the daniel fast day 5…goals!

fasting and prayer go hand in hand!
I went up to the church today to pray and journal…the one thing you have to do is pray when you fast. If you don’t pray, then fasting is nothing more than suffering! i spent some great time focusing my prayer time on what i was fasting for. i truly want to see a breakthrough take place in our church, in the students lives we minister to as well as my family. what an amazing time today in prayer. when i broke out my journal i chose to write out some goals for this year! after filling a few pages, i laid out the journal before the lord and declared that this year all these will be accomplished. what are your goals for 2009? have you set any? if you don’t have any goals, then you might not have a clear target to shoot for! set some goals, pray over them and work as hard as you can to see them come to pass! yes i said work! continually remind yourself of the goals you set out to accomplish! i am gonna read the pages i wrote out throughout the year as a reminder of what i am setting out to do!

here is a few…
1. Pentecost…I want it to be real and fresh in the students lives we minister to! What this generation needs is not a cool, creative idea…they need a fresh encounter with pentecost!
2. Souls…I want this year to be marked by the lost coming to know Jesus! I have been praying for the last few months for a specific number of new students to be harvested from the local public schools! It’s not out of God’s reach to give us souls!
3. anointing…i want this year to be marked by the anointing. from preaching, to worship, to leaders, to tech guys, to small groups i truly want our people that involve themselves in ministry to be anointed on a new level…

Just a few goals I wrote out in prayer…God has been challenging my life during this fast!

I just finished reading a book by mark batterson “wild goose chase” and in one part the author talks about life goals…what goals do you have for your family, your finances, your career, even your fun! Set some goals!

daniel fast…day 4 thoughts!

my thoughts right now…man i could eat the bark off a tree! it’s day 4 and what am i eating…this morning i woke up and ate a slice of Ezekiel bread and some plain oatmeal with a bit of honey…then at 3 p.m. after all the services, we ate some spinach pasta tomato sauce and veggies…ah eggplant, zucchini and yellow squash. its only day 4 of 21, but i am looking forward to all that God is going to do in this fast. the fast has only begun!

my thoughts about fasting:
- fasting is the key that breaks the process of life. i feel at times we get so stuck into a groove of life, that we need to break out and go a different direction. its called a rut! a rut is something we go over and over again. i don’t know about you, but i don’t want to go through the same things over and over, i want something fresh real and new! i want God to lead me each and every way, but i need to be in a position for him to do the leading. fasting is what refocuses my life in a different groove. fasting puts my life in a position for God to lead and guide. fasting is not fun but very fulfilling!

it’s all new…whiffle ball and a canvas board.

it’s a new year full of new challenges. today i went to a high school for an FCA meeting and ran into a few youth pastors. God is truly up to something in our city…these guys genuinely want to reach kids! i saw some new faces ran into some old ones as well. afterwards i went to walmart to pick up some canvas boards for tonight’s message. tonight we are going to challenge our students to step up to the plate and swing for the fences. i was looking for a whiffle ball bat and ball and struck out, but toys r us has some in stock. God is moving and serving up pitches so we can clear the fence. we just need to step up to the plate see the ball and swing. the problem is so many are either afraid of the ball or they are not willing t o step up to the plate, or they have their eyes closed to the lost. you can’t hit a home run with your eyes closed. we are gonna have some fun tonight and encourage kids to reach their school! i truly desire for students to become soul winners. the time is NOW!

this year is a new year full of opportunity to reach some kids. at the close of our service tonight we plan to pray around the altars for the lost. so many lost…who will pray for them? every person has a name and god knows that name…who will call out their name? we have 3 canvas boards for students to fill tonight with the names of students they know that need Christ. somebody has to pray…somebody has to step up…somebody is gonna hit a home-run. why not our students? it’s a new year to reach someone! whiffle ball and a canvas board…whatever it takes to stir a generation to reach somebody!

peace

prayer is a powerful vehicle…

saturday we held a prayer meeting in the ocean center the day before alive 08.  hundreds gathered from our church and i got my weep on.  tears flowed as we prayed for the event that would take place the next day.  i walked around the arena holding hands with my 6 year old (right now he is singing hillsong united-tell the world that Jesus lives-in the middle of him sorting thru the loot he got in the family easter egg hunt)  well we walked and prayed and he honestly felt something as we gathered to pray for the event.  god is so cool!  i truly want my kids to experience a big God in a big way!  prayer is vital…without it nothing happens!  

carried to the gate…

my devotion today…i meditated on 10 powerful verses in the bible. in acts 3:1-10 a crippled man from birth is carried everyday to the same gate to beg from those that went inside for prayer.  today was not an ordinary day-peter and john walked by on this day!

here’s my thoughts…did anyone ever care enough to pray for him before this day?
who carried this guy everyday to the gate?

the people that went to prayer each time knew they would come in contact with this guy…because he was there everyday.  when you see the broken everyday its easy to become numb to their situation.  it’s like the guy on the side of the road with the sign “vet anything will help” we look away not to make eye contact, we hope he wont come over  to the car, we pray the light changes…not very moving!  the first time i saw this…i went to the grocery store and bought some groceries and gave them to the guy on the corner…something inside compelled me to!

the day that peter and john walked by they saw the crippled man-why wouldn’t he look at the people he was begging from, was it so he could beg again and hope they would not recognize him? he was there outside the temple-because of his situation. things change fast when god shows up! he went from begging outside the temple to walking and leaping inside the courts!

will you allow your situation keep you outside the courts?
what will he do the day after? he wont be carried to the gate! he will probably walk right in at the time of prayer. prayer changes things…

sermon series – the open door pt 2

this week we will walk thru the open door of prayer.  Revelation 3:7 These are the words of him who is holy and true, who holds the key of David. What he opens no one can shut, and what he shuts no one can open. 8 I know your deeds. See, I have placed before you an open door that no one can shut. the door is open and not shut!
whatever you unlock will impact your destiny. the presence of god is not locked, there’s no keep out sign posted, but by our actions we treat it like its a foreign place we don’t have the right to occupy. 

why would someone not want to go thru the door of prayer… 
1. a lack of information
information is power-but too many have all the information but no action.
Information without implementation is a waste of knowledge!

2. a lack of understanding
You will never experience all that god has for you just sitting where you are – you gotta do something about it! when you truly understand what’s on the other side of the door…you will do whatever you can to walk thru it!

3. a lack of experience. 
the word experience means:- an event or occurrence that leaves an impression on someone- to encounter or undergo, to feel
the amount of power in your life is directly related to the level of your experience!
acts 1: 4 Do not leave Jerusalem, but wait for the gift my Father promised, which you have heard me speak about. 5 For John baptized with water, but in a few days you will be baptized with the Holy Spirit.”
he told them to wait and 120 waited and were all filled with power. it was an experience that changed their destiny!

the door is open…will you walk thru?

youth ministry in 2008

i took a look back in 2007 and saw some great things…right now i am praying and focusing on the upcoming year…i have been praying for some time now for increase beyond measure in terms of growth, spiritual depth and lasting effect on students lives. in 2008 we do not want to be considered an average youth ministry…we want to see god move in deeper and more powerful ways.

i find myself every week praying and pressing for an increase in students to walk through our doors and they are coming through. we have had the biggest december (the time when many choose to coast into the new year) on record. the largest single night at crave took place 2 weeks ago and this past week for a non-event (well thats a retarded label-every time we get together its an event) we had a huge crowd – and the altars were filled.i believe when you target prayer toward schools and individuals lives, you will see dramatic things take place in your ministry. if you are in the “ministry” but you don’t look for growth and pray in growth, then you probably need to check you brain at the door and get your heart in contact with god’s. his heart beats for the masses! he died for everyone-not a small group!

so…what’s up for 08- new beginnings! i am praying and pressing more for “unprecedented things to happen in our ministry” these are the exact words i use. today something unprecedented took place at a meeting i had with a local guy. we met at starbucks and ran into all kinds of peeps from calvary….i was approached with an opportunity that was “outside the box.” i went away to our staff prayer and found my prayers wrapped up in a new opportunity to grow. i wont go into details, but its not an orthodox approach to ministry-its outside the box. I realize God does not operate in a box, so when you pray for the “unprecedented” get ready for that to happen. i had to take a trip to orlando to drop some busted equipment off at wells electronics-what a scary place-and my mind and spirit was caught up in a new opportunity…i dreamed alot today!

2008 is a year of new beginnings!