Prayer For Fast
Dear Father,
What a compassionate, merciful God You are. All Your ways are perfect.
Lord, we come before You to humble ourselves at Your feet, asking You to bring mercy where judgment has been earned. We are deeply sorry for allowing our hearts to be led astray by our own desires and the things of the world, for the ways we have turned away from You, and sinned against You and You alone.
Although we have been disobedient and our sinfulness deserves punishment, You forgive and pardon those who humble themselves before You. Where judgment is warranted, You give mercy.
Forgive us Lord and be merciful to us. Soften our hearts, God, to be tender towards You, to seek your face, and to long for your presence in our lives.
In Jesus name,
Amen.
Dear Father,
You are a righteous, holy, and just God, awesome and blameless in all your ways.
Lead us in the way of Your righteousness. Help us, Lord, to walk in Your obedience so that we may live and flourish and extend our days.
Father, strengthen us to fix our eyes on Jesus. Let Your word equip us to follow His example in resisting temptation.
Deliver us, Father, from the schemes of the evil one, for You know how to rescue Your godly ones. Help us to take refuge in the shadow of Your wings.
We praise You that with every temptation, You are faithful to give us a way to escape it.
In Jesus name,
Amen
Dear Father,
All praise, honor, and glory belong to You, our immortal, invisible, only true and living God.
You are the revealer of all mysteries and the source of all wisdom and knowledge. In You are all the secrets of the universe, yet You grant us to know the mysteries of Your kingdom. You reveal the deep things of the darkness and bring utter darkness into light.
Thank You for hearing us when we pray and for giving us understanding when we ask You. For sending Your word to us and entrusting us with Your truth.
We praise you for revealing the true knowledge of God's mystery, Christ Himself, in whom are hidden are all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.
Like You responded to Daniel, Lord, send Your word to give us understanding.
In Jesus name,
Amen
Dear Father,
How priceless is Your unfailing love.
You have fearfully and wonderfully created us. You have ordained all our days and written them in your book before we were born. All your thoughts towards us are precious.
We praise You because we are Your handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, ones You have prepared in advance for us to do.
We come before You today to humble ourselves before You, submitting to Your will for our lives. Because of You, Father, surely goodness and mercy will follow us all the days of our lives.
Let us be devoted to living out Your will on earth, to be more concerned with storing up treasures in Heaven than on earth.
Lead us, Lord, in the way we should go. Direct our steps and fulfill Your plans for our lives. Let our feet run swiftly to follow after You.
In Jesus name,
Amen
Dear Lord,
Awaken my soul, I am hungry for you and long to know you more.
Improve my prayers, I wait on you and trust in your great love.
Brighten my mind with your great promise, I lift your name on high.
Bless this meal, I give you thanks for this nutrition in my life.
Amen.
Father,
As I enter into this period of fasting, I invite you in. Lord, come into my heart, come into my mind, renew me in new ways. You are my Lord, King and Savior. You are perfect, you are amazing and good. Lord, I am none of those things. I confess that I am sinful, that I am ugly in my sin and without you, I am lost. Forgive me, Lord, for the ways I have not put you first. Forgive me for not letting you reign over me.
Lord, this is what this time of fasting is all about , to take me off of the throne of my own life and to put you on the throne where you belong. I know I will be hungry for food, I pray as I am hungry that you would satisfy me with your Word. I know I will get tired, I pray as I am tired that you will strengthen me and Sustain me in your grace, Father. For every hunger pang I experience, directs my gaze not down to my belly but up towards you. For I know that I cannot live on bread alone, but every Word from you.
Help me Father, that I may enter this time of fasting and prayer with a heart of joy and a mouth that praises your goodness. Give me all the advantages of this spiritual discipline and keep me humble. Thank you Lord for your great, unending, all consuming love for me. I love you, Father. Amen.
Almighty God and Father of us all"Hallowed be Your name. Your Kingdom Come. Your will be done on earth as it is in heaven" (Matthew 6:9-10). For You are the Omnipotent One whose strong hand still guides a billion billion galaxies in their soundless trek (Psalm 147:4), and yet each morning You eagerly bend low to hear the chirping gratitude of the tiny sparrows (Luke 12:7). And if You feed the birds of the air, dear Father, how much more will You care for us, who are Your children? (Matthew 6:26) As the psalmist Himself sang, teach us to sing, "I will bless the Lord at all timesYour praise shall continually be in my mouth!" (Psalm 34:1)
But dear God, it is because You have "loved us with an everlasting love" (Jeremiah 31:3), that we come humbly to You in advance of our collective Day of Prayer and Fasting. Have mercy on us, O Lord. For like our fathers and mothers, we have sinned against You (Daniel 9:4-10). We have turned to the gods of this world hoping to satisfy our appetites and slake our many thirsts (1 John 2:15-17). Like Israel of old, we have emulated the corrupted culture around us (Hosea 4:17). We have joined the clamoring rabble, "We have no king but Caesar" (John 19:15)but dear Savior, we admit and confess Satan has deceived us and Caesar has enslaved us. How can we then cry out for the demolishing of his strongholds out there without first pleading for Your deliverance from the dark strongholds in here? You have promised, "If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed" (John 8:36). O Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world, remove our sins, too, we implore You (John 1:29). Cleanse us, and we will be cleanwash us, and we will be whiter than the snow that fell this springtime week (Psalm 51:7). We must hear the Gospel's assurance, "Neither do I condemn Yougo now and leave your life of sin" (John 8:11).
Forgiven and freed, we take courage now to boldly come before Your throne of grace with petitions for this Day of Prayer and Fasting (Hebrews 4:16). "For the weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary they have divine power to demolish strongholds" (2 Corinthians 10:4). And so Almighty God, in the name of Christ Jesus our Lord and Savior, we come with the weapon of prayer against the strongholds of our mortal enemy, the fallen Lucifer and his demonic hosts of angels (Ephesians 6:12). We possess no power of our own, but we come boldly in the might of Him who "made a public spectacle of [Satan and his hosts], triumphing over them by the cross"(Colossians 2:15).
We come on behalf of people who don't even know they are enchained in the enemy's stronghold (1 Peter 4:18-19). On this Day of Prayer and Fasting we call upon You, Father of all humankind, to deliver the masses ignorantly held in these enemy strongholds:
We pray for Japan (the Land of the Rising Sun) and boldly claim the promise that the Sun of Righteousness will yet rise with healing in His light (Malachi 4:2)may the 163 evangelistic events to be conducted there in May "proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners" (Isaiah 61:1);
We pray for the secular West, where atheism and paganism's iron-fisted grip pins both young and old in their strongholdsmay the cry of Creation's angels"Worship Him who made heaven and earth"be heard in the halls of academia, the corridors of politics and power (Revelation 14:7);
We pray against the stronghold of racism in our country, on our campus and in our churchbreak down the egotism (self-worship) that lies coiled and deadly in the heart of all racism, and answer the prayer of our Lord"That they may be one as We are one, O Father, I in them and You in Me, so that they may be brought to complete unity"(John 17:22-23)so that as we humbly but radically love one another "everyone will know" that we are Your disciples (John 13:34-35).
And one more request, dear God. Would you please grant to us a visible sign that You have heard our prayers and have already begun to answer them (Isaiah 65:24). After all, You promised us, "In the last days I will pour out My Spirit on all people" (Acts 3:17). Send us that sign as a divine token that the strongholds we go against in the name of Christ are already beginning to crumble.
"O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name . . . deliver us . . . for Your name's sake!" (Psalm 79:9) So that one day "at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father" (Philippians 2:10-11).
AMEN.
Thank you for pouring new refreshment, peace and passion into my heart as I have fasted. Please help me to keep hold of this new treasure in my heart, as I return to my normal patterns of eating and drinking. Please remind me each day to take real breaks from the normality of life and the comfort of food, so that I might feast on your love and truth again. Thank you for the food and drink that I will enjoy now. This day I celebrate your eternal goodness to me. Amen.