGHT NOT BE THREATENED OR INTIMIDATED BY HIS PRESENCE, BUT RATHER HE MADE HIMSELF APPROACHABLE AND LOVABLE TO BREAK DOWN BARRIERS AND PRECONCEIVED IDEAS. Are you that approachable and lovable so that ANYONE in the party will see Jesus in you?

And when you take the contents of your purse out and put them into another purse, and you hold baby Jesus in your hand, I want you to remember God wants a personal relationship with you. It makes no sense, but He does. He was willing to die for a relationship with you. That’s how precious you are to Him. He wants to spend some time with His daughter. IT’S PERSONAL. YOU MATTER. THEY MATTER.

There are people who are dying and going to hell because they think Christmas is a holiday like the others. Does that bother you? If you haven’t asked Jesus into your heart, He waits patiently. Nothing that has happened to you, no choices you have made surprise Him. He still loves you. He even knows what is going to happen in your future, and He wants to help provide and protect you.

You’ve probably ignored that tug on your heart before, but don’t. He wants to adopt you as his daughter. He’s paid for the adoption – He sacrificed His Son – you’ve just got to claim Him as your Father.

Ladies, the baby that is the reason for this season was no ordinary baby. He was born to be sacrificed for you, for me. Are you living like it? Are you living like someone died to set you free? Let’s serve Him this season out of the overflow of our love for Him.

SHE LOVES MUCH

Over the past four weeks, we’ve been looking at Martha and Mary. I don’t know about you, but I’m pretty sure Martha has to be a first-born of her and Mary. She just has that flavor about her. It’s easy to dissect where leaders make mistakes because they are the ones up front and center and the ones leading visibly, but I think Martha also had some wonderful qualities as well. She was intelligent. She could motivate people to action, and she was generous.


This being said, I began to wonder about Mary. When I looked Mary up in my concordance, it showed me Mary the sister of Lazarus and gave me two additional scriptures Matthew 26:6-13 which is about the woman and the alabaster jar of perfume and Luke 7:36-50 which is the one I want to focus our attention on today.

In verse 37 says a woman with a sinful life in that town went to see Jesus. She was known by her actions in the whole town. In your family, what do your actions say? What about your church? She did not pretend to be more than she was either. Ladies, sometimes we have socialized our sin. We put it on a graded curve from a little, white lie to a big, black lie, and I’m pretty sure God doesn’t see it like that. Your little white lie put Jesus on the cross just like a big, black sin of someone else’s. You are no better than they. The only difference is Christians have been redeemed. Soak in that for a minute. Not too comfortable, is it? I didn’t think so either.

In verse 38 she stood where? BEHIND Jesus. Where was she? AT HIS FEET. What was she doing? WEEPING. When was the last time you wept over your sin? Just asking because it convicted me. Her tears wet the feet of her Savior – the feet that would be pierce for her iniquity, her sin. She was sobbing. Then she wiped them dry with her hair, and what happened next caught my attention. It made me stop in my tracks. I’m not going to tell you either. You have to look it up. Then and only then did she pour the perfume on His feet. Oh, the love she had for her Lord. I want that. I want what she had. I want that softness of heart and Spirit, so His Words convict me and pierce through the walls I’ve constructed around my mind and heart. Jesus recognized her for her love. Check out verse 47. “Therefore, I tell you, her many sins have been forgiven – for SHE LOVED MUCH. But he who has been forgiven little loves little.”

I may not have ever murdered anyone in cold-blood, but I may have in my mind. I may not have acted on a hatred, but I may have held it in my heart. I might have envied and coveted without stealing, but in my mind, I’ve taken many things. I want my Jesus to recognize me as “SHE WHO LOVED MUCH.” It’s because of her love of Jesus that she served. She served from the overflow of her love for Him. How much do you love Him? Will He say, “She who loved much” or “she who loves little?”

During this holiday season when we are so rushed going here and there, buying this present, and preparing this meal or that, will your family, friends, neighbors or coworkers see you serving from the overflow of your love of Christ? OR will they see you serving man for the recognition by man or because it is required?

Jesus LOVES MUCH. It’s why He chose to humble Himself and make Himself the most vulnerable as an infant, so He could reach the most common, everyday people – you and me. How will you serve Him this season?

Mary and Martha’s Faith Is Defined by a Box

Last week we focused on John 11. I encourage you to read that chapter again, at least to verse 44. Take this time. It is for your benefit. Pray and ask God to open your eyes and mind to show you what you should believe, what you should learn, and what your response needs to be.


We discovered last week that Jesus waited two days before even starting His journey to see Lazarus, Martha and Mary. By the time Jesus arrived, Lazarus was in the tomb 4 days. Jesus was in Jerusalem 2 miles away from Bethany where Lazarus was sick and dying and yet Jesus stayed two more days and it took him 2 additional days to travel 2 miles. (Seem callous? Stay plugged in.)

Martha heard that Jesus was on His way, and she went to meet Him while Mary stayed home. Martha is once again “the doer.” She is a woman of action. She is also a woman of faith. In verse 21 and 22, “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” Martha believe that if Jesus had just been present, He could have healed Lazarus, but now that Lazarus was dead and in the tomb 4 days, she believed that He could ask the Father for restoration and that God would provide.

Jesus’s response is simply that Lazarus will live again.

Martha has obviously been sitting at the feet of Jesus because she understood that Lazarus would rise on resurrection day. Martha confesses that she believes Christ is the Son of God, but she still doesn’t completely understand what Jesus is saying to her much like the disciples earlier in this chapter.

Now Martha goes back home and tells Mary that the Teacher is there and wanted to see her. It’s not written that He wanted to see Mary. Maybe Martha thought Mary would have a better chance of getting what they wanted if someone else talked to Jesus. We really don’t know.

Mary’s response? She bolted out of that house so quickly that the mourners who were there to comfort her thought she was running to the grave of Lazarus and ran after her. When Mary saw Jesus, she fell at His feet. In Luke 10:38-42, Mary was at Jesus’ feet listening. Now she is at Jesus’ feet again crying and telling Him of her hurt, “If you had just been here, my brother would not have died.” When Jesus saw Mary sobbing and the other mourners grieving the loss of Lazarus, Jesus was moved with compassion. The NIV says, “he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.” The crowd took Him to Lazarus’ grave, and Jesus wept. He wasn’t callous. He wasn’t heartless. He was moved by those who were grieving. He knew what the outcome was going to be, and that there would be rejoicing in a matter of moments, but He was with those who were hurting where they were.

Jesus then told them to remove the stone from the grave. Martha’s response? He stinks. He’s been dead for 4 days. Jesus insisted, and the stone was removed, and He began to pray. Read verse 41 and 42. Thank you.

In this glimpse into Mary and Martha, we see Martha has more knowledge than some of the disciples at that time, but she didn’t get the full understanding. She had faith. She was a believer, but she didn’t understand the magnitude of Jesus’ power. She knew He could heal, but didn’t know about His ability to raise the dead to life. How often do we put Jesus in a box because of our own limited knowledge or ability?

In Martha’s grief, she showed incredible faith and knowledge even though it was limited based in her humanity. Mary is a woman who is driven by her emotion, her conviction, yet she didn’t ask Jesus to raise Lazarus from the grave. Why?

Just like Martha and Mary too often we put Jesus into a box – a box that is defined with human definitions, confined by what we know by our own humanity, BUT GOD. Jesus may have been God in Flesh, but He knew His source was the Father and through Him all things are possible. God can’t fit into any box you have created. You have a problem or situation or a relationship you can’t get straight, think outside the box – GIVE IT TO GOD.