Highland Family,

As I realize that I did not get to the sermon I intended to preach today, I would like to acknowledge that the Lord is doing something new in our midst. He is stirring our affections corporately into a season of prayer, asking that He would move in all power. Let us continue to approach his throne with boldness. Let us hunger and thirst for righteousness. As the Word of God continues to become more precious to us than even the bread we eat, let us remain attuned to the leading of the Holy Spirit, together.

Here is the direction for the church regarding our corporate prayer:

Ask for God to start cleansing our community, starting with Highland Community Church.
Ask God to make our lives “Gardens of Eden” - places of unbroken fellowship & intimacy with the Lord.
Ask God to cleanse our community of a spirit of destruction and a spirit of deafness (Matthew 17).

Let's also move in obedience regarding the challenge for us to fast, as a church. When the disciples asked Jesus why they were unable to cast out the demon in Matthew 17, His response to them was 1) "because of your little faith" and 2) "But this kind does not come out except by prayer and fasting." Highland Family, the world needs to see the power of God working in and through the church. The world needs to see churches who live by the verse, "not by might, not by power, but by My spirit, says the Lord!". By engaging corporately in a season of prayer and fasting we are asking that the Lord use Highland Community Church as a way to display His power and glory as He fulfills His promise to both cleanse us and rebuild us (Ezekiel 36:33-36). Here are the motivations for our fast:

Fasting gives us a heightened sense of the work and power of the Holy Spirit in our life and in the life of others.
Fasting is our soul crying out, “This I want more than food!”.
Fasting is for those not satisfied with the status quo and who feel truly desperate for God to intervene.
Fasting is our soul longing for the promises of heaven to be made known on earth. “Thy Kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in Heaven.”

Highland, let us seek first the Kingdom of God. I ask each one of you to fast and pray along with us every Wednesday afternoon beginning this week. Every Wednesday we will allow our hunger and thirst for righteousness to overcome our hunger for food. We will not relent in our pursuit of the Lord until we see Him "perform with His hand what He has spoken with His mouth" (2 Chronicles 6:15).

- Rob