Thursday, June 9, 2011
In a discussion Wednesday night after our prayer and worship time, Nathan shared 1 Kings 18 with me. I had Nathan come up and share it with those here tonight. It's the story of Elijah's confrontation with the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel. The prophets of Baal shouted and cut themselves to no effect. Elijah, on the other had, does the opposite of the prophets of Baal when, at the direction of the Lord, he has water poured on the sacrifice. Rather than having this emotional build towards an encounter with God, last night we were more subdued to where we ended in silence. God is asking, do you trust Me even though what I have you in and doing looks contrary to where you think I'm taking you?
I opened with Psalm 139:12. Even through we are in the thick darkness, the darkness is as light to the Lord. He sees us. This reminds me of the movie "Avatar" where the Na'vi greet each other with, "I see you." God sees us and sees into us. He knows exactly who each one of us is and while that may make us uncomfortable, He knowingly invites us closer. While we may not seem to be seeing in this thick darkness, Psalm 119:105 tells us, "Your Word is a light to my feet And a lamp to my path." This is not simply the written Word but Jesus, the living Word. He is guiding us along this path of righteousness and is faithful to complete what He has begun in us (Philippians 1:6).
Nathan stated, "Who may ascend the hill of the Lord but those with clean hands & pure hearts." (Psalm 24:3-4)
Nathan prayed - Lord we want to look at You so we can be more like You. (1 John 3:2)
I shared that I believe the Lord wants us to know that to go deeper into God you must be willing to deeper in yourself, for you are the temple of the Holy Spirit. (1 Corinthians 6:19) Those areas of our temple that we have not accessed with the Lord skews our perspective of ourselves and of Him.
I also shared that as you get higher up the mountain the air gets thin. Will we progress anyway when He truly becomes the air we breathe? The joy of the Lord must become your strength. (Nehemiah 8:10) Apart from Him we can do nothing. (John 15:5)
Nathan proclaimed freedom to let go of what you are used to in going to God. We will learn greater trust in this process as we find come to Him in unusual ways and as He impacts our lives in ways we have never experienced. We must lean not on our own understanding. (Proverbs 3:5)
Shannon shared how she experienced new freedom in her life at YC this year. She thanked Father God for freeing her from all her guilt and shame. You can be free too. You don't need anyone/anything else but Him.
Cliff prayed - Lord you have called us & washed us clean. You have sealed this in the Lamb's Book of Life. Lord, we come to You humbly and surrender to You. You have good plans for us, not to harm us; You have plans in the world too. You have gifts selected for each of us and we accept them to use for Your glory. Knit us together as one body. Lord, our striving will not accomplish Your will. Lead & guide us. The battle belongs to You, Lord.
Bev shared a vision from previous fast she did. In it she was on the edge of cliff hanging from cracks on the edge and it was pouring down oil like rain. She slipped and was close to falling. As soon as she lost her grip and fell, she found herself outside of her body watching herself fall from the cliff. Then she saw myself on a hospital table opened up in her midsection and from it there was light. Jesus was standing in the room and when he saw her He smiled and then hopped in. She said the Holy Spirit is a deposit on the space and Jesus wants to take possession of His temple.
Chris had painted a new picture and shared that Wednesday night he had this picture in his mind but believed that it was not for that night. The first two paintings were darker but this one is brighter. The painting has two waters: above and below. In the middle there is the emerald glow of God (Revelation 4:3). In the middle is an upside down house referring to our church turned upside down. The house has two pillars, which are Jachin and Boaz from Solomon's temple (1 Kings 7:21). There is also a baby in the house referring to the newness of God here.
Mariette shared 1 Peter 2:4-10 about Jesus being the chief cornerstone and us being living stones He is forming into a temple to offer up spiritual sacrifices. She also shared Mark 6:45-56 where Jesus walks on the water and the disciples believe Him to be a ghost but He immediately allayed their fears. After He gets in the boat it the winds cease and they realize they did not understand the mystery of the loaves due to their hard hearts. They cross over and land at Gennesaret and the sick came or were brought to Him and were healed. Just as Chris painted the man stepping into unknown waters, He wants us going straight ahead. Everything we need is there with Him.
I shared that the unknown place is within us. We are that temple.
Looking back at this, there are some key points in these passages that resonates with me for our fast. Peter writes that we were once not a people but are now the people of God who have obtained mercy. We have entered the oneness that Jesus prayed for and His glory is in our midst. Now we may, "proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light." Also, it's interesting that the disciples did not recognize Jesus in the midst of their storm. We have to be careful in our journey to not be afraid of Jesus when He isn't as we thought He should be.
I closed with Psalm 16:11, "in Your presence is fullness of joy." As we move into His presence our joy will increase to fullness.
Melody came up to close in prayer. We should take nothing for the journey we are on. Don't be as Lot's wife, who may have simply turned back because she forgot her makeup. We must keep going forward in this fast.
I broke in at this point as I was reminded how Jesus said those who put their hands to the plow and look back are not worthy of the Kingdom of God (Luke 9:62).
I also remembered something that happened to me earlier in the day. We must be careful to not allow the fast to become our personal fast instead of the Lord's. I was thinking about food and making plans for what I would eat on Sunday when the fast is over and the Lord caught me up short saying that it was now my fast instead of His. Keep the focus on Him.
Melody closed in prayer.
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