FASTING COLLECTIVELY
Read: Joel 2:12-18
Churches are increasingly deciding to declare special times of collective fasting and prayer. There is great power when we fast and seek God as a whole church.
In the first part of the Bible, God himself called his people here to fast and turn back to him. Today, our fasting is not about averting punishment or pleading for forgiveness of sins. Every sin and punishment were carried by Jesus Christ. But today, as in those days, the Father is concerned with the hearts of his children, not with outward gestures.
Read: Revelations 2:4-5a
The call found in the Book of Joel was to all the people - from infants to seniors. The spiritual leaders came before the throne of God in a special way to intercede. And today also, we are called to intercede as Christians, for example for our country, our government, for persecuted Christians, the powerful proclamation of God's Word, and for people being saved.
Especially in a phase in which the whole world is reeling from shocks, in which no one knows exactly what will happen next, where plans that were previously considered so certain suddenly become uncertain, the call to the church to turn to God with all their heart and to pray as a royal priesthood is more relevant than ever.
The Book of Acts describes how the whole church gathered in prayer for specific concerns and how God supernaturally intervened in response to their prayers.
Read: Acts 12:5
Let us turn our hearts to God together in a new way - in fasting and prayer - and pray in agreement with the heart of God that his kingdom will come.
Perhaps you would like to fast with your Lifegroup or with your spouse, or as a whole family. Maybe you can join with a friend. Join us for our daily church prayer meetings every night, either on our prayer conference call or Wednesday night service. Once you team up with someone else in fasting and prayer, there is an added special power because you are standing together as a group for one cause.
Immediately following the collective fasting in the book of Joel, you see God reaching out to his people again (Joel 2:18). And in the section on the fasting challenge, it says:
“And afterward, I will pour out my Spirit on all people. Your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men will dream dreams, your young men will see visions." (Joel 3:1)
Fasting can have tremendous effects. A new outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Revival. Signs and wonders. Prophetic dreams and visions. But in all of this, God is always interested in our heart, to be close to his heart.
Prayer
Father, thank you for the many examples in the Bible where your people came together to fast and pray. Help me and help us to fast as you want us to. I turn my heart to you anew. Please touch my heart this fasting season with the things that move you. We long for revival in ourselves, in our churches, and in our country. Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven! Amen.
Prayer Points
Thank the Lord for allowing you to participate in this year’s 21 days of prayer and fasting.
1 John 1:9 – Confess any known and unknown sins.
Praise the Lord for bringing you and your household into the year 2023.
1 Kings 18:46 - Ask God for special grace and strength to sustain and keep you during this fasting season.
Joel 2:12 - Lord, let this year’s 21-day fast make a difference in my life. (pray this earnestly)
Joel 2:14 – Lord, let this year’s fast make a difference in every participant’s life. Let them receive the blessings (spiritual and physical) that comes from fasting.
Joel 2:15-16 – Father, let every church that is in a fasting season have divine encounters and receive the blessings (spiritual and physical) that comes from fasting.
Joel 2:17 – I declare and decree that I will not become the object or ridicule among my family and peers because I serve Jehovah. (pray this earnestly)
Joel 2:17 – Lord, we pray that PPT and the church will not become the object of ridicule.
Joel 2:18 – Jehovah Nissi, defend the church and give us victory from the devil’s onslaught from the world around us. (pray this earnestly)
Rev 2:4 – Ask God to forgive you of any luke-warmness and remove anything in your life that festers this condition in our spiritual lives.
Rev 2:4 – Lord, remove any thing that festers the condition of luke-warmness in the church today. (mention them)
Rev 2:5 – Father, use this year’s fasting to bring back the zeal and fire (first love) that I had when I first believed. (pray this earnestly)
Rev 2:5 – Elohim, use this year’s fast to bring back the zeal and fire (first love) of every participant.
Acts 12:5 – Father, release a spirit of prayer on PPT and the church. (pray this earnestly)
Pray for the PPT missionaries and the persecuted church.
Pray about 4 things you would want God to do for you during this 21-day fast.
Prayer Declaration
If it had not been you, Jehovah Ebenezer, our helper on my side, where would I be? Your grace and mercy brought me through 2022 and now I have seen 2023. Father, I am thankful and appreciate all that You have done for me, my household, PPT households and the church.
Oh Lord, as we wait on you through intense prayers and fasting this month, let me, my household, and PPT experience “open heavens” creating spiritual opportunities resulting in having dominion over our lives (health, career, relationships, and finances).
I declare and decree that every spiritual valley in and around my life will be filled with an overflow of Jehovah’s blessings. I declare and decree that every spiritual mountain and hill in my way, in my family’s way, in PPT households’ way will be brought low in Jesus’ name.
I declare and decree that every spiritual crooked place in and around my life will be made straight by your power. I declare and decree that every spiritual rough way in my pathway, in my family’s pathway, PPT households’ pathway and the church’s pathway will be smooth.
I affirm that the zeal of the Lord will accomplish this. So shall it be.
Group prayer at 8:00 pm tonight.
Conference Call
Dial: 647-977-2648 (Canada) / 202-602-1295 (USA)
Code: 827-220-552#