Ben Pettit

It’s very good to be back in Spartanburg after a wonderful 5 days of vacation. Myrtle Beach was good to us. But, I did leave with a little pink skin and some random splotches of sun burn where my sun block faded away.

I’ve found lately that praying while driving might be one of the neatest ways to experience the Lord. Here is the thought for today. How often have you said this:

I’ll pray for you

And after you said it, you never thought another thing about it again. Personally I’m tired of living by the “I’ll pray for you” standard. Can we not move past that? Are we that elementary?

My challenge for you today is this: change your statement from I’ll pray for you to a question!

Can I pray for you?

Whatever you have going on is not that important. Stop right there and pray for them. Stop what ever you are doing and understand that the Lord will meet you where you are at.

I use the word bleep because I’d rather not repeat the word used over on Church Marketing Sucks. I’m not going to summarize the post for you but I’ll let you read it here.

I’m not sure I understand the point of all four posts. This is my response:

Our American churches are in an identity crisis because we do not operate on scripture. I found little relevancy in these series of posts. The church is the body of Christ, it’s not a Fortune Company like Apple.

We are in a crisis because someone for got what the great commission actually said. Go in to all nations making “disciples“. Not, “build the biggest churches possible”. I’m not saying numbers aren’t important. Pastor P has shown us incredibly well that numbers are important. Every time I see the lost become saved at NewSpring Church I am brought to tears of joy. I’m saying, care about people, not just the number of people.

I LOVE to see people experience life change. That’s 120% of what I am about. LIFE CHANGE. Not “I prayed a prayer at this thing one time.” Paul Washer had a very good story about this. His thought goes a little like this. You do not run out on the interstate, get hit by a logging truck going 70 miles an hour and NOT have your life changed forever. Therefore, you do not meet (make a contact, just like the truck) the God of the Universe, the author and perfector of our faith, the author of love, grace, peace and mercy and not expereince your LIFE CHANGED, turned up-side down in the most amazing way possible.

All that to say, when the people of the Lord are seeking HIS heart. HIS thoughts. HIS plans. HIS vision for your church! Great things will happen. STOP trying to be NewSpring, Saddleback, Mosaic, Willow Creek, or Morning Star. Reach the people in YOUR community. Have ministries that are effective for YOUR area. Seek the heart of Jesus. Not the heart of Rick Warren. When the people of the Lord seek their Father first… the door will be opened to them.

Well yesterday I posted about what success is in my opinion. Here are my TOP 5 things success is NOT.

1. Success is NOT making a lot of money. Even marketers believe this. Enjoy where you are, at every moment. If your not happy making 35k a year. You won’t be happy making 70k or a 100k a year. Money buys things, it does not buy happiness. As a college student I was lucky enough to have incredible college jobs all 5 years. I always had money. It was what drove me. I thought having a lot of money would make me super happy. It didn’t. I remember sitting in my apartment one night lonely as can be, thinking, what is all this for any way?
2. Success is NOT being well known. I’m a net worker by heart. I haven’t always been able to do it, but these days I feel right at home with a room full of people that I don’t know. Although at the same time, I’ve remembered days in my life where my contact list was completely full yet I had no one I thought I could talk to. So I just sat there, bored and lonely. Make meaningful relationships and have meaningful conversations.
3. Success is NOT boastful. We often think because of our idea was the one chosen that we are just “the man”. So far from the truth. If your idea is chosen at work, great job, good for you! But, the true success is having your idea chosen, making a big sale, getting a raise… and then staying humble.
4. Success is NOT built overnight. I’ll let you follow the link and think to yourself about this one.
5. Success does NOT complain. I’m not even going to elaborate on this one but I will tell you a story. I have a friend who’s father bought her a brand new car. She didn’t have to pay a dime and instantly the car, title, and all was hers. The car cost about $20k. She then proceeded to complain that the car did not have the highest luxury package and she did not even want it.

“Success is not final, failure is not fatal: it is the courage to continue that counts.”

- Winston Churchill

Reading through various post today and I thought I would respond to Grant’s question about success.

I think success can be defined by your closeness to the Lord. At the end of the day nothing else truly matters. So here is my list of the TOP 5 things I consider as success.

1. Success is sitting in the shadow of the almighty. Just as in Psalm 91:1 where David is describing himself sitting in the shadow created by the translucent tent and the ark of the covenant. Because he couldn’t touch the ark he would sit as close as possible.
2. Success is saying “Here I am, Send Me” found in Isaiah 6:8. It’s laying everything down and saying Lord I will become nothing so you can become everything.
3. When the waters become deep and the waves become rough. Success is anchoring deep by saying Jesus you are my refuge and my strength (Psalm 91:2).
4. Success is, as I learned through my fast, understanding that you were never created, designed, perfectly crafted to live by bread alone. You are sustained by truth from the mouth of the father.
5. And finally, success is Hebrews 12.

• “Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, [2] looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”

Come back tomorrow for my top 5 list of what success is not.

So for the past three days I’ve been under going a fast with some new friends at Awaken. On Sunday I did a complete water fast. Monday and Tuesday I did a Daniel fast. It’s been about 6 days since I have eaten any meat. I feel absolutely great! I’ve never been able to think so clearly in my life. I feel like Paul when he had scales fall off of his face and he was able to see.

Since this was the first fast that I have ever under taken I was very careful. I drank lots and lots of water. I felt my body go through a full detox. I suffered a head ache on Sunday night that hasn’t really gone away until this morning. Lots of toxins in my body were released. I am probably the healthiest I have been in years now. The average American eats about 10 lbs. of chemicals, pesticides and preservatives every year. These are stored in your body! 10 lbs!!! Can you believe that? It blows my mind how unhealthy we are. Considering we live in the wealthiest nation in the world.

I can not tell you how rewarding it was. The Lord really spoke to me on Sunday night during a prayer gathering. I truly understand what it means to know that real food will not sustain us. I felt him saying that as I hungered for food that he wanted me to physically and emotionally hunger for him in that way. I could literally feel his love covering me.

I never realized that when a BIG decision in the bible was made, it was made with prayer and fasting. Jesus said “when you pray“, “when you give“, and “when you fast“. Fasting was part of the trio.

I loved hearing it explained that praying, giving, and fasting are a chord. A standard chord cannot be formed with out 3 pitches. You need 3 pitches to form a triad. Ironically, if you have two pitches you could assume that you know what the chord is. If you hear the notes C and E played, you could assume that it is a C major chord. Although without a third, there is no definitive truth to it being a C chord. If you do not have all 3 then you do not have a clear representation of that chord. In the same way, if you do not have all 3 of these in your spiritual life, do you have a clear representation?

If I lost some of you with the music talk, I apologize. Short side is, you cannot take Jesus, God, or the Holy Spirit away from the trinity and it still be the trinity. In the same way, you cannot remove fasting from your spiritual walk. Fasting should be practiced, even if you only do it once a year. I very much encourage you to do it.

Monday night we gathered together to talk and be open with each other. It was great to hear what the Lord was showing everyone under going the fast. I am especially excited about what the Lord has in store for Victoria. She is off to LA in a couple weeks where she will be serving the Lord there until February. She was very open and vulnerable with us and spoke truth into our lives.

Last night (Tuesday) we gathered for prayer and worship. A prayer team was there to pray with us. They prayed for us individually and the Lord met us there. The Lord moved last night. He moved in mighty ways and I know for sure we will never be the same.

This fast has improved so many of my relationships. Most importantly, my relationship with the Lord. I know he is going to do some things in my life that I never could imagine. I have to be obedient and follow him. I’ve never felt more close to him. The fast also improved my relationship with the love of my life. She and I have spent countless times over the past couple days praying with and for each other. It has brought us together in a pure, beautiful, God honoring, intimate way. I cannot wait to see what is next.

So where are you? What are your stories with fasting? How has the Lord used it in your life?

I’m here Lord. I’m here. Send me. Use me. I’m yours Father. You bought me with a price that I will NEVER understand. You sufferred so I could live in freedom and swim in your blood dripping grace.

Amen