commitment to prayer & fasting

God has consumed my heart the last few weeks with Scripture from Matthew 6.  In my reading, thinking and walking through these verses, God has taught me so much.  Yesterday I shared some of that with The Community church family.  God is so gracious...

I was waiting on my children one day last week and was listening to Matthew Barnett's sermon from January 4th via podcast.  In that message God birthed a desire to go deeper so that our church and myself will see even more of our Dreams Come True in 2010 (that is our theme for the year).  God put that so heavy on my heart that I stepped forward with a commitment and I asked our church family to do the same.

At the end of our worship time yesterday, 50 or more of our people took the same challenge and began our commitment to pray.  Here is what we were challenged with:

3 Commitments for Dreams Come True   

1.  20 minutes a day in prayer --- spend that time in concentrated prayer

2.  fast 1 meal per week --- 1 meal you would eat, don't eat and focus on God

3.  fast from 1 thing that consumes you 1 day a week --- chose anything to fast from and see what God does

That is not an easy commitment.  Yet I believe that God will take this commitment and send us to the next level.  It is not about us doing something to get something from god.  It is all about connecting our lives to god in a greater way.  Focusing on Him.  Connecting to God through prayer and fasting might just change our lives, our families, our churches or more.  Will you take this commitment with me and others?

Here are the verses I shared:

PRAYING

⁵ "When you pray, don't be like the hypocrites who love to pray publicly on street corners and in the synagogues where everyone can see them. I tell you the truth, that is all the reward they will ever get. ⁶ But when you pray, go away by yourself, shut the door behind you, and pray to your Father in private. Then your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. ⁷ "When you pray, don't babble on and on as people of other religions do. They think their prayers are answered merely by repeating their words again and again. ⁸ Don't be like them, for your Father knows exactly what you need even before you ask him! ⁹ Pray like this:

FASTING

¹⁶ "And when you fast, don't make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get. ¹⁷ But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face. ¹⁸ Then no one will notice that you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in private. And your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

(from Matthew 6 and the NLT)

Powerful truth.  And I can't wait to see what God does in our lives and in His church.  Let me know if you take this commitment with me. The picture I attached is from our prayer time after the worship service yesterday at The Community.  More to come....