21 Days of Praise & Prayer

– CREATING A LIFESTYLE OF PRAYER – 

As you prepare for the next 21 days, it can be tempting to start thinking of a laundry list of prayers you’d love to see answered. But we really want to encourage you to keep this simple. When praying, make your primary goal to know Jesus more and experience Him. Pray prayers of total surrender, and aim to glorify God with your life. Focus first on what’s right about Him, such as His goodness and His greatness, and see everything else through that filter. 

Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed. 

- MARK 1:35 

Prayer is most effective when it isn’t something we do every now and then, but when it’s a lifestyle we cultivate. To understand how to have a lifestyle of prayer, we can look at the example Jesus gave during His life on earth. 

HAVE A CERTAIN TIME 

Jesus got up early in the morning to spend time with His Heavenly Father. Make a daily appointment with God — whether it’s first thing in the morning, at lunch, or in the evening — and faithfully keep it. 

HAVE A CERTAIN PLACE 

Jesus had a specific place He went to pray. Having a designated place to pray helps us remove distractions and frees us to worship and pray out loud. 

HAVE A CERTAIN PLAN 

As we pray every day, our plans for our prayer time can vary, maybe include worship music, Bible reading, and quiet time to listen to God. It doesn’t always have to look the same; it just helps when we have a plan for connecting regularly with God. 

During the January season of 21 Days of Prayer, we encourage fasting as a spiritual next step that can bring clarity and revelation into your life. You can also choose to fast at other times of the year as you seek God. The goal of fasting is to draw nearer to God. Biblical fasting always has to do with eliminating distractions for a spiritual purpose; it hits the reset button of our soul and renews us from the inside out. It also enables us to celebrate the goodness and mercy of God and prepares our hearts for all the good things God desires to bring into our lives. Remember, your personal fast should present a level of challenge, but it is very important to know your body, your options, and, most importantly, to seek God in prayer and follow what the Holy Spirit leads you to do.

– FASTING – 

At Bridgewood, we encourage fasting for 21 days each year in the month of January. This is part of 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting, a season of focused prayer as a church family. You may also choose to fast at other times during the year for your own spiritual development. It’s very typical to fast a single meal, a whole day, or three days or more. The timing of your fast is not as important as the strength of your focus on God as you fast.

Scripture References

• Matthew 6:16-18

• Matthew 9:14-15

• Luke 18:9-14

• Acts 27:33-37

• Nehemiah 9:1-3

Fasting, simply stated, is about eliminating distractions in order to draw nearer to God. Fasting gets us focused on God and renews us from the inside out. The most important part of prayer and fasting is your time with God. There are many different fasts to choose from. We are primarily focusing on the fasting of food, but not everyone is able to participate in this way. Some that aren’t able to fast food may want to choose to do a soul fast. Your personal fast should present a level of challenge, but it is very important to know your body, your options, and, most importantly, to seek God in prayer and follow what the Holy Spirit leads you to do.

*Please consult with a medical professional before taking part in a fast if you have any health concerns or are under the care of a physician.

– TYPES OF FASTS – 

COMPLETE FAST

In this type of fast, you drink only liquids, typically water with light juices as an option.

SELECTIVE FAST

This type of fast involves removing certain elements from your diet. One example of a selective fast is the Daniel Fast, during which you remove meat, sweets, and bread from your diet and consume water and juice for fluids and fruits and vegetables for food. This fast is based off of the fasting experiences of Daniel in the Old Testament.

PARTIAL FAST

This fast is sometimes called the “Jewish Fast” and involves abstaining from eating any type of food in the morning and afternoon. This can either correlate to specific times of the day, such as 6:00 am to 3:00 pm, or from sunup to sundown.

SOUL FAST

This fast is an option if you do not have much experience fasting food, have health issues that prevent you from fasting food, or if you wish to refocus certain areas of your life that are out of balance. For example, you might choose to stop using social media or watching television for the duration of the fast and filling that time in prayer and reading God’s Word.