Slideshow image

Each day during the fast, there will be a set prayer focus in addition to our personal prayers. 

Today our prayer focus is your Neighbor & the Community.

  • Pray for your Nineveh.
  • Pray for Salvation to those who are hurting, lost, or broken.
  • Pray for ways to serve, reach out, or be a light. 

An encouragement from Pastor Hayes:

Hebrews 13:9-10
9 Do not be carried away by all kinds of strange teachings. It is good for our hearts to be strengthened by grace, not by eating ceremonial foods, which is of no benefit to those who do so. 
10 We have an altar from which those who minister at the tabernacle have no right to eat.

Take a look at American culture. Whether we gather for business, neighborhood events, or time with friends, it’s rare for food not to be at the center. Backyard barbecues, crowded restaurants—even our Bible studies usually include something to eat. Hamburgers, pizza, and wings—our favorite “fellowship foods”—weren’t even a regular part of our diets until the last hundred years. Not that long ago, if company was coming over, someone had to bake a cake.

Now drive down the road. On both sides you’ll see donut shops, coffee bars, fast-food places, and full restaurants everywhere you look.

And we don’t just eat to gather—we eat to be entertained. Grocery store shelves are filled with snacks, cookies, ice cream, and chips—and that’s just the ready-to-eat section. Movie theaters used to have a popcorn machine behind a glass case. Now they have aisles of food designed to keep us happy for two hours.

We eat when we’re bored. Apparently our stomachs need entertainment.
We eat when we’re stressed—and somehow chocolate has become the miracle cure for all of life’s problems.

Because food has become so woven into our daily lives, fasting is difficult. That’s exactly why it’s powerful.

When we put the food down—even if it’s only for twelve hours—we create space to focus on the Lord. The time, energy, and attention we normally give to eating can be redirected toward our spiritual lives. Hunger becomes a reminder to pray. Emptiness becomes an invitation to listen.

So try a food fast.

Give God room.
Give Him your attention.
Give Him a chance to do something new in your life.

Because sometimes the breakthrough doesn’t come when we add something—it comes when we set something down.