21- day prayer and fast

our church continually does the 21 day prayer and fast, each time with a different focus - i received this email from a very dear friend that i am in leadership with:

Hi Ladies,

Prayer Ministries is planning another 21 Days starting this Sunday, 8/17 through Saturday, 9/06. If you’re not familiar with 21 Days, it’s a call to commit to pray and fast for 21 Days with a specific theme in mind.

The theme for this 21 Days will be New Life and Growth in Christ.

The verse for the focus: “I am the vine, you are the branches; He that abides in me, and I in him, the same brings forth much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.” John 15:5

Please pray about joining me for 21 Days. If you have not yet experienced the incredible intimacy with the Lord that comes through fasting and prayer, you will be in for a real blessing. The Enemy does not want people to know the power of fasting and prayer!

Fasting means denying our flesh, so pray about what God would want you to give up. He usually shows me very clearly the areas my flesh is struggling with. It might be food, or the computer, or sweets, or sleep, or even complaining words! It might be a combination of things. Ask the Lord, and He will be faithful to show you.

I would also encourage you to start out with a specific prayer list in mind. List specific people, situations, marriages, etc. to pray over the 21 Days. The New Life theme and verse fits every situation in such a beautiful way.

If you’re up for the challenge or have questions, please email me and let me know. What a blessing it will be to encourage one another and hold each other accountable.

so i knew the Lord was calling me to this - as i've talked about before this is an area that most of us are pretty immature in - my simple take on this is that it is one of the most powerful offensive weapons we have over the enemy and it is an 'of course' as to why he keeps us blinded to the power of it - and yet time and time again we are showed examples of prayer and fasting in the word, not to mention the command to do it !- - okay, so anyway i am of course being compelled to join this 21 day prayer & fast - i decided to post my response so as to prayerfully keep me more accountable.

I know God is calling me to this, so yes i'm in - i know that i will be fasting from: eating past 7pm - this is a huge sacrifice for me that has many fleshly issues, physical and emotional, wrapped up in it - it was the first thing that came to mind - the 2nd thing i believe i need to fast from is a behavior of feeding in to the negative of what tear people down that are being negative - let me try to explain: sitting in the office and someone walks in all fired up and nasty attitude a bit over the top - how easy it is to be annoyed and buy into the sess pool of Satan's deception, instead of seeing the situation as Jesus would - they are hurting, frustrated, overwhelmed with something else more personal in their life and they need us to come along side of them and extend grace and love - give them that cup of water - it's so easy when we are busy about our work to buy into the lies - we take things personally when most of the time it has nothing to do with us - i am so very thankful that the Lord has opened my eyes to this ugly thing and has shown me my own fault in participating - how i want this purged from my life - yuck that was vulnerable!

remember - keep chasing righteousness!!! - susan

maybe if anyone reads this post they too might be compelled by the Lord to start their own 21 day prayer & fast - don't think you're getting off so easy ;0)