Days of Fasting

Jesus made it clear in Matthew 6:17 that fasting was to be a part of the lifestyle of His followers. We believe that fasting is an important tool that God has given us to increase in intimacy; it takes our attention from ourselves and places it upon God, opens our hearts and minds to hear His voice more clearly and prepares us to follow in greater obedience and fervor than ever before.

At different times each year we practice corporate fasting, a season in which we fast together for a set amount of time with a specific focus. During those times this page will be updated each day with Scriptures and focus for each day of fasting.

The next scheduled time of fasting will be May 21-May 31.

Fasting to Become the Possession of Christ

Day 1 Giving God Possession of Our Hearts

Jeremiah 17:9 “the heart is deceitful above all things.”

The cry of our culture has been “follow your heart.” Our hearts have led us astray; they have led us by emotion, by desire, by want and by the moment. Today we pray to become leaders of our hearts rather than followers. Proverbs 27:19 says “Guard your heart for it is the wellspring of life.” Today we give Jesus possession of our hearts, we do not invite Him in but rather we give Him control, ownership and authority to override, overtake and overrule every fleshly and self-seeking desire of our hearts.

We fast and pray today that Ezekiel 36:26 would be accomplished in our lives: “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit within you; I will take the heart of stone out of your flesh and give you a heart of flesh.”

Day 2 Giving God Possession of Our Dreams/Desires

Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart.”

Our desires come from our hearts. As long as our hearts are still deceitful (Jeremiah 17:9) our desires and dreams are of the same nature. Now that we have given God possession of our hearts we must also give Him ownership of our desires, our hopes and our dreams. Our new heart must not be filled with old desires or they will return to their old nature.

Today we fast and pray for the release of our old desires and dreams. We purpose to delight ourselves in the Lord and trust that He will give us the desires of our hearts, our new hearts; hearts filled with and owned by Christ. We declare Isaiah 58:14 over our lives: “Then you shall delight yourself in the Lord; and I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father. The mouth of the Lord has spoken.”

Day 3 Giving God Possession of Our Possessions

Matthew 19:22 “But when the young man heard that saying, he went away sorrowful, for he had great possessions.”

Our fleshly (sinful) hearts seek temporary pleasures. Many of us have been led into and deceived by emotional investments into the things of this world. A rich young man wanted eternal life and he went to Jesus to attain it. Jesus told him to sell all his possessions and follow Him. The young man went away sad because he loved his possessions. We are called to appreciate and care for our possessions but not to love them or cling to them. We must recognize that everything we have has been given by God and so we must be obedient to Him and love Him even with our possessions.

Today we fast and pray for the faith to trust God as our provider, for generous spirits and obedient giving. Our attachment to our possessions shows us the condition of our hearts. Jesus said in Matthew 6:21 “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” Today we declare that our hearts are possessed by God and so we give Jesus ownership of our possessions: of our jobs, our homes, our money and all that we spend it on. We declare that we will “lay up for ourselves treasure in heaven.”

Day 4 Giving God Possession of Our Families

We did not choose our families, they were chosen for us and we for them by God. Matthew 12:49-50 says “And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, Here are My mother and My brothers! For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.” Jesus’ lesson was not disrespect to His family but rather devotion to His calling and to His Father.

Today we fast and pray to entrust our families to God’s care, ownership and possession. We pray for their salvation, their healing, deliverance and blessing. At the same time we release ourselves from people-pleasing, from a yoke of burdensome worry and fear, and from being distracted by the opinions and beliefs of others. We declare that our hearts belong to God and so our steps are ordered by His hands. We will trust His leadership, His guidance, His love and His Spirit. We declare that “we will walk in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake.”

Day 5 Giving God Possession of Our Community

Acts 1:8 “But you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you; and you shall be witnesses to Me in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”

We have been filled with the Holy Spirit that we would be witnesses to Jesus in our communities. Our emotions tell us to be concerned about how our community may affect us, but the Holy Spirit is within us that we would affect our community.

Today we fast and pray to be “salt and light” in our churches, neighborhoods, workplaces and community at large. We repent if our selfish concerns have taken the form of a covering for the light within us. We declare today that we will walk worthy of our calling and make faithful use of the “lamp stand” within us. We give possession of our communities to Jesus, we seek His, “that none would perish”’ and devote ourselves to freedom, healing, redemption and love in every place that God has set our feet.

Day 6 Giving God Possession of Our Minds

II Corinthians 10:4-5 “For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and being ready to punish all disobedience when your obedience is fulfilled.”

I believe that all of our battles take place in our minds. It is where the enemy attacks us, where lies enter, where temptation tries to take root and where selfishness becomes justified and logical.

Today we fast and pray to give God full possession of our minds. We freely acknowledge that His ways and thoughts are higher than ours, so we release ourselves from the bondage of making God, His character and His will fit into our limited understanding. We bind the goodness of God and His unchanging love to our minds so that we can not be easily deceived or led astray. We agree with I Corinthians 2:16 and declare “we have the mind of Christ.” We open our minds to the Holy Spirit and close them to our flesh and the world around us. We pray today for the power to take every thought captive and declare that we are transformed by the renewing of our minds.

Day 7 Giving God Possession of Our Fear and Anxiety

II Timothy 1:7 “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.”

Philippians 4:5b-6a “The Lord is near. Be anxious for nothing.”

Our culture has become paralyzed by fear and anxiety. Our enemy has used these two tools to create isolation and despair. God has never intended His people to be afraid. He is our protector and our defense. He has never wanted us to be anxious. He is our provider, our peace and our joy.

Today we fast and pray for the power to take off all fear and anxiety and give them to God. We have the privilege to cast all of our cares upon Him and today we actively enjoy that privilege as sons and daughters of God. We declare that we will keep our minds stayed on God and He will fulfill His promise to give us perfect peace. We declare that we will obey God’s Word, His voice and His Holy Spirit and give fear and anxiety no place in our lives. We will trust God because He has never failed or disappointed us and we will choose to deny thoughts of worry and embrace thoughts of peace.

Day 8 Giving God Possession of Our Guilt and Shame (Past)

John 8:36 “Therefore if the Son makes you free, you shall be free indeed.”

Guilt and shame are the tools of the enemy. If we are ashamed we will hide from God. Adam and Eve hid from God after they sinned because they were afraid and they covered their nakedness because they were ashamed. Guilt and shame come from sin and only from sin. When Jesus forgives us of our sin He also removes guilt and shame. We are not left with scars and reminders of our past failures, He washes us white as snow so that we are eternally reminded of His glory and His mercy

Today we fast and pray for the removal of ALL guilt and shame. We put our past in God’s possession believing that He has forgiven us, redeemed us and removed our stains. We declare today that we are in Christ and we are new creations, “old things have passed away; behold all things have become new.” We will no longer receive guilt or shame and we will no longer operate in them either, casting them upon others. We proclaim that we are reconciled to God and are now the ministers of reconciliation. “He who the Son sets free is free indeed.”

Day 9 Giving God Possession of Our Judgment and Pride

James 2:13 “For judgment is without mercy to the one who has shown no mercy. Mercy triumphs over judgment.”

I Peter 5:5 “God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble.”

Our minds have justified our own sin by focusing on that of others. The flesh’s way of building itself is to condemn another. We know that “there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” We must understand that being judgmental is always an act of pride; judgment and pride are tied to each other, the only way to walk in mercy is to walk in humility.

We fast and pray today to be a people of mercy and humility. We long to fulfill the longing of God, that His people would “act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with their God.” We give God all of our judgment and ask Him to break our Pharisee ways. We give God all of our pride and ask that He give us humble hearts before He has to crush our prideful ones. We declare today that “mercy triumphs over judgment” and we will walk in mercy. We declare victory in our hearts, our minds, our homes and our communities–the victory of mercy, of healing, of freedom, of love and of redemption.

Day 10 Giving God Possession of Our Future

II Timothy 1:12 “For this reason I also suffer these things; nevertheless I am not ashamed, for I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day.”

We have lived much of our lives unsure of our future. We have often allowed the unknown to keep us from being obedient in this moment. We have trusted God to save our souls but often mistrust Him with tomorrow.

Today we fast and pray for the faith to put all of our future in God’s hands. We declare today that He and He alone will open doors that men cannot shut and He will shut doors that men cannot open. We are confident that our lives are in God’s hands and our life is in the Spirit that dwells within us. We believe that nothing can cut short our days or derail our destiny. As God has spoken so it shall be.

We have given God full possession of our hearts and our minds. We trust Him with our eternity. We believe today that He is faithful, He is loving, He is merciful and He is kind. We believe that God will fulfill His eternal purpose for our lives through the power of the Holy Spirit who dwells in us and to whom we give the freedom to have His way in our lives.

During this 10 days we have fasted and prayed to give God full possession of our hearts, our minds, our past and our future. Tomorrow, on Pentecost Sunday, we will meet together and end our fast by giving God full possession of our present, of this very moment in which we are living. We often spend so much of today trying to undue yesterday and to prepare for tomorrow that we completely miss the moment. We are going to concentrate on now, what God is saying, what God is doing, how God is pouring Himself out and what God is requiring from His people. I pray that our fast has made us empty of ourselves so that we are prepared to be more filled with the Holy Spirit than ever before.