The Wilderness

In Wisconsin there is a place called the Wilderness Fellowship Ministries, it is located on Spirit Lake. The Wilderness Fellowship Ministries is a four season ministry facility which provides a place of retreat and refreshment that fosters Godly intimacy. It is located on 244 acres of rolling wooded land with frontage on two good fishing lakes. Retreat facilities include personal prayer cabins, larger cabins for groups or families and a large meeting facility. I have been there a few times before with the Bible Study group that I met Jane through. We used to rent out the group cabins and go to fellowship. It is a beautiful place.

On Monday May 24^th to Thursday 27^th, I am going to be renting out a prayer cabin by myself. I will be leaving Jane and the kids at home; well actually, they will be going to Bemidji. I am going to be spending 2 full day alone with God. There will be no distractions. I am really looking forward to this time. I love time with my family, don’t get me wrong, but I really need a couple of days alone to reflect. I have no expectations or goals for this retreat. I am just going to go and see what happens, and let God lead me.

I am toying with the idea of fasting for the 2 full days that I am there. This would not be a Daniel Fast, this would be a I don’t eat anything fast, I would allow myself to drink water. I have not made a decision yet, but I really don’t feel like giving up food for two days. If I do fast, God will lay it on my heart, but I haven’t really felt Him telling me that. I will blog when I have more information, but really there is nothing to tell. I will blog about my trip to the Wilderness when I get back. Please keep me in your prayers, that I might come to know God in a more intimate way than ever before.

How to Pray

Wow, I feel like its been so long since I’ve written a blog. After Easter, I think that I plataeued in my faith for a few weeks, but rest assured that some things happened this week that got me back climbing again. I am nearly done reading Jeremiah, it has been several months now since I started reading it, but that’s for another blog. If you are new to my blogs you may be wondering why it take me so long to read Jeremiah, it’s only 52 chapters? I would encourage you to go back and read my blog post from from January sixth, (click here) titled Why I don’t read the bible.

Today I want to talk about how to pray using the Lords Prayer. For full and fair disclosure, this section of my blog did not come from me, I am taking it from Bob Kilpatrick, from His book, Secrets of the Silence. This is the 21 day journey of prayer that I read over lent while doing my Daniel Fast. It really helps to put prayer in prospective. So without further ado, here it is.

“Our Father, who art in heaven,

Hallowed be Thy name.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done

On earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread,

And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors.

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil,

For Thine is the kingdom, and power,

And glory forever. Amen.” Matthew 6:9-13

Jesus told us to pray like this.

Our Father…we start with a recognition that our relationship to God is as children to their Father, not slaves to a master, subjects to a king or workers to an employer.

Hallowed be Thy name…we continue in reverent worship.

Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven…we voice a specific request that the rule of God should extend to all the earth.

Give us this day our daily bread…we ask for our basic needs to be met.

And forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors…then we confess our sinfulness and ask for the same mercy that we give to others.

And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil…we admit that we have a propensity to wickedness and ask for protection from an enemy that is willing to lead us into it.

For Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever. Amen…we close with worship and a recognition that everything is His.

I read that, and I really liked it, and thought that it was worth sharing. In my next blog I will write about a camping trip that I will be taking next month, where I will be spending 2 full days alone with God in the middle of the woods.

Just an Update

It’s so nice to have everything somewhat back to normal with my eating habits. I am not eating the amount of junk that used to, and I plan to continue to eat more fruits and nuts. But if I never have to look at another vegetable again as long as I live, that will be ok. I am also not making my coffee right when I get up in the morning to sip while I am reading my bible. I am waiting now until after breakfast. I used to drink the coffee, and skip breakfast, because the coffee would fill me up. But I want to start eating breakfast with my kids together as a family. Also, I keep forgetting to mention in my blogs that I got an email from the homeless shelter that I was planning to volunteer at, and they said that they don’t need any help on Saturday mornings, but that I should check back in a few months, as there schedules change regularly. I think that I am just going to take the next few years off from volunteering regularly. I will still do some, but it won’t be consistent, with the exception of church of course. I want to focus on two things; first, I want to focus on reading my bible, and gaining more knowledge of scripture, and verse memorization, so that I can be a better witness to people. Sanctify Christ as Lord in your hearts, always being ready to make a defense to everyone who asks you to give account for the hope that is in you, yet with gentleness and reverence. 1 Peter 3:15. Secondly, I want to focus on my family, and spending time with them. I want to make sure that Jane and myself are teaching the kids the bible, and taking every opportunity to prepare them for school.

The second part of this blog, I just want to give you something to think about. This morning I was reading out of Jeremiah. This is God speaking. I have made the earth, the men and the beasts which are on the face of the earth by My great power and My outstretched arm, and I will give it to the one who is pleasing in My sight. Jeremiah 27:5. I instantly made me think of Job 1:21. Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I shall return there. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord. Wow, it just really hit me for some reason that God can do what ever he wants to with us, and the earth. We don’t always understand why He does some of the things that he does, but he just wants up to trust and love Him. I will give them a heart to know Me, for I am the Lord; and they will be My people, and I will be their God, for they will return to Me with their whole heart. Jeremiah 24:7. The gist of Jeremiah 27, God gives everything to King Nebuchadnezzar, so that he can finally rid himself of David’s sinful line of descendants ruling as king. It is a powerful statement that God does in fact rule on this earth, and in our lives. It’s not about us, it’s never been about us, and it never will be about us.

Left at the Alter

One does not live on bread along, but on word that comes from the mouth of God. Matthew 4:4. Here it is, it’s finally Easter, and my fasting had officially come to an end after 46 days. I has hoping to accomplish three things over lent, one, become closer to God, two, think about God more throughout the day, and three, receiving the gift of the Holy Spirit. Repent, and each of you will be baptized in the name of Christ Jesus for the forgiveness of your sins; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. Acts 2:38. Well, two out of three isn’t bad I guess.

I definitely became closer to God, and I definitely am thinking about God more throughout the day. But I have not received the gift of the Holy Spirit. And they will be filled with the Holy Spirit and begin to speak in other tongues, and the Spirit will give them utterance. Act 2:4. Every Sunday at Church we have an opportunity go go forward to pray with a prayer counselor. I have never went forward at Church to be prayed for before, but last Sunday, Palm Sunday, when they invited anyone who needed prayer to the front of the Church, I felt the Spirit of God saying go, so I went. I had no idea what to expect, but I went and I was prayed for. The gal that prayed for me was trying so hard to get me to receive the gift of the Spirit, she tried to cast out any evil, and she prayed in Jesus name, she tried 4 different times, but without success. She said that my mind was moving to fast. I couldn’t clear my mind enough to listen for God. Of corse by the end of it, I was in tears as I went back to my seat wondering where God was and why he wan’t giving me the gift I was looking for, and so desperately want. These signs will accompany any who believe: in my name they will cast our demons; they will speak in new tongues; they will pick up serpents with their hands, and if they drink deadly poison, it will not harm them. They will lay their hands on the sick, and they will be healed. Mark 16:17-18. I felt just devastated for the rest of the day wondering why I was left at the alter by God. I am wanting to begin street ministry, but I cannot do it with out the gift of the Spirit to lead me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey all I have commanded you. I am with you always and to the end of the age. Matthew 28:19-20.

After another week of thought and prayer I realized that God is not ready for me to have this gift. I feel that I need to have a better understanding of the bible. So now here I am, Lent is over, and now I just have to keep up with where I am now.

So I was fasting technology for the last week, and you are probably wondering how that went? It wan’t hard at all, I do not need to have all of the technology in my life that I have to keep me happy. I was surprised by this because I thought that it would be a lot harder. If anything is was annoying, knowing how many little things I use the internet for. There were several times when I wanted to goto the internet, just to check the price of something online, or to check my online banking. I needed to go online to make a reservation for a retreat that I will be taking, more on that in another blog. But as far as email, Twitter, Facebook, podcasts, foursquare, I didn’t even miss it. However, that being said I do have a confession to make. Yesterday morning our front door got stuck in the locked position, and would not unlock. After a big fiasco, I ended up having to goto Menards to buy a new door handle, and I needed my cell phone. I am not smart when it comes to home repairs, and I new that when I was at Menards standing in from of the doorknobs, I would have questions, and I did. So in short, I starting using “technology” again a day early. Even though this blog was posted Sunday morning, it was written on Saturday afternoon. Once I had to turn my phone on, and I seen a missed text message, a voicemail, and 50 unread emails, that was the end of it.

The hardest part about my fast was definitely the Daniel fast. I did make it the whole 21 days, without cheating once. I lost a total of 20 pounds without even trying. I cannot wait to get to church and have pancakes. I want so badly to goto Burger King for lunch for a BK Quad Stacker, or maybe even Chipotle, but I know better, I need to slowly start incorporating foods back into my diet or I will get sick. So the next couple of days should be interesting. I did not really miss the caffeine of the sweets. But I am excited to stop at Caribou this morning for a Turtle Mocha before I goto Church. I am also excited to start drinking coffee again daily, not because I need it, but because it is something that I enjoy.

I would have to say that I learned a lot in the last 46 days, I have no regrets about my fasting, and I did accomplish most of what I wanted to with God. I am still learning and growing and always will be, and I will continue to climb the mountain until the day I die. Life is ever changing, but Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever. Hebrews 13:8.