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Monday Ministry Minutes
Monday Ministry Minute #15
Asking God for Great Things
It is estimated that the average American gained 3-5 pounds this past week.
I won't ask how you did on average, but it does give us pause. Pause to
thank God for the abundance He has blessed us with. Pause to wonder if we
use our resources well.
One of our greatest resources is our ability to come before God and ask Him
to open people's hearts to be receptive to God's call on their lives. These
next few weeks, on scores of campuses across this country, students will be
turning in their final papers and taking those dreaded finals. They are
under tremendous pressure (some of it self-inflicted), and they know when
someone sincerely cares. Do we have the resources to help make a difference
in other's lives?
Two spiritual disciplines are often mentioned together when we want to
focus our attention on God and His resources - fasting and prayer. It might
be appropriate for you to skip a meal (or an entire day) to fast and pray
for the students and others around us. You could probably afford to skip a
meal this week. How about using that as an opportunity to focus on praying
for others? God wants to do great things in other's lives as we trust Him.
Bill Bright, in his recent book about fasting and prayer, reminds us of the
benefits of these spiritual disciplines.
- Fasting is primarily a means of restoration. It helps us focus our
attention on the important details of life.
- It brings purification of our body, soul and spirit.
- It increases our spiritual receptivity to God's leading.
- It brings about yieldedness and brokenness to our lives.
- It calls for sacrifice and self-denial that refocuses our vision.
- It produces power in our lives because we learn to submit to His plan,
His timing and His purposes.
Please join me this week in fasting and praying for those we see every day.
Let's trust God to open some hearts so that they are drawn to Him. Let me
suggest you pray through Ephesians 1:15-23 for the Christians you know and
Ephesians 2:1-9 for those who don't yet know Christ.
Scripture: Ephesians 1:18, 19 - "That . . . the eyes of your understanding
being enlightened; that you may know what is the hope of His calling, and
what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, and what is
the exceeding greatness of his power to us who believe."
Action Point: Pick a meal or a day that you will fast and pray for those
around you.
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Updated: 13 July 2002
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