Daniel Plan 2/10/17: Prayer is Foundational to Faith

Hello everyone!

We're back on track today. Had a little publishing problem the past couple of days, but we're working it out.

Today, I want to talk about prayer.

But first, I want to mention a gift that some friends generously gave us. Some wonderful food from Florida Fields to Forks.

FFTF is run by our friends, Jan Pence and her son Brock Hall. For the past few years they have been running a community supported agriculture (CSA) farm that provides organic produce and meats to their members.

If you haven't heard of them, you can check out their website here. Thanks to our friends for the thoughtful gift and thanks to our other friends for being in the area to make these things available.

Back to prayer. 

Prayer is foundational to faith . If you want to be in a relationship with someone you need to communicate with them and prayer is the mechanism for communicating with God. People sometimes say that they don't know how to pray and I always say "you should talk to God about that." Guess what? That qualifies as praying!

Prayer doesn't have to be elaborate or contrived, only what is on your heart. If you are having trouble coming up with your own, the Bible has some great examples for us, including the tried and true classic, The Lord's Prayer.

One of my favorite prayers is one I say for my son, substituting his name for the places where it says "you" and "your".

“For this reason I kneel before the Father, from whom every family[a] in heaven and on earth derives its name.  I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

— Ephesians 3:14-20

It can be for others but it is for you too!

On page 55 of the Daniel Plan book, there is a highlighted section on faith power. Kalei's story goes like this:

“Kalei Kekuna has always struggled with her body image and being self-conscious. For many years she battled with an eating disorder. As she realized God’s power and love through The Daniel Plan, her focus shifted. “I learned that God loves me exactly the way that I am, unconditionally. It’s not necessarily about losing weight or looking a certain way. It’s more about making healthy choices that help me follow God’s plan for me. I wake up every morning and say, ‘God, I need help with this. Can you please just be there with me through this day as I make healthy choices and as I choose to go to the gym versus sitting on my couch, and as I choose the healthy salad versus the donut?’ Just knowing that he’s there the entire time helping me through this was a huge change for me.””

— The Daniel Plan: 40 Days to a Healthier Life

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Today's Bible verse is the end of the prayer in Ephesians.

“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”

— Ephesians 3:20-21

How much can you ask or imagine?!

Healthy Blessings to all.

-Noel

Daniel Plan 2/8/17: Foundations of Faith

Faith: Heb 11:1,6 "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see"..."And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him"

Foundations of faith:

Believe what God says is true

Believe that God has the power to do it

Believe that God will do it for me

Faith is not something that we figure out with our mind. It is an excercise of the heart in response to God's word as it is revealed to us through hearing and reading. We have God's unlimited power working within us, let's tap into that and use it to overcome out weaknesses. People of faith admit that they cant't do it on their own. The journey starts with humility. You can't have the power of God's love without Jesus in your life.

Daniel Plan 2/7/17: Get on His Back and Let Him Carry You

So...Niagara Falls and faith.

What do they have to show us? I am taking (and editing) a version of this story from Dr. Ray Pritchard of Keep Believing Ministries.

“In the nineteenth century the greatest tightrope walker in the world was a man named Charles Blondin. On June 30, 1859, he became the first man in history to walk on a tightrope across Niagara Falls. Over twenty-five thousand people gathered to watch him walk 1,100 feet suspended on a tiny rope 160 feet above the raging waters. He worked without a net or safety harness of any kind. The slightest slip would prove fatal. When he safely reached the Canadian side, the crowd burst into a mighty roar.

In the days that followed, he would walk across the Falls many times. Once he walked across on stilts; another time he took a chair and a stove with him and sat down midway across, cooked an omelet, and ate it. And once he pushed a wheelbarrow across loaded with 350 pounds of cement. On another occasion he asked the cheering spectators if they thought he could push a man across sitting in a wheelbarrow. A mighty roar of approval rose from the crowd. Spying a man cheering loudly, he asked, “Sir, do you think I could safely carry you across in this wheelbarrow?” “Yes, of course.” “Get in,” the Great Blondin replied with a smile. The man declined.”

After finding no takers, Blondin then offered to carry a man across on his back. No one would take him up on the offer until finally his manager, Harry Colcord, volunteered his services. He became the only man to ever be carried, piggyback, on a tightrope over Niagara Falls. Blondin told his manager that he shouldn't look down or try to balance. And that if he tried to do these things, they would both fall to their death.

The story goes that when they got to the first guy wire (a stabilizer for the tight rope), it broke, as did the second one. Blondin had to put Colcord down five times while on a two inch rope suspended over the gorge. When they got to the other side the crowd was pressing in so tightly that Blondin had to charge them at a run to clear the side of the cliff.

Believing was thinking that he could do it. Faith is getting on his back and letting him carry you. That is what Jesus is asking us to do.

Be blessed, knowing that He will willingly carry us if we'll let him!

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“Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”

— John 15:4-5

-Noel

Daniel Plan 2/6/17: Niagara Falls and the Grandeur of God

Hello to all!

I hope you all got to enjoy the great Super Bowl game last night. I didn't care who won, so I'm glad it was an exciting contest. My condolences to all Atlanta fans.

Today I wanted to talk some more about water.

We probably wouldn't think of going a day without washing the outside of our bodies, so why do we not give the inside of our bodies the same consideration? While it is true that the more vegetables you eat, the less water you have to drink, it is still a good policy for adults to consume a couple of liters of water a day.

What's all that got to do with faith you ask?

Well, this is going to be a two-part discussion so I want to continue on the subject of God's grandeur by talking about one of the most magnificent spectacles of nature I have ever seen: Niagara Falls. When I was a kid, we lived about 75 miles away from the Falls, and would go there several times a year. I have seen it frozen. I've seen it flooded. I've even seen it shut off, from the American side.

We used to drive to Buffalo, go over the Peace Bridge to Fort Erie. From there we'd drive the 20 miles or so along the Niagara River to the Canadian Falls, which are much more impressive than the American side, I'm sad to report.

Time for the grandeur part.

The Niagara river runs between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario, and water from all four of the upper Great Lakes drains through this river, ultimately winding it's way to the sea via the Saint Lawrence Seaway. The Niagara river drops an average of a foot per mile during it's approximate 17-mile journey to the Falls. The river picks up enough speed along the way that it is moving 35-40 miles-per-hour by the time it hits the drop. This plunges 6 million gallons of water per second over the edge, generating wind gusts of up to 70 miles-per-hour.

Witnessing this spectacle, it's hard not to be impressed with the sheer power on display, and to realize that it is nothing compared to the power of He who made it. No matter how powerful one could become on this earth, the power of God dwarfs the greatest of human achievements.

When the Bible talks about fear of the Lord it is talking about this acknowledgement of His all surpassing power.

More tomorrow. Best of luck with the Plan.

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Today's Bible verse:

“The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom: a good understanding have all they that do His commandments: his praise endureth for ever.”

— Psalms 111:10

-Noel

Daniel Plan 2/3/17: Back to Our Regularly Scheduled Programming

Hello to all! 

Sorry about the interruption in messages. I am technologically challenged and have not learned how to upload the messages from e-mail to our website. My trusty office assistant Zach takes care of that, as well as adding the snappy graphics and links, for which we are all grateful.

Unfortunately he has been out sick the last couple of days. Hence no postings. We are going to rectify this when he returns and have each of us get a tutorial on how to do it in the future.

So...faith. 

We have previously discussed that it is believing what God says is true. And how do we find out what God says? For starters, by reading the Bible. Here are some things that the Bible says about you:

“For I know the plans I have for you...plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.”

— Jeremiah 29:11

“Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; He will never leave you nor forsake you.”

— Deuteronomy 31:6

What encouragement these are to me!

I think that we always underestimate our God. Our brains are unable to fathom the magnificence of His creation. As we look to the heavens, the sheer magnitude of creation is evident, but only partially. For example, we can only see stars in our own galaxy, except for one nearby galaxy, Andromeda.

Andromeda looks like a single star in our sky, but it is comparable to our own galaxy with about 200 billion stars. Estimates are that there are 200 billion galaxies out there! The mind of our Creator is truly a marvel and magnificent on an order far beyond our comprehension.

You can go in the other direction to the micro level and be just as blown away!

In one drop of water, H20, there are about 5 sextillion atoms. That is a 5 with 21 zeroes after it. What?!?! One site explains that:

“There are more drops of water in the ocean than there are atoms in a drop of water. How many more drops depends mainly on the size of your drops, but there are between 1000 and 100,000 more drops of water in the ocean than atoms in a drop of water.”

Wow. God is amazing, right?

We are going to talk more water facts tomorrow, but for today try to get in about "1 times 10 to the 25th atoms of hydrogen and oxygen in their common molecular form."

That would be about two liters of water :)

Before signing off, I also wanted to share with you a little tale about myself.

When I was 18, I worked nights at a donut shop. All night I made and fried donuts. Glazed them and filled them. Made and fried. Glazed and filled. Again and again. After a while, I came to hate donuts and to this day I still don't like the smell of them.

Anyway, on Wednesday I was coming home from Bible study and as I passed a new Dunkin Donuts in Indialantic, there was a powerful force in me that was prompting me to turn in and get a donut and coffee. I resisted, but I thought "how strange?" 

That night, Andy Stanley discussed this verse which gave me some insight:

“But each one is tempted when he is carried away and enticed by his own lust. Then when lust has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and when sin is accomplished, it brings forth death. Do not be deceived, my beloved brethren.”

— James 1:14-16

I know all of that seems a little costly for a donut, but it is an excellent illustration of what happens when we give in to temptation. We are pulled off the good track.

 Blessings to all

-Noel