On our first proper gathering of this period we started with a time of worship.  In this time God drew us to Isaiah 58, partially because of an interaction a few of us had with a young lady who had been sent to us by one of the churches.  God drew us into repentance for seeing her as a programme to be solved rather than "one of the least of these".  This brought us to ask God to search our hearts corporately at the start of this month and to show us the sin that so easily entangles  (Hebrews 12:1 ) as we start this race.

 The Lord spoke to us about four areas :

1. Choosing sacrifice rather than obedience

We have entered this time as if it is a jog around the park rather than a race.  Choosing a sacrifice rather than asking God what he wants because we fear the cost of this question and don't want to give up comforts.  A picture of us following Jesus in good weather, we are all hanging back and chatting because we can see him but then he enters a storm and suddenly we need to be very close and focussed otherwise we will lose sight of him.

Joel 2 : 13 "You rend your garments and not your hearts" 

2. Pride and Arrogance in what we're doing

We are spiritually proud about what we're doing and how we're doing it.  Our focus should be on Christ and not on comparing ourselves to others.  Believe that we need to not talk publicly about our fast, to hold each particularly accountable to honouring other people, organisations and churches in our speach through this time and to spend solid times in worship.

3. Division, Disagreement and Disunity

These are things we need to be very aware of through the next month, especially with regards to racial dynamics.  Especially in our relationships with churches, with each other and with those in leadership.

4. Unbelief that renewal is possible

Placing our hope in false things

We then spent some time repenting of these corporately, tomorrow we will spend some time praying through God's purposes through this month.