CLF21 Day 1 DM
Avalon, 9:30 AM, wt. 240 ½
The Starting Line
Note to reader: I am going to keep a daily record of my journal entries that pertain to Christian Life Fellowship’s 21-day Church Fast. I’ll put my initials at the end of the daily document name, in case anyone is moved to do likewise. Each entry will open with its own place-and-time stamp, plus a phrase to remind me of the gist of it. Mine will also include my weight, as part of my fast will be to finally eat the way I am supposed to.
The other parts will be to get a good hour of exercise every other day, and to eschew mindless time-wasting (i.e., dumb TV). Most challenging of all will be to walk in love, as described in I Corinthians 13, under all circumstances, even the most difficult.
Another thing I will do, will be to ask the Lord each morning for appropriate Scriptures. If any thoughts come that might be worth sharing, I will include them in brackets, as I have these.
The Starting Line
Why do we fast?
To draw closer to God. To do this, we set aside distractions, including those – especially those – we may be fond of, but we know He is not. We’ve done this before, some of us many times. And as much as we would prefer to arrive at the finish line without having to run the race, we know there are no shortcuts.
But this time will be different in one respect: we’ll be doing it together. Taking strength and encouragement from one another, praying for other another, and for all of us. As we do, we’ll be aware that God may have a corporate call on all of us, in addition to our individual callings. “Other sheep I have, which are not of this fold; them also I must bring, and they shall hear my voice; and there shall be one fold and one shepherd.” (John 10:16) Soon, He will be putting all His sheep – those who know His voice and follow Him (John 10:4) – together.
Good grief! All those strange sheep suddenly lumped together in our fold – how will we ever get along? Simple: I know you hear Him, or you wouldn’t be here. And you know the same about me. Anyone who does not yet know they can hear Him in their heart, much less carry on a dialogue with Him on paper, should get a copy of Once Upon a Prayer and do the exercise in Chapter 11.
He will speak differently to each of us, as each of us is unique. To the accountant He may sound like a Master Accountant. To a poet, He may speak with unsurpassed lyrical beauty. To a child, He may sound like the best Home-Room teacher ever. To the discerning ear testing the spirit behind the utterances, they all have one thing in common: they emanate from His love for us. Indeed, that Love is the foundation of our relationship with Him. The depth of His love for us, that He would send His only Son to die for us – and would have sent Him, if we were the only one – that is what blew our mind in the beginning. And still does, when we take the time to think about it.
To a calloused old hand like myself, who’s been doing this with Him for 17 years, He might use terms that will sound harsh to a newcomer. He will speak to me in terms of tough love, that night sound harsh to a beginner. But believe me, His tough love is often the best love of all, because you know it isn’t coming from you.
What follows is a segment from my dialogue with Him this morning, about CLF21. He was gently suggesting that I should make our pertinent dialogue public, and I was vehemently resisting. I am in plain black; He is in bold blue italics.
V V V
Father, you want me to lead, out front, by my example.
Would you prefer to lead from the safety of the rear echelons?
Honestly? Yes. That way, if I blow it, or am less than faithful, or lose the love-walk, it won’t be so noticeable.
You don’t want your sin to show.
You always skewer it, don’t you.
Would you rather I avoided bruising your feelings?
No. Actually, I think you did in the beginning, when I was unsure of your love, but that was a long time ago. Most days, I would repair back to you frequently, and at critical times I would be listening inwardly, non-stop. Which is, I suppose, a form of “Praying without ceasing.” (I Thes. 5:17) It’s that way more and more now, and come to think of it, I suspect that’s probably one of the goals of CLF21.
To see it is one thing; to do it is another.
Amen.
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