All-Church Fast 2012

It's that time of year again! Cornerstone church is participating in our annual all-church fast. I'm really looking forward to this year, even more than years past, for some reason. I'm anxious to spend some significant dedicated time to prayer during these next three weeks, some time really listening to what God has to say.

The last couple years I have fasted from lunch during the week. This year, I'm changing things up. I am giving up my caffeine during the day, and for those of you that know me, you know that's a significant thing. Not that I always need my cup of coffee, or 5 hour energy, or anything, but you will often find me with a Coke Zero in my hand, on my desk, or within reaching distance. My hope is that every time I think about getting one, I will be prompted to spend some prayer time instead. And if every day is like today has been, that is going to amount to quite a bit of time.

For me that time will be spent praying for the individual members of our congregation, and also time listening for where God is leading us to next. I feel a little like we are leaping from stone to stone across a river, and we're watching for God to show us the next stone in the line.

Some of that has already occurred, as people have heard God's voice in their own lives. I have had a number of conversations with people who have a heart for doing ministry, or for being the church out in the community. I'm already excited to see how God is moving among his people.

If you'd like to share, feel free to leave comments below about what God is pushing you to set aside for the next three weeks. How can we pray for each other along the way? And what do you hope to hear from him?

Pastor's Corner: Selective Listening

This week's upcoming sermon is going to be about listening to God, and once again, my own boys have managed to capture the essence of our relationship to God.

How often are my boys doing only what they want to be doing, whether it's reading a book, or playing a game, or whatever, and then Big Bad Dad comes in and ruins all their fun by asking them to accomplish some task? Usually something they've already been asked to do before. But there's one sure-fire way to get out of it: Selective Listening.

Selective Listening means that you only respond when you want to respond, and that you hear only the things you want to hear. Extremely frustrating as a parent, especially a task-oriented one, because you feel ignored.

But how often is this the case with us and God? How often is he asking us to do something, or to be something, and we simply can't hear it because we don't want to hear it? Or because there was too much going on around us for us to concentrate on what really matters? In a few days, Cornerstone will be headed into our annual All-Church Fast. And my prayer is that we will learn how to remove those distractions, and really listen. And not only listen, but then get up and do what God us telling us to do, or go where he is telling us to go.