Week of Prayer & Fasting 29th Jan - 2nd Feb
Next week is our week of Prayer and Fasting - Monday 29th - Friday 2nd February, where we encourage the whole church to dive deeper into prayer, and have a go at, or take the next step in the spiritual practice of fasting. We want to use this week to really focus on seeking God and praying for breakthrough in our towns and villages, in our own lives and in the life of the church.
Below are ways you can get involved in the week. Do press into Jesus as much as you can - that’s the important thing. We’d love to see you throughout the week, but we’re not expecting people to be at everything!
Let’s have big expectations for what we’re going to see God do as a result of our prayer and fasting. He ‘is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine'. Ephesians 3:20
All the info will be on our website at www.Kerith.church/pray
Pray
This week consider how you can pray alone each day and with others at least once.
If you’re looking for some guidance on praying on your own, check out this Prayer Guide we made a few years ago – some of the prayer requests are a bit out of date now, but the content and principles are still really helpful. We have some printed versions of this available if you’d like to pick one up on Sunday!
Here are a few ways you can engage in prayer with others.
PrayerCast
You can join in the morning PrayerCast on Facebook, Mondays – Fridays at 6:45am-7am – this is hosted by various Kerith people across the church including Simon our senior pastor.
Instagram Live prayer
During the week of prayer we’ll be hosting an Instagram Live prayer at 12:30pm Mon-Fri on the Kerith Community Church account.
Prayer Walks
This week we will be taking time to pray for our local areas by prayer walking.
Following the advice from Jeremiah we will,
‘Seek the welfare of the city [or town or village]... and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare. Jeremiah 29:7 ESV
Choose the prayer walk closest to you, or go and pray blessing over another area if you’re able to! Wrap up warm and prepared for dodgy weather…and bring a flask of something hot to keep you going.
The walks will be about 30 minutes long and will start and end at the same place.
Monday – West – Freshwater – 8pm at Moa Place Car Park
Wednesday – Central – Gunville – 7pm at Gunville Methodist Church Car Park
Thursday – South – Niton – 7pm - Meet at the Post office (park on the road)
All Island Celebration – Friday 2nd February 7:15pm
To round off our week of prayer and fasting we’ll be joining in worship with churches across the island to celebrate what God is doing through various organisations and charities. Hear some encouraging and inspiring stories from various projects where Christians are working together around the Island. Let’s seek the Lord for the next season as we reach out together in Jesus’ name.
Fasting
If you’re new to the idea of fasting, or would like some help thinking through the best way to get started, I’d really encourage you to check out the resources on the 24-7 prayer website. There are some really helpful thoughts and suggestions on how to do this well!
Click here for the ‘Try Fasting’ page
Click here for a ‘Beginner’s guide to fasting’
The Biblical principle of fasting is a process of forgoing something (primarily food) in order that we might to turn our gaze on to God in a more intense and focused way. But other things people fast include:
Social media
Alcohol
Talking
Entertainment or sport
Screens and devices
If you’ve never fasted before, I’d really encourage you to take a simple step of reading a bit more about it from the above links, and have a go, even just for one meal or something. But use that time to focus on God.
If you have an underlying illness, pregnant or you’re under 16, please don’t fast food. I would encourage you to try fasting something else if you can!
Have a go and see how it deepens your hunger for God, your relationship with him and what God will breakthrough in your life.