Just over a year ago I tried something I'd never done before: a 40-day juice and water fast. I had wanted to do one since I first heard Bill Bright talk about the spiritual benefits of his own 40-day fasts. I've done many different kinds of fasts over the years and have seen God move each time, but never attempted such a long fast. There just never seemed to be a good time to go 40 days without food!

But I've found that fasting is one of the best ways to get closer to God. When we empty ourselves of "ourselves," we have more room to be filled up with Him. And last year, I was ready to get as close to God as I could.

I was specifically praying for the next steps in my life and my ministry. I wanted to know what was on God's heart and which direction He wanted me to go next. Was I to continue on the path I had begun nine years earlier, or take off in a new direction? So on November 12th, 2003, I had my last meal at lunch and began fasting and praying for the next 40 days.

A few days into my fast, it was abundantly clear to me that I should continue going straight ahead with what God had put on my heart: preaching, playing the piano, and praying for people, and doing it primarily over the Internet. With that answer firmly rooted in my heart so quickly, the rest of my 40 days were spent seeking God's wisdom on how best to accomplish all that He had put on my heart to do.

God began to give me specific steps about piece after piece of the puzzle.

God put on my heart a fresh vision for what He had called me to do. What I learned in those 40 days became my "marching orders" for the next phase of my life, orders I'm glad to carry out and will still take some time to fulfill. But I've begun putting the pieces in place to make it happen, and it's good to know that my going 40 days without food was not in vain!

One piece of the puzzle I felt God wanted me to put into place was to rebuild The Ranch website from the ground up so that more people could participate in ministering to others over the Internet. So with the help of some fellow believers I've recreated the entire site from scratch and I'm thrilled that it's finally ready to go! You can take a look at www.theranch.org.

I'll be highlighting various new features of The Ranch in the coming months, and have included a few below to get you started.

New Music

To me, the best worship experiences are those in which you don't notice the people leading worship, but instead are led by them straight into the presence of God. This is exactly what happened to me when I listened to this new, live worship CD featuring the smooth voice of Barbara Santos and her extremely talented worship team at Mission Hills Church.

The tempo and pacing of the songs is perfect for coming into and resting in the presence of God. If you only have time for one song, I'd recommend you listen to the song "Breathe" (#5). It'll be the best use of 6 minutes and 40 seconds of your whole day! Other songs include: Refiner's Fire, The Cross, I Give You My Heart, Pour Out My Heart, Jesus Draw Me Close, Draw Me Close, Come Holy Spirit, Welcome In This Place, I See The Lord, Awesome God, and Amazing Grace.

Click this link to listen to Barbara Santos' Worship CD, "Feel The Light"

Online Prayer/Dedication Service

For those who would like to join me in praying for this website, and to honor those who have helped to create it, I'm planning an Online Prayer/Dedication Service for the new Ranch website on Friday, March 4th, 2005 at 1:00 pm Central Time.

If you'd like to take part in that service, just meet us in the Chat Room at The Ranch. I thought March 4th would be a particularly fitting day since it's the only verb on the calendar ("March Forth"...get it?) If you can make it, I'd love to have you there.

Special Thanks

I want to say a special thanks to Andris Sprogis, from Riga, Latvia, who helped me substantially by redesigning the "look and feel" of The Ranch Andris created the elegant graphic design and took the many beautiful photographs that you'll see throughout the new Ranch website. Andris came to The Ranch about 3-1/2 years ago and there in front of his computer screen gave his life to the Lord (you can read his story here). As I was praying and fasting about redesigning the new website, Andris came to mind as he's gone on to become a strong and faithful follower of Christ, and subsequently created a beautiful website for his own church in Latvia at www.matejs.lv.

I'd also like to dedicate this new website to the memory of my good friend, Kirk Albrecht, who died suddenly on July 14th, 2004 of a heart attack at age 36. Kirk was not only a good friend, but was instrumental in helping me with the technical aspects of building and running the computers behind The Ranch website. I'd love for you to read a brief tribute I wrote for my friend Kirk.

Visitor Comments

I thought you might be interested to read a few of the recent comments from visitors to The Ranch.

A visitor from Canada writes: "I happened to be taken up with the picture of the Ranch and then I got curious and my husband and I started to listen to your messages. I cried only because I walked away from God and I made a mess of my life! I started gambling and so did my husband and we lost everything. We both are 60 yrs. old and we can't seem to grow in God. But listening to your messages has helped me to get on board. Please pray for us. We are surely not living for Jesus. Tomorrow we will listen to more messages and see what God has to say."

A visitor from Kenya writes: "Greetings from Kenya-East Africa. Thank you for your inspiration. May God richly bless you for the good work and may he enlarge the courts of you territory. Your family portrait is wonderful. The Music is a blessing."

A visitor in The Chat Room writes: "Thanks for the messages here at the ranch. I'm studying the message on how God is very real and it is a blessing to know that God is real. Just to let you know I am praying for your ministry."

Closing Prayer

If you'd like to take a minute right now to pray with me, too, I'd really appreciate it!

Father,

Thank You for speaking into our hearts and lives when we need to hear from You. Thank You for Your Word that guides us into ways to draw us closer to you, like prayer and fasting, which we would never have come up with on our own.
Thank You for the wisdom to carry out Your plans, like creating this new website as a way to minister to people around the world.
And thank You for sending others to come alongside us to carry out the plans You have for us, and the the plans You have for reaching others through us.

Father,

We now pray that You would continue the work You've begun at The Ranch, that You would turn the work of our hands into something useful for You,
That You would show each of us new ways that we can touch the lives of those around us,
And that You would draw people from all parts of the world to find their way to The Ranch so they can find their way to You.

We pray this in Jesus' name, Amen.

Take care and have fun exploring the New Ranch!
Eric Elder

P.S. For those who are interested in the spiritual benefits and the practical how-to's of prayer and fasting, here are two articles I've found helpful, both written by Bill Bright:

Eric Elder Ministries is a non-profit 501(c)(3) religious organization whose purpose is to share the message of Jesus Christ throughout the world. Click here to read more about our ministry.

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