My pastor is calling the congregation to a fast in January as is his practice. He\u2019s not alone in this; at this time of year many churches and individual believers around the world put aside some time to seek God with a more targeted focus for the year to come. Fasting is one of the techniques which God has prescribed to bring that focus. Tomorrow I plan to set out some of the points that he shared on the topic.<\/p>\n
Fasting has played a significant role in establishing this nation and in bringing forth guidance in dark times in our history. Before the United States became a nation, the Continental Congress declared a fast to be held on March 16, 1776.[1]<\/a> President John Adams declared a fast for April 25, 1799,[2]<\/a> and President Abraham Lincoln called for prayer and fasting three different times: on the last Thursday of September, 1861; on April 30, 1863; and then on the first Thursday of August, 1864 [3]\u00a0<\/a>(see footnotes, end of blog).<\/p>\n The Lord pointed His disciples to the discipline of prayer and fasting when they were unable to cast a demon out of a deaf mute boy stricken with seizures (see Mark 9 and Matthew 17). Later, when Jesus instructed the disciples concerning their inability to drive out the demon, He concluded with these words, \u201cBut this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting<\/i>\u201d (Matthew 17:21).<\/p>\n Prayer is powerful; prayer with fasting underscores one\u2019s seriousness before God. When I first became concerned about the United States, I prayed frequently for the nation. And as I learned more about issues and problems in the nation I felt troubled about what seemed to be a lack of concern for the nation\u2019s downward spiral. I took this alarm to God.<\/p>\n \u201cLord! Don\u2019t You think it\u2019s time someone called a fast for the nation? Who\u2019s doing this?\u201d (I have learned since that many groups and individuals have been praying and fasting for America.) I persisted, \u201cLord, who\u2019s fasting?!\u201d<\/p>\n His response? \u201cNo one\u2019s stopping you<\/i> from doing it.\u201d<\/p>\n And so I began fasting with a determined focus in the month of January. Not having had a strong track record with fasting, I dove into a ten day fast in 2010. It was spiritually amazing. The voice of God was clear, and the year that followed was the best year I had experienced in my life up to that time. However, I drank fruit juice throughout the entire ten days, and my esophagus knew it. It was burning up.<\/p>\n In 2011, I wanted to fast again in January. The Lord led me to a different approach for my body\u2019s health. I fasted twenty-one days, but in sets of threes\u2014two days liquid fast (only one fruit juice per day; the rest was water) and one day Daniel fast (see Daniel 1:12 and 10:2-3). I followed this sequence for the duration. Again, the year that followed was wonderful, and I had no physical issues. One benefit for me personally with this way of fasting involved my dislike for most vegetables. After going without food for a couple of days, I looked forward to those veggies!<\/p>\n I continued with this in 2012 and 2013. Now I wish that earlier in my Christian life I had taken the practice of fasting more seriously. I can sense God\u2019s presence and help throughout the rest of the year in a far greater way after fasting in January.<\/p>\n One resource that helped me get over my reluctance to fast was a book by Jentezen Franklin, simply entitled Fasting <\/i>(\u00a9 2008). I read it before I started the first big fast in 2010, and by the time I finished reading it, I couldn\u2019t wait to start! Trust me, that in itself is a miracle. A second resource that I have referred to every January is Pastor Franklin\u2019s website which carries a devotional blog. His entire church fasts together, many of them for the full twenty-one days, some forgoing all food while others participate in a Daniel fast. I enjoy the daily devotions geared toward fasting, but I think what excites me the most is reading the comments of believers from around the world, all talking about their fasting. Reading it connects me with the larger body, all of us fasting together. His site is http:\/\/www.jentezenfranklin.org <\/a><\/p>\n I would like to challenge you to prayerfully consider spending some time this month before God with not only prayer, but also fasting. Whether it’s a meal, a day-long fast, a three-day fast, a Daniel fast, a media fast, a sugar fast\u2014ask God if He might be leading you into some quality time with Him by fasting here at the beginning of the year. I’ll bet you could think of a thing or two both in your life and the nation that could use some prayer!<\/p>\n And as you ask the Lord to show you how He wants you to participate, He’ll direct you.<\/p>\n Dorothy<\/p>\n [1]<\/a> http:\/\/www.wallbuilders.com\/libissuesarticles.asp?id=56<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n [2]<\/a> http:\/\/www.presidency.ucsb.edu\/ws\/index.php?pid=65675<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n [3]<\/a> http:\/\/www.tscpulpitseries.org\/english\/1990s\/ts910201.html<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My pastor is calling the congregation to a fast in January as is his practice. He\u2019s not alone in this; at this time of year many churches and individual believers around the world put aside some time to seek God with a more targeted focus for the year to come. Fasting is one of the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fasting"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3666"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3686,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3666\/revisions\/3686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.firstofallpray.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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