Beginning May 22 thru June 30, God is inviting The Journey Church to hunger for Him more than we ever have before. For 40 Days we will focus on 5 spiritual disciplines that will help us listen to and follow God. These 5 disciplines are:
1. Fasting. Whenever something big was about to happen in the scriptures, people fasted. Fasting is simply giving up something that you crave for a period of time to help you focus on God. Every time you crave you focus. The majority of fasting involves diet or food in some way, but you can fast from just about anything. The important thing is that what you fast from is important to you. We’re suggesting the Daniel Fast (or a variation of this fast) as a place to start. There are lots of places on the internet that explain the Daniel Fast in detail (see http://danielfast.wordpress.com/ for more on the Daniel Fast). This is primarily a vegetarian diet that leaves out meat and beverages. For many people, the Daniel Fast is a good choice because it will cause you to think about what you’re eating every day, thereby causing you to think about God at that same time. Read Daniel chapter 1 for the background on this. If the Daniel Fast isn’t right for you, choose something else. Then on May 22 begin your fast. As you crave whatever it is you’re fasting from, turn your focus to God in prayer. Important: If you have health issues such as diabetes, you should consult a physician before implementing a dietary fast.
2. Scripture Reading & Listening. For these 40 days you will want to read the scriptures everyday, and if possible several times a day. As you’re reading, pause after important thoughts and reflect on that thought while trying to quiet your spirit. The goal is to discipline yourself to listen to God’s voice speaking. It’s not as important how much you read, but that you read and listen during whatever time you set aside for this.
3. Prayer. Just like you’ll want to set aside time every day for reading the Bible, you’ll also want to set aside time to pray. There are lots of places and postures you can use to help you pray. For example, go on a prayer walk every day. While you’re walking pray for people. Perhaps pray for the people in your neighborhood as you pass their home. Journaling in prayer is another example. This is simply writing out your prayers. This helps some people focus if their mind wanders a lot (like mine). We’re also encouraging you to find a prayer partner or two. During these 40 days, you and your prayer partner can meet once or twice a week to pray together.
4. Serving the Poor. Jesus placed a high emphasis on serving the poor, and so did his disciples. The Apostle Paul wrote about it and reminds us to not forget this as we move through life. At The Journey, we are all about serving our community and beyond, and we regularly want to help people who are hurting in life. During these 40 days, we’re inviting you to pray about who God might lead you to serve. Begin praying about this on Day 1 and listen. If God doesn’t answer right away, just keep praying about this. You’ll know before the 40 is over. You can also team up to do this if you want. Journey Groups may come together and pray about who their group may serve.
5. Journaling & Sharing. We’re encouraging everyone to purchase some sort of a journal for this 40 day H4G experience. You don’t need anything fancy, just a pad of paper will do. At least once a day, write down in your journal things like:· what’s happening in your heart, · what God may be saying to you, · how you are changing, · things you’re learning from the Scriptures, · people you’re praying for· answers to prayer· etc. We’re also going to invite you to share what God is doing in your life with all of us. We’ll offer several different ways you can do this. On the internet, we have a place set up on our website where you can share your stories. Just go to the top of the page and click on the H4G tab and leave your story in the Comment section. Also, if you Facebook, search for The Journey Church under “groups”. There will be a place for you to share your experiences there as well. On Sundays, you may also use our Welcome To The Journey card and write your experiences there, and someone will post it on the website.
Through practicing these 5 disciplines over these 40 days, I believe God will do something very special in your life. More than that, I believe you’re also going to learn some tools that will help you connect to God more every day. If you’ve been around The Journey for any length of time, you’ve heard me say that God has a great dream for you. This dream will always involve following Him on mission in this world. It might be in your neighborhood or it might be somewhere in the world. I believe God has more plans for The Journey Church in the greater north Oakland County area. I believe there are lots of people God wants us to love and offer hope to in Jesus’ name. Perhaps this 40 Day H4G will prepare us for what is to come.
