40 Days of Prayer and Fasting Day 1

What is this?

Today, we begin our 40 day fast to pray and seek the face of the Lord God Almighty. If you are joining us, I encourage you to continue to be led by the Lord in how you approach the the throne of grace concerning your fast. This fast is a biblical food fast.

How do we do it?

You may choose to approach this prayerfully as you are led by the Lord. Some people may do something called intermittent fasting. This could include just fasting one meal a day to devote that time to prayer and the Word. Someone else may give up two meals and then break the fast with being free to eat from 4 till they go to sleep at night. If you are doing intermittent fasting, try to eat healthy meals during your eating times. Binging on junk will probably make you feel really bad. You may feel super hungry because of the calorie deficit, so it’s not a problem to eat more during designated eating times. Just make sure you are getting healthy calories instead of empty ones.

Some people may do a liquids only fast for a few days and then break the liquid fast and continue with intermittent fasting. It is between you and God. Do not under any circumstances give up water and fluids. Also, I advise not to drink sugary drinks like sodas or milkshakes. Warm milk is a nice treat for anyone who is refraining from food for several days, and is drinking liquids. I also have made bone broth to drink during extended days of fasting from solids. Hot herbal teas and even coffee can be beneficial. Lots of water is a must. For extended days on liquids alone, try a drink with electrolytes like Gatorade. (No dyes.)

Special Conditions

I encourage you to talk to your doctor if you have any questions or health issues (like being diabetic or being on medication) that you need guidance on. Pregnant and breastfeeding mothers should especially get advice from your doctor. Fasting is usually not advised for women in these states. However, one consideration to ask your doctor about is this- I have seen people with health limitations make a commitment to not eat till 10 AM and to commit that time to prayer and Bible reading. Whatever you commit to the Lord, do it unto him with all your heart.

Day 1 Devotional

Jesus Questioned About Fasting

“They said to him, “John’s disciples often fast and pray, and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours go on eating and drinking.”

Jesus answered, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; in those days they will fast.”

He told them this parable: “No one tears a piece out of a new garment to patch an old one. Otherwise, they will have torn the new garment, and the patch from the new will not match the old. And no one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the new wine will burst the skins; the wine will run out and the wineskins will be ruined. No, new wine must be poured into new wineskins. And no one after drinking old wine wants the new, for they say, ‘The old is better.’ ”

If you have put your faith in Jesus Christ, you are part of the bride of Christ. We are eagerly awaiting his return. Today we are devoting this 40 day fast to preparing ourselves for our bridegroom, Jesus- the Son of God. Our prayer focus today is asking God to prepare us and sanctify us for his purposes in his kingdom.

Prayer Points- If you spend 2 minutes on each point, you will pray for 30 minutes. Don’t forget to spend time listening for the Lord to direct your heart and to study his Word!

1. Praise- Spend time praising the Lord for his character, his love, his faithful and anything else the Lord brings to mind.
2. Lift up the name of Jesus. It is through the name of Jesus that we come into the throne room of God with confidence.
3. Your kingdom come Lord, Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Spend time praying for God’s will to be done in your life. Pray for his kingdom to be built in your family, your church, your community, your state and your nation. Pray God’s kingdom will come in power in your life.
4. Lord, provide for my needs. I thank you for knowing what my needs are- even when I don’t know what they are. Praise the Lord for his provision and his continued provision in your life. Ask the Lord to teach you and lead you by his Spirit, if he wants you to make any preparations for the uncertain times we are living in.
5. Repentance and Release- Pray for the Lord to reveal to you any people you need to release from grudges, unforgiveness or even people that you need to love better. Release those you have been angry with in the name of Jesus. Ask the Lord to reveal any sin in your own life and spend time wrestling with him in prayer, confessing your sin and asking God to forgive you.
6. Pray for protection against the evil one. Pray “Lead me not into temptation!” Ask the Lord to give you power through the Holy Spirit to overcome the wiles of the devil and the temptations of the flesh in the name of Jesus.
7. Ask the Lord to fill you with the Spirit of Wisdom and Revelation so you can know his intimately. Ask the Lord to open the eyes of your heart to his hope and to understand your inheritance in the Saints.
8. Spend time in worship. Thank the Lord for his power through his resurrection. Lift up the name of Jesus!
9. Ask the Lord to direct you in your fast, to use the fast to his glory, to strengthen you through it, to speak to you through it and to break down strongholds in your life and in your family.
10. Pray for the persecuted church.
11. Pray for the lost. Ask the Lord to bring in the harvest and to send out more people into his harvest field. Ask the Lord to use you to bring in the harvest and to bring people to you who need him and are ripe for the harvest of salvation into his kingdom.
12. Pray for God to expose corruption in the government and to expose sin in the Body of Christ. Ask the Lord to clean his house.
13. Pray that the Lord dismantles the devil’s attacks and plans for you, for the church and for the nation. Plead the blood of Jesus over your family and home.
14. Spend time in closing interceding for anyone in distress in the resurrection power of Jesus Christ.
15. In closing, spend time worshiping the Lord!

Photo by Max Ostwalt on Unsplash