Prayer and Fasting

The vision.

To unite people corporately for a 7-day period to cover a region with prayer and fasting. This pamphlet offers practical suggestions so everyone can participate. Prayer and fasting is not a program. It is a heartfelt connection with Jesus for spiritual awakening.

Pray for...

• A spiritual awakening in your region
• Leadership in government, church and business
• Restoration of relationships: marriage and family
• The increase of God's presence in our midst
• God to release the revelation of His heart to us
• Sanctification
• Salvation for the lost
• Physical and emotional healing
• Christians to take hold of God's heart and His vision
• Christians to unite and connect in a corporate network
• Stubborn obstacles to be removed
• Reconciliation: gender and race

Fast. Who, me?

Maybe you are thinking you don't know anything about fasting…

don't feel called to fast
think fasting sounds overwhelming or painful
have a medical condition that prohibits fasting…

Well, read on.

This information is designed to assist and encourage you to put into practice God's principals of prayer and fasting.

Practical Tips.

Pray! Pray! Pray! Pray! Pray!

Even though fasting will give some physical benefits, it needs to be coupled with prayer to see spiritual transformation.

• Set aside time to pray. A suggested commitment would be an hour each day that you sign up. You may want to pray during the usual time of the thing you are giving up.
• Consider a partner: someone who would pray with you.
• Remember the benefits of the cross. Partake in communion.
• Your flesh never wants to pray or fast. But God will always release the grace to do it if you ask Him for it.
• Don't be too hard on yourself. If you fail, start again the next day. God is looking at your heart, not your performance.

Some kinds of fasts

• Partial - Some foods/liquids and/or some meals
• Daniel - 21 days, vegetables only
• Juice - Fresh vegetable and fruit juice
• Other- Abstention from activities such as TV, computer, bowling, sports, shopping, talking on the phone, sleep
• Water - Water only
• Absolute- No food or water (very rare, let God guide you in this)

Pregnant women and nursing mothers need to choose a fast that is healthy for them and their baby. Anyone with medical conditions requiring treatment or medication should consult their physician before abstaining from food.

Coordinating the regional fast.

This is a time to really connect as one body in Jesus Christ. Please consider setting  up a master calendar of the 7-day period with places for people to sign up in your church. Each participant will write their name on the calendar for each day they commit to pray and fast. Some days may have multiple names. The hope is to cover the calendar 24/7/40.

When a person signs up, they should turn in their participation slip to a designated leader. Assembling together and reading the slips will bring great encouragement and expectation to the church. The documentation also tends to increase accountability and allows for meaningful follow-up.

Everyone needs time to prepare their hearts and minds for corporate prayer and fasting. Unless there is a crisis situation, introduce the vision and give the people a few weeks' time. Encourage people to start where they are. Release them to freedom in increments that are manageable. Remember you are not alone. Churches throughout your region are.
 "Call to Me, and I will answer you, and I will tell you great and mighty  things, which you do not know." Jeremiah 33:3

From my heart to yours

As long as I can remember, Jesus has used times of prayer and fasting to bring my heart closer to Him. The  first time I ever fasted, it was a divine apprenticeship of the Holy Spirit, teaching me to bring my flesh to the cross in order to experience spiritual breakthrough. I knew so little about prayer and fasting; but as I cried for help to break a stubborn stronghold, Jesus was faithful to lead the way.

The Word of the Lord came alive as I yielded to the Holy Spirit's prompting. It was as if Jesus Himself whispered in my ear, "Rosey, 'Is this not the fast I choose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke?'" As I read Isaiah 58:6-14, it deepened my desire for the spiritual benefits of breakthrough intercession. I wanted the light of the Lord to break forth like that of the dawning of a new day. I wanted to see recovery speedily spring forth. I wanted the Lord to say, "Here I am to help," when I lifted my prayers. I wanted to see the breaches in my life repaired. I knew no program or formula would bring the change I needed. In my desperation for a personal breakthrough, it seemed applying fasting to prayer was the only way.

"Revivals in the past have required extravagant prayer. However, the way God desires to manifest Himself in the earth today is more expansive, more extraordinary, and will require corporate prayer and fasting in a way that we have never known before. God is wanting to impact whole regions and nations with his glory." John Wesley Adams

There is a longing in the heart of God to awaken His Bride to love Him and to bring the lost to Himself. Will you lift your voice as one cry across the land? Ask God to restore His glory to us again. Ask Him for a spiritual awakening. Maybe you don't feel anything, but deep inside you know, "There just be more"

Rose Rizzi Andrews
Founder, Ambassadors International