It's Time to Pray and Fast
Kingdom Life Corporate Fast 2012
Greetings and Blessings:
It’s time! It’s the right season, it’s the right moment, and it’s the appointed time of the Lord. There is a sure urgency at Kingdom Life this year as we seek the face of God for our family, our community, our City and the Nations. To simply put it -
It’s Time to Seek the Lord through Fasting and Prayer
What a great time to be alive and in the Kingdom! My sincere prayer today for you is that you are sensitive to this season we are in and, like me, understand that we need to seek the Lord. I must be honest by saying my heart is heavy as I write this and some things this year have really challenged me. I feel both the joy and the burden of ministry. Nothing is more important to me than making sure our covenant relationships are in order. I understand, as I am sitting here, how important this ministry is to our community. We have an assignment that is vital in this hour. This time of prayer is so important to me and I need all of you. I am calling on every covenant partner and friend of Kingdom Life to sense the urgency of this matter and make the sacrifice to seek the Lord.
Every year at Kingdom Life Christian Fellowship we bow our knees, and bow our hearts, and turn our plates down so we can make the necessary sacrifice to say to the Lord, “We love you and we need you”. In a nation where most people are getting ready to celebrate Christmas, our celebration is a bit different. While they are busy with the hustle and bustle of the holidays, we realize that we should have a season where we literally withdraw ourselves from the activities of the world for a season and seek the Lord.
Matthew 17:20-21 20And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. 21Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
Our Lord tells his disciples that certain times and conditions call for prayer, with fasting added to it. The background of this story was a father who had a sick son who had a condition that was making the boy fall, hurt himself, and even fall into a fire. He bought his son to the disciples (the church) and they could not heal him. It is obvious to me that something deeper was going on here other than a casual sickness because the bible says:
Matthew 17:18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
Jesus tells his disciples that these situations call for prayer and fasting. As we look at the condition of this world, and the condition of our country I am sure that you agree with me that we need to seek God now. We are in need for his Kingdom to come on earth as it is in heaven.
Our families are suffering and our youth are suffering and being deceived by Satan. Marriages are threatened everywhere around us. People are suffering due to the down turn of the economy. Our nation is at war. Christians are falling away and the spirit of Apostasy is among us. If that’s not enough, the Christian church in America is mirroring the lost spirit of the disciples; but we take the stand that enough is enough.
We must seek God for his voice, his answer, his word, his solutions, and his Kingdom.
The Power of Prayer and Fasting
The Great prophet Isaiah said:
Isaiah 58:6-8
6Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? 7Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? 8Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy reward.
During this fast we will be in prayer every night at 6:3:0 p.m. at Kingdom Life. We will pray for the needs of the community and the needs of people. We will also be offering strategic prayer for the Body of Christ and our community that the Lord will give us “Divine Strategies” to counter the “WILES” of the devil.
• Fasting will help you with Humility.
• Fasting will bring greater discipline into your life.
• Fasting will strengthen the Spirit.
• Fasting will position you to hear from God.
• Fasting will lead you, the believer to a greater spiritual freedom.
What’s interesting about fasting is that it helps us to walk more in the spirit and less in the flesh. The bible says that the flesh is the enemy of God and we will never please God walking in the flesh.
Romans 8:6-9: 6For to be carnally minded is death; but to be spiritually minded is life and peace. 7Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be. 8So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. 9But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.
Joel 2:15-17: 15Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly: 16Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. 17Let the priests, the ministers of the LORD, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O LORD, and give not thine heritage to reproach, that the heathen should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the people, Where is their God?
Kingdom Life Covenant Members are to be in PRAYER & CONSECRATION for 12 days straight. This may become a little challenging with reference to our children; however, we are all required to be in attendance. You are encouraged and exhorted!
Corporate Prayer will begin promptly each night at 6:30 p.m. and last for an hour. Please read the prayer agenda carefully and consider the things as you pray during these 12 days.
Members and Covenant Partners of Kingdom Life are asked to join us by participating in the Daniel Fast, which is primarily eating fruits, vegetables, and natural food.
What is Fasting? Fasting is the voluntary abstinence from particular aspects of life in order to seek deep dimensions of fellowship and blessings with God. The Bible gives examples of two kinds of fasts: the absolute fast (no food) that Jesus and Moses observed in Matthew 4:2 and Exodus 34:28 and the partial fast (abstaining from pleasures - sweets and delicacies - no red meat, pork, or lamb) that Daniel and John the Baptist observed in Daniel 1:8 and Matthew 3:4.
What is the Daniel Fast? The concept of a Daniel Fast comes from Daniel 1:8-14, “But Daniel resolved not to defile himself with the royal food and wine, and he asked the chief official for permission not to defile himself this way. Now God had caused the official to show favor and sympathy to Daniel, but the official told Daniel, "I am afraid of my lord the king, who has assigned your food and drink. Why should he see you looking worse than the other young men do your age? The king would then have my head because of you." Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, "Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see." So he agreed to this and tested them for ten days.”
The background of the “Daniel Fast” is that Daniel and his three friends had been “deported” to Babylon when Nebuchadnezzar and the Babylonians had conquered Judah (2 Kings 24:13-14). Daniel and his three friends were in the Babylonian court servant “training program”. Part of the program was learning Babylonian customs, beliefs, laws, and practices. The eating habits of the Babylonians were not in complete agreement with the Mosaic Law. As a result, Daniel requested that he and his three friends not have to consume meat (which most likely was a sacrifice to Babylonian false gods and idols).
Therefore, a Daniel Fast is eating only fruits and vegetables for a certain amount of time and abstaining from meat products. Some people use a Daniel Fast as a dieting method. Some people use a Daniel Fast instead of fasting from food entirely. The Bible nowhere commands believers to observe a Daniel Fast. As a result, it is a matter of Christian freedom whether to observe a Daniel Fast.
CORPORATE PRAYER SCHEDULE & AGENDA
12 NIGHTS OF GLORY
Monday Night- December 3rd - Repentance & forgiveness; That the Lord would forgive us as we repent and that we will forgive others.
Tuesday Night – December 4th - Bible study at 7:00 p.m. Praying for spiritual growth & renewing of the mind; Praying against all attacks against the mind
Wednesday Night - December 5th - Praying for men and young men to stand and take their place. Redemption of the man !!!
Thursday Night - December 6th - Praying for health and healing
Friday Night - December 7th - Praying for freedom from financial bondage debt reduction, prosperity to be released
Saturday Night – December 8th - Salvation of the lost
Sunday Night – December 9th - Redemption of the youth & praying for the children.
Monday Night – December 10th - Praying for the vision of kingdom Life and the body of Christ (Kingdom Life pastors and leaders)
Tuesday Night – December 11th - Bible Study at 7pm; Prayer at 6:30 p.m.; Praying for the family; Praying against all generational curses and bondages; Spiritual warfare night; Prayer for the family, prayer against poverty, and lack of education
Wednesday Night – December 12th - Praying for the government and our city against the spirit of murder, violence, and domestic violence (Savannah, GA government and leaders, President Obama and the government)
Thursday Night - December 13th - Praying for the nations of the world - Third world countries. Israel, India, Africa, Vietnam, Bahamas, Canada
Friday Night – December 14th -Jubilee Night; a night of impartation, worship, and praise for the victory
