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January 16 - Feburary 05, 2023
The 21 Day Challenge is designed to help prioritize our relationship with God and focus our attention on what matters most. Whether you have a great prayer life or no prayer life at all, this challenge is a powerful way to start 2023!
We’re thrilled that you’ve decided to set aside the first part of your year for a focused and intentional time of Bible reading, meditation, prayer and fasting. 2022 was a year filled with unexpected moments of challenges and difficulties but also a year where we were able to see God’s intentional hand and care on our lives. We’ve felt him sow seeds of patience, trust, joy and peace and this year, we truly believe we will see the fruit of all that was sown. The 21 Day Challenge is just a tool to help you focus your heart and mind on your relationship with God.
Throughout our 21 Day Challenge we invite you to join us in the following ways:
One
Follow us on Instagram and check our stories for daily reminders and inspiration.
Two
Set aside time each day for reading the Bible and praying. A daily prayer list has been provided as well as different types of fasts for you to consider. Be sensitive to the Lord’s leading when choosing your fast.
Three
Join us each Sunday Morning at 9:30 or 11am as we collectively seek the Lord and His Word. If you’re unable to attend services in person, join us online. There’s nothing better than being with the Body of Christ in corporate worship and prayer!
One of the most powerful disciplines you can develop to become more like Christ is to simply read the Bible. If you then create space to meditate on what you’ve read and have a conversation with God about it for the next 21 days, you will be amazed at how much you will grow spiritually.
If reading the Bible has been a struggle or difficult for you in the past, try using the YouVersion Bible App. It has many different devotional plans for you to choose from. We have a few suggested plans that we recommend you to try during our 21 Day Challenge.
21 Day Devotional
21 Days of Prayer
Teach Us to Pray
Why do we fast? As a believer in Christ, our objective in fasting is to abstain from something, typically food, to help create an added awareness of our weakness and our need for God’s strength. It takes our surrender to God to a new level, showing Him that a relationship with Him is central to every aspect of our lives. Dedicating ourselves to prayer and fasting brings us to a new level of spiritual dependence and renews our perspective, commitment and resolve.
Let’s be reminded that fasting isn’t a form of punishment for the sins you’ve committed since Christ took care of that for you on the cross. It’s the decision to disconnect yourself from your dependence on the world and yourself.
Here are examples of the different types of fasts that you might consider:
Complete Fasting:
Talk to your doctor and consult the Holy Spirit before you participate in this option but a complete fast is just that. For 21 days, you would only drink liquids (i.e. water, light juices, etc) for the entire day or designated portions of the day. We've seen this type of fast in the Book of Esther. Queen Esther called the entire nation of Israel to fast for their deliverance (Esther 4:16). It is amazing how long a human body can stand without food, but not without water. However, if God is calling you to this kind of fast, always follow His leading first.
Selective Fast:
This is the most common type of fast since the Bible talks about abstaining from certain foods or drinks. The Daniel fast found in Daniel 10 is one example of a selective fast (no meats, breads and sweets for 21 days). Whole 30, Vegan/plant based and Paleo meal plans are popular food choices as well.
Intermittent Fast:
This was a common type of fast for the Hebrew people. For this fast, you’d designate certain times of the day for fasting. For example, no eating from sun up to sundown or choosing to eat only in the morning or the afternoon.
Soul Fast:
A Soul fast typically means removing luxuries and indulgences outside of food. Its purpose is to guard the types of things that enter your mind and heart during this season. This includes but isn’t limited to social media, music, movies & TV, smart phone usage or screen time either for a certain period or the entire period.
Day One:
Pray for the year ahead and ask God to grow your faith in 2023. Ask the Lord to reveal Himself to you in ways that He never has before.
Day Two:
Ask God to help you to become a stronger ambassador for Christ and His Gospel, allowing the light of Jesus to shine brighter in your life.
Day Three:
Spend time in prayer today for your city, our Nation and our leaders.
Day Four:
Pray for the ministry of missionaries, that their influence among the nations would have a greater impact on the world.
Day Five:
Pray for the current culture that we live in and ask the Lord for boldness to influence the world around you for His glory.
Day Six:
Seek the Lord in prayer for the pastors and leaders of the church of Jesus. Pray to see God enlarge the territory of these individuals to advance the kingdom of God.
Day Seven:
Pray for those that you know who are unsaved or who have turned away from the Lord. Ask God to draw them by the power of His Spirit to faith in Christ.
Day Eight:
Pray for those who are also participating in this 21 Day Challenge. Ask God to strengthen them and help them (and yourself) to remain faithfully focused on the reason why we’re spending this time in prayer and fasting.
Day Nine:
Spend time praying for specific strongholds in your life that continue to keep you from experiencing the nearness of Jesus. Ask God to replace the lies of the enemy with the truth of His Word.
Day Ten:
Pray for those who are sick, specifically those who’ve contracted COVID. Ask for the faith to believe in supernatural strength and healing.
Day Eleven:
Pray for your classmates or co-workers and ask God to meet the individual needs they may have.
Day Twelve:
Ask God to make His presence and power known in your marriage or your relationship. Pray that God would continue to conform you into the image of His Son, a selfless servant. If you know of a marriage in need of prayer, spend time praying for those individuals as well.
Day Thirteen:
Pray for Sunday’s church services. At The LIFT, we believe an empty seat is a serious matter. Who does God want you to bring to service tomorrow? Pray that not only would their lives be changed but that they would find their place and purpose in the body of Christ.
Day Fourteen:
Pray and believe for God’s provision, especially for those who are unemployed and financially in need. Ask God to build up a new level of trust in hearts that may doubt God’s ability to provide for every one of their needs.
Day Fifteen:
Pray for those who volunteer at church. Pray for their leaders and for a renewed sense of joy in the privilege we have to serve the people of God every week. If you’re not currently serving on a dream team, ask God for an open door and opportunity to get connected to the right team. We like to call this “Taking the next step!”
Day Sixteen:
With only a few days left to the 21 Day Challenge, the spiritual battle only gets tougher. Let’s pray for an overflow of God’s power and perseverance for your church family and for their desire to be a light in this world to grow all the more.
Day Seventeen:
Spend time in prayer for your family. Ask the Lord to help you to honor your parents. If you are a parent, ask God to help you nurture, equip and love your children with the love of Jesus.
Day Eighteen:
The Lord has a specific calling on each of our lives. Spend some time asking Him to reveal that plan to you, if He hasn’t done so already, and for the courage to walk it out daily.
Day Nineteen:
Begin to pray for the abused, the orphan and broken families. Ask God to make His presence and His love known in their lives and to heal the broken areas of their heart.
Day Twenty:
Pray for 2023 and ask God to continue to give you the strength to maintain the spiritual disciplines you’ve established at the beginning of this year. Spend time asking the Lord to continue to take you to a new level this year and to not be satisfied with convenient or cultural Christianity.
Day Twenty One:
Pray for today’s church services that as we gather together, we would sense a greater level of expectation, boldness and excitement for the things God has prepared for us. We’re believing that we, as a church, will be stronger than ever before as a result of this period of prayer and fasting!
