The Vine - FastingSample

Devotion:
At the Vine we believe that God is going to raise our faith levels across the board on what we expect him to do amongst us – what we expect him to do in you! God has been saying to us as a leadership that this year he will work amongst us in such ways that only he could ever get the glory. In preparation for this, we believe we must ensure that testimony of his goodness and his miracles are ever-constant amongst us, in our Plus Groups, our ministries, our services.

As Paul writes into the church in Ephesus he is conscious of wanting to raise their expectations of what God can do, both in their church and in them. He provides what is known as a ‘doxology’ at the end of his glorious chapter on love and prayer – a statement that tells us something about the character of God. Paul tells us that God is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine. This tells us two important things. First, we have a role to play in the work of God in this world – we are to ask and to imagine. We are to pray and to vision. Your fast is right in line with this. It is a time to bring yourself before God in prayer, asking him for his leading, direction, and vision for the year ahead. You are to ask and imagine before God of the things he wants for you in your life. But the second aspect is even more important – Paul tells us that God is able to do immeasurably more than what you ask and imagine. In other words, the God we worship and serve will do even more than you pray or dream. His nature is to bless you beyond what you are able to ask for. That is the kind of God he is – a God that does way beyond our prayers. When we see this happen, we realize that we can’t get any of the glory. Only he can. That is why Paul states in this passage that when God does immeasurably more than we pray or dream for, he gets the glory in the church. The focus becomes on him, not us, and he gets glorified. This is the God that we long for, and we want to encourage you to join us in praying during your fast for God to move in this way, both in our church and in your life personally.

Reflection:
What are some of the things you are ‘asking and imagining’ for during your 21 day fast? Lay these before God today, then ask him to do even more than this in our church and in your life.

Prayer:
Father, thank you for being a God who does immeasurably more than I could ever ask or imagine! I lay down my life before you afresh, and give you the glory for all that you are about to do in me over this year.