Stunning view from the top...

This morning started early with a powerful time of prayer & ministry with our Europe pastors, and after breakfast we headed to the slopes on a perfect day, and by lunch I’d had probably my best snowboarding ever on some crazy off-piste sections – it was just AWESOME!

Here's what I saw when I took my glove off...

Then after lunch I went down a lower slope with some of the guys who are just getting into it, and would you believe, I had a small wipeout and3 smacked my had against a block of ice – and here’s what I saw when I took my glove off – a seriously dislocated finger! I tried to pull it straight myself but concluded that it may be broken (it sure looked like it!), but had to concede and leave the slopes to head for the hospital… The pictures below tell the story…

Here's what the X-ray saw!

Here’s the lesson in this:

I didnt get injured in the crazy big stuff snowboarding, but rather on a small slope where maybe I wasn’t concentrating as I should have. Often we get taken out not by the big stuff, by by the little ordinary things which we don’t pay attention to…

Anyway, I’m thankful that it wasn’t broken, and tonight we had another absolutely incredible time together here with the pastors, so my mind is firmly fixed on higher things… but I’ll be paying attention to the seeming lessor one’s as well!

I guess this is a fitting scripture from Hebrews 12v12&13:

 Therefore strengthen the hands which hang down, and the feeble knees, ¹³ and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be dislocated, but rather be healed.

Lord, in all our action, may we not become dislocated from You, from Your Word, from each other…

Here's what it looked like after being pulled into place again!

View from the meeting / prayer room here...

Actually, this is a vitally important week in our EN Europe calendar. First we’ve had a rich time of prayer & 2 days of strategic planning with our Europe leadership team (From west-, central-, & east Europe).   From tomorrow we have all of our west & central Europe guy church leaders arriving for a couple of days of solid encouragement, ministry and fellowship – some of it on the slopes!

VALUE … At only £80 for a return flight from London direct to Innsbruck we got a fantastic flight deal, and the Haus Des Lebens mission base is probably the best board&lodging deal around. But times together like these are invaluable for those on the front line of church leadership, and over the years of ministry I have realised that its these moments of retreat, reflecting & refreshing that often make the difference in pastors lives, especially those who labour in the tough and often lonely outposts of Europe.  So as these guys hang out and get some refreshing, please pray for us and believe that all of them/us –  from London, Dublin, Edinburgh, Krakow, Madrid, Marseille, Gent, Berlin, Nuremberg, Salzburg, Innsbruck, Lviv & Ternopil – will come back refreshed and re-fired to shepherd in 2012.  They’ll be the better for it when they are back in the pulpit this Sunday!

Launching NEW Online Bible School initiative.

We’re not looking for a new mission, but for His emphasis or His correction for us to respond to and follow. So watch this, read the vision, and join to RUN with it!

Here’s the summary: 

Do listen to my Vision Focus Sunday message following the video here (or link to your congregations message)

We pray Gods very richest blessing on you in 2012.

In Luke 4 we read that “Jesus, being full of the Holy Spirit, was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, and He ate nothing…”

Then after His fasting and overcoming temptation, the Scripture records that “He came out in the power of the Spirit.”   Note: He went in “led by the Spirit”, and came out “in the power of the Spirit.”  This is another mystery of fasting: Some things (like Jesus casting out the unclean spirit in Mark 9) are made possible by fasting. It seems that the space that fasting creates in ones body/soul/spirit is filled with a new measure of God, and that ALWAYS makes a difference to your next move!

What’s the difference between “being filled with the Spirit” and “being in the power of the Spirit?” Whatever it means, Jesus had this power after fasting and resisting satan’s temptation (including satan’s offer of “bread” to meet His hunger need).  Afterwards He then went into the synagogue “as His custom was” (i.e. He did what He had always done – everything seemed the same as before), but that day everything would change! Having read from the book of Isaiah, He declares that “today this word is fulfilled” and that “the Spirit of the Sovereign Lord is upon Me.” From here Jesus goes on in this power to “preach the gospel (Good News) of the Kingdom of God.” The power was manifest!

As we come to the end of this week of fasting (in whatever way you have fasted) believe for a greater “power of the Spirit” released in your life. I have BIG faith for more of this in my own life and our ministry in 2012, and I believe that we will see it in the life of our church, our city, and the nations.

To all the awesome Every Nation Londoners, thank you for standing together in prayer & fasting. Today is our VISION FOCUS 2012 SUNDAY, and we are believing for some “more than we have planned dreamt or imagined” move of God to OVERFLOW in us and from us this year! 

One day Jesus was on His way to Galilee, and ended up taking a detour through Samaria, where he met a thirsty messed up woman at a well who got a revelation that He was the Messiah and went straight to tell her whole city about Him…

His disciples finally caught up with Him and their first concern was “has anyone give him anything to eat?, to which He replied with some very powerful revealing words:

“My food,” said Jesus, “is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” – (John 4:34)

Jesus recognized that another great hunger we have is for purpose; for doing what fulfill us; for being busy with things that give us meaning and which make a difference.

Fasting reminds me that I have been called to more that to “eat, drink & be merry”. It reminds me that I am not just satisfied by I am created and called to a fulfilling purpose, which is to live for the glory and cause of my Saviour’s and Lord Jesus. This is “food” to me. This fulFILS me.

I pray that 2012 will be a year when you will find and take your place in “doing the work of the One who sent us” and that this “food” will displace any sacrifice you make…

MORE …

By the way, why not do my “Getting to Grips with your Gifts” series to understand how you are S.H.A.P.E.D. and how God has gifted you to serve in His body, the church. Check it out here on our Bible School website, and watch the videos & download the notes (All free). Then if you are in London join us on the last Monday of January in our new “Online+Onsite” option this year.

There is certainly enough Biblical and testimonial evidence to show that something powerful happens when we fast.  I believe that fasting releases things, often not even necessarily the things we focus on.  It’s more about us hearing Him, than Him hearing us. It’s more about us focusing on Him, than getting Him to focus on us. It’s more about the mystery of “seeking first the Kingdom of God, and being right with Him”, and seeing “all these things added to us.” (Matthew 6v33)

There was a season in my early Christian life (this was before being in “full-time” ministry ?!) where I fasted one day every single week. It was a discipline to fulfill my desire for God as above. I have also at times fasted for specific things. Once I did a quasi-spiritual “grape-diet” for 21 days focusing on an illness I had. The only result I got from the grape fast is that to this day I can’t eat green grapes without some strange reaction in my jaw!   As a leadership we have also fasted for wisdom and direction, and God seems to have spoken and guided in significant ways. Fasting definitely has “results” – in Matthew 6: 16-18 Jesus says:  “When you fast, [note: not "if"]…. your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”

Fasting is not about a formula to get Gods attention, but more about “drawing near in faith” and seeking His Kingdom through an empty stomach, a hungry heart, and a spirit overflowing with thanksgiving… and as you fast, just know that know that God is up to something good!

Personally, I don’t think that fasting should be seen as something to do only when you want to/need to add some muscle to getting a prayer answered. I don’t think fasting is something we add to prayer when prayer alone doesn’t seem to be enough. When Jesus’ disciples couldn’t cast out a deaf and dumb spirit, and they asked Him why they couldn’t but He could, He answered: “This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”  (Matthew 17).  But did Jesus go away and fast before He prayed for her? No, not right there. But it seems that He had a discipline of fasting and prayer. He demonstrated a desire and delight in the Father, that drew Him as the Son of Man to seek out God the Father in prayer and fasting.  Fasting is more a spiritual disciple aiding a desire, rather than being something to add to prayer when prayer alone doesn’t seem to work.

So what am I/are we fasting for?

1. Personally I am fasting out of DESIRE. A desire for His presence and His power. I desire more anointing and fruit from what I feel called to do. Jesus came out of His wilderness fast “in the power of the Spirit” (Luke 4:14) – I desire that in and through my life. I desire that in our church and in this city. I desire that in our communities and on the campuses and in the nations through our church plant and 1000’s of others needed all across Europe and the world.
2. Our fast is a consecration, that says to the Lord again: “Here we are Lord, fill us, use us!” Like Joshua, we say “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do amazing things among you.”  We expect great things coming up!
3. I do have a short list of things I am praying for and seeking wisdom about, and even today one of these came very clearly into focus as I needed. But fasting is for more than my needs, its for my deep desire..

If you are/have/are going to fast for a day or more, what’s your DESIRE?

PS – If you are in London today, come and join us for a powerful time of praise & prayer this evening in Hammersmith or in Stratford. Link to details here –  There is even greater power in agreement!

In Luke 4 we read: “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry.”

“…He was hungry” - That’s an obvious side-effect of this fasting thing! Even for Jesus. There’s no way around it.  Everyone knows that our bodies were designed to be fed, but sadly few people ever discover that their souls & spirits need to be fed too. In fasting we remind ourselves that we have another “stomach” that is also desperately hungry.

An empty stomach is one thing, but an empty heart is quite another. We need to learn the art of filling the heart, and satisfying the spirit. Jesus was first tempted to turn a stone into a loaf of bread. Satan appealed to His physical need, but Jesus said something profound: “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

Food and other stuff of this world regularly spoils our hunger for what we really really want: The Bread of life. Think about “eating” from this menu to help your hunger:

1. “Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty” – John 6:35
2. “I have treasured the words of His mouth more than my necessary food” – Job 23:12

To help your hunger, help yourself to a good dose of the Bread of Life! Do you have any “words of His mouth” to chew on today?