Cabin Fever
Over Christmas break 2009, I had decided to spend some much needed personal time with God so I rented a 1 bedroom cabin for 4 day and 3 nights in a beautiful area in North Florida. I told my youth group accountability 10th through 12th grade guys group what I was planning to do and why and they wanted in on it. I had planned this time for me and God, and I needed time away from “work and ministry”. For 2 weeks they begged me to go explaining that they needed this in their life. I tried to talk them out of it for weeks. I told them I was going to be fasting and their would not be any food. I told them that I was not bringing games or anything outside of my Bible, drinks, journal, and a few personal things. This did not turn them off from the idea but excited them more.
I had never done this in my life and how could I expect that teenagers would take this seriously, even though this is a great group of guys.
As time got closer to go, the weather got cold (especially for Florida) and I could not wait. I needed some answers from God and I had prepared my heart by repenting to receive all that God was going to teach me. The cabins did not have TV’s but I brought my own with only 3 DVDs we would watch. The videos were The Passion of the Christ, The Nativity Story, and the Louis Giglio How Great is Our God lesson. I told these guys that we would have time alone and time together, but everything had to be spiritually focused.
When we arrived at the cabins after some good Christian music and some spiritual discussion in the van, we spent some time in prayer next to the lake and went out alone. I told the youth about an altar in the Old Testament that had a continuous fire representing continual worship to God. I told the guys that this weekend we are going to be the sacrifice of worship and we were going to keep our fire pit burning throughout our fast until the final evening. Without even realizing it, this made for a perfect illustration at the end of our trip. The illustration was: Just as it took work to keep the fire constantly burning, it will take work to not let our fire burn out.
Also, there were times where we were out for hours alone. Some days we would all go on a hike together and just find a place together to read scripture and pray. The nights we would spend together worshipping, praying, and sharing.
I want to get rid of all the stereotypes of fasting. I fasted for a week and the time with God truly sustained me. The group could not believe how on the final night as we were going to complete our fast, they did not feel as if they had to eat. Some of them had fasted from food for 5 days. I was amazed at how many Christian parents were upset that their teens were involved in this fast. May God’s people turn back to the Word of God and trust Him. If my boys grow up and want to devote themselves to God in this way, I would be ecstatic as a parent wanting my children to truly have their own relationship with God. Moses went without food and water for 40 days and nights on 2 different occassions in the presence of God. Where is our FAITH??
Even though I had fasted longer than I ever had before, I came back filled. I told my wife that if she allows me to do this away from the family, it will prove to bless her and our family. She reminded me of this the other day and she told me that I could not have been more true.
God answered every single one of us in what we needed and I am ready to plan our next trip and this time for longer.
I challenge all of you to not settle in your relationship with God. Make things right with Him and right with others. We wonder why we cannot hear Him at times and it is not because He isn’t talking, it’s because we aren’t listening.
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