21 Days of Prayer: Week 2
(January 18-24, 2021)
Week 2 // Day 1
“Replacing vs. Abstaining”
Fasting is more about replacing than it is about abstaining — replacing normal daily activities with focused praying, confessing, feeding on the Word and worshiping the Lord.
Scripture: Nehemiah 9
Key passages
Nehemiah 9:1-3 — “On October 31 the people assembled again, and this time they fasted and dressed in burlap and sprinkled dust on their heads. Those of Israelite descent separated themselves from all foreigners as they confessed their own sins and the sins of their ancestors. They remained standing in place for three hours while the Book of the Law of the Lord their God was read aloud to them. Then for three more hours they confessed their sins and worshiped the Lord their God.”
Fasting Thought
J.I. Packer: “We tend to think of fasting as going without food. But we can fast from anything. If we love music and decide to miss a concert in order to spend time with God, that is fasting. It is helpful to think of the parallel of human friendship. When friends need to be together, they will cancel all other activities in order to make that possible. There’s nothing magical about fasting. It’s just one way of telling God that your priority at that moment is to be alone with him, sorting out whatever is necessary, and you have cancelled the meal, party, concert or whatever else you had planned to do in order to fulfill that priority.”
Playlist: Nothing Else by Cody Carnes
Prayer
Father in heaven, as I fast today, I desire to seek your face through earnest prayer and honest confession, feeding on large portions of your word and offering responsive praise. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Take a few moments to journal what God had taught you today.
Week 2 // Day 2
“Thirsts”
Let your thirsts drive you to God that he may satisfy your desires and meet the needs of your soul.
Scripture: Psalm 63
Key passages
Psalm 63:1 — “O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.”
Fasting Thought
Andrew Murray: “Prayer needs fasting for its full growth. Prayer is the one hand with which we grasp the invisible. Fasting is the other hand, the one with which we let go of the visible….Prayer is reaching out after the unseen; fasting is letting go of all that is seen and temporal. Fasting helps express, deepen, confirm the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything, even ourselves, to attain what we seek for the kingdom of God.”
Playlist: Agnus Dei by Trinity Music
Prayer
Father in heaven, I reach out to you, the only one who can satisfy my thirsty heart and meet the needs within my soul. Through this fast may I crave you and your kingdom more and more. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Take a few moments to journal what God had taught you today.
Week 2 // Day 3
“Craving”
Fasting has a way of revealing what our hearts really crave. It can reveal what our soul needs and how we satisfy those deepest wants.
Scripture: Matthew 4
Key passages
Matthew 4:2-4 — “For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry. During that time the devil came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become loaves of bread.’ But Jesus told him, ‘No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Fasting Thought
Donald Whitney: “Fasting can be an expression of finding your greatest pleasure and enjoyment in life from God. That’s the case when disciplining yourself to fast means you love God more than food, that seeking him is more important to you than eating. This honors God and is a means of worshiping him as God.”
Playlist: Like Incense/Sometimes By Step by Hillsong
Prayer
Father in heaven, only you meet my deepest needs. Today grant me the ability to turn my hunger pains into moments of worship and praise, focusing on the beauty and splendor of your holiness and reveling in your infinite mercy. May you receive all the honor and praise as I come to you in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Take a few moments to journal what God had taught you today.
Week 2 // Day 4
“Cheerfulness”
In fasting it is virtuous to conceal our suffering and discomfort with cheerfulness.
Scripture: Matthew 6
Key passages
Matthew 6:16-18 — “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. But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face. Then no one will notice that you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in private. And your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.”
Fasting Thought
A.W. Tozer: “Let us learn from our Lord’s instruction about fasting, the great importance of cheerfulness in our religion. Those words ‘anoint thy head and wash thy face’ are full of deep meaning. They should teach us to aim at letting men see we find that Christianity makes us happy. Never let us forget that there is not religion in looking melancholy and gloomy. Are we dissatisfied with Christ’s wages and Christ’s service? Surely not! Then let us not look as if we were.”
Playlist: With You by Elevation Worship
Prayer
Father in heaven, let me finish this fast with joy and cheerfulness as I feed on your beauty, truth and goodness. May every growl of my stomach, every internal complaint and headache be turned into moments of dependence on you and delight in every spiritual blessing I have in Christ. In the precious name of Jesus I pray. Amen.
Take a few moments to journal what God had taught you today.
Week 2 // Day 5
“Satisfaction”
Fasting is rewarded because it is a cry from the heart of those who find their ultimate satisfaction in God and in God alone.
Scripture: Psalm 73
Key passages
Psalm 73:25-26 — “Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.”
Fasting Thought
John Piper: “When God sees the confession of need and this expression of trust, he acts, because the glory of his all-sufficient grace is at stake. The final answer is that God rewards fasting because fasting expresses the cry of the heart that nothing on earth can satisfy our souls besides God. God must reward this cry because God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in him.”
Playlist: Psalm 23 by Shane & Shane
Prayer
Father, whom have I in heaven but you? And besides you I desire nothing on earth. My heart and my flesh may fail. But you are the strength of my heart and my portion forever and ever. I declare this in the precious name of Jesus. Amen.
Take a few moments to journal what God had taught you today.
Week 2 // Day 6
“Sacrifice”
Are you tired of fasting? Fasting is a sacrificial act that realigns our affections, moving them from the temporal to the eternal. It turns each moment of craving into a prayer of intense dependence.
Scripture: Psalm 109
Key passages
Psalm 109:24 — “My knees are weak from fasting…”
Fasting Thought
William Law: “If religion requires us to sometimes fast and deny our natural appetites, it is to lessen that struggle and war that is in our nature; it is to render our bodies fitter instruments of purity, and more obedient to the good motions of divine grace; it is to dry up the springs of our passions that war against the soul, to cool the flame of our blood, and render the mind more capable of divine meditations. So that although these abstinences give some pain to the body, yet they so lessen the power of bodily appetites and passions, and so increase our taste of spiritual joys, that even these severities of religion, when practiced with discretion, add much to the comfortable enjoyment of our lives.”
Playlist: New Wine by Hillsong
Prayer
Father in heaven, my flesh is tired, my spirit is weakening; grant me the mental focus, spiritual awareness and physical will to push through the quitting points as I seek to realign my desires to your perfect will and your mission and for your glory. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Take a few moments to journal what God had taught you today.
Week 2 // Day 7
“Authentic Fasting”
Fasting must be accompanied with goodwill and good works toward others to be effective and pleasing to God.
Scripture: Isaiah 58
Key passages
Isaiah 58:3-4 — “‘We have fasted before you!’ they say ‘Why aren’t you impressed? We have been very hard on ourselves, and you don’t even notice it!’
‘I will tell you why!’ I respond, ‘It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves. Even while you fast, you keep oppressing your workers. What good is fasting when you keep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get you anywhere with me.’”
Fasting Thought
John Piper: “Why is this fasting unacceptable to God? What’s wrong with it? What’s wrong with it is that it left the sin in their lives untouched. The only authentic fasting is fasting that includes a spiritual attack against our own sin. Whatever else we fast for, we must fast for our own holiness. We cannot fast for anything with authenticity while living in known sin.”
Playlist: Build My Life by Pat Barrett
Prayer
Father in heaven, grant me the faith to move closer to the light of God’s holiness and to deal with the darkness of my own soul. Grant me the courage through this fast to examine my attitudes and behaviors toward those around me and to make right any wrongs for which I am responsible.
Father, I desire that my fast be acceptable to you. In Jesus’ name I pray. Amen.
Take a few moments to journal what God had taught you today.