21 Days of Prayer & Fasting - Day 1

Day 1
Good morning to each of you!  We are excited about starting our 21 days of prayer and fasting today. If this is your first time participating in something like this, please do not worry. This is not meant to place us in a position of condemnation due to lack of experience or understanding. Nor, is this meant as a special way to make someone jump to being a "super Christian".  Neither of those extremes are what is important. What is important is our effort to move ourselves and our service to God forward together! So take a deep breathe, relax and let's enjoy the process of doing something new (for some of us), and for revisiting something again (for those of us with fasting experience).

Goals & Objectives
The goal of our 21 days is to pray on one accord and to challenge ourselves individually to increase our level of personal devotion time with God. Our growing ministry is at a place where we need to do more collective work and that comes through communication, yes, but it should fundamentally be fortified by a group of people who are dedicated to personal disciplines - such as prayer and fasting.

Guidelines
First, our health and wellness is not to be compromised as we venture into this process! Therefore, I am linking a wonderful guide that shares basic information about fasting here for your review. However, if this is your first fast, I would suggest not gravitating to the absolute level of fasting - not eating or drinking anything (except possibly water). Instead, I would recommend something like abstaining from sweets while drinking only water to start.  Remember, our health and wellness is not to be compromised, so be mindful about what your specific needs are and do NOT overreach - there are no special bonus points for doing a more extreme type of fasting, be careful and go easy.

Second, limiting our scroll and program watching is really critical here and it is something we can all do. As mentioned in church, I understand things like special events such as the College Football National Championship to be played later today, and that is understandable for participation. The area most we are attempting to target is our personal space when some of us habitually revert to watching the news, scrolling on our phones, or taking in things that are ungodly, directly or indirectly. That space is to be replaced with only Godly sources items such as Bible reading plans (link to YouVersion), listening to sermons online (from credible sources - I can help with that if you like), as well as reading Christian books and articles, etc.  

One of the things a fast will do is alert us to how much we do "automatically" - without thinking about it. This is an effort to bring some of us back to a place of being engaged in making choices that purposefully honor God in our everyday living, and we ALL can do more of that!

Finally
As you get started resist the temptation to be inappropriately legalistic, by condemning yourself or others. Instead, enjoy learning something new that challenges us to grow in our faith. Spend some time reviewing the linked fasting article and then consider how you will begin to approach this season of prayer and fasting. As always, I look forward to being a direct resource and am available for questions and offering guidance as well.  Your comments are welcome here as they will become a resource for others. Keep things appropriate in that space please (smiles)!

I love you with the love of God...

Have a wonderful day and a tremendously blessed week!

Blessings,

Pastor Kris