Welcome to our 21 Days of Fasting and Prayer page! Below you will find many resources including:
- Helpful information on fasting
- Guides to help your prayer life
- Opportunities to connect with us in prayer
- Additional resources for prayer and fasting
2023 Prayer and Fasting Focus
Week 1- January 8-14
LOVE- Pray for….
HOPE- Pray for…
SERVE- Pray for…
LOVE- Pray for….
- God to reignite your love for Him and to turn your heart from sin
- God to renew your love for prayer, fasting, and drawing closer to him
- God to heighten your love for the church
HOPE- Pray for…
- More faith than you’ve ever had
- God to increase your hope in Him and His ability
- The seemingly hopeless situations in your life
SERVE- Pray for…
- Your community and how you can serve in it
- For God to open doors to serve as a witness on your job or at your school
- A deeper hunger and desire to serve the church, to reach the unchurched, and to develop more of a servant’s heart.
- God to continue to send revival
- God to open doors of influence in our city and for our Care Ministry to reach further to the needs of our city (RIFA, Arbor, Spirit of Grace)
- A renewal of passion to fulfill the Great Commission (Matthew 28:19)
Fasting
"'Even now', declares the Lord, 'Return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.'" Joel 2:12-13
The goal of fasting is to draw nearer to God. Biblical fasting always has to do with eliminating distractions for a spiritual purpose; it hits the reset button of our soul and renews us from the inside out. It also enables us to celebrate the goodness and mercy of God and prepares our hearts for all the good things God desires to bring into our lives. Remember, your personal fast should present a level of challenge, but it is very important to know your body, your options, and, most importantly, to seek God in prayer and follow what the Holy Spirit leads you to do.
Types of Fasts
Complete Fast
In this type of fast, you drink only liquids, typically water with light juices as an option.
Selective Fast
This type of fast involves removing certain elements from your diet. One example of a selective fast is the Daniel Fast, during which you remove meat, sweets, and bread from your diet and consume water and juice for fluids and fruits and vegetables for food.
Partial Fast
This fast is sometimes called the “Jewish Fast” and involves abstaining from eating any type of food in the morning and afternoon. This can either correlate to specific times of the day, such as 6:00 am to 3:00 pm, or from sunup to sundown.
Soul Fast
This fast is a great option if you do not have much experience fasting food, have health issues that prevent you from fasting food, or if you wish to refocus certain areas of your life that are out of balance. For example, you might choose to stop using social media or watching television for the duration of the fast and then carefully bring that element back into your life in healthy doses at the conclusion of the fast.
In this type of fast, you drink only liquids, typically water with light juices as an option.
Selective Fast
This type of fast involves removing certain elements from your diet. One example of a selective fast is the Daniel Fast, during which you remove meat, sweets, and bread from your diet and consume water and juice for fluids and fruits and vegetables for food.
Partial Fast
This fast is sometimes called the “Jewish Fast” and involves abstaining from eating any type of food in the morning and afternoon. This can either correlate to specific times of the day, such as 6:00 am to 3:00 pm, or from sunup to sundown.
Soul Fast
This fast is a great option if you do not have much experience fasting food, have health issues that prevent you from fasting food, or if you wish to refocus certain areas of your life that are out of balance. For example, you might choose to stop using social media or watching television for the duration of the fast and then carefully bring that element back into your life in healthy doses at the conclusion of the fast.
PRAYER
"The earnest prayer of a righteous person has great power and produces wonderful results." James 5:16 NLT
If you’re new to prayer, or if you’ve prayed well for 50 years, here’s a simple way to get started. This is a biblical formula for how we can approach God in our prayer times:
PRAISE
“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!” (Psalm 100:4 ESV)
REPENT
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10. See also Acts 2:38 ESV)
REQUEST
“Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.” (Philippians 4:6 MSG)
You can also pray the following prayers:
1. SEARCH ME (Psalms 139:23,24)
2. BREAK ME (Psalms 34:18)
3. STRETCH ME (Psalm 119:11)
4. LEAD ME (Psalm 5:8)
5. USE ME (Jeremiah 29:11)
PRAISE
“Enter his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise! Give thanks to him; bless his name!” (Psalm 100:4 ESV)
REPENT
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10. See also Acts 2:38 ESV)
REQUEST
“Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns.” (Philippians 4:6 MSG)
You can also pray the following prayers:
1. SEARCH ME (Psalms 139:23,24)
- Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way of everlasting."
2. BREAK ME (Psalms 34:18)
- You cannot grow as a Christian until you learn to ask for brokenness. Regardless of our level of spiritual maturity, there will always be areas of your life God needs to work in.
3. STRETCH ME (Psalm 119:11)
- This is the kind of prayer to pray when you want to grow up spiritually. If you know someone whose depth of love is humbling, whose spiritual strength is amazing, that person has probably asked God to stretch him through life's challenges.
4. LEAD ME (Psalm 5:8)
- Asking God to take your life and do whatever He wants with it is risky. We've got to believe that His plans for us are better than our own.
5. USE ME (Jeremiah 29:11)
- It's exciting to make yourself available to God so that He can touch someone else through you. Such prayer creates amazing adventures.
Ways to Connect in Prayer
Saturday Prayer- Saturday's at 9 AM at the church
Tuesday Family Prayer- Meets every Tuesday evening at 7 PM in the Kids World Room
Ladies Prayer- Meets every Tuesday at 10 AM in the Kids World Room
Saturday Prayer- Saturday's at 9 AM at the church
Tuesday Family Prayer- Meets every Tuesday evening at 7 PM in the Kids World Room
Ladies Prayer- Meets every Tuesday at 10 AM in the Kids World Room
Additional Resources
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