Shalom Friends,

May His glory rays of love and nearness fill your senses in this exciting hour!  While waiting upon Abba in the early morning hours here in Israel…He spoke a word to me that is very fresh manna for the situation you’all are finding yourselves in…and it has to do with being tired, weary, and just plain worn out.  May this new series of teachings infuse you with new strength and vision for a lifestyle revolution! 

While I was preparing to write to you’all about the current events that are unfolding here in the Middle East, Abba instead gave me this word to send out today with all urgency.  If you were to just look around, you would quickly notice that so many believers since the US Presidential elections this month are finding themselves fatigued, tired, and running on reserve.  Hopes were dashed and many fear bad times are coming back to America like never before!  Thus, there is a compounding of spiritual fatigue with the already present physical fatigue in play right now.  Therefore, I encourage you to not get offended or spiritually deaf to what you are about to read since it's too late an hour to want to have your ears softly tickled and massaged into a place of “assisted” obedience.  Instead, I’m going to lay out the plain basic facts and ruthlessly encourage you to take immediate evasive action now to avoid another possible down season of missing Abba’s best for your life. 

It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that our culture is maxing out under inordinate amounts of stress due to the never ending responsibilities at home, school, work, and the quest to make another dollar.  Then you add into this mix the amount of electronic stimulus and entertainments that are keeping believers up way too late at night and robbing them of their God given weekly cycle of sleep and refreshment.  You can now understand why most believers simply do not have the time to spend at the feet of the Master since they are always seemingly rushing out of the door “late” to another appointment.  You can’t blame your habitual lack of devotional time on the “devil” since the problem is based in your lifestyle decisions and not his overrated abilities to combat you!  The bottom line is that you are way too busy with good things which are really not the best things for you at this moment as the dome of darkness increases over our civilization.

Here is a new lifestyle to permanently adapt to that I believe will revolutionize your spiritual walk with Abba.  Here is the base you want to build first before you can proceed to the next combat level I want to discuss in our next series of emails on this topic.

Doesn’t sound so revolutionary or spiritually deep but I promise you that if you can build out this base first it will revitalize your combat against the gravitational pull of stress/weariness that is compounded in today’s culture.  Permit me to get more specific for you this morning.

First of all, you need to sleep soundly for 6 to 8 hours every 24 hour period.  This will be your first biggest combat test and it begins today.  The first thing to do is put your computer on a schedule to shut down at a set time every night.  Do not "This will be your first biggest combat test and it begins today." stayup late reading, listening, watching world events via the computer or TV.  Stop the inordinate amounts of worldly entertainments that come into your senses.  Your best time to study, work, learn, and hear from Heaven is in the morning after a good night’s sleep!   Pull yourself away from staying out late at night fellowshipping with people…  Our children go to bed early at night and so should we!

It is easy to wake up early when you go to bed early.  Adjust your schedule to get up early in the blackness of the predawn hour.  This is the absolute best time to worship Him, study, and be refreshed in His awesome Presence.  Do this before the children wake up for school and do not put in a worship CD to prime the pump of your heart…go freestyle and let His Spirit wind take you to new places of obedience and thus service your faith with a new zeal.

The bottom line is this….  Most believers are carrying way too much body fat and their earthly suit is suffering way too many multiple health issues.  It is a sad state when we look and see so many obese leaders and people in today’s churches!  You are going to get an upper hand on losing weight if you can recognize and fear (holy) that your body does not belong to you but is the temple of God.  Now is the time to wake up and get your body fat percentage to a healthy level!  This will do amazing things in combating your fatigue and weariness cycles you are facing!  You are going to have to make the extreme effort to eat the right healthy foods and limit the portions thereof.  Many people rely on food to be their stimulus for pain and worry management.  This is a recipe for disaster!  If you continue to rely on this secret method of combating stress (by overeating) then you need to face up to the facts that your belly is your “god”.  Repent and rend your hearts for this secret idolatry which is not so secret anymore with the big gut you are lugging around.  Your base is wrong and there is no way you can bridle the flesh and walk in the Spirit if you keep flip flopping back and forth to what your taste buds are craving.  Bridle your lower nature by first crucifying your taste buds and limiting the amount of food you are intaking daily.  Say good-bye to fast food drive thru’s and your hourly fixation for soft drinks.  Wake up early to have enough time to enjoy a good healthy breakfast!  Make your body your slave and not vice-versa!

Let’s get it straight here today…there is no true exercise without true pain.  No pain thus no gain!  However, most of us have just exercised the wrong way and thought because since we had endured pain…something good was coming out of it.  Here is the bottom line to exercise…do it early in the morning after your devotional time and before breakfast (best time to burn fat).  Make a lifestyle change to swim, cycle (spin), or run (walk) every other day and watch your body change and burn the fat off naturally.  It is going to take time and this is why you need to set your face like flint for this not to be a 8 week course but a total lifestyle change.  The key is intensity and time…get a personal trainer or join a group to push you beyond what you think you can endure.  Thinking that just weight lifting (for external bodily appearance) or playing basketball (for the joy of it) a couple times a week is going to melt all those years of fat deposits…then you are seriously wrong.  It is a lifestyle change and you must set your minds to a long haul discipline of self-denial to revamp your cardio system and endurance levels.  You will then find new levels of energy and alertness throughout the day that are so refreshing once you pass the barrier of your self-imposed comfort zones!  Get working on getting that excess fat off now!

The old saying, “You cannot soar like an eagle when you are surrounded by turkey’s” is so true here in this context.  You are going to have to re-prioritize your friendships and allow the Holy Spirit to tell you who is an eagle to soar with or who is a turkey to avoid in your carefully cultured and manicured relationships.  It is obvious not to hang out and be influenced by sinners, but what about believers who are very sharp and intelligent (like turkeys), but unseen to you they are not planning or even able to run the same race you are called to run?  Don’t let friendships keep you from this new base you are building out!  Don’t hang out with the turkeys who like to stay up late eating and talking a lot!!!  Hang out with people who are highly dedicated, disciplined, and live a lifestyle of being aggressive God pleasers!  They love to soar and explore and are fearless!!!  Stay away from the believers who are easily frightened and run for cover at the sound of new uncontrolled circumstances arising!

Dear friends and fellow warriors,  I believe Abba is warning and exhorting many of you this morning to work on this base to secure a lifestyle change to effectively combat fatigue and weariness.  These are not principles that I read in a popular self help book or heard on a popular infomercial.  These are time tested principles I have incorporated in my own life and ministry the last 25 years that have produced great results in the workload I’m able to carry as we pioneer new projects here in the Middle East. I want to help you combat weariness and stay in that sweet spot of flowing in His River of adventures! 

Stay tuned for Part 2 on Combating Weariness wherein I will lay out the Scriptural spiritual base to effectively staying refreshed and in eager readiness mode for the Master!. This is the hour to occupy till He returns!

In His service for your faith,