Prayer and Fasting
January 7th - 28thWHY FAST?
The goal of fasting is to draw nearer to God. Biblical fasting always has to do with eliminating distractions for a spiritual purpose; it hits the reset button of our soul and renews us from the inside out. It also enables us to celebrate the goodness and mercy of God and prepares our hearts for all the good things God desires to bring into our lives.
Remember, your personal fast should present a level of challenge, but it is very important to know your body, your options, and, most importantly, to seek God in prayer and follow what the Holy Spirit leads you to do.
DAILY TEXTING PRAYER PROMPTS
Would you like a daily text to prompt you to pray during this Prayer and Fasting time? Text to 765.453.4626 (yes that is the church’s number) “prayer” and the time you’d like to receive. If it’s a morning time, don’t include “am” with your time, but if it’s an afternoon or evening time, you’ll need to include “pm.” For example, “Prayer 9:15” will sign you up for the prompts at 9:15 a.m. and “prayer 10:15 pm” will sign you up for the text at 10:15 p.m.
TROUBLESHOOTING
- I did not get a confirmation text after texting "prayer" and my time to 765.453.4626.
- Solution #1: Is your time format correct? Did you not include "am" for a morning time and include "pm" for an evening time.
- Solution #2: Have you previously unsubscribed - by sending "STOP" for previous prayer text prompts or my10?
- Text "test" to 765.453.4626 to see your status.
- Text "start" to 765.453.4626 resubscribe to the text prompts.
- Then send "prayer" and your time to 765.453.4626
TYPES OF FASTS
Complete Fast
In this type of fast, you drink only liquids, typically water with light juices as an option.
Selective Fast
This type of fast involves removing certain elements from your diet. One example of a selective fast is the Daniel Fast, during which you remove meat, sweets, and bread from your diet and consume water and juice for fluids and fruits and vegetables for food.
Partial Fast
This fast is sometimes called the “Jewish Fast” and involves abstaining from eating any type of food in the morning and afternoon. This can either correlate to specific times of the day, such as 6:00 am to 3:00 pm, or from sunup to sundown.
Soul Fast
This fast is a great option if you do not have much experience fasting food, have health issues that prevent you from fasting food, or if you wish to refocus certain areas of your life that are out of balance. For example, you might choose to stop using social media or watching television for the duration of the fast and then carefully bring that element back into your life in healthy doses at the conclusion of the fast.
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice — the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.