PRAYER OF CONSECRATION
Wake up, sleeper, rise from the dead, and Christ will shine on you.
Jesus, I belong to you.
I lift up my heart to you.
I set my mind on you.
I fix my eyes on you.
I offer my body to you as a living sacrifice.
Jesus, we belong to you.
Praying in the name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit, amen.
Acts 13:4–12 (NIV)
The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus. When they arrived at Salamis, they proclaimed the word of God in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their helper.
They traveled through the whole island until they came to Paphos. There they met a Jewish sorcerer and false prophet named Bar-Jesus, who was an attendant of the proconsul, Sergius Paulus. The proconsul, an intelligent man, sent for Barnabas and Saul because he wanted to hear the word of God. But Elymas the sorcerer (for that is what his name means) opposed them and tried to turn the proconsul from the faith. Then Saul, who was also called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked straight at Elymas and said, “You are a child of the devil and an enemy of everything that is right! You are full of all kinds of deceit and trickery. Will you never stop perverting the right ways of the Lord? Now the hand of the Lord is against you. You are going to be blind for a time, not even able to see the light of the sun.”
Immediately mist and darkness came over him, and he groped about, seeking someone to lead him by the hand. When the proconsul saw what had happened, he believed, for he was amazed at the teaching about the Lord.
CONSIDER THIS
We see another sensational episode of the “front” story of the Acts of the Apostles. Paul boldly confronts a sorcerer resulting in his temporary blindness. It feels like a story right out of Lord of the Rings. (For you LOTR fans, I’m thinking of the epic deliverance scene between Gandalf, Theodan, King of Rohan, and Grima Wormtongue.)
While we are amazed and astonished at these great feats we see unfolding through the “front” story on the island of Paphos, we must keep the “over” story before us. (see Acts 1:8). We see the “over” story narration in today’s text.
The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down . . .
Before the chapter is done, we will be back in the valley of the “under” story. The most important thing for us today is to dig deeper into the back story. We caught a glimpse in yesterday’s text:
While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said,
I will not mince my words. The single most neglected and most desperately needed movement of the people of God today (notably in the American church) is the movement of fasting. If we were to liken prayer to the skeletal system of the body of Christ, we would liken fasting to the muscular system. The lack of strength across so much of the body of Christ in this country (and conversely, its burgeoning strength in places like China and Africa) can be largely accounted for by the absence of fasting.
Stay with me. The reason we don’t fast is not because we are lazy and don’t care. The reason we don’t fast is because we don’t understand what fasting is. As a result, we have practiced fasting in ways contrary to its essence and purpose and become frustrated and ambivalent about it. At least I can claim that as my story. There’s a new story unfolding in my life as it relates to fasting. Here is some of the shape of it:
I used to think fasting was about food and self-denial. I am learning it is about carrying hunger and attunement to the Holy Spirit.
I used to think of fasting as a spiritual discipline. I am learning it is a means whereby the Holy Spirit gains ever-deepening access to his sanctuary—our human bodies.
I used to think of fasting as a heightened effort to get God to do something for us. I am learning fasting is a means whereby the Holy Spirit indwells his people to do something for him, in his stead, and by his power.
I used to engage in fasting through the lenses of an Old Testament understanding. I am now learning fasting as conceived in the mind of Jesus—as the new wineskin of the New Testament church—which alone can carry the new wine of the Holy Spirit.
Yes, the single most neglected and desperately needed movement of the people of God today is not from no or some fasting to more fasting. It is the movement from the old way of fasting to the new way—the Jesus way of fasting.
So don’t get down on yourself for not fasting and resolve to try harder to do it better. I can see no better way to ruin the upcoming holiday season which is meant for feasting. What if instead we dug a deeper well into a richer understanding of this ancient practice as retrofitted by Jesus? I’m considering a Wake-Up Call series on this matter of fasting and prayer for January 2024. You in? Would your church be interested?
THE PRAYER OF TRANSFORMATION
Lord Jesus, I am your witness.
I receive your righteousness and release my sinfulness.
I receive your wholeness and release my brokenness.
I receive your fullness and release my emptiness.
I receive your peace and release my anxiety.
I receive your joy and release my despair.
I receive your healing and release my sickness.
I receive your love and release my selfishness.
Come, Holy Spirit, transform my heart, mind, soul, and strength so that my consecration becomes your demonstration; that our lives become your sanctuary. For the glory of God our Father, amen.
THE QUESTION
What’s been your practice and experience with fasting? Does it feel optional to you? Would you like to dig the deeper well of understanding it in the way of Jesus?
THE HYMN
Today we will sing the Charles Wesley hymn, “Soldiers of Christ, Arise.” It is hymn 471 in our Seedbed hymnal, Our Great Redeemer’s Praise. We will sing it to the hymn tune of Diademata, aka “Crown Him with Many Crowns.”
For the Awakening,
J. D. Walt
Sower-in-Chief
seedbed.com
P. S. ADVENT ON THE WAKE-UP CALL
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