Prayer & Fasting Devo 2024

DEVOTION – by Andrea Cheetham:

When I read this passage, I am in awe of David’s courage and humility to cry out these words. It is not easy to come face to face with our own sin, our own depravity, or our own selfishness. At times, our flesh wants to ignore it or sweep it under the rug. However, as believers, the Spirit will continue to bring it all front and center where we must be dependent upon the Lord for His grace and discipline to cover us. Hebrews 4:16 reminds us that with confidence [we can] draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Praise Jesus for the Cross and the ability to call upon Him. 

I pray this prayer quite often. Like everyone else, my flesh can be weak, and sin can envelop me when I am not anchored in Jesus and His Word throughout my days. Oftentimes, my thoughts are written all over my face. Busyness, lack of rest, and being too independent for my own good result in my need to cry out these words. In humility and true dependence, I rely on Jesus to reveal, heal, and lead me in the way everlasting. Praise Him that I cannot do this on my own. It is only because of His love, grace, and discipline that I can continue to be transformed in heart, mind, and soul. 

Over this next week, I encourage all of us to make David’s prayer our own. Ask God to reveal to you any grievous thoughts or actions. Guess what…He already knows. Allow the Father to reach deep into your soul and lead you in the way everlasting.

PRAYER:

Matthew 6:5-13 teaches us how to pray. One of the ways we teach children to remember this passage is through the A.C.T.S. acronym.

Adoration

Heavenly Father, you are the Almighty One. You continue to transform my heart and draw me closer to You.

Confession

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!  And see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the way everlasting!

Thanksgiving

I am grateful that I can approach Your throne of grace with confidence. Your love and grace fill and heal my soul.

Supplication

Father, my desire is to love You, love others, and make You known. Lead me to be a light for You. “Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable in Your sight, O Lord, my Rock, and my Redeemer.” (Psalm 19:14)

 

Our staff is praying for our Faith Family as we enter a season of prayer and fasting. If we can come alongside you, please reach out to us individually or through the prayer team at prayer@sanctuaryinhim.org.

Invitation:

We invite you to join us in person at any of our weekly prayer gatherings this month:

• Monday Mornings at 7:00am in the Auditorium

• Tuesday Mornings at 10:00am in the Green Room (Room 125)

• Sunday Mornings at 8:30am in Room 104

• Women’s Prayer Night on May 15 at 7:00pm

Spotify Playlist
Amazon Playlist

For many, we may not feel very “good” at praying, and for most of us, fasting is a foreign concept. Be encouraged by the words of James: “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.” When we look at the life of Jesus, we find that He fasted (Matthew 4:2), and He assumed that His followers would fast when He spoke of “when” not “if” they fast (Matthew 6:16-18). We also see that worship and fasting were closely connected for the early church (Acts 13:2). As we accept this call to prayer and fasting, we pray this will be a beautiful step of faith for all of us. Jesus is simply inviting us to come…how He chooses to move and meet with us is totally up to Him!

Prayer – We invite you to anchor your prayers around the A.C.T.S. acronym. We will send out a weekly devotional that will include prayer prompts written around these themes.

• Adoration – Proclaiming who God is and why He is worthy of our praise and worship.

• Confession – Humbly repenting of our sins and asking God to forgive us of our sins.

• Thanksgiving – Joyfully thanking God for all that He has done for us.

• Supplication – Bringing our requests before God and asking Him to meet our needs.

Fasting – We invite you to fast one day a week during the month of May.

• At its core, fasting is focused on setting aside good gifts (specifically food), so that we can grow in our love for the Giver.

• By giving up food for a full day or a single meal, we want to take this time to draw near to God and recognize that our deepest need/hunger is Jesus.

We invite you to join us in a few specific ways in May:

1. Pray regularly throughout the week for the topic/focus for that week and intentionally draw near to God.
2. Fast once a week. Whether this is a meal, a day, or something else, we are inviting all of us to intentionally set aside food for the purpose of growing our hunger for Jesus.
3. Read the weekly devotionals highlighting a specific theme for that week.
4. Gather to pray with others. This month we invite you to join us on Monday mornings at the church between 7-8:00 am for a time of prayer.

• Tuesday Mornings at 10:00am in the Green Room (Room 125)

• Sunday Mornings at 8:30am in Room 104

• Women’s Prayer Night on May 15 at 7:00pm

We are expectant for what God wants to do in each of us and in our Faith Family as we draw near to Him and ask Him to grow our love and desire for Him. Thanks for joining us on this journey!

Spotify Playlist
Amazon Playlist