11 He has made everything beautiful in its time. Also He has put eternity in their hearts, except that no one can find out the work that God does from beginning to end. Eccl. 3:11

24 “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me…Jn. 17:23

This new year (2025) we are focusing our 21-day fast on the concept of the “glory of God.” Solomon wrote in  Ecclesiastes 3:11 that (1) God makes everything beautiful in its time; (2) God has put eternity into the human heart; (3) no one fully understands how God is able to do these things. Solomon’s point was to tell us that God has the ability to take the ashes of our lives and make something beautiful from those ashes; and that quite likely we will not fully comprehend how He is able to do this.  Solomon was also making the point that the drive in every human heart is to be connected to Jesus. “Eternity written on our hearts,” has dramatic implications to be pursued.  

Jesus the night before he went to the cross prayed and asked his Father for several things, one of them being that people would see him (behold him) in his glory. God's glory is one of the primary themes of the Bible. When we talk about the “glory of God” it is a challenging concept to define. It takes the eyes of the Spirit (Eph. 1:15-19) with the gift of revelation and light to see God’s glory. God gives us this ability through the gift of revelation that comes through HolySpirit. We can actually pray that this revelatory light would increase in our lives. 

The best way for us to describe the “glory of God” would be to simply be: The glory of God is any open manifestation of the character, nature, attributes, names or titles of God in present time and space. God desires to be experienced, and makes it possible through the Holy Spirit. 

During this fast we will also consider three questions asked by God that had dramatic impacts on the lives of those who heard them. Jacob was asked when wrestling with an angel sent from God, "What is your name?" (Gen. 32:27). And, in Gen. 16:8, God asked Hagar, "...Where have you come from? Where are you going?” Both Jacob and Hagar were experiencing the glory of God in very desperate difficult circumstances and we want to investigate the impact these questions had in their lives. We want to use these questions both individually and corporately as we fast and pray. Together with the theme of the glory of God we will find an interesting dialogue open before us. 

Much Grace,
Pastor Dale

PRAYER MEETING SCHEDULE

FASTING RESOURCES