A Prayer & Fasting Opportunity
Forced Sabbatical? Who is setting your narrative as we as a family, a church, a community, a city, a state, a country, a continent, a world face an unseen foe?
Brothers and sisters, what if we were to look at our current set of circumstances as a forced sabbatical? A chance to recalibrate our focus on the unseen realm first before we recalibrate our lives in the seen realm (2Cor. 4:16-18). Our citizenship is in heaven (Phil. 3:20) and now we are being presented with an opportunity to focus on our living Lord (Hebrews 12:1-3) and on our eternal home which might lead us to simplify our world and become reassigned or reacquainted with our heavenly assignments here.
Your mission, should you choose to accept it, is to pick a day this week to follow this 6-hour pattern of fasting, reading, prayer, repentance and stillness before the Lord. 6 hours is just a recommendation, but it doesn't have to be that long.
How you order your fast is up to you. I would recommend minimal people contact in this block of time. No calls or screen time. Spend the first 15, 20 or 30 minutes of each hour meditating on the Lord, His Word and the theme for that session. Then go do a relatively mindless task (take a walk, pull weeds, clean out a drawer) and continue to meditate on what you just read asking the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth or a fresh perspective on what you just focused on. Then do it again at the start of the next hour with the new theme.
Here are a couple devotions that will help set the tone for your time of fasting:
The Battle
Judges 3:1-2 offers an often overlooked and misunderstood insight into the battles that come our way. Read it. Here you and I are, not combative people but rather non-confrontational, just trying to go about our daily lives with as little conflict as possible and yet we encounter snipers cleverly disguised as co-workers, neighbors, family members, sheep or even a virus. “Why can’t I just be left alone?” we mutter. Well.....because your Heavenly Father wants you to learn warfare. And how we fight this battle is critical if we are to move towards Christlikeness.
Oswald Chambers writes, “The reason the battle is not won is because I try to win it in the external world first.” Get alone with God. Ask him to show you how to walk throughout this conflict in order to obtain the goal of the conflict, which is hidden to you. We must learn to take the dependent posture before God and quit seeing ourselves as so capable. The first gate to being blessed is humility. Read Matthew 5:3. Pray, “I can’t do it Lord. Please show me the way. I am fearful of what I am capable of doing in this situation. Please place me on the path to victory.” He who guides us in paths of righteousness for His name’s sake would love to honor the one who takes this stance.
So before the battle can be fought in the seen realm, it must first be fought in the unseen realm. “My righteous one will live by faith, but if he shrinks back I will not be pleased with him.” (Hebrews 10:38) Fight this battle in faith and you will never be the same again.
Fasting in Secret
If you have determined to fast in some manner during this Coronavirus season, the question of who needs to know of this fast becomes an issue. If the fast is food-related, then those who would normally cook for you or eat with you may need to know, and it may give opportunity to verbalize your commitment and purpose in doing this fast to those individuals. Beyond those individuals, I might go to one or two others who I know would be willing to support me in prayer during this fast (if you are doing an extended fast). In Matthew 6:16-18, Jesus warned us not to fast in a manner that makes it obvious to others that we are fasting. “Do it in secret and your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
The deliberate act of denying yourself something good (food) in favor of something better (more of God) is pleasing to God. Don’t pilfer from that reward by making sure that everyone within earshot is aware that you are ‘going without’ for a season.
“Holy Father, I know that my obedience may make others around me feel uncomfortable so please help me to know who needs to know that I am fasting and to maintain a secrecy to all others so as not to give my flesh the opportunity to boast of an act of righteousness. I offer myself and this fast to you in Jesus’ name. Amen.”
SESSION 1 (1ST HOUR): A PRAYER OF NATIONAL REPENTANCE
Read Daniel 9:1-19 with an eye toward how Daniel identifies himself with the sins of his people. Once Daniel began to understand the extent to which the people had fallen away from God, in repentance with fasting through prayer and petition, he pleaded with God. Daniel, who had followed the Lord faithfully all his life, repented; how can we not think we must do the same?
Read it in a posture of prayer (for me as a former Catholic...that would be on my knees) and then meditate on how our nation (USA) has offended, repulsed, transgressed, dishonored the Creator and Living Lord. Make a list or our sins as a nation. Greed, rebellion against authorities (Romans 13:1-2), shedding of innocent blood, to name a few. Once you have compiled a list of our national sins ask the Lord to give you His broken heart for what we as a nation have done though we should have known better. Repent on behalf of our godless nation as you bring up our sins one by one to Him. Terri Millard wrote.. “I do think Numbers 16: 46 - 48 is so important to add as well under the virus section as we stand in the gap for a wicked nation.”
SESSION 2 (2ND HOUR): A PRAYER OF PERSONAL REPENTANCE
Break Up the Fallow Ground
One of the purposes of the Lenten season (which we are in right now) is to take some extended times of quiet before the Lord and allow for Him to do a deeper work in our hearts, even if the extended time is simply the lunch break or the earlier hour you are rising. While there, ask what David asked in Psalm 139:23-24, “Search me, O God and know my heart….see if there be any offensive way in me…” What surfaces may be a grudge you have held; a theft you need to restore; a letter that needs to be written to someone you have offended asking for forgiveness; a wrong spirit towards a parent, sibling, co-worker, neighbor; or perhaps a warped view of God that has been offensive to Him.
Your growth has been stagnated by the hard ground of your heart that is just below the surface and “it is time to break up your unplowed ground and seek the Lord until he comes and showers righteousness on you” (Hosea 10:12). This proactive style of repentance is far more preferable than the alternative (waiting for a rebuke from the Lord) which can cut deeply, leaving you in little pieces feeling undone by the revelation of your offenses when you may have felt you were doing fine.
“Holy Father, I want nothing to interfere with Your plan and purpose being carried out in my life. Please reveal or cause to surface whatever sin I have failed to confess through forgetfulness or willful ignorance. I want to take hold of all that for which You have taken hold of me. In Jesus’ name.”
Like you did in the previous session, compile a list of known sins you have committed against the Lord and others. Where have you indulged the flesh rather than walk in the Spirit? Been lazy in your pursuit of God? Been critical and condemning of others? Lost integrity? Been too engaged and franchised in this world? Used your mouth in ways it was not designed to be used (James 3:8-11; Matt. 12:34; Eph. 4:29)? Succumbed to fear and anxiety rather than hold on in faith? I could go on...now lay these sins out before the Lord and allow Him to break you of your selfishness, self-righteousness, self-confidence, ego, self-exaltation, self-promotion, impatience, indifference, indulgence of the flesh... (James 4:8-9)
SESSION 3: PRAYER FOR OUR AREA CHURCHES
Read Paul’s prayers...Col. 1:9-12; Phil. 1:9-11; Eph. 1:15-23
This worldwide crisis has created an interesting challenge for the pastors of our area churches. Most of our area churches will not be meeting as a congregation for a month, or 2 or 3. How will they continue to operate as a congregation without the large meeting? At RV we are set up fairly well because of our Life Group focus, but some churches will be scrambling to check in on all their members in this season. Will the congregation continue to give? There are still bills and salaries to pay.
How can we be a light in the darkness of our community in this season? How are we to minister if one of our congregation comes down with the virus? So many challenges facing churches in our community. Make a list of the area churches that come to mind. Parkway, Calvary Crossroads, Calvary Lutherian, Grace Bible, Edgewater, Jerome Prairie, Pursuit, Lion’s Gate, First Christian, Vineyard, Solid Rock...and pray for them individually and collectively using your prayers and Paul’s prayers.
SESSION 4: PRAYER FOR OUR NATIONAL LEADERS
Read Romans 13:1-2; 1Tim. 2:1-4
World Leaders and their administrations
- Our President, his staff
- Our United States Executive, Legislative and Executive Leaders
- State Governors and all those in the Executive Branch, Legislative Branch and the Judicial Branch within those states - inclusive of but not limited to: Secretary of State, State Treasurer, Attorney General, Justice Dept, Labor and Industry Commissioner, Bureau of Labor and Industries, County Commissioners, City Councils, those appointed to all Boards (School, Water, Airport etc) Mayors, State Reps and State Senators, all State Judges, Supreme Court, Court of Appeals and Circuit Courts. Let’s also include leaders within our business realm: corporations, mid-size and small businesses. Let’s pray for wisdom for their decisions in their companies as folks are being economically hurt by this virus.
Also pray for our response to our leaders as laid out in 1Peter 2:13-17.
SESSION 5: PRAYER FOR THE MEDICAL WORLD
During this session, stand in the gap for the researchers and scientists, for God to give them insight and understanding into this virus and to reveal to them the “cure.” For a vaccine to be fast tracked, and for whatever comes to your mind as you lift them to the Lord. Also for the doctors to be wise, protected, compassionate, strengthened, and likewise for the nurses to have these same graces. Pray as well that as the medical world fights this virus and seeks to be a blessing to the individual as well as the masses that they would see the handprint of God and become extensions of His life, expressions of His character to those they minister to (Col. 3:17, 23-24).
SESSION 6: PRAYER FOR MY MARCHING ORDERS IN THIS SEASON
Gen. 1:26-28 can be summarized by this statement… “God has designed us to be extensions of His Life, expressions of His Character, and exhibits of His Power.” So what does that look like in your home, your extended family, your neighbors, your co-workers, your community, your county, your state, your country, your world in light of the needs that are surfacing because of the virus and our response to it as a State? What is my assignment, Lord?
Luke 12:35 urges us to be dressed in readiness. “Lord, I am Yours and I am ready to represent You in word and deed” (Romans 12:1). There is a certain abandonment that comes with this living sacrifice and we can give way to fear, being over-cautious, and miss a simple assignment He sets before us.
I have included a few devotions that I wrote some years back that might be helpful in navigating this session and this season.
Calm in the Storm
How did you handle the last storm that shook you externally or internally? Did you say things you later had to apologize for? Did you lose it emotionally? Did you forget to Whom you belong?
Look at the storms the Father brought Jesus through and how he responded. This calmness is available to you and me. It was during the last week of Jesus’ earthly life that he gave his peace away. John:14:27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give it to you as the world gives.”
This peace transcends our circumstances and may be a far greater testimony to those observing you in the storm than anything you could say. Jesus could calm the storm, but what if empowering you to remain calm in the storm is the greater miracle?
Do You Understand?
Jeremiah was frustrated, and God told him in Jeremiah 23:20 and 30:24, “In days to come you will understand this.” Peter was baffled, and Jesus spoke in John 13:7, “You do not realize what I am doing now, but later you will understand it clearly.” There are seasons where we must do as Proverbs 3:5 says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.”
Job and Joseph are great examples of guys who did not have a clue about the drama involving them, being played out in the unseen world, but they held on in faith. And so must you and I. If God has allowed a coil of circumstances that is entirely unfamiliar and quite possibly dark, then stand firm and wait for him to light your way a step at a time. Isaiah 30:15, “In quietness and trust is your strength.”
What is the Power For?
Colossians 1:11 reads, “…being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might so that you may…” (pause) move mountains, heal the sick, raise the dead, cast out demons, preach and have people get saved. That is what I would have expected it to finish with, but it doesn‘t. So what is all this glorious power for? (continue) “…so that you may have great endurance and patience.” Wow! Is all that power really necessary for patient endurance? It must be or Paul would not have prayed it or the Spirit included it.
Could it be that the place and the process God is taking us to and through to be more closely identified with his purposes on earth will require this patient endurance? I certainly believe so. Jesus felt it in Luke 9:41, “How long shall I put up with you?”
Could it be that this power is necessary for us to put up with sin and the effects of sin in our world, the slowness of people to respond to the gospel, the poor decisions and the consequences that follow for those we love, the arrogance and aggressiveness of those who are in step with the evil one and the apparent slowness of God to bring justice and sanity to our chaotic world? It must be so.
Don’t lose heart, my friend. Ask for this power to endure and remain patient. The consequences of proceeding without this is that you become hard, cold and cynical. The blessing of proceeding with it is you model Christ to those who need this alien perspective.
-Written by Doug Higuera