40 Days of Prayer and Fasting is a time where we intentionally seek God every day in prayer and scripture as we believe for Him to move in powerful ways. If you are preparing for an upcoming season of 40 Days or you want to learn more about strengthening your personal prayer life, use these resources to help.
40 Days
FEBRUARY 22 - APRIL 9, 2023
PRAYER
Our Prayer Ministry provides opportunities for every person to pray throughout the year. Let's grow deeper with God.
SCRIPTURE
We are all seeking after truth. One of the best ways to get truth directly from God is to read the Bible daily during 40 Days. If you've never done this, we can help to get you started.
fasting
Some people choose to fast during 40 Days as a way to eliminate distractions and focus on God. Fasting 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.
Types of Fasts
- Complete Fast: This fast calls for drinking 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, or bread from your diet and consume water and juice for fluids and fruits and vegetables for food.
- Partial Fast: This fast 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 common for those who do not have much experience fasting food, who have health issues that prevent them from fasting from food, or who wish to refocus certain areas of their life that are out of balance. For instance, someone might select to abstain from using social media or watching television for the duration of the fast, and then choose to carefully bring that element back into their life in an orderly fashion at the conclusion of the fast.
SUCCESSFUL FASTING
- Seek medical advice before the fast, especially if you have any existing medical concerns or conditions.
- Encourage a few close friends or family members to you to join you in fasting. Fasting can be especially productive when done in community.
- Choose a specific prayer objective when fasting. Fasting without prayer is like sailing without wind.
- Pray about the specific type of fast that is appropriate for you.
- Prepare physically. Two to three days before your fast, limit your intake of food to fruit and vegetables. Drink lots of water to help your body detoxify.
- Prepare yourself for mental discomforts such as impatience, crankiness, and anxiety.
- Anticipate some physical discomforts. You may initially experience dizziness, headaches and various aches and pains.
- Spend time that you would be eating (or whatever practice from which you abstaining) reading the Bible and praying.
- Break the fast slowly over several days with fruit juice or light soups.
TEACHING