21 Days of Prayer: Week 1
(January 11-17, 2021)
Week 1 // Day 1
“Assumed Practice”
Fasting is not an option but an assumed practice for the serious-minded follower of Jesus. Fasting is a spiritual discipline that believers throughout history incorporated into their daily lives. Jesus did not say, “If you fast,” but, “When you fast.”
Scripture: Matthew 6
Key passages
Matthew 6:16— “And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get.”
Fasting Thought
Dietrich Bonhoeffer: “Jesus takes it for granted that his disciples will observe the pious custom of fasting. Strict exercise of self-control is an essential feature of the Christian’s life. Such customs have only one purpose — to make the disciples more ready and cheerful to accomplish those things which God would have done.”
Playlist: You Are My Rescue by Cavetime
Prayer
Father in heaven, as I choose to forgo my regular routine this day, I do so not to achieve anything, not to use fasting as a bargaining chip or as a manipulative ploy to get your attention. But I fast as an act of worship, to make myself ready and resolute to do your will with a cheerful heart.
Increase my faith and allow me to commune with you in a unique way. I dedicate myself to you. Use me as you will.
In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Take a few moments to journal what God had taught you today.
Week 1 // Day 2
“Dependance”
Fasting is a humbling experience that reveals who or what we really depend upon or are controlled by.
Scripture: Psalm 69
Key passages
Psalm 69:13 — “But I keep praying to you, Lord, hoping this time you will show me favor. In your unfailing love, O God, answer my prayer with your sure salvation.”
Fasting Thought
Richard Foster: “More than any other single discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us. This is a wonderful benefit to the true disciple who longs to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. We cover up what is inside us with food and other good things, but in fasting these things surface. If pride controls us, it will be revealed almost immediately — anger, bitterness, jealousy, strife, fear. If they are within us, they will surface during fasting. At first we will rationalize that our anger is due to our hunger. Then we know that we are angry because the spirit of anger is within us. We can rejoice in this knowledge because we know that healing is available through the power of Christ.”
Playlist: Waiting Here For You by Martin Smith
Prayer
Father in heaven, as I move through this fast, I seek the transforming work of the gospel in my life. Reveal the controlling influences in my life. Grant me the courage to face them, to renounce them, to confess them and to surrender them into your healing hands. Draw me closer to you through this fast. In Jesus’ precious name I pray. Amen.
Take a few moments to journal what God had taught you today.
Week 1 // Day 3
“Spiritual Inventory”
Fasting is a holy and legitimate pursuit of a Holy God. It can be of great use in conducting a rigorous spiritual inventory of one’s soul and spiritual fruitfulness.
Scripture: Psalm 139
Key passages
Psalm 139:23-24 — “Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends you, and lead me along the path of everlasting life.”
Fasting Thought
John Calvin: “Let us say something about fasting, because many, for want of knowing its usefulness, undervalue its necessity, and some reject it as almost superfluous; while, on the other hand where the use of it is not well understood, it easily degenerates into superstition. Holy and legitimate fasting is directed to three ends; for we practice it either as a restraint on the flesh, to preserve it from licentiousness, or as a preparation for prayers and pious meditations, or as a testimony of our humiliation in the presence of God when we are desirous of confessing our guilt before him.”
Playlist: Have Mercy on Me by The Porter’s Gate
Prayer
Father in heaven, through your probing eyes search my heart and reveal to me the areas of my life that are hindering fellowship with you. Expose those areas of my life that are interfering with my spiritual fruitfulness. Grant me the courage to face them with faith and confess them fully and humbly before you. Father, I want more of you and to be fully used by you. Amen.
Take a few moments to journal what God had taught you today.
Week 1 // Day 4
“Real Hunger”
Fasting is a struggle against the flesh and is emotionally and physically demanding; in this we discover what we really hunger for.
Scripture: Deuteronomy 8
Key passages
Deuteronomy 8:2-3 — “Remember how the Lord your God led you through the wilderness for these forty years, humbling you and testing you to prove your character, and to find out whether or not you would obey his commands. Yes, he humbled you by letting you go hungry and then feeding you with manna, a food previously unknown to you and your ancestors. He did it to teach you that people do not live by bread alone; rather, we live by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
Fasting Thought
A.W. Tozer: “Few of us seem to suffer from intensity of hunger and thirst for God. We regularly endure long "spiritual fasts." We won't be filled if we do not hunger and thirst. Rather we will become victims of spiritual malnutrition without hardly being aware of it”
Playlist: We Hunger and Thirst by Sovereign Grace Music
Prayer
Father in heaven, as I move forward in this fast, help me to turn every hunger pain, thought or craving towards you. Teach me to feed on your word and to find a deep satisfaction in your truth.
Take a few moments to journal what God had taught you today.
Week 1 // Day 5
“Confession”
Remember to accompany your fast with confession of sin. Confess your sin, your spiritual weaknesses, your lack of dependence on God; through this we can experience the cleansing forgiveness of Jesus Christ.
Scripture: 1 John 1-2
Key passages
1 John 1:8-10 — “If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts.”
Fasting Thought
Gary Rohrmayer: “Confession recognizes the absence of God’s presence in our lives through our own willfulness or indifference. Fasting is an act of craving more of God’s presence, power and purity in our lives and ministry. Confession is admitting there is something wrong between us and God. Fasting is longing for the fullness of God to flood our souls. When we practice confession in our fasting, our fasting becomes more than a tool to bring God back to us; it becomes an instrument moving us back to God because God never moves.”
Playlist: Forgive Us by The Many
Prayer
Father in heaven, show me through this fast those areas of spiritual weakness and self-reliance in my life so that I may confess them and receive your healing, cleansing and purifying forgiveness.
Father, I want to experience a new level of spiritual refreshment and strength that can only come through you. In the strong name of Jesus Christ our Lord I pray. Amen.
Take a few moments to journal what God had taught you today.
Week 1 // Day 6
“Yearnings”
Fasting is ultimately a yearning for something missing. Something was previously experienced but now is absent from our lives.
Scripture: Matthew 9
Key passages
Matthew 9:14-15 — “One day the disciples of John the Baptist came to Jesus and asked him, ‘Why don’t your disciples fast like we do and the Pharisees do?’ Jesus replied, ‘Do wedding guests mourn while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.’”
Fasting Thought
John Piper: “Christian fasting, at its root, is the hunger or a homesickness for God. It tells only half the story of Christian fasting. Half of Christian fasting is that our physical appetite is lost because our homesickness for God is so intense. The other half is that our homesickness for God is threatened because our physical appetites are so intense. In the first half, appetite is lost. In the second half, appetite is resisted. In the first, we yield to the higher hunger that is. In the second, we fight for the higher hunger that isn’t. Christian fasting is not only the spontaneous effect of a superior satisfaction in God; it is also a chosen weapon against every force in the world that would take that satisfaction away.”
Playlist: Just Say by Brothers McClurg
Prayer
Father in heaven, fill my life with a deeper awareness of your presence and power in my life. Grant me a deeper hunger for you than for those creature comforts the world offers. Give me victory this day. In the strong name of Jesus Christ my Lord I pray. Amen.
Take a few moments to journal what God had taught you today.
Week 1 // Day 7
“Discerning”
Fasting is a tool that aids in discerning the call of God in our lives. Fasting helps us slow down and hear God’s voice.
Scripture: Acts 9
Key passages
Acts 9:3-6, 9 — “As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, ‘Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?’ ‘Who are you, lord?’ Saul asked. And the voice replied, ‘I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting! Now get up and go into the city, and you will be told what you must do… He remained there blind for three days and did not eat or drink.”
Fasting Thought
Elmer Towns: “A discerning fast “involves focusing on our choices instead of on our foods and praying our decisions through to successful conclusions…this type of fast helps us receive God’s wisdom to make our decisions. This type of fast is not for every minor decision in life, such as where to go for lunch or what minor purchase to make. A discerning fast offers help in weighty decisions such as choosing a mate, resigning from a job and other life-changing choices. Fasting brings more light into the application of good decision-making skills.”
Playlist: Reason to Sing by All Sons & Daughters
Prayer
Father in heaven, today in my fast I yield to you and seek your wisdom in my life. Through this fast today grant me a greater perspective on those decisions before me, both minor and major. I want your best in my life.
Protect me from being impulsive and rash and guide me in your perfect ways. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Take a few moments to journal what God had taught you today.