We begin today, January 20th with our daily devotionals – and 21 Days culminates as we break our fast together on Sunday, February 9th. Please read the first blog post entitled “Why Fast?” This explains what fasting is and why we follow Jesus in this spiritual discipline as together we seek the heart of God.

21 Days Devotional Blog (with opt-in text option)
During these 21 days, a devotional will be posted each morning on our “21 Days Blog” on Ascent’s homepage. You can click on the link on the home page each day, or you can text ASCENT21 to the number 97000 to opt-in to receive a daily text reminder with a link to that day’s devotional.

Daily Devotionals: As we step into this next season in the life of our church, we are asking the Lord to help us “Make Room in our Hearts” – for the people Jesus loves, and the people Jesus brings. During these 21 Days, our whole church will be reflecting and meditating on these same thoughts and prayers together, with one mind, guided by and depending on one Spirit.

We want to encourage you to grab a journal or a notebook – something to write on as you walk through each prayer guide or devotional. Yes, it will add a few minutes to the time it takes to do the devotion, and it will also deepen your experience and shape your walk with God for years to come. This journal or notebook will be a keepsake to remind you of God’s faithfulness during this challenging season for all of us. Each devotion will take less than ten minutes of your time.

1. We will Engage the Word – passages that direct us to Make Room in our hearts for the ways of Jesus.
2. We will Connect the Heart – considering a truth that is applicable to our lives.
3. We will Reflect on the Truth, asking a number of questions each day that invite us to look and listen with intent.
4. And we will Depend on the Spirit – We will pray, for it is in praying that we learn to pray. And it is in praying that the Spirit changes our hearts.

   Engage the Word: Make Room in Our Hearts

   For the next few days as we seek to align our hearts with Jesus’, we will focus on Jesus’ “High Priestly Prayer” in John 17 from the Garden of Gethsemane, as He prepared to go to the cross, where:

   • Jesus prays for God to be glorified (John 17:1-5)
   • Jesus prays for His disciples (John 17:6-19)
   • Jesus prays for all believers (John 17:20-26)

   READ John 17:1-5 

   When Jesus had spoken these words, he lifted up his eyes to heaven, and said, “Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, ² as you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. ³ And this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. ⁴ I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. ⁵ And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed. 

Connect the Heart
Why do we do what we do? In this prayer, we see the heart of Jesus is that He be glorified in the same way that He was glorified before He left heaven and humbled Himself by coming to earth. Our role as believers in His Church is to glorify our Lord. The word “as” in verse 2 is used by Jesus many times in His High Priestly Prayer in John 13-17. As Jesus glorifies the Father, we are also to glorify Him – and in so doing, we glorify the Father as well. We do this by living with the same divine purpose as Jesus lived – and with the same divine power by which He lived – the Holy Spirit.

Reflect on the Truth

1. Jesus lived with divine purpose and divine power – always to glorify the Father, as well as to be glorified as the divine Son of God. Is your heart – your words, your actions, your desires, your motivations – reflecting this intense motivation to glorify the Son and the Father through the Spirit? How might Jesus’ example of a life of prayer be an invitation for you to experience more intimacy with Him?
2. What are some ways that you can prayerfully consider reorienting your heart – your thoughts, your words, your actions – to bring even more glory to our Lord?

Depend on the Spirit 

Ask the Holy Spirit to help you see the deeper longings, desires or motives in your heart that these thoughts are pointing to. (For example: you may write down, “I truly want my heart to align with Jesus’ heart. But this is such a struggle, given the busy-ness of life, the stresses I experience daily and the temptations that confront me all the time. I simply need your help to even take the next step.”) The Lord can help us discern the path forward – through His word, His Spirit, His people.

Let’s join together in dependence on the Father through His Spirit as we journey together to make room in our hearts, aligning with Jesus’ heart, in this season of “21 Days of Prayer & Fasting”.

For Prayer
Today, pray for our Ascent Church family – that in this season, we will grow closer to our Heavenly Father as together, we seek to align each of our hearts with the heart of Jesus.

Fasting
Please read the first blog post entitled “Why Fast?” This explains what fasting is and why we follow Jesus in this spiritual discipline as together we seek the heart of God.