But we did want to post a quick note on the fast today.

If you have read through Daniel and looked at the Daniel fast materials, you’ll see that Daniel mentions a 10 day and a 21 day fast. (Daniel 1 and Daniel 10) In the 10 day fast it says specifically that Daniel ate vegetables and drank only water.  A quick study of the Hebrew word translated “vegetables” in this text shows that vegetables almost certainly includes: “sown things,” like fruits and grains.  What Daniel was doing here was not defiling himself with meat offered to idols and to the very strong wine of the Babylonian king. To do so would have violated the Mosaic Law that Daniel was under. Daniel was telling the king…my God is enough.

Many people have asked me: can we only drink water?  Well, I suppose if Daniel had a juicer, he would have had  OJ so I think any fruit or veggie juice is obviously fine.  What about decaf tea and coffee or things like soy milk?  You’ll get a variety of responses here but I think the main thing to note is that the diet should be stripped of any meat and anything that is not grown, which also means nothing processed can be added to your fruit, veggies, grains, etc.  Soy milk (if it is all natural) is probably fine since it is derived from a veggie, but, while caffeine naturally occurs in a grown product (teas and coffees) it is universally accepted that caffeine is out when it comes to this fast.  ;( boo!

Here’s another link to some resources on the subject.

happy headache!

This weekend we also challenged everyone to take part in a 21-day Daniel fast with us from now until February 27th.  I’ve already heard that several of you are in and I am excited to hear how your faith grows during this season of prayer and fasting.  There is a great bible reading plan available as well as many resources for recipes, etc. As a church, we appreciate your prayers for our upcoming “launch/relaunch” on February 27th.

If there are things we can pray for in your life, please let us know!

When the clock strikes midnight on Monday morning, I am challenging everyone who calls poiema and day|twelve church home to spend the next 21-days taking part in a fast. I know not everyone will be able to do it, but I am encouraging all of you to pray about taking part in our Daniel Fast in the 21 days leading up to the “relaunch” on February 27th!

This site has some great resources (like recipes, etc.) if you’d like to take part in the full 21 day fast that is named after Daniel (Daniel 1 and Daniel 10), who refused the king’s food ate a diet of fruits, veggies and water.  If you cannot take part in the full 21 days, consider doing a 10 day fast or a 24-hour complete (water only) fast or fasting from something that you’d normally do everyday so that you can spend that time praying and focusing your thoughts on God. Regardless, of whether you fast for 21 days, you can definitely follow this 21 day Bible reading plan with us. I’ve written posts on fasting in the past and I hope those might provide some help to you as well.

We will be posting more thoughts as we progress but we’d love to hear if you are joining in so please comment to this post and let us know. Finally, here are some ideas for prayer:

1. that God would soften hearts and draw more to himself;

2. that we would be a community that would invite others to experience the joy of Jesus;

3. that God would use us to serve those in need and defend the defenseless;

4. pray for the people in your lives who need to know the love of Jesus.

We pray you join us on this 21-day journey….

Fast forward to September of this year (2010) … the Senior Pastor of Poiema, John Mitchell, felt God calling him and his family to a new season of ministry.  Because John and I knew each other,  I meet with John shortly after he announced his decision to Poiema.  After a few conversations, we began to discuss what it might look like for day|twelve and Poiema to join forces.  The visions of both churches were so common that all parties agreed that it was God who was orchestrating this partnership. After many meetings with key leaders on both sides, we felt there was only one decision that could be made. So, on December 19th, day|twelve church and Poiema Church formally announced that we will become one church with one common vision!  God has clearly spoken that this was His plan and we couldn’t be more excited….and, this is JUST the beginning of something new that God is doing in Phoenix. Our impact can be greater, faster, but by no means are we “there.” Again, we are just starting!

Can’t wait to see you all and share more but until then, you can visit these videos for a little more detail!

I have been lucky enough to spend the last 24 hours at a pastor’s retreat in the gorgeous setting of Cave Creek, AZ. Last night, a local pastor shared a very powerful yet simple message where he simply asked: “Who are you?” You see, we pastor-types are some of the most insecure people on the planet. (You non-pastor people are just slightly less insecure! )  While pastors understand logically that our true identity is in Christ and in Him alone, we easily fall into the world’s trap that identity is found in what others think of us, how successful we are, how many people are in our ministries…etc. Since we live in a fishbowl (some bigger than others) we also find our identities in our spouses and our kids and if everything is “just so” with it all, then we are okay. But the problem with that is all things outside of Christ can change. Instantly. What happens when one second you are a husband and the next you are not?  What happens when your ministry shrinks after 5 years of growth?What happens when a kid rebels? Well, if our identity is found in those things then we get bitter, angry, depressed, etc and we act out of that mistaken identity. When these things in essence become “god” and that god “dies,” well, then our worlds falls apart.

There are many great things about God…among them: He is our perfect Father, He never changes and He really doesn’t require much from us. When you boil it all down, He just wants us to trust in Him.  The Bible shows us clearly that the only time Jesus was impressed by someone was when they exhibited great faith, when they trusted Him. You want to please God? Trust Him. Have faith in Him.  That’s it.

So, day|twelve, I will do my best to trust Him because in Him my identity is complete. I will trust that He is enough and because of that I will trust the vision He is giving me for central phoenix. Trust is central to the day|twelve mindset. Because of who God is, what He has done and what He promises, we trust Him and we go when He says go. Then, we trust that He will bring the increase because it is all His after all.  Our identity must be found in Him and if we trust Him completely, it will be.

so, who are you?

“We say we waste time, but that is impossible. We waste ourselves.” – Alice Bloch

We’ve all heard countless talks, speeches, sermons, or lectures with the following conclusion “time is our greatest resource.” Cliche? No doubt. True…well, after air, water and food, probably so. The great thing about this resource is that it is equally given to all. 24 hours a day. None of us get short changed. Of course, some live to 50, others to 15 and a few to 105, but you get the point.  24 hours is yours today to do what you will.

I found this INTERACTIVE CHART from the New York Times fascinating and telling. I hope you take a few minutes to see just how we Americans spend those 24 nuggets each day.  You can see just how race, gender, age, educational background, etc. impacts what we do with our most precious resource.  The most ironic thing I found?…unemployed people on average spend MORE TIME SHOPPING each day than they do LOOKING FOR A JOB! Hmmm?

Of course, since I’m heavily involved in the spiritual side of life, I also find it telling that 1-2% Americans spend any time engaging in “religious activity” on an average day and yet 38% of Americans spend time consuming TV/Movies on that same day.  That makes total since in our consumeristic/entertainment driven society. Honestly, those numbers are not surprising at all. What would be surprising, however, is if the average Christian spent their time basically the same way. That would be telling. It would be  a little strange to think that Christians [sic] would spent 1-2% of our days on average engaged in things that relate to the church.  I’m sure that can’t be true.

budget planner – Mint.com

The season I’m talking about now though, is the Season of Service that is associated with Luis Palau’s City Fest that will be hitting Phoenix next spring. We at day twelve will be heavily involved in serving our city through these projects and our very own Eugene Scott recently wrote an article for the AZ Republic about the kick off of the Season which begins in October.

Mark your calendar for October 23rd as we will partner with ASU and other organizations and serve a local elementary school. Much more to come on this…

if you do not personally experience God then your faith in Him slowly gets built on a series of rumors of what others say about who He is…. – Erwin R. McManus

So true. Faith is not knowing the right things or even doing the right things. Meaningful and fruitful faith only comes from a personal encounter and relationship with God.  If we don’t have personal encounters with the God we call Father, can He really be Father? While God certainly reveals Himself to people in different ways, if you don’t experience Him personally then your faith will be a dry, barren faith that doesn’t at all resemble the thing we say it should.  Jesus said “my sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me.”

How do we hear Him and build our faith? By seeking Him, relentlessly. Scriptures tells us to seek, ask and knock and that God will answer.  Further, the Apostle Paul reminds us that “faith comes from hearing and hearing from the word of God.” The “word of God” here does not just mean “the Bible” but more completely means the “word that the Spirit speaks” to our hearts. It is clear from Scripture that whoever calls on the name of the Lord will not be put to shame so my prayer is that you seek relentlessly to love God and hear from Him. He will not turn those away who diligently pursue Him.