"On earth as it is in heaven." A call to prayer and fasting.

 When John the Baptizer came preaching "Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Prepare the way of the Lord," he was speaking into exceptionally dark times. Herod, the puppet king of Rome had slaughtered every male child in the region of Bethlehem out of fear for Jesus, the Jewish Chief priests were political puppets of Herod and the people generally lived in fear of Rome. It couldn't have seemed to God's people that He or his Kingdom were very near at all.

But in the fulness of time God sent His Son Jesus, to save His people.We know and rejoice that Jesus has come, and that He will come again. We live in between the birth and the fulfillment of His Kingdom. In between His First and Second Coming we live in hopeful expectation for His Kingdom to keep breaking in here on earth as it is in heaven. It is how Jesus taught us to pray.

We are not unaware of the  darkness of our times. We don't have simple answers for the horrors of Mosul, Uganda, Gaza or Ferguson. Here in Orange County making disciples of Jesus is a different, but no less real challenge, and this also requires the power of the Spirit in profound ways. God promises that where sin abounds, grace further abounds. God's kingdom is still at hand in all of these situations, and we sense with great anticipation that He is breaking in to our lives with kingdom momentum.  John's message to God's people is one that we can still take to heart at this time.
It provokes us to repentance. It stirs us to expectation. It calls us to preparation. 

We will pray around 1 of these 3 themes each day for our church fast, from Monday 8th September
to Wednesday 10th of September. It is a water, soup and fruit juice fast. (Any or all)
We will gather to pray for an hour each night at 6:30 pm  and will break our fast together on Wednesday night.  I appeal to the whole church to observe this time as God's holy interruption.
What God has called us to as a church requires a united front in the area of prayer.
We've seen the Lord do amazing things among us as we've gathered twice a year to pray and fast and we are trusting Him this year for an outpouring of unprecedented power and grace.

Yours in anticipation,

Alan