21-DAY PRAYER & FASTING GUIDE
Welcome to our annual 21 Days of Prayer & Fasting Guide! Whatever fasting looks like for you, we encourage you to focus less on “what am I fasting from” and more on “what am I feasting on?” Fasting simply creates space to feast more on God in prayer and Scripture. We hope this guide will help you in that endeavor.
This year’s guide is designed to focus on a weekly theme, with different practices to engage with each day. The practices are designed to build on one another as you progress through the week, but you are welcome to utilize this guide as you like. You can do the practices in a different order, do more than one a day, or repeat a particular practice through the week. However, we encourage you to explore all the various ways that we provide for you to meditate, reflect, and pray the Scriptures, allowing the Holy Spirit to excavate your heart and speak to you.
Practices:
Read/Listen/Copy the Scripture
Prayer Walk
Scripture Reflection Questions
Pray the Scripture
Prayer for the Leadership Transition
Thursday Prayer Gathering:
In addition to the guide and our Sunday gatherings, we will be making space for a weekly prayer gathering during the 21 Days. As you can, before dinner or on your commute home from work, join us on Thursday evenings at 6 pm for a time of communal prayer in the chapel. Prayer meetings will be hosted on January 18th, 25th, and February 1st. If you are in a life group that meets on Thursday nights, consider coming to the prayer gathering as a group, or spend time in prayer during your life group gathering.
What is Fasting?
Fasting is the spiritual practice of abstaining from food or other activities for a specific period of time so you can focus more on God. Fasting is a tangible way to deny ourselves—to declare that God is the center of our lives and everything else bows to Him. Jesus said, “Whoever wants to follow me must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me.” In fact, Jesus fasted as a spiritual practice (Matthew 4:1-11). That’s the main reason we do an annual fast together. As people who follow Jesus, we want to follow the way He lived and practiced His faith.
How do I fast?
There are various ways to fast:
· Give up food and only drink water or clear liquids.
· Do a “Daniel fast” where you abstain from meat, dairy, desserts, soda, etc. (See Daniel 1 & 10:2-3 and Google for details).
· Fast a specific meal each day or a particular type of food (sugar, coffee, etc.).
· Fast from things that hold a significant place in your life: social media, shopping, technology, certain types of music, books (other than the Bible), etc.
What if I have health issues?
Don’t fast if you’re pregnant, diabetic, have heart disease, or any other medical condition that adds risk to fasting from food. Remember, you’re not under any obligation to fast food. It’s not a requirement for a close connection to God. Instead, find a safe alternative for removing material distractions from your life so you can better focus on your heavenly Father.
Week 1 | January 14-January 20
WEEK 1: Loving God with “all your heart” (inner life).
WEEK 1
Scripture: Psalm 139:1-10
1 You have searched me, Lord,
and you know me.
2 You know when I sit and when I rise;
you perceive my thoughts from afar.
3 You discern my going out and my lying down;
you are familiar with all my ways.
4 Before a word is on my tongue
you, Lord, know it completely.
5 You hem me in behind and before,
and you lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me,
too lofty for me to attain.
7 Where can I go from your Spirit?
Where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I go up to the heavens, you are there;
if I make my bed in the depths, you are there.
9 If I rise on the wings of the dawn,
if I settle on the far side of the sea,
10 even there your hand will guide me,
your right hand will hold me fast.
PRACTICE 1
Read, listen, or hand copy Psalm 139:1-10. You could also choose to do one of each in the morning, at noon, and in the evening.
PRACTICE 2
Utilize Lectio Divina to meditate on Psalm 139:1-10. Instructions for this practice are included at the end of the guide.
PRACTICE 3
Prayer Walk. Go for a walk in your neighborhood, community, or workplace, praying as you walk. Pray for the inner lives of those around you, and that the Lord would reveal himself through you as he brings transformation to your inner life.
PRACTICE 4
Reflecting Psalm 139:1-10
Invite the Holy Spirit to help you reflect over this past week, inviting His examination and correction. (John 14:26)
Where did you respond to God speaking to and guiding you?
Where did you find yourself overlooking God’s presence or voice with you? Where did you find yourself pulling away from God’s invitation?
Do I dedicate intentional time in my life to invite God to examine my heart and bring correction? Where might I be able to fold this practice into my regular rhythms?
PRACTICE 5
Praying Psalm 139:23-24
Expand on the scripture in your own words as you pray it back to God, allowing its content to shape your prayer and personalizing it to your life and reflections from the past few days.
PRACTICE 6
Pray for our Next Lead Pastor.
Pray especially that God would strengthen the inner life of our future lead pastor. Pray that they would keep their heart tender and humble before the Lord, living in a posture that invites transformation, correction, and accountability.
Week 2 | January 21-January 27
WEEK 2: Loving God with “all your soul”
(whole life; within natural/spiritual family life).
WEEK 2
Scripture: Deuteronomy 6:4-9
4 Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one.[a] 5 Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. 6 These commandments that I give you today are to be on your hearts. 7 Impress them on your children. Talk about them when you sit at home and when you walk along the road, when you lie down and when you get up. 8 Tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads. 9 Write them on the doorframes of your houses and on your gates.
PRACTICE 1
Read, listen, or hand copy Deuteronomy 6:4-9. You could also choose to do one of each in the morning, at noon, and in the evening.
PRACTICE 2
Utilize Lectio Divina to meditate on Deuteronomy 6:4-9. Instructions for this practice are included at the end of the guide.
PRACTICE 3
Prayer Walk. Go for a walk in your neighborhood, community, or workplace, praying as you walk. Pray that the transformation of your inner life would flow out into the lives of those you are in community with. Pray for wisdom, insight, and discernment as you sow seeds of the Kingdom by living an integrated faith life in community.
PRACTICE 4
Reflecting on Deuteronomy 6:4-9
This scripture describes discipleship of a community that happens in their daily activities of coming and going. What “comings and goings” in my life are overlooked opportunities to walk out discipleship with others?
Who is the “family” (natural and/or spiritual) that God has placed in my life to walk in discipleship with? What relationships of this kind do I want to be more intentional to seek out?
What can I do to keep the commandments and story of God in the front of my mind and with me through my day? How might this overflow into the lives of those I love and do life with?
PRACTICE 5
Praying Deuteronomy 6:4-9
Expand on the Scripture in your own words as you pray it back to God, allowing its content to shape your prayer and personalizing it to your life and reflections from the past few days.
For example: “Thank you God, that you love me fully, with all that you are. Help me to love you with my heart, soul, and strength. Keep your commandments in my heart, and reveal the opportunities I have to walk with and disciple others in my day-to-day living. Continue to open my eyes to the spiritual and natural family you have surrounded me with. Transform me to leave a legacy of loving and following you with my whole self. Amen.”
PRACTICE 6
Praying for our Next Lead Pastor.
Pray especially for the community of our future pastor. Pray that the Lord would surround them with community that brings them closer to Him. Pray that their inner life would flow out to those around them, passing on a legacy of knowledge, devotion, and transformation in the Lord.
Week 3 | January 28-February 3
WEEK 3: Loving God with “all your strength” (substance/resources + public life).
WEEK 3
Scripture: Mark 12:41-44
41 Jesus sat down opposite the place where the offerings were put and watched the crowd putting their money into the temple treasury. Many rich people threw in large amounts. 42 But a poor widow came and put in two very small copper coins, worth only a few cents.
43 Calling his disciples to him, Jesus said, “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put more into the treasury than all the others. 44 They all gave out of their wealth; but she, out of her poverty, put in everything—all she had to live on.”
PRACTICE 1
Read, listen, or hand copy Mark 12:41-44. You could also choose to do one of each in the morning, at noon, and in the evening.
PRACTICE 2
Utilize Lectio Divina to meditate on Mark 12:41-44. Instructions for this practice are included at the end of the guide.
PRACTICE 3
Prayer Walk. Go for a walk in your neighborhood, community, or workplace, praying as you walk. Pray for a transformation in the way you steward and value your resources, revealing a life aligned with God’s way and blessing others with what you have. Pray that the Lord would allow you to grow in your relationship with those you do not know and that the Kingdom of God would be experienced through you, even by strangers.
PRACTICE 4
Reflecting on Mark 12:41-44
What has God entrusted to me as substance or resource? Am I stewarding this resource in a way that reflects a life devoted to God’s way?
What would it look like for me to worship God through the stewardship, value, and treatment of my resources? What practical things might I need to change to move in this direction?
How might a comparison of someone else’s worshipful living to my own distract me from what I am called to do?
PRACTICE 5
Praying Mark 12:41-44
Expand on the scripture in your own words as you pray it back to God, allowing its content to shape your prayer and personalizing it to your life and reflections from the past few days.
For example:
“Father, all that I have is yours. Let my stewardship and generosity be led by love, obedience, and surrender. Keep my pride in check, that I would not live or give lavishly to impress others. Cultivate in me a heart of giving sacrificially of my time, money, and resources; not just out of my excess but from all I have. Show me what it looks like to love you with what I have been given and to honor you with the use of my resources. Transform me, that my stewardship of my resources and material things may reveal a devotion to you. You are Lord over all I have.”
PRACTICE 6
Praying for our Next Lead Pastor
Pray particularly that their inner life would be reflected in their public life. May their faith and love for you be revealed in the way they act and treat others. Give them the wisdom to spend and invest the resources of our congregation well, aligned with God’s will and led by the strength of their inner life in Him.
Lectio Divina Instructions:
Scripture prayer (Lectio Divina, meaning Sacred Reading) is based on a pattern of reading, silence, and reflection. The spiritual premise is that when we listen, the Lord will instruct us in His ways.
Silence is used to center on Christ before the passage is read. There are no expectations. Sometimes we receive insights. Sometimes we are comforted. Sometimes we have more questions.
Even if you are alone, read out loud. The Bible was written for an audience that would hear the Word. Few people had access to the written text at that time. By hearing the Word, we receive the Word as the writers intended the experience for the original hearers.
Scripture prayer is not a substitute for Bible study. The Word of God is worthy of careful study. In the act of study, God also can and does speak. Scripture prayer is a way to allow God access to our inner being, instructing us in ways we might not have considered. Some describe it as a time of allowing the Scripture to read you.
Prayer Steps:
Read God’s Word. The passage is read aloud slowly two times. The listeners close their eyes in order to focus on the hearing. Listen for a word or phrase that is highlighted for you. Sit in silence for a couple of minutes.
Reflect on God’s Word. The passage is read again. During the silence reflect on how the passage speaks to your life today.
Respond to God. Read the passage again. During the few minutes of silence, consider how God is calling you to respond. Pray and tell Jesus your intended response to what you’ve heard. It might be praise, some action, something to think about more.
Rest in God. Read the passage again. Rest in the words in silence for a few minutes. Close with your own prayer or the Lord’s Prayer.
After your prayer, journal about your experience or talk with a spiritual friend. The value of wisdom prayer is to keep ourselves open to the teaching of Christ.