21 DAYS OF PRAYER & FASTING
21 Days of Prayer & Fasting, Day 21: Easter Sunday – “He Is Risen!”
The resurrection of Jesus Christ is the most astounding, the most monumental, the most consequential event in all of human history. There is not single event in the history of the world that has as much significance as the resurrection. It is the foundation of the gospel. It is the center point of our faith. Without the resurrection of Jesus Christ, our faith – indeed our very existence – would be pointless.
21 Days of Prayer & Fasting, Day 20: Saturday – “Make It As Secure As You Can”
Today is Saturday. Matthew is the only gospel that records a narrative on the Saturday between Jesus’ death on Friday and his resurrection on Sunday. This part of the story is one of the most important proofs of the historicity of Christ’s resurrection. Because the fearful Pharisees and the power-hungry Romans collaborated to secure the tomb by sealing the 2-ton stone and setting a Roman guard to keep watch, there is no natural explanation for the tomb being empty on Sunday.
21 Days of Prayer & Fasting, Day 19: Friday – “Why Have You Forsaken Me?”
The crowd that hailed Jesus as their king as he entered Jerusalem turns on him a few days later. But all according to plan. Jesus is the perfect, spotless Lamb required for the Passover sacrifice. As He breathes His last, the curtain in the temple that separated man from God is torn in two, from top to bottom, forever providing free access to God through Christ.
21 Days of Prayer & Fasting, Day 18: Thursday – “Let This Cup Pass”
Today is Thursday of Holy Week – the day our Savior prepared and celebrated the Passover meal with His disciples. It was on this evening that He prayed His famous “High Priestly Prayer”, on which we have meditated for the last four days. Following this very eventful evening, He went with His disciples to the Garden of Gethsemane to pray before He was betrayed and arrested and led to the cross in just a few short hours. We look in this devotional at those words He prayed to His Father just before His arrest.
21 Days of Prayer & Fasting, Day 17: Wednesday – “One”
This is one of those passages that reminds us – when something is repeated, we should pay attention. In verses 21-23, Jesus prays the same thing multiple times: that His Church and it’s people would be unified. That’s you and me. But what does He mean? With so many divisions and denominations in His Church, is unity even possible?
21 Days of Prayer & Fasting, Day 16: Tuesday – “Sanctify Them In The Truth”
Truth is under attack in today’s culture. The most common belief seems to be that truth is whatever you believe it to be. The Bible says otherwise. Jesus says otherwise. In this prayer to His Father, Jesus acknowledges that the world will hate His followers because His followers will stand in the truth – which stands against the moral relativism of the culture.
21 Days of Prayer & Fasting, Day 15: Monday – “I Am Praying For Them”
Why does Jesus pray these words to the Father? If He is God, wouldn’t we be able to assume that His thoughts already align with the Father’s thoughts, so prayer is unnecessary? That actually makes some sense since Jesus IS God – so why, then, does Jesus pray these words to the Father? Two things seem obvious to me – and a third is almost too good to be true.
21 Days of Prayer & Fasting, Day 14: Sunday – “And This is Eternal Life”
Some have called this prayer “the real Lord’s Prayer.” Some have said John 17 may be the greatest chapter in all of the Bible. Here we see the Son of God praying to the Father – not for a city, not for a nation, but for the whole world. And what is amazing is that in this prayer, we are privileged to listen in on communication b
21 Days of Prayer & Fasting, Day 13: Saturday – “Father, Glorify Your Name”
Every word Jesus spoke and every miracle God did through Him revealed some aspect of God’s nature to everyone watching and listening. God was glorified as those experiencing life with and around Jesus witnessed him healing the lame, calming storms, raising the dead, feeding enormous crowds – and most importantly, forgiving sinners. No one understood at the time, but Jesus knew that He was on a path moving toward the cross, planned by the Father from before the foundation of the world.
21 Days of Prayer & Fasting, Day 12: Friday – “That They May Believe”
Jesus was told that His friend Lazarus was sick, yet Jesus did not rush to Bethany to help. Instead, He took His time, knowing the miracle that was about to happen…Today, we reflect on Jesus’ prayer as He lifted His eyes to His Father, knowing that though His friend Lazarus had died, He possessed the resurrection power to call Lazarus out of the tomb. Notice something unique and interesting about this prayer of Jesus – we will explore it further below.
21 Days of Prayer & Fasting, Day 11: Thursday – “Come to Me”
In Jesus’ prayer in verse 25, Jesus is basically calling out the pride and arrogance of the religious leaders of the day. They were intellectually and spiritually proud – contrasted by those who would come to Jesus in humility and repentance, with submissive faith like “little children.” And Jesus offers Himself, in verses 28-30, to those who do come to him tired and weary, but with willing, repentant and open hearts.
21 Days of Prayer & Fasting, Day 10: Wednesday – “He Went Up on the Mountain to Pray”
In Mark 6, Jesus and his disciples went away to be alone, yet found themselves surrounded by 5,000 seeking and hungry people – and this is most likely just the headcount of the men, so there were likely many more in total. The crowd had heard about the miracles Jesus and His disciples were doing, and came to listen.
21 Days of Prayer & Fasting, Day 9: Tuesday – “Desolate Places”
Though Jesus is fully God and co-equal with the Father, His connection to His Father was vividly seen in His devotion to getting away and alone to “desolate places” and praying. In this passage in the fifth chapter of Luke, Jesus had just healed a leper and would follow this time of prayer by healing a paralytic and many more. But He only operated in the strength that the Father would provide – and He would receive that strength through His times on His knees before the Father.
21 Days of Prayer & Fasting, Day 8: Monday – “Deliver Us from Evil”
This can be a very confusing line in Jesus’ prayer when you think about it. God actually never leads us into what we typically think of as “temptation.” We often think of temptation – in English – as a seduction to evil, and this is, of course, something that God would never do. The Greek word used here (peirasmus) actually means “a test” – and Jesus, in His prayer, uses it in this sense – more related to trials that God would allow for the testing of our faith in order to develop perseverance and character in our lives.
21 Days of Prayer & Fasting, Day 7: Sunday – “Forgive Us”
It’s interesting that Jesus moved immediately in His prayer from “give us” to “forgive us.” We forgive because we’ve been forgiven… Dr. David Jeremiah says “A case could be made that this is the most important phrase in The Lord’s Prayer. It is the only phrase that He repeats for emphasis.
21 Days of Prayer & Fasting, Day 6: Saturday – “Our Daily Bread”
Yesterday, our prayer focused on the reign of Christ over our priorities. Today, we focus on the rule of Christ in our priorities. Author Clarence Macartney says that praying “your will be done” is basically saying “Lord, whatever you want, wherever you want it, and whenever you want it, that’s what I want.”
21 Days of Prayer & Fasting, Day 5: Friday – “Your Will Be Done”
Yesterday, our prayer focused on the reign of Christ over our priorities. Today, we focus on the rule of Christ in our priorities. Author Clarence Macartney says that praying “your will be done” is basically saying “Lord, whatever you want, wherever you want it, and whenever you want it, that’s what I want.”
21 Days of Prayer & Fasting, Day 4: Thursday – “Your Kingdom Come”
In his important book Prayer: The Great Adventure, Dr. David Jeremiah says that “when you pray ‘Your kingdom come,’ you are saying, “God, You are the King. You live in my heart. And I want Your kingdom principles and purposes to be lived out within me, as you reign within me.
21 Days of Prayer & Fasting, Day 3: Wednesday – “Pray Then Like This”
For the next several days, we will explore Jesus’ words where He taught us how to pray, in what has become known as The Lord’s Prayer. Here, Jesus says to His disciples (and to us): Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name.”
21 Days of Prayer & Fasting, Day 2: Tuesday – “A Light for Revelation”
Simeon had received a prophecy that he would see the Messiah before he saw death. This passage in Luke 2 reflects his prayer of praise upon seeing the newborn Christ. The prophecy now fulfilled, Simeon was ready to go when the Lord would call him home – and his words reflect his heart of worship and adoration toward God for all He is and all He does.
21 Days of Prayer & Fasting, Day 1: Monday – “My Soul Magnifies the Lord”
Mary was carrying the Messiah, the Promised One, in her womb and knew from her encounter with the Angel Gabriel that the birth of this child would change everything. Through Him would come the fulfillment of every Old Testament prophecy and promise, forgiveness of sins and redemption for all mankind. Her response in prayer and praise in this “Magnificat” reflects a heart that loves God deeply and wants what He wants.