Fasting Encouragement Day One
Good day to you! Here we are at the beginning of 2021, and our world is vastly different than it was twelve months ago. As a church family, families and individuals, we have faced the intense challenges that COVID has brought our way with faith and courage. As always, our Gateway family rose to the occasion with grace and poise.
In short, you’ve been amazing!
This is the twelfth year of our corporate fasts. They have always been profound in their effect on our church family, but this year starts with some beautiful miracles and opportunities ahead. As a result, we have looked at our fast a bit differently this year, fasting time instead of a traditional fast to complete the renovations of our new Outreach Centre by February 1st.
With this in mind, I encourage you that when you are serving, doing it as an act of worship, present your needs to the Lord and invite Him to minister to you while you serve. I believe the Lord will show us new and exciting ways to connect with Him during this year’s fast.
Our pastoral staff will journey with you through the book of Philippians during the next twelve days. I pray that you are blessed and encouraged as you read through this wonderful letter from Paul to the church in Philippi.
Today, I am going to look at one of my favourite portions of scriptures in Philippians 1:1-11. Because it is relatively brief, I shared it below.
Philippians 1:1-11 (ESV)
1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus,
To all the saints in Christ Jesus who are at Philippi, with the overseers and deacons:
2 Grace to you and peace from God, our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ.
Thanksgiving and Prayer
3 I thank my God in all my remembrance of you, 4 always in every prayer of mine for you all making my prayer with joy, 5 because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now. 6 And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ. 7 It is right for me to feel this way about you all, because I hold you in my heart, for you are all partakers with me of grace, both in my imprisonment and in the defense and confirmation of the gospel. 8 For God is my witness, how I yearn for you all with the affection of Christ Jesus. 9 And it is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment, 10 so that you may approve what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, 11 filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God.
This is one of my favourite passages because it truly reflects my heart towards my church family. I do thank God for each one of you because of your passion for Jesus and His mission for us.
I’ve highlighted verses 9-11. Just go back and read it one more time.
I echo what Paul wrote in my prayer for you: that your love, throughout our fast and also throughout this year, would abound and that you would grow in knowledge and discernment. As a result, I pray that you would be able to approve what is truly excellent and that you would grow in your personal holiness and genuinely bear the fruits of righteousness in every way.
Invite the Holy Spirit to show you what it is to abound in love. The word abound literally means to superabound, to be in excess, or to be superfluous. It is in the context of this overabundance of love that we gain knowledge and discernment. Both those words lean into ethics in their meanings, resulting in the fruit of righteousness and blamelessness. All from love - His love for you.
Love forms our inner ethic. That means that every inner conviction of a follower of Jesus needs to be weighed against the love of God. We don’t have the option of an opinion, thought, or conviction that doesn’t reflect the love of Jesus. So, as we abound in that love, healthy, holy, and righteous convictions are formed within us.
I am trusting that God is going to bring massive blessings your way this year!
All my love,
Pastor Landen