WHAT'S MISSING?

For many years I have been hearing older christians say we need a moving of God's Spirit among God's people like we used to see in days gone by. If it is true (and I have no doubt it is) that the saints of old experienced something or enjoyed something of the Lord that we are not seeing in the church today then it is obvious that something is missing.

One thing we know for sure: God is the same today as He has always been. He has not changed nor is He going to change. So if something is missing it is missing on our end, not His end.

In my last posting I made a reference to the church I pastored in North Carolina from 1984 through 1993. The church was the Branchview First Church of God. This congregation came into existance in 1930 primarily through the efforts and prayers of four men and their families. They had attended a tent revival in Charlotte for several nights and was taken with the messages the evangelist was preaching on the church. They persuaded the evangelist to come to their city, Concord, North Carolina, some 25 miles from Charlotte, and hold a meeting there. A three week meeting was held and these men and their families left the Wesleyan Methodist church and "took their stand" with the Church of God. Upon their decision a brand new congregation was born.

Those first few years were very difficult. None of these men were men of substance in the worldly sence. The Great Depression had the entire country in its grip. Times were tough. But this new congregation flourished. How was this possible? They learned from necessity to totally rely on God! Out of their necessity and burning desire to fulfill God's will for their lives they developed a way of life that revolved around prayer and fasting.

I mentioned in my last posting this congregation regularly held all night prayer meetings. Now I do not want you to think this is something they did every week but it was something they did everytime the congregation was faced with a major problem, challenge or opportunity. Almost everyone in the church worked in the cotton mills that were scattered throughout the city. Most were owned by Mr. Charles Cannon and in those days Cannon Mills was the largest household textile manufacturer in the world. The mills ran around the clock. The members would come to the sanctuary and pray based upon their schedule. Those who worked day shift would come to the church and spend an hour or two in prayer before they went to work or they would stop by the church before they went home after work and pray. Those on evening shift would do the same as did those who worked the midnight shift. They firmly believed they would both find God's will for the life of their church and see God meet their needs if they sought after Him with all their heart.

In addition to the time they spent in prayer they would also fast. Fasting for them accomplished two things. One it had a spiritual sigifigance as fasting always does by bringing a person closer to God. Secondly they would take the money they did not use on food for that day and add it to their regular tithes and offerings to help support the ministry of the church. As a result of their faith and sacrifice God blessed the church in ways that they have never been blessed since that time in their history.

Somewhere along the way they grew to a place and level where they began to feel more comfortable in their faith and where the matters that confronted them did seem so urgent. Please do not misunderstand me. I am not being critical of this group of people. I love them dearly. I owe much to them for my christian and spiritual development. This change occured more than forty years prior to my arrival there. But on more than one occasion when we would be confronted with a challenge one of the older saints would tell me one of those great stories from their past how God had undertaken for them in times gone by once they had committed themselves to pray and fast. As a matter of fact it was while I pastored this congregation that I learned personally the value of fasting coupled with prayer.

Could it be this is what is really missing in our church and many of the other churches across this land and around our world? Could it be that the solution to our "power shortage" in the church is in our unwillingness to fast and pray?

This past Sunday morning I challenged our congregation to consider those things they would most like to see God do in their lives. Perhaps they have a child, spouse or some other loved one they would like to see saved. Maybe there is a problem in a relationship or a need for direction and guidance. Or perhaps there is a need to walk closer to the Lord. Whatever their need is I have asked them to pray and fast between now and our Spring Revival in April and see what God might do in our midst. Hopefully all of us are familiar with prayer but fasting may be new to some. Some may want to fast one whole day each week, abstaining fom all food and only drinking water or juice. Others may want to fast two to three days a week following the same routine as I just mentioned. Some find it easier to fast one meal a day for a certain amount of days per week. To me the key is this: coupling prayer with our fasting. This is what I have asked the congregation to do: however you decide to fast spend the time it normally takes you to eat that meal in prayer for the SPECIFIC ITEM you are concerned about. In other words this time of prayer must be in addition to your normal prayer time. If enough of our congregation will commit themselves to this endeavor I firmly believe we will see God do something of great signifigance in our individual lives and in our church family.

Will you take the challenge? Will you join us in prayer and fasting from the time you read this until April 13? What might we expect God to do? I can not say all that God might do but I can tell you this: IT WILL BE GOOD!!!

Just something to think about.