Transformed: From Edging God Out to Inviting God In! Day 1

If a man is in Christ he becomes a new person altogether - the past is finished and gone, everything has become fresh and new. All this is God’s doing, for he has reconciled us to himself through Jesus Christ; and he has made us agents of the reconciliation. —2 Corinthians 5:17–19 (Phillips)

Al, a friend of mine and a dynamic Christian high school science teacher, gave me an acrostic for the word ego, which graphically describes the results of refusing to worship God as the center of our lives. He said that EGO is Edging God Out. When the self is at the center of a life, there is no room for God. When God is edged out of a person’s life, there is no place for worship, thus our spiritual formation is checkmated.

The ego-centered lifestyle is the path to absolute defeat, utter frustration, total disappointment, complete havoc in a person’s life. Al was the perfect example of Edging God Out. Every time I think about Al, I remember that when I first met him he was an atheist and an evolutionist high school science teacher. I didn’t like him because he kept trying to pull our high school band director away from God and church. Then, all of a sudden, I didn’t see him again for more than ten years. He and his wife Abby showed up in our church on a Sunday morning.

When I first saw him come in, a terrible thought ran across my mind, “What’s he doing here?!” After the service, Al said, “Pastor Sam, do you remember me?” “Oh, yes, I sure do…!” I responded, as my thoughts ran wild for a moment, but they were interrupted when he said, “Do you remember, back in 1972 when you had The New Philharmonic Christian Rock Band here at the church?” I said, “Yes, I do. We had over six hundred kids here that night, and probably half of them came forward to accept Christ into their lives.” Al continued, “I was here that night, too; I was invited by Mike, the high school band director, who played trombone with the band.”

I wasn’t prepared for his next words: “I too came forward that night and accepted Jesus into my life as Savior and Lord, and I changed from being an atheist and evolutionist to becoming a Christian and creationist!”
Al was drafted into the U. S. Army and was sent to the war in Viet Nam. After he got out of the army, he and Abby lived in Southern California for a while, and they had just moved back to Madera, where he got his old science teacher job back; but now he was teaching kids about the Creator God! He became an integral part of our congregation and our dynamic Men’s Ministries. One morning, at our men’s weekly breakfast Bible study, he gave his testimony and shared the EGO acrostic with us.

He had moved from being a critic of God-stuff to being a proclaimer of the life-transforming power of God in Christ. He changed from edging God out to inviting God in! Talk about no longer being defined by the past! Al met the New Definer and received a new definition! Al became a new person altogether—the past is finished and gone; everything has become fresh and new. Now, that’s Transforming Hearts…Transforming Lives! Regarding The New Philharmonic Christian Rock Band, when Mike, the band director, and I set up that event, we also had them perform at the high school on Friday and announced to the them that the band would be at our church on Sunday.

We had no idea what God had in mind, but we prayed that something awesome would happen, and it did! Al came because he trusted Mike; he saw a new definition of Christianity in him and met the New Definer as his Savior!

Empower me, Lord, to always be a Christ-follower who reflects the new definition of Christianity so that others will meet you, the new definer as their Savior! Help me to be the kind of Christ-follower who brings people into the presence of God and God into the experience of people. I’m yours! Amen.

Dr. Sam Bruce, President, Sam & Sandie Bruce Ministries; Pastor, Hope Point Church, Pearl, Mississippi; Online Instructor, Mid-America Christian University, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma

Some Fasting Facts and Tips by Randy Montgomery

What’s It All About?
What is Focus 40 all about? There are a lot of people asking questions. Focus 40? Forty days dedicated to prayer and fasting? What’s up with that? What are we supposed to do? How do we do it? What is everyone else doing? Why now?
You may be asking similar questions. Perhaps you have never fasted before or it has been a long time since you have personally fasted. Maybe you are wondering why the Church of God is talking about fasting all of a sudden. Simply put, Focus 40 is about you and I spending some intentional time reconnecting with God. The transformation Team working with the Church of God Strategic Value “Refresh” is convinced that a season of prayer and fasting will help us “connect” with God in
fresh ways. “Refresh,” which speaks of our relational connectivity, begins with our personal and intimate connection with God.

Imagine what could happen if the Church of God began to pray and fast at the same time, to call upon God, to seek his face through prayer and fasting? How might God respond? Biblical fasting partnered with prayer has a way of aligning us with God’s will for our lives. An individual fast has many physical and spiritual benefits. Focus 40 is designed to be a specific time for the Church of God to pull away from the many distractions, voices, and noise associated with our daily lives and intentionally call upon our Lord. This is a time the church is encouraged to call on
God and to hear from him. The forty days immediately leading up to Easter 2011 have been designated for the Church of God as such a time. Our belief is that God will hear our collective cries and respond to his church with a sense of renewal and revival.

How you choose to participate and for how long is a personal decision between you and God. Very few can or should consider a total food fast for a full forty days. Before such a consideration is made, you should check with your personal physician. However, there are a variety of ways you may decide to participate in the forty days set aside from February 29 to April 8, the forty days leading up to Easter 2012.

Fasting: A Biblical Perspective
Read these words from God as spoken by the Old Testament prophet Isaiah:
“Here is the way I want you to fast. Set free those who are held by chains without any reason. Untie the ropes that hold people as slaves. Set free those who are crushed. Break every evil chain. Share your food with hungry people. Provide homeless people with a place to stay. Give naked people clothes to wear. Provide for the needs of your own family. Then the light of my blessing will shine on you like the rising sun. I will heal you quickly. I will march out ahead of you. And my glory will follow behind you and guard you. That is because I always do what is right.” (Isaiah 58:6–8 NIrV)

Some significant promises of broken bonds, deliverance, provision, blessings, healing, and direction are given as a result of intentional time set aside to be with God. Could you use any of that in your life?

Additionally the prophet Joel says, “Turn to Me with all of your heart, with fasting, with weeping,and with mourning” ( Joel 2:12 NKJV).