There are aspects of my spiritual life that I'm pretty comfortable with. Every morning I spend time in the word of God and in prayer. I like to journal. I love to spend time in God's presence in worship. But if there is one spiritual discipline that has been a stretch for me, it's fasting. Fasting, going for time without food (or something else), is intended to go hand-in-hand with prayer. It is an expression of sacrifice. It is meant to help focus our prayer and open up additional time with God.
But to be perfectly honest, I've often struggled with fasting. It is clearly biblical and I know that many people find that it strengthens their prayer life. I see the value, but it has definitely been a stretch for me. In 14 days we will begin our 40-day journey at Rock Church. Our goal is to use this time leading up to Easter to stretch ourselves spiritually, to be drawn deeper into our discipleship journey and grow increasingly in the likeness of Jesus.
There will be a variety of elements and resources to help guide you on this journey. We will begin with an Ash Wednesday service at our Plaistow location on March 2nd. We've planned a special teaching series entitled “Like Jesus” that will begin on Sunday March 6th, will continue through Holy Week and will culminate on Easter morning. We will offer daily resource for the 40 days of this journey that will include daily scripture readings that follow the theme of the Sunday messages, a written devotion and prayer as well as a link to a daily video message that I will share with you.
There will also be other ways to stretch ourselves and grow during this 40-day journey. Some will journal throughout the 40 days. I hope we will all be in worship each Sunday during the journey. Every Friday there's going to be a prayer service at our Plaistow location from 7 to 8 pm. And for me... I am going to fast every Friday and pray specifically for our church. It will be a stretch for me, but I believe it is exactly what God is calling me to do. And if any of you would like to join me I certainly invite you to do so.
Personally, I can't wait for Lent to begin. I'm so excited about this 40-day journey and how God is going to use it in our church. I hope there will be aspects of this journey that are a stretch for you. Because I believe if we will stretch ourselves, God will use that to help us grow in ways that will be a true blessing to our lives. I do want to remind us that the daily email are “opt-in” only. In other words, we will only send those to you if you ask to be put on that special email list. To sign up to receive daily emails, please reply to Lynette at this address.
This Sunday we will continue our mini series “ONE” based on Jesus’ prayer in John 17. I look forward to us all being together this Sunday for a great time of praise and worship.
Love you all,
Pastor Steve
P.S. For those of you with Middle School and High School age youth, don’t forget that tonight (Wed. Feb 16) we will hold our Youth Group info dinner at 5 pm at our Rock Plaistow location.