Dear Bros in Christ,

Brothers in Christ, this monthly email is sent and meant to be an encouragement to all and to build up and edify
in the Lord Jesus Christ. Oikodome means "Builder". The Lord has put this on my heart to send out a monthly
Iron Man Oikodome {oy-kod-om-ay'} to build up and encourage the men who love and follow Jesus Christ in
their walk with Him.

Romans 14:19 Therefore let us pursue the things which make for peace and the things by which one may
edify another.
Hebrews 3:13 "But encourage one another daily, as long as it is called Today, so that none of you may be
hardened by sin's deceitfulness."

JANUARY 2007 Pleasing God Everyday

Bros as we start this New Year we have much to be thankful for to our Lord Jesus Christ. We could and should
spend the whole year being thankful for the many blessings God has bestowed upon us. We never had it so
good! God is good and His tender mercies, love and grace are more than we could ever imagine or ever deserve,
but yet He gives it to us freely and does not give us what we really deserve… God seems to have a never ending
supply for each one of us, you know His mercy is like no other mercy, He is so full of leniency and compassion
towards us; His love can not be matched or fathomed, He finds us irresistible and cares for our every need and
then He still gives us more- “Unmerited favor” His grace abounds, oh so plentiful, yet we His own special
people so undeserving yet His grace abounds all the more. Only God can love us like that bros and I do not have
to tell you to go take a good long look in the mirror and ask yourself why He loves the man you see in the
mirror, there is no good thing in what we see in that mirror, no not me or you bro. Yet He says “For I know the
thoughts that I think toward you, says the LORD, thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you a future and a
hope.” Jeremiah 29:11

Whatever our need or struggle our God, our Creator, our Provider deserves more than we can ever give. Our
worship cannot properly give Him the glory He deserves, nor our words the honor He deserves. He wants our
whole heart and sometimes there are many things that stand in the way in our hearts that stop us from giving
Him our whole heart.
Maybe as we start this New Year there are issues in our heart that we need to hear from God on- like
relationship issues, people issues, ministry issues, serving issues, bench warmer issues, hardness of heart and sin
issues in our lives that God wants to deal with us and deliver us and heal us to use us and help us in all areas of
our lives. If we would just turn to Him, look to Him, go before Him, humble ourselves before Him, seek Him
and wait on Him. He wants to do marvelous things in and through our lives. Maybe just maybe this is the year
that you can declare major spiritual victories in your walk with Jesus.
Maybe your heart will change this year so He can deliver you from that sin issue that has been dogging you and
always shows up like a dark shadow standing next to you when you try to stand in His light dragging you down
and is keeping you down, but not allowing you to be down on your knee’s to seek Him and maybe keeping you
from being used by God in a powerful way for most of your Christian walk. If that is you, you are not alone we
all have issues that God wants to deal with us on and deliver us from today. God desires to do a work in us, He
wants to deliver us, He wants to use us, and He also doesn’t need us, but He loves us more than we can
comprehend.
But He wants your heart; the surest way to give Him your heart is to let Him have a 100% of your focus. Give
Him your heart by devoting your heart purely to Him. Letting Him bring you to that place where it is just you
and Him and maybe that place He has to take you to is the backside of the desert or the wilderness.

Where there is nothing that comes between you and Him during that time. Fasting, praying, seeking and waiting
on Him is one of the most wonderful times you can have with God. A time where you have no demands or
requests other than His perfect Will in what He desires to teach you and reveal to you during this time. It may
be just a time of closeness with the Lord and you may not know right away what He wants to do. But He will
begin to do a work in you that you can see as you focus purely on Him and as He empties your heart of the
things that are not of God. Ask God to speak to you about what He wants to do in your heart, give Him your
heart and see what He shows you. See what is pleasing to the Father, seek what is His will, wait on Him and He
will show you.
May our fasting be to glorify God not us, not some empty ritual, but pleasing to God. Let us look at some
fasting that is pleasing to the Lord and some not so pleasing fasting to God and may the Lord guide your heart
and speak to you in a powerful and wonderful way as you consider Him during this New Year through worship,
fasting, praying, seeking and waiting on Him. Be still before the Lord and see what He shows you…

Fasting that Pleases God

Isaiah 58
"Cry aloud, spare not; Lift up your voice like a trumpet; Tell My people their transgression, And the house of
Jacob their sins.2 Yet they seek Me daily, And delight to know My ways, As a nation that did righteousness,
And did not forsake the ordinance of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice; They take delight in
approaching God. 3 'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and You have not seen? Why have we afflicted our souls,
and You take no notice?'

"In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, And exploit all your laborers.
4 Indeed you fast for strife and debate, And to strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do
this day, To make your voice heard on high. 5 Is it a fast that I have chosen, A day for a man to afflict his soul?
Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, And to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast,
And an acceptable day to the LORD?

6 "Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, To undo the heavy burdens, To let
the oppressed go free, And that you break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, And that
you bring to your house the poor who are cast out; When you see the naked, that you cover him, And not hide
yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring
forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. 9
Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, 'Here I am.'

"If you take away the yoke from your midst, The pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10 If you
extend your soul to the hungry And satisfy the afflicted soul, Then your light shall dawn in the darkness, And
your darkness shall be as the noonday. 11 The LORD will guide you continually, And satisfy your soul in
drought, And strengthen your bones; You shall be like a watered garden, And like a spring of water, whose
waters do not fail. 12 Those from among you Shall build the old waste places; You shall raise up the
foundations of many generations; And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach, The Restorer of Streets to
Dwell In.

13 "If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, From doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the
Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the LORD honorable, And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways, Nor
finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking your own words, 14 Then you shall delight yourself in the LORD; And I
will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The
mouth of the LORD has spoken."

Fasting to Be Seen Only by God

Matthew 6:16-18 "Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For
they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their
reward. 17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 so that you do not appear to men to
be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you
*openly.

A Call to Repentance
Joel 2:12-13 "Now, therefore," says the LORD, "Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and
with mourning." 13 So rend your heart, and not your garments; Return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious
and merciful, Slow to anger, and of great kindness; And He relents from doing harm.

Daniel's Prayer for the People

Daniel 9:3-5 Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting,
sackcloth, and ashes. 4 And I prayed to the LORD my God, and made confession, and said, "O Lord, great and
awesome God, who keeps His covenant and mercy with those who love Him, and with those who keep His
commandments, 5 we have sinned and committed iniquity, we have done wickedly and rebelled, even by
departing from Your precepts and Your judgments.
Nehemiah Prays for His People
Nehemiah 1:4-6 So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many
days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
5 And I said: "I pray, LORD God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and
mercy with those who love *You and observe *Your commandments, 6 please let Your ear be attentive and
Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for
the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against
You. Both my father's house and I have sinned.

May our fasting be real and pleasing to God and may our repentance be as equally real.

God bless you today & always and make you a mighty man of God in all things for His
glory and honor,
Daniel Wright
Iron Man Oikodome
Proverbs 27:17 As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.