Searching for grace

Sometimes, on our journey of growing together in God’s grace and understanding of our new covenant reality, some questions can come up that we are either unsure how to answer, or over zealous to answer for others. It can be a little tricky, because we all need one another. We all want to journey and grow together, but what we don’t want is to be belittled or dictated to. We want a conversation.

I guess when we boil it down, we simply want our hearts to be heard.

Fasting is a topic that I get asked about from time to time, I was recently asked about it again lately, so I decided to share my thoughts on the topic. Like I said above, I’m sharing as an equal, I don’t claim to have the answers, but I can share my heart and belief on the subject, and perhaps it will be a help to you also.

So, fasting under grace, is it right or wrong for Christians to do? I think as soon as we start asking questions of “Is it right or wrong” we fall back into the old covenant ‘check list’ mentality. But the new covenant is not defined by a checklist, it is defined by the Spirit of God living in us, to guide us and lead us into all truth. When trying to understand anything in our faith, I think it helps us all to remember that our covenant is a covenant of the Spirit. We all have the Holy Spirit living in us, and he is our leader.

I wouldn’t ever recommend fasting to someone, because I’m not the Holy Spirit. Sure, I could look at their situation, and make some suggestions, but that would just be me thinking of ways to get God’s attention. If we think we can ‘do something’ to get God’s attention, we are in danger of wandering back into a law based idea of God, and that is never a good sign.

But does that mean Christians shouldn’t fast? Well, here is my take on it.

• If you want to fast because you heard an amazing testimony about fasting. Don’t do it.
• If you want to get God’s attention. Don’t do it.
• If you think you are required to do it. Don’t do it.
• If you genuinely feel the Spirit encouraging you to do it. Do it.

There are no rules to follow in the new covenant. There are no principles to get closer to God. The new covenant is about rest. It is about trust. God is with us always. We are holy and blameless in his eyes. He is pleased with us.

In the place of rest, allow the Spirit to lead you. Maybe he’ll lead you to fast, or maybe he’ll lead you to eat a juicy steak. Maybe, like my testimony about fasting below, you’ll get it all a little mixed up and try to fast because it feels religiously right to do so, but actually the Spirit really just wants you to enjoy a nice meal and praise God that you are his beloved.
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Hi everyone,

I wanted to share with you how I see the future of what I do here with ‘searching for grace’ and ask for your input as to the direction I take. I find myself at a crossroads in how I can continue all I’m doing. To be honest, I work more than 40 hours a week drawing, writing, interviewing, corresponding and administrating all that I do with searching for grace, and although I love it so much, I don’t see how I can continue at this capacity without having a way to support what I’m doing financially. I don’t want donations, but I do want to create a way that offers you the opportunity to support what I do by receiving a significant piece of my work on a monthly basis.

So, I’m considering offering a subscription to Searching For Grace of $10 per month. For this you will receive a digital copy of a completed book from me each month. Yes, one new book every month! These will be a combination of comic books, non-fiction books, paraphrase and commentaries, and also fiction (finishing off my first novel at the moment!) Subscribing means you will always get an advanced copy of everything I write and create. You’ll also be helping me plan my life, pay the rent and be able to switch off my computer after 8-10 hours.

For this to be possible, I need a minimum of 150 readers to subscribe (you can see how many have currently said yes in the comments section). So, I have not set this up yet, but rather would like to ask if you are interested in being part of this to let me know by filling out the form below. I will send you an email back letting you know, if 150 readers do say they would like to subscribe, when I will send the first book and how to subscribe (most likely Paypal).

So for now I’m just asking, would you like to be part of this? It’s $10 per month. I currently don’t receive any kind of support from any organization or persons, and self-fund all that I am doing. But have come to realise I do need support in order to continue at this capacity. If you find my work of value, and are in the position to be able to subscribe, I ask that you would do so and help me continue to do what I do.

Some of the books planned include:

1. The Gospel Cannot Be Chained: Searching for grace in Paul’s prision letters. (Paraphrase)

2. Searching For Grace, The Comic #1: A halarious look at a 21st Century Church Pushed To Its Extremes. (Comic Book)

3. God’s Grace, Apart From Law: Understanding the most important truth in the New Testament. (Non-Fiction/Commentary)

4. The Kingdom Of Love Is Within You (A collection of quotes, poems and thoughts posted on Facebook over the past 2 years)

5. Pastorman: The Greatest Superpastor Of All Time, An Autobiography. (Humour)

5. God’s Grammar (Novel)

6. Jesus In Genesis. Seeing The Gospel Message In The Creation Account. (Commentary)

Below is just a survey to help me see if people are interested in this offer or not. Thanks in advance, Mick.