Next worship gathering is Sunday, August 5 at 6:30 pm in the St. Johns Room of Faith Community Church, 3450 CR210, 32259.  Come and be equipped for life on mission.

We’re calling for ten days of prayer and fasting beginning Wednesday night, August 1 wrapping up on the evening of August 10.  Our fasting will be for this purpose: to empty ourselves and to seek God’s heart for the people in our lives.  We are praying and fasting to love the people God puts in our path with his love. We believe that kind of love which is transforming the world can transform us and the people we love.  Want to join in?

Jesus began his ministry with a 40 day fast.  (Matthew 4:2) And he began his teaching on fasting with the words, “When you fast…”, not “If you choose to fast….”  (Matthew 6:16)  When his disciples were faced with a particularly difficult ministry challenge, he instructed them to adopt a strategy that included fasting, “This kind only comes out through prayer and fasting. (Matthew 17:21)

So Jesus fasted, assumed his disciples would fast, and encouraged them to do so when a breakthrough was needed.   We’re following the example of Jesus, his first disciples, and other followers of Jesus down through the ages.  We are asking for a break through for three groups of people.  First, we need breakthrough in our own lives.  We need God’s love to enlarge our hearts!  Secondly, we are asking for breakthrough in terms of the people we feel sent to.  God is placing people on our hearts and in our lives for his purposes.  Third, we are praying for breakthrough for our families and close friends.  This are the people we love the most – and some are far from God.  We want them to know God better, to know more of what Christ has done for them, and to accept his love and grace!  We want to see God’s kingdom come and God’s will being done in our lives and in the lives of those we love.  This time of prayer and fasting begins with us – with a desire for our hearts to be filled to overflowing with love of God.  We acknowledge that things need to happen in our own hearts so that we can love people better.

If you want to join, this is our plan.

1. We’ll be using the Draw the Circle book by Mark Batterson.  We’ll let days 1 through 10 guide us.  (The book is widely available.)
2. Each of us is planning to fast in the way that makes sense.  Many of us have fasted before.  (If you are new to fasting, the Desiring God ministry put together a handy guide for beginners.
3. For me, its saying “no” to things I regularly consume.  (My first two days, I’m planning to fast completely from food and after that to eat more simply, cutting out dairy and sugar.  Also, for the whole ten days, I plan to stay off of social media.
4. We’ll try to create a texting group, too.  We have found that a time of prayer and fasting can be very encouraging as we hear stories from one another about how its going and what we see God doing.  If you want to be a part of a group, send me an email to pastorjessealexander@gmail.com

I am looking forward to what God is going to do!