It’s Day One! Let’s Prepare for the Privilege
Today is the first day of Pursuit 21! The adventure begins! We’re about to experience God in a powerful way as we give Him the first of our year through prayer and fasting.
If you’re on this twenty-one day journey of pursuing Jesus through fasting and prayer, you’ve set yourself up to experience Him in a new, fresh way.
Perhaps you want more of God this year. Maybe you need direction, provision… or a breakthrough. Whatever the reason, you sense you need to prepare for a new season—a new release of God’s presence and His power in your life. There is nothing else that will prepare you for a new measure of His presence and power like the discipline of fasting.
Fasting is a principle that God intended for us to enjoy. It’s not a punishment; it’s a privilege!
By making fasting a way of life, you will get closer to God and grow in your spiritual walk like never before.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they will be filled” (Matthew 5:6).
If this is your first time fasting, you may be apprehensive, worried about surviving it. But know this: God is going to bless your season of fasting and prayer. He promises to fill those who hunger and thirst for Him!
Don’t worry about how you’re going to be able to keep your fast. As you commit by faith to pursue God through fasting, He’ll supply the strength you need. Launch your fast with confidence in Him, knowing He’ll enable you to keep the fast to which He has called you.
Prepare in Order to Get the Most from Your Fast
How you prepare for the fast affects the success of it. I encourage you to take a few moments to read the following articles and prayerfully consider the items listed.
Properly preparing not only helps you keep your fast successfully, it lays the groundwork for what you want God to accomplish through your fast. We don’t plant seeds in the ground without first preparing the soil. Similarly, the soil of our spirits must be properly prepared for our fast—if God is going to bring the fruit from it that we desire.
1. Write It Down: What a Difference a Piece of Paper Makes
As you begin your fast, it will be helpful if you write these four things down. Doing so will help you focus your prayers and be successful in keeping your fast.
- The Start Date and End Date of Your Fast
- Type of Fast You’re Engaging In
- Your Causes for Fasting
- The Scriptural Promises You’re Claiming
Read Write It Down…
2. How Should I Prepare for a Fast?
This article lists six steps to preparing for a fast:
- Approach Your Fast with a Positive Attitude of Faith
- Determine Your Motives
- Determine Your Objective
- Make Your Commitment
- Find a Fasting Partner, if Possible
- Determine to Minister to God
Read How Should I Prepare…
3. Are You Ready to Begin Your Fast?
It’s important that you prepare your spirit and prepare your body as you launch your fast.
Prepare Yourself Spiritually
The basic foundation of fasting and prayer is repentance. Unconfessed sin hinders our prayers. There are several things we should do to prepare our hearts for a fast… (Read more here)
Prepare Yourself Physically
Prepare your body before you begin fasting. Otherwise, the drastic change in your eating may be so difficult that you cannot turn your full attention to God in prayer. The bullet points in this post will help you prepare physically.
Read Are You Ready…
4. Five Essential Questions as You Begin
As we begin, it’s vital that we approach our fast with the right heart—with the right motives and the right leading.
Otherwise all the effort could be wasted! If we don’t begin by letting the Spirit examine our heart, our fast might originate with and be conducted by the flesh … and the flesh profits nothing! (John 6:63)
In God’s Chosen Fast, Arthur Wallis shares five questions to ask yourself as you begin your fast…
Read Five Essential Questions…
It’s important that you set your mind regarding a few key aspects of your fast. Your mind is the battlefield on which the fight of this fast is won or lost. So it’s important that you make a few vital determinations in advance—determinations that will prepare you and equip you to win the battle.
Make up your mind and be determined about these seven things…
Helpful Links and Ideas
Fasting Contract
It is important that you make a list of your causes for fasting. Feel free to utilize the Pursuit 21 Contract for this. Keep your list with you throughout the day as you fast. In the first few days, as your body adjusts to the fast, you may not feel like praying. You may feel lousy. That’s when you pull out your list of reasons for fasting and lay it before the Lord. This is your hit list! Keep it handy and pray over it frequently.
Subscription
During Pursuit 21, I will be sharing new posts in order to encourage you on your fast. In the article archives, you will also find daily fasting posts for all twenty-one days that will provide encouragement and helpful information. Many articles deal with scriptural precedent—what God did for those in the Bible who combined fasting with prayer—and therefore, what you can believe and expect God to do in your life as a result of your prayer and fasting!
You might also like to subscribe to receive blog posts via email. (You can unsubscribe at any time.) As a subscriber, you will receive each new posts in your email inbox.
Social Media
Throughout the day each day, I’ll be posting to Facebook and Twitter, sharing inspiring quotes and scriptures pertaining to prayer and fasting. So you might like to also join me there also.
Just because we’ve committed to prayer and fasting doesn’t mean temptations won’t come. Someone at work will bring cookies—your favorite kind. There’ll be a birthday party, a business lunch, a family gathering. In these moments it might be nice to see an encouraging word on Twitter or Facebook.
During these twenty-one days, I’ll also be posting to Facebook and Twitter links to that day’s articles from the fasting archives.
Questions:
- How are you feeling about your fast? Are you apprehensive? Or confident that God will give you the grace to keep your fast?
- Are you excited about what God is doing to do as a result of your fasting and prayer?
- Have you given careful prayer and consideration to your preparation?
FROM THE ARCHIVES
- Fasting Day 1: Five Essential Questions As You Begin
- Fasting Day 1: Set Your Mind
- Fasting Day 1: Welcome
- Fasting Day 1: Drawing Near
- Fasting Day 1: A Moment of Worship
- Fasting Day 1: Washing and Preparing
- Fasting Day 1: Seeking First
- Welcome to Pursuit 21
HELPFUL LINKS
- Types of Fasts
- Helpful Tips
- Fasting Contract
- Posts About Fasting
- Submit a Prayer Request
- Fasting Testimonies
- Subscribe to receive fasting posts via email
Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, Shades of Grace will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”
“Natalie Grace Nichols is experiencing God’s grace and freely expressing it. My wife, Betty, and I thank God for the ministry of Jesus through Natalie.”
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