He traded His crown for a crown of thorns,
He picked up His cross and laid down His sword.
He stumbled down the road bruised and beaten for me,
Jesus walked the way of grief Hallelujah!

On the Via Dolorosa,
All my sin was carried away!
And the power of hell was broken,
As He gave His life away!

He knew what was to come from the very start,
But his love for the world beat inside his heart.
He climbed the road of suffering to the hill of Calvary,
Where the saints would be redeemed. Hallelujah!

On the Via Dolorosa,
All my sin was carried away!
And the power of hell was broken,
As He gave His life away!

Jesus fixed His eyes upon the new horizon,
Soon He would arise and the world would be forgiven!
Jesus fixed His eyes upon the new horizon,
Soon He would arise and the world would be forgiven!

Hallelujah, Jesus rose again!
On the cross He shed His blood on Calvary!
I’m thankful for the journey of my King,

On the Via Dolorosa,
All my sin was carried away!
And the power of hell was broken
As He gave His life away,
As He gave His life away!

He traded His crown for a crown of thorns.

Performed by Leeland

How can I say thanks for the things You have done for me
Things so undeserved, yet You give to prove Your love for me?
The voice of a million angels could not express my gratitude
All that I am and ever hope to be, I owe it all to Thee.

To God be the glory,
To God be the glory!
To God be the glory
For the things He has done.

With His blood He has saved me;
With His pow’r He has raised me;
To God be the glory
For the things He has done.

Just let me live my life;
Let it be pleasing, Lord, to Thee.
And should I gain any praise,
Let it go to Calvary.

With His blood He has saved me;
With His pow’r He has raised me;
To God be the glory
For the things He has done.

Performed by Andraé Crouch

Holy, Holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
Early in the morning our song shall rise to Thee;
Holy, holy, holy, merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

Holy, holy, holy! all the saints adore Thee,
Casting down their golden crowns around the glassy sea;
Cherubim and seraphim falling down before Thee,
Who wert, and art, and evermore shalt be.

Holy, holy, holy! tho’ the darkness hide Thee,
Tho’ the eye of sinful man Thy glory may not see;
Only Thou art holy; there is none beside Thee,
Perfect in pow’r, in love, and purity.

Holy, holy, holy! Lord God Almighty!
All Thy works shall praise Thy name, in earth, and sky, and sea;
Holy, holy, holy; merciful and mighty!
God in three Persons, blessed Trinity!

Performed by the Kurt Carr Singers

Because I have been extremely sick lately, I am not going to begin completely abstaining from food right away, but I have decided that one of the key projects I will accomplish in this 21-day period is to reread the New Testament. I’ve included my reading plan for the next 22 days here. I’m aiming for about 12 chapters a day and will break that up throughout the day. The plan is:

22-Day Bible Reading Plan

October 4
Matthew 1-12

October 5
Matthew 13-24

October 6
Matthew 25-Mark 8

October 7
Mark 9-Luke 4

October 8
Luke 5-16

October 9
Luke 17-John 3

October 10
John 4-9

October 11
John 10-21

October 12
Acts 1-12

October 13
Acts 13-24

October 14
Acts 25-Romans 8

October 15
Romans 9-1 Corinthians 8

October 16
1 Corinthians 9-2 Corinthians 4

October 17
2 Corinthians 5-13

October 18
Galatians 1-Ephesians 6

October 19
Philippians 1-1 Thessalonians 5

October 20
2 Thessalonians 1-2 Timothy 4

October 21
Titus 1-Hebrews 8

October 22
Hebrews 9-1 Peter 5

October 23
2 Peter 1-Jude

October 24
Revelation 1-11

October 25
Revelation 12-22

A quick note that since I am a band director and have marching contests the next two Saturdays, I am making those Saturday readings a little shorter than the other days.

What about you? What cool things are you going to do this month?

I’m fed up with my dumb self.

My desire to know everything, to keep with everything, to have everything, to experience everything. It’s time to call it quits. It’s time to count the cost and pursue holiness anyway.

A year and a half of unfulfilled promises
Looking back at my blog post from December 25th, I see that most of my planning and aim to reduce my debt has gone by the wayside. I still weigh as much as I did at the beginning of the year. I don’t spend any more time regularly in prayer or Bible study now than I did back then. I’m not married or even heading in that direction.

Basically, 2009 has been pretty bleak for me in a lot of ways. In fact, it doesn’t only start there. Even in June 2008, I was seeing that things were out of control. I think it goes back even further than that.

Granted, things did change for the positive over the summer as I began to see a glimmer of hope. I began playing piano at a new church where my good friend Greg is the pastor, and that is turning out to be an exciting process. We are starting to see some growth in the church, both in numbers as well as in life within the fellowship.

Sadly, when I survey the state of the American church, comfort and excess have replaced giving and sacrifice as Christian virtues in the 21st century. The mantra of contemporary Christian circles seems to be “Man’s chief end is to get lots of stuff, end enjoy it for ever. And be sure there’s good air conditioning and comfortable seats in church while you’re at it!” The Puritans taught us that “Man’s chief end is to glorify God, and enjoy Him for ever.” Quite a discrepancy.

Well, I’m tired of the stuff. I’m tired of distractions. I’m tired of clutter in my life - physically, emotionally, psychologically, spiritually. I grow weary of the undisciplined nature of my current state of existence. It’s time for a change.

This morning, Pastor Greg read a little bit out of E.M. Bounds book The Weapon of Prayer. I’ve read his book Power Through Prayer a few times and every time I read it, I am convicted of my woeful lack of prayer. This week, I will work my way through The Weapon of Prayer. I’ll also focus more of my time on prayer. Real prayer, not the superficial stuff.

My online life takes up too much of my time. My iPhone provides more distractions than I even know what to do with. So it is time to move forward. Instead of feeling like a victim of my circumstances, I’m going to take control. In the next three and a half months, I will regain control and discipline in my life.

Fasting will be a huge part
In the process of regaining control, I must regularly deny the flesh through fasting. For the most part, these will be day-long water/juice fasts, though there may very well be extended fasting happening as well. This past spring, I experienced the power that fasting had in recovering my focus as I went through three 5+ day fasts. Since then, the longest I’ve gone without food has been 12-15 hours.

This is an urgent need
As easy as it would be for me to sit back (like I have for months and years even) and say that I’ll get around to it later, there is no time like the present to begin to see transformative changes in my life. No more of the “just one more time” mentality. That simply delays the inevitible. To quote Professor Harold Hill from The Music Man, “‘Pile up too many tomorrows and you’ll find that you’ve collected nothing but a bunch of empty yesterdays.” Do something now!

What you can do

• Pray for your pastor. He needs it!
• I encourage you to commit to make some changes in your life. That one nasty habit you’ve been meaning to overcome. The 10 pounds you’ve gained since college. Or the 50 pounds. Or the 100. You get the picture. Read more. Watch less.

Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:

Fear God and keep His commandments,
For this is man’s all.
For God will bring every work into judgment,
Inlcuding every secret thing,
Whether good or evil.

Ecclesiastes 12:13-14

• Encourage me. Self sacrifice is never easy. 100 days of it will be greuling for me. If you happen to see me online, encourage me and ask me how things are going. Pray for me. Tell me you are praying for me and I’ll be sure to pray for you as well.

Seek the LORD while He may be found, Call upon Him while He is near. Let the wicked forsake his way, And the unrighteous man his thoughts; Let him return to the LORD, And He will have mercy on him; And to our God, For He will abundantly pardon. “For My thoughts are not your thoughts, nor are your ways My ways,” says the LORD. “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.”

I will praise You with my whole heart; Before the gods I will sing praises to You. I will worship toward Your holy temple, And praise Your name For Your lovingkindness and Your truth; For You have magnified Your word above all Your name.

How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word…Your word have I hidden in my heart, That I might not sin against You.

I have not departed from the commandment of His lips; I have treasured the words of His mouth More than my necessary food.

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ, just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved.

Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away; behold, all things have become new.

For this reason, I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, from whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named…that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height — to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever.

Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.

I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that you present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your reasonable service. And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God.

But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith.

But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.

Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected, but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me. Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus…that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead.

Finally, brethren, whatever things are true, whatever things are noble, whatever things are just, whatever things are pure, whatever things are lovely, whatever things are of good report, if there is any virtue and if there is anything praiseworthy — meditate on these things.

Turn away my eyes from looking at worthless things, And revive me in Your way…Open my eyes, that I may see Wondrous things from Your law…Make me understand the way of Your precepts; So shall I meditate on Your wonderful works…Oh, how I love Your law! It is my meditation all the day…And I will delight myself in Your commandments, Which I love, My hands also I will lift up to Your commandments, Which I love, And I will meditate on Your statutes…Direct my steps by Your word, And let no iniquity have dominion over me…Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path…My eyes fail from seeking Your salvation And Your righteous word…My soul faints for Your salvation, But I hope in Your word…Blessed are the undefiled in the way, Who walk in the law of the LORD! Blessed are those who keep His testimonies, Who seek Him with the whole heart!

Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful; But his delight is in the law of the LORD, And in His law he meditates day and night. He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.

Bless the LORD, O my soul; And all that is within me, bless His holy name! Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits..

Search me, O God, and know my heart; Try me, and know my anxieties; And see if there is any wicked way in me, And lead me in the way everlasting.

Oh, give thanks to the LORD, for He is good! For His mercy endures forever. Oh, give thanks to the God of gods! For His mercy endures forever. Oh, give thanks to the Lord of lords! For His mercy endures forever.

Praise the LORD! Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty firmament! Praise Him for His mighty acts; Praise Him according to His excellent greatness! Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet; Praise Him with the lute and harp! Praise Him with the timbrel and dance; Praise Him with stringed instruments and flutes! Praise Him with loud cymbals, Praise Him with clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the LORD. Praise the LORD!

Sources:
Isaiah 55:6-9
Psalm 138:1-2
Psalm 119:9, 11
Job 23:12
Ephesians 1:3-6
2 Corinthians 5:17
Ephesians 3:14-15,17-21
1 Corinthians 10:31
Romans 12:1-2
Philippians 3:7-9
Ephesians 2:4-9
Philippians 3:12-14, 10-11
Philippians 4:8
Psalm 119:37, 18, 27, 97, 47-48, 133, 105, 123, 81, 112, 1-2
Psalm 1:1-3
Psalm 103:1-2
Psalm 139:23-24
Psalm 136:1-3
Psalm 150

I waited patiently for the LORD;
And He inclined to me,
And heard my cry.

He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,
Out of the miry clay,
And set my feet upon a rock,
And established my steps.

He put a new song in my mouth –
Praise yo our God;
Many will see it and fear,
And will trust in the LORD.

Psalm 40:1-3

As I look back on my life, I can remember certain events (a car wreck, a tumor, a kidney stone) that were extremely challenging for me, but no period of time can compare with what I have gone through in the last year (and even the last 18 months, really). But beginning in March, things began to slowly get better for me.

The darkness began to disipate and things began looking up.

Some things that really helped this happen included:

• Reawakening some friendships that I had allowed to become dormant, through Twitter/Facebook as well as in real life
• A determination to seek God through fasting and prayer
• Spending more time reading and listening to the Word of God and sermons/podcasts/blogs about Christian topics

Now these may seem pretty basic to all of us (myself included), but it gets so easy to drift away. We get this sense that the little things may not matter so much, or what we aren’t really all that useful or necessary in the kingdom of God.

The thing is, no amount of excuses or justifications or whatever suffice. On the flip side, no amount of determinations to do the right thing suffice either.

But it’s not about doing any one thing or another. It’s about passionately pursuing our Lord. The thing that I have been lacking for the last few years has really been a clearly defined goal.

You are my portion, O LORD;
I have said that I would keep Your words.

I entreated Your favor with my whole heart;
Be merciful to me according to Your word.

I thought about my ways,
And turned my feet to Your testimonies.

I made haste, and did not delay
To keep Your commandments.

The cords of the wicked have bound me,
But I have no forgotten Your law.

At midnight I will rise to give thanks to You,
Because of Your righteous judgments.

I am a companion of all who fear You,
And of those who keep Your precepts.

The earth, O LORD, is full of Your mercy;
Teach me Your statutes.

Psalm 119:57-64

Look at verse 60 again. “I made haste, and did not delay To keep Your commandments.” Though I have been keeping God’s commandments lately, I can’t say that I have made haste in doing so. Just because we don’t seem to be living a victorious life doesn’t mean that we are out of the will of God. Through this whole year, that one truth has stuck with me, despite other people telling me otherwise.

“Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices,
As in obeying the voice of the LORD?
Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice,
And to heed than the fat of rams.

For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft,
And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry,
Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,
He also has rejected you from being king.”

1 Samuel 15:22,23

Obedience ushers in the blessings of God
My pastor likes to say that “Obedience ushers in the blessings of God.” I often hear that, but it gets so familiar that I overlook it at times. Something else to draw from the above verses: delayed obedience is the same as blatent disobedience.

Blessed is the man
Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,
Nor stands in the path of sinners,
Nor sits in the seatr of the scornful;

But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.

Day and night…

He shall be like a tree
Planted by the rivers of water,
That brings forth its fruit in its season,
Whose leaf also shall not wither,
And whatever he does shall prosper.

Psalm 1:1-3

Whatever he does shall prosper. Who has this guaranteed prosperity? The person who delight to meditate on the law of the LORD day and night.

Brothers and sisters, that is the real prosperity gospel! None of this name-it-claim-it, blab-it-grab-it, bossing God around like a genie in a Bible business. That stuff isn’t scriptural.

It’s exactly the same as what God told Joshua when Israel finally entered the land:

“Only be strong and very courageous, that you may observe to do according to all the law which Moses My servant commanded you; do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may prosper wherever you go.

“This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate in it day and night, that you may observe to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and of good courage; do not be afraid, nor dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”

Joshua 1:7-9

All this to say that I read a couple of blog posts today that really jumped out at me.

• How Can Pain Be Good? (The Blazing Center)
• You Are What Your Tweet (The Blazing Center)

“Is this not the fast that I have chosen:
To loose the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the heavy burdens,
To let the oppressed go free,
And that you break every yoke?
Is it not to share your bread with the hungry,
And that you bring to your houyse the poor who are cast out;
When you see the naked, that you cover him,
And not hide yourself from your own flesh?”

Isaiah 58:6-7

This spring, I began to feel really impressed to spend more time fasting and learning about fasting. I’ve done it for up to a week a few times with some really good results. I’ve also fasted for a handful of days in the past with minimal results. So this year, I have been praying and learning quite a bit about denial of the flesh.

My pastor often says, “We all have ungodly altars in our lives.” I think some of those ungodly altars that we have allowed to be set up can most effectively be overturned by prayer and fasting. I think about when the Philistines stole the Ark of the LORD and put it in the temple of Dagon from 1 Samuel 5).

Can you imagine the power of God overturning some of the strongholds that are in your life in such a way that they submit fully to God? I know from experience that such things can happen, and that powerful deliverance can come about as a result of fasting and prayer.

So why don’t I do it more?
The Bible rightly refers to fasting as “affliction of the soul.” It’s never easy to sacrifice. Anything. Especially food! For me, most of my sturuggles come about when I fast but don’t focus on the and prayer aspect of it. Without Christ filling the emptiness that my stomach feels, the flesh isn’t getting weaker, only more irritated!

Actually, I think any pursuit of holiness should be more about adding holy practices into our lives rather than removing unholy things. As light comes in, darkness will flee. If we simply remove the darkness, more (and possibly worse) darkness will enter in its place (cf. Matthew 12:43-45).

So what are the results of fasting and prayer done from a pure motive?

Then your light shall break forth like the morning,
Your healing shall spring forth speedily,
And your righteousnessshall go before you,
The glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer,
You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’

“If you take away the yoke from your midst,
The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
If you extend your soul to the hungry
And satisfy the afflicted soul,
Then your light shall dawn in the darkness,
And your darkness shall be as the noonday.” 

Isaiah 58:8-10

Amazing stuff, isn’t it?

But wait a minute…
So there can be these tremendous results and breakthroughs that we experience in our lives as a direct byproduct of fasting. But is that the purpose of fasting? Do we fast to twist God’s arm and sort of force His hand? I don’t know that this is what God has called us to do.

When we  fast, when we afflict our soul, I see it as more about drawing close to God than trying to get something or acheive a breakthrough. Now I know there are a number of different fasts outlined in the Bible, and about 10 different reasons behind them. With all of them, however, the end result is to draw closer to God.

Maybe I’m the only one who does this, but I sometimes find myself fasting just to fast and going through the motions just to go through the motions. It is at this point that the real challenge comes in. Either I give in and let my flesh win, or I press in and let my spirit win. If I do nothing, just continue fasting and being complacent, I don’t believe that I gain any benefit from the fasting.

So I’d love to discuss your experiences with fasting…care to share?

The blog is now officially located at 6three3.com.

Why 6three3?
Matthew 6:33

But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well.

Psalm 63:3

Because thy lovingkindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.

As I was praying a while back about starting up a local Bible Study, these two verses came to mind as foundational for any efforts that I was going to begin. As a result, I decided that I would call the study (if it ever gets off the ground) 6three3. So I got the domain name more than a year ago and I’ve pretty much had it sitting around doing nothing. One side benefit to moving my blog here is that I get the cool logo and favicon that I had installed on the site. Like you care.

With that being said, I am coming to a deeper place of fellowship with God at this point in my life and I think I am going to be spending more time writing on here. Anyway, I have been tweaking the site layout a little bit and think I have it pretty good. At least for now.

But what is it? I didn’t know much, other than that it simply let me do status update things like Facebook does. So why do I need Twitter?

With a background knowledge of Facebook (and an almost immediate realization that its usefullness is far more than MySpace will ever be in its current form), I found a few articles that helped me out. I also began spending some more time, adding some friends, and just seeing what some of the more popular tweeters post. It is amazing. Here are a few of those articles:

• The Misunderstood Uses of Twitter and Facebook: Are You a Friend, Follower or a Fool?
• Twitter versus Facebook: Should you Choose One?
• Ten People All Twitter Beginners Should Be Following
• 10 Easy Steps for Twitter Beginners
• 5 Steps To Model Successful Twitter Users

Although some claim that Facebook will kill Twitter, I personally don’t see that happening. I follow people on Twitter that I don’t want to befriend on Facebook. I like the anonimity that Twitter allows me to have, while still allowing my Facebook friends to actually see pictures and personal information about me.

So do you tweet? If so, add me…