Fasting Continued

Well I have been fasting caffeine (coffee, pop, and chocolate) for a week now. I have to admit I am disappointed with the results. I was getting headaches for the first few days, but those are gone now. I haven’t really felt any pressing need to the caffeine. As I explained before, fasting is meant to bring you closer to God, but I have not had a caffeine urge strong enough to get me to pray more, which was the goal. We will have to see how the next week goes, hopefully come March 14th when I start the Daniel fast, I will be able to get come better results.

KENT

I heard something really cool this morning while listening to the Purity for Life Ministries weekly podcast that I wanted to share. In one of there segments they were talking about controlling your tongue. They started out by saying that your tongue is one of the most powerful forces in the universe. Wow, what a statement, and how true it is. The point was that our words can hurt; they can either lift up or tare down. There is also this other term called gossip, maybe you have heard it? Anyways, before you talk, or open your mouth to say anything to anyone, think of the acronym KENT. K- is it kind, E, is it edifying, N, is it necessary, and T is it true. If we could all only live by this simple acronym, what a better place this world would be.

3 Part Fast

Today is Wednesday February 17^th 2010, otherwise know as Ash Wednesday. Today is the day that millions of people all over the work participate in a fast during Lent until Easter on Sunday April 4^th. This year I will be participating in a 3 part fast. I have been praying about a month now, and am feeling pretty confident that this is the fast that God wants me to do this year.

What is a fast? Fasting is where you give something up. But you can’t just give up anything. You need to give up something that you do or use every day, some people give up certain foods, some people may give up gossip. The key is to give something up that you can’t replace with something else. Lets say for example that you give up chocolate. Every time that you crave chocolate, instead of going for the first Hershey bar that you can get your paws on, you change your mindset and pray, ultimately becoming closer to God. So every time you want what you gave up, you think about God, and pray to God in Jesus name, and you become closer to God. That is fasting.

But before I tell you what I am fasting, I would like to tell you what I am hoping to accomplish from this 46 day 3 part fast. I am hoping to become closer to God, and learn to listen to him better, being able to discern if what I am hearing is coming form God or from the Devil. I want to be able to think about God more throughout the day, as well as talk about him more to others. And if it is Gods will I would love by the end of this 45 days to be given the gift of praying in tongues, or praying in the Spirit. Basically I just want to live a more godly life.

For the entire season of Lent part 1 of my 3 part fast, I am giving up caffeine, this includes, coffee, pop, and chocolate. I drink coffee every morning, and diet Pepsi every afternoon, and I am usually eating chocolate throughout the day. I gave these things up for a week about 2 weeks ago, to do a preliminary run, and lets just say that it did not go well. I followed through, and didn’t do caffeine for a week, but the results were disappointing. I quickly realized that giving up just caffeine wasn’t enough.

Part 2 of my 3 part fast will take place the last 21 days of Lent, Sunday March 14^th through Easter. In this phase I will be doing the Daniel Fast. What is the Daniel Fast? I can only eat fruits, vegetables, and nuts, and I can only drink water. My daily diet consists of zero vegetables, 70% carbs, and usually an apple for good measure. Oh, and I drink about a half gallon of milk a day. This is going to be hard, but very much needed. On top of this, I will be ready a 21 day devotion called the Secret of Silence by Bob Kilpatrick. It is a 21 day journey that teaches you how to listen to God when he talks, and requires a lot of prayer.

Part 3 will by far be the most difficult for me. This will take place the last 7 days of lent between Sunday March 28^th and Easter. I am giving up technology. What exactly does this mean? I will be turning off my iPhone and my computer for the whole week. No internet, now Facebook or Twitter, no blogs or podcasts.

So that is what the next 45 days are looking like for me. I have been preparing myself through prayer. It will not be easy, but that is the point. I am really excited to see how God will work in my life over the next 45 days. I will keep you all updated on my progress through hopefully lots of blogs, with the exception of course of the last week.

I'm Gonna be (500 Miles)

goto http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rynxm_GQEsI to see the video

I was listening to this song this morning by the Proclaimers, and I was thinking that if every time you see the word I, and you replace it with the word you, and every time you you see the word man, and you replaced it with the word Savior, than you would have an incredible way of telling the world just how much Jesus love us. Here is the new lyrics, with a few minor exceptions.

When You wake up, well I know I'm gonna be,
I'm gonna be the Savior who wakes up next to you
When You go out, yeah I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the Savior who goes along with you
If You get drunk, well I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the Savior who help to see you through
And if You haver, hey I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the Savior who's holding to you

But I would walk 500 miles
And I would walk 500 more
Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles
To fall down at your door

When You’re working, yes I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the Savior who's working hard for you
And when the money, comes in for the work You do
I'll pass almost every penny back to you
When You come home (When You come home), oh I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the Savior who comes back home with you
And if You grow old, well I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the Savior who's growing old with you

But I would walk 500 miles
And I would walk 500 more
Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles
To fall down at your door

Da Lat da Da lat da

Da Da Da Dun Diddle Un Diddle Un Diddle Uh Da Da

Da Lat Da Da Lat Da

Da Da Da Dun Diddle Un Diddle Un Diddle Uh Da Da

When Your lonely, well I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the Savior who's walking next to you
And when You’re dreaming, well I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the Savior who makes your dreams come true
When You go out (When You go out), well I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the Savior who goes along with you
And when You come home (When You come home), yes I know I'm gonna be
I'm gonna be the Savior who comes back home with you
I'm gonna be the Savior who's coming home with you

But I would walk 500 miles
And I would walk 500 more
Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles
To fall down at your door

Da Lat Da Da Lat Da

Da Da Da Dun Diddle Un Diddle Un Diddle Uh Da Da

Da Lat Da Da Lat Da

Da Da Da Dun Diddle Un Diddle Un Diddle Uh Da Da

Da Lat Da Da Lat Da

Da Da Da Dun Diddle Un Diddle Un Diddle Uh Da Da

Da Lat Da Da Lat Da

Da Da Da Dun Diddle Un Diddle Un Diddle Uh Da Da

And I would walk 500 miles
And I would walk 500 more
Just to be the man who walked a thousand miles
To fall down at your door

Practice what you read

For my birthday Jane bought me a new bible, it is a Life APlication Study Bible (NASV). As you should recall from a previous blog titled “Why I don’t read the Bible,” I don’t read the bible, I study the bible, 5 of them to be exact. I was studying the New American Standard Version (NASV) and the New King James Version (NKJV) with a bible app on my iPhone called YouVersion. I now have the NASV in paperback, and boy do I love it. There are maps, references, a dictionary, and tons of other extras. Anyways, the pic at the top of the Screen is what my dining room table looks like every morning. I now have 4 of my 5 bibles in paperback, I have my Strong’s and my Vines thesaurus and concordance, paper and pencil for taking notes, and of corse my morning brew, aka, a 32oz turtle mocha. The only thing that you don’t see in the pic is my iPhone that I use for my (NKJV) and of corse all of the extras that I get from YouVersion. You don’t see it because I used my iPhone to take the pic. If you are reading this blog from Blog Spot or Word Press, and can’t see the picture, please visit www.MitchellBoxeth.com, and visit my most recent blog.

If it seems like I am going a little bit to far, to really try to understand the word of God, you may be right. I question myself on that sometimes. It is one thing to read and study the bible, but it is quite another to live by the bible. There have been countless bible scholars throughout history that new the bible like you wouldn’t believe, but they didn’t live by the bible. If you don’t live by the bible, than what’s the point of reading it or studying it.

Yes, you need the solid foundation of the bible, to live the life God wants you to lead, so the bible is a an absolute must. But reading the bible alone will not get you to heaven. Here is what the bible Says.

Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Matthew 4:4. (NASV) Of corse this is Jesus talking to Satan while being tempted for 40 day in the desert.

Exodus Chapter 20, The Ten Commandments
You shall have no other Gods before me
You shall not worship idles
You shall not take the name of the Lord in vein
Honor the Sabbath day to keep it holy
Honor your Father and Mother
Don’t kill
Don’t commit adultery
Don’t steal
Don’t lie
Don’t covet

Matthew 25:31-46
Here is where Jesus separates the Sheep from the Goats, and commands up to cloth the naked, feed the hungry, take in the poor, visit the people in the hospitals, and in the prisons.

Do you not know that the unrighteous will NOT inherit the Kingdom of God? Do not be deceived, neither fornicators, not adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, not thieves, nor the covetous, not drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God. 1 Corinthians 6:9-10. (NASV)

“Teacher, which is the greatest commandment in the law?” And he said to them, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind. This is the greatest and foremost commandment. The second is like it, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend the whole law and the Profits.” Matthew 22:36-40 (NASV)

In this last paragraph Jesus is basically saying that the bottom line is if you want to get to Heaven you need to love God, and love others. This backs up everything that was quoted from the bible in this blog.

There it is my friends, so my question to myself is, am I reading these bible in vein, and am I actually living out the words of God to the best of my ability? I don’t think that I am. But, I am aware of that, and I am working on changing my life every day, and I have shared my struggle with all of you, so now I have you to keep me accountable. My goal in life is to for people to look and me and my life and for them to be able to say wow, that Mitch guy and his family, they are the real deal, and we can look to them as examples.

The Potter and the Clay

I was reading about the Potter and they Clay this morning in Jeremiah 18 and I came across the blog, and I wanted to share it with you. For full and fair disclosure this is not coming from me but from a guy names Rob, you can find his website at robsrandomramblings.com. I got permission from him to share this with you.

This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: “Go down to the potter's house, and there I will give you my message.” So I went down to the potter's house, and I saw him working at the wheel.

But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.

Then the word of the Lord came to me: “O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel."

(Jeremiah 18:1-6, NIV)

This one really hits close to home today. Just as Jeremiah watched the potter take that pot that wasn't coming out right and crush it to make something new, with the news yesterday, I kind of feel like that pot. When life throws you curveballs like the ones I've gotten over the last month, it's easy to blame God for your problems and wallow in self-pity. For the most part, I'm doing OK with that, but believe me, I have my moments. While reading this passage this morning it reminded me of this post I saw 2 months ago, before this all started, at "Stuff Christians Like" by Jon Acuff. Reading it again today, though...well, it's got a whole different meaning to me now. Let me share some of it with you:

Here is the question I felt like God asked me:

"Do I have the right to crack the vessel if breaking it is the fastest way to share with the world what I have poured into it?"

The truth is, I don't have a fancy, easy answer to the question "Why do bad things happen to good people?" All I have is my own question:

Does God have the right to crack the vessel if breaking it is the fastest way to share what He poured into us?

The question is not "Does He love us?" My life circumstances do not determine that. He is love. Regardless of what happens to me in this life, that is who He is and who He will always be.

The question is not "Do we have to fake smile through pain?" I don't think so. I've had friends that have buried their children and seen moms fall to cancer 5 weeks after being diagnosed. There are many, many things in this world that suck and will continue to do so. I would never tell friends who experienced tragedies to turn a frown upside down or whitewash the year my whole life fell apart with instant rainbows and fluffy clouds.

The question is not "If God is supposed to work all things out for the good, why is this situation so painful?" It's His definition of good, not mine, that I must live with. Thankfully, mercifully, beautifully, He doesn't promise to work things out according to my understanding of "good." His good will always exceed mine because He can define "good" across the solar system and I can only define it with what I see with my own eyes.

The question is not, "Can I trust a God that allows bad things to happen to good people?" Although that's tempting to get stuck on. Sometimes when we say, "How can I serve a God that would allow bad things to happen," we miss what we might be really saying. I think what we mean is, "I could only serve a God that is good or loving according to my own personal definition of what those words mean." But that's kind of terrifying to me. I don't want to worship a God who's power is limited to my ability to understand it or who's goodness is limited to my ability to define it. I get "good" and "bad" wrong all the time.

I am not equipped to tell God how He should be or understand if something He's doing is good or bad. And the biggest truth, the one that's easiest to miss, is that in any given situation, God is working out of love. He's ridiculous that way. On the surface it might feel like the worst pain we've ever known, the darkest skies that could ever cover our tiny planet, but all the while, God is calling us, urging us, drawing us to His love. It makes no sense, but it's true.

Just like that potter, God, if we truly believe, does love us and wants what's best for us, even if we don't see that path with our earthly eyes. If God's way of advancing His kingdom lies in me walking through this path of disease and transplant, then let's get it on! Sure, it's not fun...it's frankly a little scary...not to mention the time and cost of all these procedures. (soooo thankful to have health insurance!!) But, like Jon said, if "cracking" me physically is the quickest way for me to share His love, acceptance, and forgiveness, then I'm ready to be broken today.

Here's hoping we can trust the hands and plans of the Almighty Potter today.

The might of the Lord

Jeremiah 16:21 says, Therefore I will teach them my power and might. They will know that my name is the Lord. (NIV) The Message bible says, They will know that my name is I Am. In this verse God is talking to Jeremiah about what he is going to do to punish Israel for there sin. It wasn’t this verse that got my attention but an attribute to this verse that came from Chad Wright. Chad rights:

Ultimately we’ll all worship the might of the Lord. We will bring him glory, wether through our salvation through Christ, or by our judgement and condemnation. ( Chad continues with this thought.) I think a healthy fear of the Lord comes from verses like this. I’m in awe of his power. It’s beyond what we can comprehend.

Wow, what a statement. We will bring glory to God wether it be through salvation or condemnation. It doesn’t matter if we know the Lord or not, it doesn’t matter if we love the Lord of not, it doesn’t matter if we have a relationship with Christ or not. I hope that you have have these things, but if you don’t in the end you will glorify God in the end, because his will be done. I am not going to elaborate on this, but I really liked the statement, and I wanted to pass it on for you to think about.

Will God abandon us?

Will God abandon us? This question seems simple enough and you would think that the answer is no, and even though that answer would be correct, I think that this question deserves a little more looking into.

The love of the Lord goes with you, he will never leave you, nor forsake you. Deuteronomy 31:6. I don’t remember the exact number, but I remember reading recently in my study material that the bible says that the Lord will never leave you nor forsake you over 60 times. I am currently reading the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah of corse was a profit of God. In the book of Jeremiah, God is once again fed up with the Israelites. This is nothing new if you are familiar with the Old Testament. However, this time is different, instead if allowing the Israelites to become taken captive by there foes, God is ready to destroy them all together.

Sounds pretty harsh doesn’t it? However, before God finally sends his wrath at the end of Chapter 14, he tells Jeremiah to go and give His people Judah, one last warning, and after they ignore that warning, God give them another one, and when they ignore that warning, God give them another one. He sends Jeremiah back with several warning saying that this is your last warning before he actually sends his wrath.

The Lord our God is a God of love. He doesn’t want to destroy anybody. It’s true that the Lord with never leave us nor forsake us, but how ofter do we leave and forsake the Lord? That is the real question. I don’t believe that God would ever abandon us, though I’m sure that others may disagree. I do however think that God will give us our space and back off for a while to let us get what ever it is out of our system. He gave us free will, and sometimes we we exercise that free will a little to freely.

In the book of Jeremiah, there are two main things that the Israelites are doing to upset the Lord. First off, they are worshiping the foreign god Baal. The first commandment is You shall have no other Gods before me, for God is a jeleous God. I love how God describes this in Jeremiah chapter 10:3-5. They cut down a tree from the forest, and they shape it with a chisel, the cover it with silver and gold, and they use a hammer and a nail so it won’t fall over. It is like a scarecrow in a mellon patch, it cannot talk. It must be carried because it cannot walk. They call this a God, but it is only a stick, do not be afraid of it.

That cracks me up when I read it. But we are not so far off from this type of worship. We may not physically be praying to a piece of wood, but remember what I have said before that anything that we put before God, is an idle in our lives.

The second thing that the Lord was upset with the Israelites about was their obsession with sex. Although this may be the case with some people today, more people than not are not sex addicts in today society, but I am not going to get into that.

I want to challenge you find one thing that you put before your relationship with God. I am sure that most people, my self included, could come up with a whole list of things, but I want you to think of one, hopefully the main thing. Ash Wednesday is coming up here in a couple of weeks. A lot of people choose to fast for Lent. So I would challenge you to start to pray over the next 16 days to see what you might give up for Lent, maybe it is that one thing that you are putting before God. I will be giving up a lot this Lent, but more on that later.

In closing, even if we don’t feel close to God, he will always welcome us back with open arms if we are sincere about wanting a relationship with him. And as for the Israelites in Jeremiah’s time, well, lets just say that there was a happy ending. Read Jeremiah this week, and find out for yourselves about Gods love for his people.