22-Day New Testament Reading Plan

We began “Octoberfast” today in my church. For the next three weeks, we we will be fasting and praying corporately.

Because I have been extremely sick lately, I am not going to begin completely abstaining from food right away, but I have decided that one of the key projects I will accomplish in this 21-day period is to reread the New Testament. I’ve included my reading plan for the next 22 days here. I’m aiming for about 12 chapters a day and will break that up throughout the day. The plan is:

22-Day Bible Reading Plan

October 4
Matthew 1-12

October 5
Matthew 13-24

October 6
Matthew 25-Mark 8

October 7
Mark 9-Luke 4

October 8
Luke 5-16

October 9
Luke 17-John 3

October 10
John 4-9

October 11
John 10-21

October 12
Acts 1-12

October 13
Acts 13-24

October 14
Acts 25-Romans 8

October 15
Romans 9-1 Corinthians 8

October 16
1 Corinthians 9-2 Corinthians 4

October 17
2 Corinthians 5-13

October 18
Galatians 1-Ephesians 6

October 19
Philippians 1-1 Thessalonians 5

October 20
2 Thessalonians 1-2 Timothy 4

October 21
Titus 1-Hebrews 8

October 22
Hebrews 9-1 Peter 5

October 23
2 Peter 1-Jude

October 24
Revelation 1-11

October 25
Revelation 12-22

A quick note that since I am a band director and have marching contests the next two Saturdays, I am making those Saturday readings a little shorter than the other days.

What about you? What cool things are you going to do this month?

Enough Is Enough!

I’ve had it!

I’m fed up with my dumb self.

My desire to know everything, to keep with everything, to have everything, to experience everything. It’s time to call it quits. It’s time to count the cost and pursue holiness anyway.

A year and a half of unfulfilled promises
Looking back at my blog post from December 25th, I see that most of my planning and aim to reduce my debt has gone by the wayside. I still weigh as much as I did at the beginning of the year. I don’t spend any more time regularly in prayer or Bible study now than I did back then. I’m not married or even heading in that direction.

Basically, 2009 has been pretty bleak for me in a lot of ways. In fact, it doesn’t only start there. Even in June 2008, I was seeing that things were out of control. I think it goes back even further than that.

Granted, things did change for the positive over the summer as I began to see a glimmer of hope. I began playing piano at a new church where my good friend Greg is the pastor, and that is turning out to be an exciting process. We are starting to see some growth in the church, both in numbers as well as in life within the fellowship.

Sadly, when I survey the state of the American church, comfort and excess have replaced giving and sacrifice as Christian virtues in the 21st century. The mantra of contemporary Christian circles seems to be “Man’s chief end is to get lots of stuff, end enjoy it for ever. And be sure there’s good air conditioning and comfortable seats in church while you’re at it!” The Puritans taught us that “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy Him for ever.” Quite a discrepancy.

Well, I’m tired of the stuff. I’m tired of distractions. I’m tired of clutter in my life – physically, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually. I grow weary of the undisciplined nature of my current state of existence. It’s time for a change.

This morning, Pastor Greg read a little bit out of E.M. Bounds book The Weapon of Prayer. I’ve read his book Power Through Prayer a few times and every time I read it, I am convicted of my woeful lack of prayer. This week, I will work my way through The Weapon of Prayer. I’ll also focus more of my time on prayer. Real prayer, not the superficial stuff.

My online life takes up too much of my time. My iPhone provides more distractions than I even know what to do with. So it is time to move forward. Instead of feeling like a victim of my circumstances, I’m going to take control. In the next three and a half months, I will regain control and discipline in my life.

Fasting will be a huge part
In the process of regaining control, I must regularly deny the flesh through fasting. For the most part, these will be day-long water/juice fasts, though there may very well be extended fasting happening as well. This past spring, I experienced the power that fasting had in recovering my focus as I went through three 5+ day fasts. Since then, the longest I’ve gone without food has been 12-15 hours.

This is an urgent need
As easy as it would be for me to sit back (like I have for months and years even) and say that I’ll get around to it later, there is no time like the present to begin to see transformative changes in my life. No more of the “just one more time” mentality. That simply delays the inevitible. To quote Professor Harold Hill from The Music Man, “‘Pile up too many tomorrows and you’ll find that you’ve collected nothing but a bunch of empty yesterdays.” Do something now!

What you can do

• Pray for your pastor. He needs it!
• I encourage you to commit to make some changes in your life. That one nasty habit you’ve been meaning to overcome. The 10 pounds you’ve gained since college. Or the 50 pounds. Or the 100. You get the picture. Read more. Watch less.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:

Fear God and keep His commandments,
For this is man’s all.
For God will bring every work into judgment,
Inlcuding every secret thing,
Whether good or evil.

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

• Encourage me. Self sacrifice is never easy. 100 days of it will be greuling for me. If you happen to see me online, encourage me and ask me how things are going. Pray for me. Tell me you are praying for me and I’ll be sure to pray for you as well.

Fasting, Prayer, and Affliction of the Soul

“Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
To loose the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the heavy burdens,
To let the oppressed go free,
And that you break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
And that you bring to your houyse the poor who are cast out;
When you see the naked, that you cover him,
And not hide yourself from your own flesh?”

Isaiah 58:6-7

This spring, I began to feel really impressed to spend more time fasting and learning about fasting. I’ve done it for up to a week a few times with some really good results. I’ve also fasted for a handful of days in the past with minimal results. So this year, I have been praying and learning quite a bit about denial of the flesh.

My pastor often says, “We all have ungodly altars in our lives.” I think some of those ungodly altars that we have allowed to be set up can most effectively be overturned by prayer and fasting. I think about when the Philistines stole the Ark of the LORD and put it in the temple of Dagon from 1 Samuel 5).

Can you imagine the power of God overturning some of the strongholds that are in your life in such a way that they submit fully to God? I know from experience that such things can happen, and that powerful deliverance can come about as a result of fasting and prayer.

So why don’t I do it more?
The Bible rightly refers to fasting as “affliction of the soul.” It’s never easy to sacrifice. Anything. Especially food! For me, most of my sturuggles come about when I fast but don’t focus on the and prayer aspect of it. Without Christ filling the emptiness that my stomach feels, the flesh isn’t getting weaker, only more irritated!

Actually, I think any pursuit of holiness should be more about adding holy practices into our lives rather than removing unholy things. As light comes in, darkness will flee. If we simply remove the darkness, more (and possibly worse) darkness will enter in its place (cf. Matthew 12:43-45).

So what are the results of fasting and prayer done from a pure motive?

Then your light shall break forth like the morning,
Your healing shall spring forth speedily,
And your righteousnessshall go before you,
The glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’

“If you take away the yoke from your midst,
The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
If you extend your soul to the hungry
And satisfy the afflicted soul,
Then your light shall dawn in the darkness,
And your darkness shall be as the noonday.” 

Isaiah 58:8-10

Amazing stuff, isn’t it?

But wait a minute…
So there can be these tremendous results and breakthroughs that we experience in our lives as a direct byproduct of fasting. But is that the purpose of fasting? Do we fast to twist God’s arm and sort of force His hand? I don’t know that this is what God has called us to do.

When we  fast, when we afflict our soul, I see it as more about drawing close to God than trying to get something or acheive a breakthrough. Now I know there are a number of different fasts outlined in the Bible, and about 10 different reasons behind them. With all of them, however, the end result is to draw closer to God.

Maybe I’m the only one who does this, but I sometimes find myself fasting just to fast and going through the motions just to go through the motions. It is at this point that the real challenge comes in. Either I give in and let my flesh win, or I press in and let my spirit win. If I do nothing, just continue fasting and being complacent, I don’t believe that I gain any benefit from the fasting.

So I’d love to discuss your experiences with fasting…care to share?