the Jacob Fast

The first part of a brand new year brings personal resolutions, commitments, and new opportunities to start things off the right way in our lives. The old year may have been one that you would like to forget, and with everything inside of us we give it all we have to make sure that the new one will not be a repeat.

I have been so encouraged to see that prayer and fasting has been committed to by so many during the first part of this year. I have noticed that many have chosen to take part in the Daniel fast which is a wonderful experience.

(Maryland Snow)
Forest Hill, MD

As of late though, I have embarked upon a journey that has been born out of desperation.

Have you ever had a moment (or moments) where you found yourself angry with God? I don't mean the kind of anger that makes you desire to stop serving Him, because that kind of attitude should never enter our minds.
I'm talking about an anger that comes from a desperate heart that has had enough with a current situation you find yourself in.
You serve. You sacrifice. You give. You pray. You fast. You take up your cross and follow.
And yet, the more you do so, the more (fill in the blank) happens. You seem to overcome and yet, the ugliness crops back up. The light seems to show up at the end of the tunnel, then an avalanche of whatever covers up the light.

I don't care who you are or what you've done, if you are human it has happened to you.

(More Maryland Snow)
Forest Hill, MD

I just wonder if God is trying to push some of us toward a different kind of prayer and fasting experience? It is an experience that can only be done by those desperate enough to ram your feet in the ground and say, ENOUGH! I am tired so tired and hungry for an answer, that I will do whatever it takes for You to bless me.

God is love. God is a provider. God is our hope. God is our peace. He is our father...and if our earthly fathers know how to give good gifts to their children, then how much MORE does our heavenly Father know how to give to His kids? (Matthew 7:11)

It is scriptural to embark upon your fasting and prayer journey in secret...but I felt to share this with someone who, at this moment in your walk with Christ, has just about given up.

Would you join me as we embark upon a Jacob fast? A fasting and prayer journey that says, "God, I will not let you go until..."
In Genesis 32, Jacob was returning to his homeland and was so afraid that Esau was going to kill he and his family that he did everything that was humanely possible to appease him. Jacob knew that it was only God who was going to have to fulfill the promise given to him. So he simply would not let go.

This kind of prayer and fasting is one of life's ultimate wrestling matches, because you are not stopping until God's promise to you becomes a reality.
Desperation hungers to push the plate back.
Desperation has a passion to give up something for a while in order to receive your answer.

(Fence Row - Snow)
Forest Hill, MD

If my God is really who He says He is (and He is), then it is about time to see His greatness fulfilled in our lives. Don't quit. Don't surrender. Get a grip on Him and don't let go until...

Benjamin Franklin said, "He that lives upon hope will die fasting."

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