FOREWORD

-          Psalm 24: 3-6

 

 

Dear Saint,

 

Blessings to you!  What joy it is to be able to share with you this next journey with our precious Lord! He revealed so much during our first 40-day journey together (EAT at the Table of the King).  It was such a privilege to sit at the Table of the King, to feast upon His Word, and to experience the pleasure of spending such intimate time with our Lord three times a day.  Those first 40-days, in retrospect, seemed like an impossible mountain to climb, but they soon became an exciting quest as we grew an insatiable hunger for those private moments with our Lord! 

 

Now, here we are again, at the beginning of another exciting journey with our Lord!  We’ve come a long way since those first 40 days, and it’s amazing that we are anticipating another journey of such length so soon.  Do you remember feeling overwhelmed as you prayerfully considered those first 40 days?  Did you question how (and why!) anyone would set aside food for such a significant amount of time?  Did you wrestle with the uncertainty of how you would be nourished and sustained for even a single day, never mind an entire 40 days?!

 

Our God is faithful!  I pray this statement was proved true of your first 40-day journey and is the reason why you are willing to step out with a greater sense of anticipation of what He will accomplish in your life in the next 40-days.  Did I say 40 days?  Yes, it’s true! This is another 40-day journey, and your very first question may be, “Why do another 40-day fast?”  The reality is that many of us have tasted and seen that the Lord is good (Psalm 34:8), and we have found that nothing is as satisfying as time spent in prayer with our Lord and feasting upon His Word.  Our 40-day journey was life-transforming and we never want to return to the place we once were.  We desire nothing more than to “…dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of [our] life to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to seek Him in His temple” (Psalm 27:4). 

 

Our lives have become wrapped around our Lord, and our hearts are overflowing with love towards Him.  We have learned that fasting, true fasting, is not about sacrificing food but, rather, it is about sacrificing of our entire lives (Isaiah 58; Romans 12:1).  We experienced what it means to bring pleasure to our Lord.  We received His blessing for our faithfulness and obedience, and we desire no other reward.

 

This journey before us is about living the fasted lifestyle.  This means living a life that is wholly dependent upon and devoted to the Lord.  This chosen lifestyle prioritizes knowing Jesus more intimately and longs to please Him.  Your gaze is fixed upon the Lord-morning, noon, and night.  You rest confidently in His care and trust completely in His provision and power for everything you do.  Your life becomes unreservedly available to His call and deliberately obedient to His promptings.  It is a life sustained by a daily diet of the Word of God and governed by a greater understanding that our food, like the food of our faithful Teacher, Jesus Christ, “is to do the will of will of Him who sent Me and to finish His work” (John 4:34). 

 

Those who journeyed the first 40 days personally experienced the “living and active” power of the Word of God (Hebrews 4:12). We better understand the pain and affliction that accompanies God’s Holy sword carving away the unholy, unhealthy, and unnecessary parts of our life.  Like David, we learned that affliction is necessary in order to bring us to complete dependence upon the Lord, and we can now say that, “It was good for me to be afflicted so that I might learn your decrees” (Psalm 119:71).  We willingly accepted this journey, and the Lord accomplished a life-time of transformation in a mere 40 days.  Our obedience brought Him pleasure, and we were blessed in return.

 

We survived the stripping, the chiseling, and the brokenness that were all necessary parts of the Lord’s purifying and cleansing process.  To become a useful vessel in the hands of the Lord, we surrendered to the Master Craftsman and learned to submit to Him as He refined us, reshaping and repurposing the bruised, the broken, and the flawed parts of our being.  We found Him to be gentle, loving, honest, and kind as He opened our eyes to the beauty of His incomparable Holiness…and to the lack of ours.  We learned that drawing near to His holiness required a critical look at our own unworthiness.  We realized the need to repent for our repeated failures (stemming from both deliberate rebellion and unintentional ignorance) to walk a path worthy of the honor and glory of the Lord..  

 

Without this 180-degree turn we can not walk this next 40 days.  This new journey will take us up the mountain of God as we fully experience the indwelling power of His Holy Spirit and gain the confidence we need to face the battle ahead of us.  This climb requires complete dependence on His leading and unwavering obedience to His voice. Jesus said, “My sheep listen to My voice; I know them, and they follow Me” (John 10:27). We must resolutely tune into His voice and deliberately sift out the distraction of other voices, desires, and temptations. 

 

Our first journey led us to a greater understanding of our Lord.  We grew to know how great His love is for us and how jealous He is for time with us.  He has so much planned for us, and so much to reveal to us, if we will just, “Be still and know that [He] is God” (Psalm 46:10a)!  We now know that being still before God does not mean being inactive or passive.  It means walking faithfully, with courage and confidence, along the path He has prepared, as we meet with Him moment-by-moment.  It means being ever-discerning of the next step He desires us to take, always keeping our focus on Him and His great kingdom plan.

 

We realized that He sometimes moves things out of our life to get our attention, and, at other times, He invades our lives so we will stop and listen.  Each day we choose either to be, or not to be, a willing participant in His wonderful plan.  The journey is much more pleasurable when you are proactive, when you willingly seek and accept His leading, rather than reacting to a difficult set of circumstances designed to wake-and shake-you up.  Since we are willing to abide in Him and to listen to His voice, He has graciously given us this next journey.  When we are faithful in the little things, He leads us to greater responsibility (Matthew 25:21).

 

Near the end of our first 40-days together, the Lord gave me a beautiful vision for the next journey we would take together:

 

 

The Lord spoke to my heart that night from Psalm 24:3-6, and revealed that this is His Mountain, and He is inviting us to take another journey.  It may seem insurmountable, but, if we trust in Him, the climb may be challenging, but it will not be difficult.  The myrtle tree represents peace – the peace that comes from knowing Him. “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:7).  In Christ, we will receive our confidence and our peace, the attributes that are the watchmen of our hearts.  Therefore, our hearts will not fail us but will be strengthened by the Lord (2 Chronicles 16:9) in order to be a blessing to others.  When we reach His glorious heights, we will experience the outpouring of His Spirit (“…till the Spirit is poured upon us from on high…” – Isaiah 32:15a).

 

Our first journey required us to sit before the Lord; this journey requires us to walk in His ways.  Our journey is no longer in private; it will be more visible.  As we move forward, we represent Christ.  We can not have our eyes fixed on Jesus while our hands are busy with idle (and idol!) things.  Our hearts can not be divided; they must be wholly and completely His.  Our first 40-day journey was a time of preparation, a holy consecration to purify us for this next journey.  If you have not experienced the 40-Day journey, EAT at the Table of the King, or, if you feel you need to sit at His table again to experience a deeper cleansing, you are encourage to do so before beginning this journey. 

 

A mission is ahead of us for which we have been set apart to do (Matthew 28:19-20).  The Lord called us to be faithful and equipped us to accomplish this call.  He captivated our hearts, and we have surrendered to Him.  He prepared the way and laid out the steps.  All we have to do is take one step at a time, allowing Him to guide us along the path of faith that we’ve begun.  Jesus said, “…if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there’ and it will move.  Nothing will be impossible for you” (Matthew 17:20).  Today, let us not ask God to move the mountain; let us instead ask Him to move us towards the mountain, that we might face it with perfect faith, equipped with His power and trusting in His provision as He guides us to ascend His glorious heights!

 

Our hearts have been revived, and we long, now more than ever, to see our Lord return.  Until He does, we must occupy this land and restore the paths of righteousness by living holy and righteous lives before the watching world.  On this journey, we will go backward as we move forward, returning to the foundation upon which we were built.  The mountain we will climb is the mountain of God, and, on this journey, we will find our true confidence to face what waits on the other side.  May we persevere until we see His glory returned to this earth, and, until He returns, may we encourage one another to reflect His glory to a lost and fallen world desperately in need of His salvation!

 

My prayer for you these next 40 days is that your life will be continually enriched and blessed as you grow in wisdom and knowledge of our precious Lord through prayer and the reading of His Holy Word.  May each day bring you into a deeper, more abiding, and intimate relationship with your First Love.  May you become emboldened to share His truths, and may you be empowered through His Holy Spirit to face the mountain in front of you!

 

“But the man who makes me his refuge will inherit the land and possess my holy mountain” (Isaiah 57:13b).

 

For His Glory, Honor, and Praise,

 

Traci Alexander

Trumpet and Torch Ministries

www.trumpetandtorch.org