Preparation for Fasting and Praying

What Is It? Prayer with fasting is a period of self denial in order to aggressively seek God. This includes abstinence from food and drink for a period of time.

Why do it?
From Scripture – “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? (7) Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? (8) Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard”. (Isaiah 58:6-8 NIV)

To loose the chains of injustice
To untie the cords of the yoke
To set the oppressed free
To break every yoke
To share our food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter, to clothe the naked, and not turn away from our own flesh and blood
To let our light break forth like the dawn
To cause our healing to quickly appear
To enable our righteousness to go before us
To cause the glory of the LORD to be our real guard

Additional Purposes from scripture:
To honor God (Matthew 6:16-18; Zechariah 7:5; 2:37; Acts 13:2).
To humble ourselves before God (Ezra 8:21; Psalms 69:10; Isaiah 58:3) in order to experience more grace (1 Peter 5:5) and God’s intimate presence (Isaiah 57:15; 58:6-9).
To mourn over personal sin and failure (I Samuel 7:6; Nehemiah 9:1, 2).
To mourn over the sins of the church, nation, and world (I Samuel 7:6; Nehemiah 9:1, 2).
To seek grace for a new task, for the work God has sent us to do, and to reaffirm our consecration to God (Matthew 4:2).
To seek God by drawing near to him and persisting in prayer again opposing spiritual forces (Judges 20:26; Ezra 8:21, 23, 31; Jeremiah 29:12-14; Joel 2:12; Luke 18:3; Acts 9:10-19).
To show repentance and to make a way for God to change his declared intentions of judgment (II Samuel 12:16, 22; I Kings 21:27-29; Jeremiah 18:7, 8; Joel 2:12-14; Jonah 3:5, 10).
To save people from bondage to evil (Isaiah 58:6; Matthew 17:14-21; Luke 4:1).
To gain revelation and wisdom concerning God’s will (Isaiah 58:5,6, 11; Daniel 9:3, 21, 22; Acts 13:2, 3).
To open the way for the outpouring of the Spirit and Christ’s return to earth for His people (Matthew 9:15; John 14:3).

Our purpose for this specific period:
To draw closer to God
To actively seek God as we continue to implement the vision of our Church
To actively seek God for our individual and collective parts in fulfilling the vision for Mount Pleasant Baptist Church
To actively seek God for our purpose in the body of Christ
To intercede on behalf of our mission partners through-out the world
To specifically intercede on behalf of the people and nation of Haiti
To actively seek him for healing and deliverance

When do we do it?
Individually
As often as the Spirit lead
Start preparation now for collective period

As a body (church)
As directed by Pastor and Elders
This period – 17 Feb – 1 April 2010

How do we do it?
Determine your sacrifice
Food only
Food and liquids
Item (s) of food (for those with physical difficulties)