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Carl’s Rules for Fasting

As we begin our 21 days of fasting, devotion, prayer and worship, I want to lay down my rules for fasting. I don’t have these written anywhere, and this is certainly not an exhaustive list, but I hope it portrays the spirit of what I believe about fasting.

1. Fasting involves food.  Please don’t say you are avoiding one website on the internet and call it a fast.  That could be a spiritual discipline, it could be the elimination of a distraction, it could be the breaking of an idol,  but it is not a fast.
2. Jesus won the victory, salvation is by grace and God gives gifts.  Chances are you think you know this.  The fact that you are fearful of not fasting correctly betrays this fact.  You can’t earn anything from God.  Not through a fast, hours of prayer, evangelism, being radical or weird.  It does not earn you anything from God so cast off the fear and quit worrying that you won’t get it right and miss your blessing.
3. Fasting changes you, not God.  The ultimate goal of a fast is to humble yourself further.  When you stop eating you deny yourself pleasure and often push yourself into discomfort.  This is the place of saying, “My will is not the most important thing on the planet. I choose to not satisfy my desires.”  God gives grace to the humble.  And that’s all the gifts of the Spirit are, graces.
4. Don’t’ compare your fast to anyone else’s, even Daniel’s.  Read the bible concerning Daniel’s fasts.  He did not want to be defiled by what the King served so he ate only vegetables and drank only water.  But when he needed to hear from God, the bible says that he ate no meat or pleasant food, and drank no wine.  There is a big difference.  Some have perverted the Daniel Fast into a legalistic menu of blessings.  And to be honest I think the juicers of the world are behind it.  Funny thing is, Daniel only drank water on the Daniel fast.  No juicers allowed.  Quit asking if the kind of rice you are making is permitted.  That kind of thing is just stupid.
5. Don’t tell folks about your fast.  You are not inspiring anyone else, you are receiving a really bad reward. Though there is nothing wrong with asking someone to fast with you.  That is quite helpful.
6. Pick your fast.  Unless the Lord specifically tells you about your fast it is really up to you.  If the fast means something to you it will mean something to God. Pick something easy that won’t change your lifestyle and chances are you won’t see many results other than the pride of saying you fasted. The goal is to be uncomfortable.  If you are not a fasting veteran, a water fast may make you feel like you are dying the first few days.  But you don’t have to feel like you are dying for the fast to count.  You may not be able to fulfill the fast you pick.  Selah
7. Fasting alone does not accomplish the goal of a fast. During the fast we are to pray, interact with God.  In fact, during the fast you should experience a greater grace to pray.  It is through prayer AND fasting that you will grow during this time of sanctification.  Religions all over the world fast but they don’t grow in grace with God because the only way to God is through the Son.  And if you are not feeding from the life of God all you are accomplishing is a fleshly work.
8. Don’t give up.  If you decide to fast with water only for 10 days and after three you blow it, don’t give up.  You may able to restart after that meal.  If you don’t think you can, don’t go back to your old diet.  Go on a modified diet.  It’s not all or nothing.  Complete the remainder by restricting your eating.
9. Fasting is an invitation to encounter God in a new way with less of you.  Enter in and seek God as much as possible.  Normally when I fast I either get breakthrough right away or later, after the fast is done.  Fasting until God does something is not always the best idea.

Year End Goals

It is great to make new goals at the beginning of the year but I find that goals with a deadline work better for me.

We have a little more than three weeks left in the year and now is a great time to finish up some things that have been lingering for you.

I have a few going on myself right now.  One is a Bible reading plan that I made for myself in November.  I also want to complete the four books I am reading right now.  There are also some projects I want to finish and some journaling I have not done. 

Take this time at the end of the year to finish up some lingering things you have not completed instead of waiting for next year to start dealing with them.

Go into the new year having dealt with the old year instead of dragging this season into the next.

If I Disciple You, Do This

Discipleship assignment:

If I disciple you then you have to watch the message Banning Liebscher preached at Bethel in Redding this week.  He put into words something I have been trying to teach for years. 

The message is titled “Build the Wall.”

Here is the video:

http://www.ibethel.tv/watch/1159/build-the-wall/2011/11/20

If you want the audio of it, here is the recording

http://www.ibethel.org/podcast/2011/11/21/build-the-wall

itunes fanboy?

http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/bethel-church-sermon-week/id76583739#

Voice of the Apostles 2011: Thoughts, Review, Pictures, Video

I went to the Voice of the Apostles conference this year for the first time. I was extremely familiar with the speakers at the event but was looking forward to hearing them all together.  On top of that Jesus Culture was leading worship so it looked like a win on all fronts.

The conference is held at the Lancaster County Convention Center which is not really near anywhere.  I flew into Baltimore, rented a car and drove the couple hours to the event.  The parking garage was full, as it was every other time I tried to use it, so I had to park a few blocks away.  When you get in the convention center there were two things you immediately notice, the venue is massive, and a third of the seats are reserved before the door opens.

This is not an auditorium or an arena.  It’s 7,000 people in something like 80 rows of chairs all on flat ground.  The first night we were something like half way back and you could barely see the stage.  I have no idea what the folks in the back saw. Heidi Baker was speaking and the first thing she did was say there were open seats in the VIP section and I took off running.  I am not ashamed to look foolish to be able to see the conference I paid money to see.

I wound up on the third row.  Pretty sure Che and Bill were talking about me.

Heidi poured her heart out then wound up face down on the stage for the rest of the night.  When I left she was still there.  The next day she talked about how embarrassing it was.  That’s what it is like to be Heidi I guess.

The next morning we devised a plan to show up when the doors opened to get decent seats, then go back to the hotel to eat breakfast and whatnot.  We showed up an hour before the doors opened and wound up with seats about a quarter of the way back, about row 20 or so.

Steve Swanson lead worship during the day and Jesus Culture lead at night.  Steve is really anointed.  For some reason it was way easier to enter into worship when he was leading.  It was really good when he lead.

That day the speakers were Larry Randolph, Bill Johnson, Heidi Baker and John Arnott.  To understand this you have to understand that these are the folks (Less Larry), together with the host Randy Clark and the other speakers Che Ahn and Georgian Banov that form the Revival Alliance.  Basically they are a group of friends in ministry.  They get together once a year and have a conference.  They invite a prophet, let Randy’s sons speak in smaller rooms, and have a good time.

The day sessions were all great.  That night John Arnott spoke on the father heart of God and it was amazing.  I had heard him speak on this a bunch of times both live and recorded but this was really good. 

I am a big Jesus Culture fan both musically and personally.  I love their music and everyone I have met from their group was really cool.  But something about the venue really did not work for me when they lead worship.  It felt more like a concert then a worship session.  They sounded amazing but something did not work for me.  At one point I found myself in front of the subs and thought I was being assaulted.  I did snap this pic to let the folks back home know all was good.

I think part of the reason worship was difficult was how crowded it was.  Check this out.

On day 3 I heard Che Ahn speak in person for the first time.  He was even better than I thought he would be.  He spoke on prophetic evangelism and told lots of personal stories.  Really amazing stuff.  The favor this guy has with world leader is kind of mind blowing and really provoked me. That night he spoke about the orphan spirit, again talking a lot about his personal testimony.  This message provoked the most study when I returned home.

The final morning Randy Clark spoke on impartation and laid hands on everything he could get to.  After that I had to run and drive back to Baltimore to catch my flight. 

Takeaways

If you go to VOA for teaching or a concert you will be sadly disappointed.  It is just not that kind of conference.  The greatest part of the whole event was being around thousands and thousand of folks who “get you.”  They have this same revival DNA.  They are excited to hear about your testimonies.  They are seeking miracles signs and wonders in the streets.  They are pressing in for more.  There was just an atmosphere of faith that surprised me.

I operated in a level of prophetic anointing that caught me off guard.  I don’t really have the language for it but I prophesied on levels I never had before.  The accuracy and depth of the words was astonishing.  Also, every time I had a word for someone they gladly received it.  Some folks wanted me to wait while they brought out a voice recorder.  There was no weirdness or having to explain myself.

Also the healing miracles I saw were really on another level.  I don’t mean the miracles the speakers did, I mean the ones I saw when I prayed for people in the audience.  There was lots of opportunity to do this and again, the folks were more than happy to have you pray for them.

And it wasn’t just me ministering.  I was laying on the floor one session when I felt like I should sit up.  I sat up looking if God wanted me to pray for someone when an older man walked up to me and asked if he could pray for me.  I did not really think the ministry time was applicable to me but I like prayer so I agreed.  This man went on to quote what seemed like whole chapters of Scripture over me.  You know those little phrases of encouragement you know?  This guy knew the Scripture, then the next twenty or so.  He went from Ephesians to Philippians to Romans back to Ephesians then on and on.  When he was done he got up and when I tuned around to thank him he was gone.  I literally could not find him.

On the last morning I was in worship with Steve Swanson leading.  One line from one song resonated in my spirit and it would not go away.  That turned into a vision.  At the end of the ministry time when Randy got to me that vision became a prophecy and a call for this season of my life.  I can’t overstate how profound it was.

If you went not understanding this group and their history together all you would have seen was an overcrowded conference.  I went to encounter God and I did.

Wes Hall – The Spirit of The Age

Aired 2/13/2010 – Releasing the fear of the Lord.
Wes Hall – The Spirit of The Age

Thoughts on “Redeeming Halloween”

Every end of October I watch the church trip over itself regarding Halloween.   I find the whole thing embarrassing to say the least but probably not for the reasons you think.

For the record, my family does not celebrate Halloween.  We aren’t scared of it, we just don’t acknowledge it. You may or may not, that’s between you, your conscience and God.  That’s fine.  Be filled with whatever you decide.

But whatever you do please don’t say you are “redeeming Halloween.”  I see people claiming to do this every year and they look more and more ridiculous doing it.  How do the “redeemers” look ridiculous?  Let me elucidate:

1.  Their first argument is almost always that Halloween was never a pagan festival.  They weave every conceivable festive action in the Fall and say it is the antecedent of the holiday.  They ignore all the death, perversion, and demonic imagery that goes along with this “festival of harvest”, ignore all saints day, ignore the obvious links to the night of the dead.  That’s fine.  You can do that. 
But if the holiday was never evil, why does it need to be redeemed?  Your own language defies your logic.

2.  They say this is the one night of the year that folks come to their house and we should use that activity as an open door for the Gospel.  AMEN!  I agree!  But when folks show up at your door what do they get?  A hand full of candy and maybe a track?  Just adding a little God booklet to the mix is redemption?  If that was redemption we would have needed nothing more than the OT.  If that is redemption stop preaching the Gospel in your church.  When someone comes to you broken and lost hand them a fist full of candy and a bible then pat them on the head. 

3.  They say that every day is a day of celebration for Christians so we should rejoice with those who rejoice.  In other words, the fact that I am a Christian, and I am doing it with a heart toward God, it’s value is redeemed.  Isn’t that like setting out to redeem a brothel by fornicating in it?  Or redeeming a bar by getting drunk in it?  If you wanted to redeem a brothel or a bar you have to change what happens there, not just join in with a "heart toward God.”

Jesus wants us to love good and hate evil.  Not turn evil to good by doing the evil thing.

You may not think trick or treating in costume is evil.  I think you might have a solid argument by saying, “I don’t believe in Halloween.  My kids like to wear costumes and get free candy.  So we do that when they can.”  There you go.  Be honest.  That’s your conviction. No problems there.

Don’t mix some hyper-religious talk and sound super spiritual because of it.  Don’t pull the God card.  You make us Christians who are doing real biblical stuff (like healing the sick, casting out devils, preaching the Gospel) look bad.  Make your decision and stick with it.

What’s Awesome About the Church? This is

You read enough blogs you will be convinced that the Church no longer works and that Christianity is lost in America. 

Wrong

Watch this

I’m Not on Facebook and I’m Not Missing It

Last Sunday I talked about a period of fasting and consecration.  Part of mine involved staying off Facebook.  It has been a lot easier than I thought.

I have nothing against Facebook.  I do have something against wasting time checking status updates 500 times a day and having nothing to show for it.

So I decided that I would just stay away from it to break the leash.

When I fast, I don’t get legalistic.  When I write a blog post, they get posted to twitter, facebook and Google+.  If I were a legalist that would be some sort of sin.  But the fast is for me, not for God.  When I post status updates they also go straight to those sites.  Pics get posted several places.

So I am not on Facebook but I am not avoiding it like sin.

If you have sent me any messages, I guess I will get them in a few days.  Or you can email me thought this site.  Or wait till the end of the week and I will hit you back.

Time Not Wasted – Wednesday What’s Up

Just because you are not doing what you feel like you were created to do does not mean you are wasting your time.  Trust God.

Stop What You Are Doing and Go Read This

If you are in any facet of ministry, whether you preach on stage or you share your testimony in walgreens, stop what you are doing and go read this by David Copeland.

Bronchitis & An X-ray