21 Days of Prayer and Fasting

I am so excited about what God is going to do as we, as a whole church, set aside 21 days to pray and fast for breakthrough. We’ve done this for two years running now and I know many have experienced greater intimacy with God and many have reported breakthrough in their areas of need. It’s a fantastic season in the life of our church.

I believe this is going to be breakthrough for us as church. I believe we are going to see more souls than ever before come in to the kingdom. I believe we are going to see the supernatural released through our everyday lives at a whole new level. I believe we are going to step into significance as we see our church step into something so out of the box that we will just stand back and be amazed. I believe we as individuals will have renewed passion for Him and we will see breakthrough in our personal lives and I know we as a church body are going to go deeper in Him.

We’ve included a list of commonly asked questions about fasting to help get you prepared.

All I can say is expect the unexpected. Mountains will be moved and the impossible made possible as we all pray and fast together for breakthrough.

David

Why should I fast?

Fasting is all about hooking into the supernatural. If we just keep to our normal natural routine we’re not really giving God anything to work with. So we fast to break our routine up and to create an opportunity for God to do something supernatural in our lives. We are doing something that is unnatural; to us because we want to make room for God to do something supernatural. It’s all about living our lives at another level and seeking to go deeper in Him.

Where is fasting in the bible?

· Mt 4:1-11 – Jesus fasts and deals with temptation.

· Mt 6:16 – 18 – Jesus speaks about how fasting should be done.

· Lk 18:9-14 – Jesus shares on the motives of fasting.

· 1 Sam 7:5-6, Ezra 8:21-23, Neh 9:1-3, Joel 2:15-16, Jonah 3:5-10, Acts 27:33-37 – Corporate fasts

· Isa 58 – Having the right attitude

What should I fast from?

People in the bible fasted from many things. Daniel fasted from no meat, sweets or bread, Jesus fasted completely from food and water. Basically it’s different for everyone. The best thing to do is to ask God what he would challenge you to fast from keeping in mind that it should create an opportunity to create more time for prayer. Some may fast from TV, some one meal a day, some a particular kind of food or from food completely. It will be different for everyone, but it should be a sacrifice for everyone.

What’s in it for me?

Fasting will guarantee that you will go deeper in your personal relationship with God. In James 4:8 it says that if we draw nearer to God he will draw near to God. Fasting is a way to practice this truth and see it applied to our lives.

Because we are doing this as a corporate fast, you will also experience a greater joining of your heart into the vision of the church and will definitely feel part of it. Imagine a year down the track when we are seeing amazing things and you can say, I was part of making this happen.

What should I be praying about?

We’ll be providing a prayer guide that will help guide your prayer each day. Each day will have a prayer point to guide you in going deeper in Him on a personal level, how to embrace the vision of the church for yourself and around the whole church moving forward in our God given vision. Your prayer, combined with the prayers of others is going to create amazing momentum for all God wants to do through us.

Why are we fasting as a church?

As a church, we want to go to the next level in God. We want to embrace everything he has for us and go deeper in Him as a corporate body. We believe God is about to do something amazing in our midst as we seek Him. We are not trying to twist God’s arm by fasting but rather are wanting to give God something to work with and take the time to pray and seek Him about what He would have us to. We hope that as a result God will make our hearts more like his and that our direction as a church would be to follow Him wherever he would lead us, walking in the power of the Holy Spirit.

During our fast we are going to focus on a different theme each week:

· Engage with God…for each individual and our church to go to the next level in God

· Engage in Team…for every person in our church to find a fulfilling and effective place to serve on a volunteer team

· Engage with Others…to serve and influence our world, through the people we know, across the road and around the globe

We already understand that this is our God-given vision so we are going to focus in on it and invite God to let it burn in our hearts.

How do I prepare for the fast?

Some key things you can do to prepare for the fast are:

· Write down in a journal what you are hoping to achieve from your fast.

· Pray about what to fast from.

· Put strategies in place ahead of time on how you are going to cope when you are hungry or feeling tempted.

· Prepare for storm in your life. It would be naive to think that this is going to be easy and that the devil will just let you break through to another level. Make sure you are ready for storms that may come your way and know that these will make you mature (James 1:2-4).

How do I stay motivated?

We’re doing our best to provide lots of options to help you stay focused and on track as you seek to go deeper in God. Take advantage of all of our options by:

· Signing up for a daily email devotion that will encourage and inspire you.

· Use the daily prayer guide to focus your prayers.

· Use the daily journal questions to focus your thoughts.

· Attend a Connect Group

· Come expectant to our 3 weekends of Deeper with David Doery (Aug 7&8, Aug 14 & 15) and special guest Jimmy Mutebi on Aug 21 & 22 with a special Sunday night service at 5pm on Aug 22.

· Read a book on fasting. We recommend: “Fasting” by Jentezen Franklin available at our bookshop.