The final Fast before Lent

It’s Saturday, and there is just a week left until Easter. This will be my last blog until after Easter, since tomorrow I start phase 3 of my 3 part fast. For the next week I will be turning off my iPhone as well as my computer. I will not be checking my email accounts, I will not be updating my Facebook or Twitter, I will not be checking in on Foursquare, I will not be posting blogs, I will not be downloading and listening to Podcasts or Audio Books, I will not be mindlessly searching the iPhone app store searching for the next great app, I will not be playing any of my iPhone games. I will be reachable by home phone if you need to get a hold of me.

I want to take a few minutes to talk a little bit about fasting. Everybody that I come in contact with daily, knows that I am fasting, which is great because everyday people are coming up to me and asking how is the fasting going? I really love that because it is a perfect opportunity to talk about Jesus, and what he is doing in my life. But the comment that I get the most about my fasting is, I couldn’t do it, or I couldn’t give that up, why are you going so overboard with your fasting? I think that a lot of people are confused about why we should fast. For the first three in a half weeks of Lent I gave up sweets and caffeine. Anytime I was craving chocolate, I would replace the temptation with a cracker or maybe something salty like potato chips, which completely defeats the purpose. I know that only fasting caffeine and sweets would not be an acceptable fast for me because I have done this fast twice before and gotten no results, since these things are so easily replaceable.

I knew that I needed more, so that’s why I incorporated the Daniel Fast. You can’t replace carbohydrates, and meat with fruits and vegetables; it just simply cannot be done. I love carbohydrates above anything else. I could live off of fresh baked bread, peanut butter and jelly sandwiched, pancakes, pasta. I also love meat with lots of fat and grease, big juicy burgers from McDonalds and Burger King; I love bacon, and any type of pork. These things cannot be replaced with fruits and vegetables. Some people may think that the Daniel fast in enough for me, but no, I decided to go one step further.

I am also giving up technology for a week. Understand, that me and my iPhone are attached at the hip, no pun intended. I am always playing a game, or updating Twitter and Facebook, I check my email throughout the day as a new email comes it, my phone alerts me, and I check it immediately, I purposely make an extra stop or two so I can check in on foursquare, I am constantly listening to Podcasts, and I love to blog. The reason I am only giving up technology for a week is because one this is going to be harder for me to give up than food, and I know that I will go through withdrawals, and two, I am the vice president of our association, and I do need to respond to email several times through out the month. I get on average about thirty emails each day, and these are real actual legit emails that I need to read or respond to, these are not including any junk that I may receive.

If I ever had a nickname at work, it would be the one upper. Everybody always thinks that I have to do it better than everybody else; I didn’t know that it was a crime to do your best in everything you do. When is comes to my fasting this Lent, I am continually being asked why? Why so much, why so long, why something to hard? If you haven’t heard anything that I’ve said, hear this, are you ready. FASTING IS NOT SUPPOSED TO BE EASY! It’s not, if it was easy, than there would be no point. The point of fasting is to become closer to God, period. When I am at the mall and I see somebody eating a big fat plump juicy mouthwatering scrumptious looking burger, or an ice cream cone, and I want it, I really do by the way, I don’t give up all my fasting and stop at the next burger joint of ice cream place that I pass, no, I pray. Heavenly Father, I want that burger, but I want you more. I love you Lord, and I am doing this for you because I love you. You are my strength, you are my security, you give me the bread of life, that will cause me to never be hungry again, it is only through you and because of you, through your grace and through your mercy that I have what I have, and that I am who I am. Father God, be with me, help me to endure and persevere, help me to become closer to you and love you more no matter what. Lord, you will never leave me, or forsake me, but help me to never leave you, or forsake you. Fill me with you Spirit oh God, so that the decisions that I make, and the things that I do are pure, and in love, help me to be humble and grow in your steadfast love, and persevere in my fasting, I thank you and pray this in Jesus name, Amen.

So you see my friends, fasting is supposed to be hard, that is why if done right, it is so effective. And it has been effective for me, I have grown closer to God in the last five weeks, than ever before, and it has been amazing. God is working in my life and he can work in your life too. I am so excited to see where God is going to lead me. I will talk to you all very soon, and will post another blog after Easter, I can’t wait to tell you what God has done.

Matthew 25

I just don’t know where to start. I have so many thoughts and ideas going through my head right now. God has really been stirring in my heart. Matthew 25 31-46 has has been going through my head more than ever. In short, this is the verse where Jesus separates the goats from the sheep and commands us to feed the poor and the hungry, cloth the naked, give water to the thirsty, visit the people in the hospitals and in prison. At one point, I was volunteering twice a month at the hospital, once a week at the prison, and once a month as a big brother/mentor. Do to a conflicting a work schedule, and things coming to an end, today I am not doing any volunteer work, with the exception of 4 hours at church every Sunday morning.

Like I said, God has been stirring in my heart lately, and I am feeling this pressing need to work with the homeless. I don’y yet know what this means, however I did submit a volunteer application to volunteer at a homeless shelter in Minneapolis twice a month on Saturday mornings serving breakfast. I also feel that I am being led into street ministry. Street ministry is basically going up to people that the Spirit calls you to on the street, or at the gas station, or Walmart or where ever, and praying with them and leading them to accept Christ. I will be having some opportunities soon to do some training in this. This particular subject had been in my head non stop lately, if you read the book Crazy Love, I would be considered obsessed, which by the way is a good thing. Of corse thoughts not being followed up with actions are worthless. So I am really praying about what my connection to this is going to be. I have a feeling that I am in for some big life changes, I just don’t know what they are. I told God, that I would do what ever He wanted me to do, He just has to tell me what it is, that’s why an am learning to listen.

I am of corse still fasting. I have been doing the Daniel Fast for a week now. I am hungry all the time, and the fruits and vegetables are starting to get old, and I have two weeks left. But it has not been in vein because I have been feeling closer to God everyday, and it has been amazing. I remember writing a few weeks ago that I was excited to see how God was going to change me over the season of Lent, and things are finally starting to unfold. Lets see what the next two weeks will bring. If any of you are reading this, that make prayer a part of your like, please keep my in your prayers that I may live my life as Jesus commanded, growing closer to Christ no matter what, and learn to decipher if what I am hearing is coming from God or the Devil. There is so much more that I want to share, but I think that I will save it for another blog. God Bless you all.

Do I really Love God?

In my blog yesterday I quoted the book, “Crazy Love,” where Francis Chan asks if your concern is more about going to Heaven, or more about loving Jesus. He also asks if we love God who gives us everything, or if we only love the stuff that God gives us. One more thing that he says is if you merely pretend that you enjoy God or love Him, He knows. You can’t fool Him, don’t even try. These questions really hit home with me. I put a lot of though into these questions and realized that my concern is more about going to Heaven, and that I do love the stuff that Gods give me more than I love God, and I can’t hide that fact from God.

I want to love God more, and I want to love Jesus more. Francis Chan suggests in his book that people like me need to pray for God to change my heart. So, I have incorporated this into my fasting. I will now be praying that God will change my heart, and my attitude, so that I can learn to love Him above anything else.

Today is day 3 for my Daniel Fast, and I am craving everything but fruit and veggies. I was at the Mall of America with the kids today and walked by the Subway (for the record I don’t like Subway) and I smelled the fresh baked bread, along with the fresh baked pizzas from the Pizza Villa across the hall. I was so close to throwing my fasting right into the toilet. I am already thinking of all the wonderful things that I will be able to eat again after Easter. But than I thought of something that really helped me. If Jesus can suffer death of the cross for my sins, than the least that I can do is suffer for 3 weeks of only eating fruits, vegetables, and nuts.

In closing, I will keep fasting for the next 2 ½ weeks, and I will learn to be closer to God than I have ever been before. God is working in my life, but it is happening in His time and not mine, and as long as I can persevere, in the end God will be glorified which is the reason for human existence.

So for the past 4 weeks I have not had any caffeine and I have not had any sweets. I went to put on my pants today and had to start singing, “Pants on the ground, pants on the ground, lookin’ like a fool with my pants on the ground.” About 4 weeks ago, I bought 2 new pairs of pants, the first new pants that I have bought in probably 4 years; I bought 34-32, which is my size. Well apparently not anymore, I put my pants on this morning and the fell to the ground, I have to ware a belt just to keep them up. This is not something that I am happy about, I don’t need to lose any weight, I don’t want to loose any weight, and now to top it all off, I am doing the Daniel fast for the next 3 weeks, which means that I am only eating fruits, vegetables, and nuts, and I am only drinking water.

So I have been doing the Daniel fast now for two day, and in two words, it sucks. It doesn’t matter how many fruits and vegetables I eat, I cannot get filled up. I have been hungry for the past two days. But I suppose that this is a good thing since the point is to be aware of my hunger and lack of “real food, so I can think about and pray to God more. I have been getting bored with the fruits and veggies already so tonight I came up with an all veggie recipe, which you can on my blog at www.MitchellBoxeth.com. It was good, I felt like I was actually eating a full meal.

So, where am I with God? I have actually been really happy with my walk with God lately, not so much because of the fasting, but because of the book that I keep talking about, “Crazy Love.” This book is a must read, it is challenging me constantly. Let me just give you a few quotes from the book. Also, fruits and vegetable are really expensive.

1.) Are we in love with God, or his stuff? Do you love God who gives you everything, or do you only love every that God Gives You? 2.) Is our concern more about going to Heaven, or loving Jesus? 3.) How we spend our time, what our time goes toward, and where we invest our energy is equivalent to choosing God, or rejecting Him.

These are only a few of the questions that have been challenging my mind for the last 2 weeks. I am really excited about the book, and I think that it is a great book for me to be reading along with my fasting.

The Daniel Fast

Today is Saturday March 13^th. There are three more weeks or 21 days until Easter. Tomorrow I start the Daniel fast. For the next three weeks I can only eat fruits, vegetables, and nuts, and I can only drink water. This is going to be really hard for me, considering I don’t like vegetables, and fruit is never my first choice of food to eat. I have not gotten much out of my fasting caffeine the last 3 in a half weeks, however, because of lots of prayer, and reading the book “Crazy Love,” and the last few sermons at church, I am really excited to see a God is going to do in my life over the next week weeks. I mentioned a quote in my last blog, “If you don’t change the way you live, you’re live is never going to change.” I am committed to making some changes in my life. What exactly these changes are going to be, I can yet say, but I will know by the time Easter gets here.

Also for the next 21 days I am going to be replacing part of my daily bible reading with reading a book called “Secrets of the Silence,” by Bob Kilpatrick. It is a 21 day prayer journey of the power of praying without words. If you have been following my blogs, that you know that prayer is something that I struggle with. It’s not that I don’t know how to pray; it’s just not something that I feel I am very good at. I am determined to master the art of prayer, maybe not in the next 21 days, but hopefully by the end of this year. Our church is really focusing on prayer this year; I think that I will have plenty of support. I am excited to tell you about some really great things to come.

Fasting Continued

So I have been reading the book “Crazy Love,” and I am really enjoying it. There is a lot of really practical information on the basics of being a Christian. However, that being said, it is amazing how I still stray off the path so easily. Between what I have read so far in Crazy Love and the sermon from church yesterday, I am feeling reenergized, and I am really excited about what God is going to be doing in my life over the next few weeks. I am not going to say much just yet, however, I am hoping to have some really cool things to share over the next few months. I heard a great quote, “If you don’t change the way you live, your life is never going to change.” It is so true.

If you have been following along with my blogs you will know that my fasting thus far for lent have been less than satisfying. But I am really exciting to start my second phase of fasting on Sunday. Not because I am going to be limiting my food consumption, but I really think that God is going to do some amazing things. I encourage you to visit www.MitchellBoxeth.com, of follow subscribe to my blogs on www.mitchellboxeth.wordpress.com.

asting Continued

Just a quick update on the fasting, the results are still less than satisfying, I wish that I had more to report. I am finding that instead of turning to God in my times of temptation, I am distracting my mind with other things, ie, email, Twitter, Facebook, a game on my iPhone. This is telling me that the last week of Lent when I turn off my technology will be the true test.

The End is near

What do we know about John the Baptist? He came before Jesus to prepare the people for the coming of the Lord. John would walk around yelling, “Repent.” We know that he baptized people with water, including Jesus, (Matthew 3:13-17) this happened right before Jesus was tempted in the desert. We also know that John was beheaded, after being imprisoned for accusing Herod of an unlawful marriage (Matthew 14:1-12). John the Baptist was know s crazy, because he would wander around talking nonsense, about this Jesus fellow, who is the King of the Jews. People teased, and mocked John. But at the end of the day, John was the only one that had his head on straight, no pun intended. In short, even though John’s ministry on earth was on of the most important ministries in all of history, his ministry was considered ridiculous to most.

So, what does John the Baptist have to do with end times? I am looking over the events of the last few months. We have had major earthquakes in Haiti, Japan, and Chili, and there were the countless tsunami warning last week, I know that most of them were canceled, but that doesn’t change the fact that the warnings were certainly there. There were a few that did some damage. There have also been countless other thing going on in the world, I wouldn’t even know where to start.

As you all know, I do not watch TV anymore, I rely on breaking news from CNN on Twitter to keep up on my world news. These things are only the beginning. I sent out a Tweet and a Facebook post last week about the end being near, and I got a few mocking comments; which is fine it doesn’t bother me. Please understand that I am not a theologian, and I had not done any in depth studies on the book of Revelation, but I do know one thing; that most everything that the bible predicted would happen before Jesus returned has happened, now we are just awaiting many natural disasters, and war, a one world currency, as well as a one world leader, and the mark of the beast, before Jesus return. These things may not exist today, but they are certainly being talked about, and those days are a lot closer than we think.

We keep hearing on the news that things will turn around, things will better, world peace is near. Yes, our economy may turn around, but the bottom line is that things will not get better, they will continue to get worse until God has had enough and sends Jesus back. The bible says that we do not know the time or the hour, (Matthew 24:36) which by the way means that the world will not come to an end in 2012. Short of the Viking winning a Super Bowl, the end is close, it may or may not be in our lifetimes, but the world around us does not lie. Are you ready for Jesus return? I would like to talk a little bit about death, but that is another blog.

I am a lot like John the Baptist, in a sense that I am speaking the truth, but people are so blind and jaded to the truth, that they will laugh at me and mock me for being “crazy.” But, that’s ok, because, Blessed are you when people insult and persecute you, and falsely say all sorts of evil things against you because of me. Rejoice and be glad, for your reward in Heaven is great; for in the same way they persecuted the profits who were before you. (Matthew 5:11-12 NASV)