Day Five

Type of fast (If following the Breakthrough fast schedule): Daniel fast; water, vegetables, fruits.

Scriptures to meditate on:

Psalm 16: 1-2

Keep me safe, my God, for in you I take refuge. I say to the LORD, “You are my Lord; apart from you I have no good thing.”

Psalm 107: 1-9

Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good; his love endures forever. Let the redeemed of the LORD tell their story— those he redeemed from the hand of the foe, those he gathered from the lands, from east and west, from north and south. Some wandered in desert wastelands, finding no way to a city where they could settle. They were hungry and thirsty, and their lives ebbed away. Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and he delivered them from their distress. He led them by a straight way to a city where they could settle. Let them give thanks to the LORD for his unfailing love and his wonderful deeds for mankind, for he satisfies the thirsty and fills the hungry with good things.

Prayer emphasis: Give me a teachable spirit and a grateful heart that gives thanks in everything.

A Radiant Light

-Heather Weismiller 

Is there something you desire so much that you pray it every day?  It may be about an unsaved family member or friend, about your marriage, health issues, your children, etc.  But what do you pray God will do to change you for His glory?

Here is what John Piper says his life prayer is (from desiringgod.org

 

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"Make my life a means of people coming to reverence Your name and love Your name and praise and honor and cherish and treasure and glorify Your name."

Here is one from John Piper on George Mueller:

"Help me to choose a strategy of ministry and style of life that puts the reality and trustworthiness and beauty of God on display.  Let me be visible proof of the unchangeable faithfulness of the Lord."

I pray every day, among other things, "Help us (my family and me) to be a joy and a blessing to You and to everyone around us.  Begin a new work of love in me and help my love to overflow more and more!"

In Exodus 33:16, Moses says, "For how then can it be known that I have found favor in Thy sight, I and Thy people?  Is it not by Thy going with us, so that we, I and Thy people, may be distinguished from all the other peole who are upon the face of the earth?"  God never meant us to blend in with the world, in fact we should stick out.  Do people sense the peace of Christ ruling in our hearts?  See the joy of the Lord in our countenance?  Do they see our good works and glorify our Father in heaven?

Pray earnestly and unceasingly for the change you desire for God to make in you and trust Him to answer.  Be the radiant light you were meant to be in this world!

May your light increase more and more...

Day Four

Type of fast (if following the Breakthrough schedule): "Daniel fast"; water, vegetables, fruits.

Scriptures to meditate on:

Psalm 63:1-5

You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water. I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory. Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you. I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands. I will be fully satisfied as with the richest of foods; with singing lips my mouth will praise you.

Psalm 16:8

                     I keep my eyes always on the LORD. With him at my right hand, I will not
           be shaken.

Prayer emphasis: Work in me, giving me the desire and the power to do what pleases You!

Preparing for Change

-Marge Montgomery

As I look to our time of fasting on March 1st to March 8^th I am preparing for a change in my life.  I want more of God and less of this world.

Since I had never fasted before I decided to try one day and see how it would be.  I have to take some medicine so I thought the best thing to do was take the medicine with some oatmeal for breakfast.  I would then skip lunch and dinner.  I forgot to prepare for a couple of days before the fast by not eating so much sugar and not eating between meals.  The morning went by with no problems but then it was time to prepare for the noon meal.  "Oh, I forgot I was fasting, no food."  I went to prayer and enjoyed the company of the Lord.  All afternoon I would think, “What I should have for dinner? No need, I am fasting.”  Going without food was not my biggest problem, instead, it was what to do with all the time I always spent on preparation, cooking, eating and cleaning up.  More time for prayer.  Dave and I prayed together.  We had no trouble knowing what to pray.  God seems to go before us and show us what to pray for.

One thing God has taught me is that I go through the kitchen too often.  Every time I go through I grab something to eat, maybe a cookie, a piece of candy, an apple or anything else in sight. 

I intend to fast again and listen for the Lord’s leading.  I feel He has something great in store for Dave and me as we live out our lives for Him.  I can’t wait for the outcome.

The verse that was on my lips for the day of fasting is “My God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory according to Christ Jesus” (Philippians 4:19).    

Day Three

Type of fast (If following the Breakthrough fast schedule): Water and juice only.

Scriptures to meditate on:

Romans 12:1

Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship.

Luke 18:9-14

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everyone else, Jesus told this parable: “Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood by himself and prayed: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other people—robbers, evildoers, adulterers—or even like this tax collector.  I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.’

“But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, ‘God, have mercy on me, a sinner.’

“I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For all those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.”

James 4:6

But he gives us more grace. That is why Scripture says: “God opposes the proud but shows favor to the humble.”

Prayer emphasis: Lord, empty me of all pride and selfishness and put in me a heart of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness and patience.

The Strength To Sustain

-John Brydon

Hopefully you will be encouraged, repeatedly, to make sure that your fast doesn’t consist simply of not eating or restricted eating.  That is not really a fast.  We are encouraging everyone (including ourselves) to deliberately modify our schedules to fit in specific times for Bible reading, prayer, and meditation.  If that doesn’t happen, then the primary purpose of the fast isn’t achieved. 

Turning to Bible reading, Jack Hayford (from Spirit Filled, with Jack Hayford) provided the idea that follows.  It certainly applies to me and perhaps will be of use to you.  I will read my Bible and a day or two later not be able to remember what I read.  That has bothered me, but Hayford related a story of someone who made the same complaint.  That person’s mother asked them, “Do you remember what you had for supper three weeks ago Tuesday?”  Of course, the person couldn’t remember.  Her mother then asked, “Did you get nourishment from that food, even if you can't remember what you ate?”   Of course, the answer was yes.  The same is true of our Bible reading.  It nourishes us as we read; we grow from it as we read.  Hayford says, “Just keep reading the Bible.  You may not remember everything, but the Word is flowing into your spirit, and as it does, it is giving abiding strength to sustain you as you simply obey – and read.” 

“Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”  (Matthew 4:4)

That is truly our “daily bread”. 

Day Two

Type of fast (if following Breakthrough schedule): Water and juice only.

Scriptures to meditate on:

Luke 6:21

Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh.

John 6:32-35

Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

 “Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”

 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Prayer emphasis: Oh, Lord, take away all desires that are not of Your will for me or that are not pleasing to You and replace them with Your desires.