Prayer and Fasting

At The Bridge Church, we launching a 21-day fasting challenge. This is a season of focused prayer as a church family. You may also choose to fast for your own spiritual development. The timing of your fast is not as important as the strength of your focus on Him as you fast. 

The goal of fasting is to draw nearer to God. Biblical fasting always has to do with eliminating distractions for a spiritual purpose; it hits the reset button of our soul and renews us from the inside out. It also enables us to celebrate the goodness and mercy of God and prepares our hearts for all the good things God desires to bring into our lives. Remember, your personal fast should present a level of challenge, but it is very important to know your body, your options, and, most importantly, to seek God in prayer and follow what the Holy Spirit leads you to do. 

We will begin our fast on January 4th and end our fast January 25th which will be our anniversary celebration.

As a church we are praying specifically for:

  1. We are praying that God will move in the hearts of those far from Him in the Lowcountry.

  2. That we will see people saved and go public with their salvation through baptism.

  3. That God would raise up disciple-makers inside of our church.

  4. We would see God connect us to a future location for The Bridge Church.

We are encouraging the church to plan to pray three times a day: morning, lunch, and night. This could be for 5, 15, 30, 60 minutes, or however long you feel led. This is not to make us more legalistic, but to draw us near to God. Scroll to the bottom of this page for guided prayers.

Begin to pray and ask God what you should fast from. There are a few different options of fasting.

Daniel Fast: Fruits, Vegetables, and Water (more information on Daniel Fast Here)
Sun up to Sundown fast: Fasting from food or something during this time period
One day a week fast: Picking one day each week to fast
Lunch Fast: Plan to skip lunch in order to fast and pray to the Lord

No matter what you decide take the time you would have spent doing what you are eliminating and spend that time in prayer. Take time to journal some specific prayers.

TYPES OF FASTS

Complete Fast

This fast calls for drinking only liquids, typically water with light juices as an option.

Partial Fast

This fast is sometimes called the Jewish Fast and involves abstaining from eating any type of food in the morning and afternoon. This can either correlate to specific times of the day, such as 6:00 am to 3:00 pm, or from sun up to sundown.

Selective Fast

This type of fast involves removing certain elements from your diet. One example of a selective fast is the Daniel Fast, during which you remove meat, sweets, or bread from your diet and consume water and juice for fluids and fruits and vegetables for food.

Soul Fast

This fast is common for those who do not have much experience fasting food, who have health issues that prevent them from fasting food, or who wish to refocus certain areas of their life that are out of balance. For instance, someone might select to abstain from using social media or watching television for the duration of the fast and then choose to carefully bring that element back into their life in an orderly fashion at the conclusion of the fast.

Scripture Reading

Make the most of your fast and use a Bible Reading Plan that will help you focus on your time with God.

Resources on Fasting

Devoted to the Moment
Recources from Jentezen Franklin Media Ministries

https://ultimatedanielfast.com/ultimate-daniel-fast-food-guidelines/
Daniel Fast Resource

GUIDED PRAYERS

Prayer Cards PDF
One Sentence Prayers

The Lord’s Prayer 
“Pray then like this: “Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.” Matthew 6:9-13 ESV

Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established. Proverbs 16:3 ESV

The Blessing
“The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” Numbers 6:24-26 ESV

“‘May the Lord bless you and protect you. May the Lord smile on you and be gracious to you. May the Lord show you his favor and give you his peace.’” Numbers 6:24-26 NLT

“I also pray that you will understand the incredible greatness of God’s power for us who believe him. This is the same mighty power that raised Christ from the dead and seated him in the place of honor at God’s right hand in the heavenly realms. Now he is far above any ruler or authority or power or leader or anything else—not only in this world but also in the world to come. God has put all things under the authority of Christ and has made him head over all things for the benefit of the church. And the church is his body; it is made full and complete by Christ, who fills all things everywhere with himself.” Ephesians 1:19-23 NLT

“When I think of all this, I fall to my knees and pray to the Father, the Creator of everything in heaven and on earth. I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God’s love and keep you strong. And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep his love is. May you experience the love of Christ, though it is too great to understand fully. Then you will be made complete with all the fullness of life and power that comes from God. Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:14-21 NLT

“And so, from the day we heard, we have not ceased to pray for you, asking that you may be filled with the knowledge of his will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding, so as to walk in a manner worthy of the Lord, fully pleasing to him: bearing fruit in every good work and increasing in the knowledge of God; being strengthened with all power, according to his glorious might, for all endurance and patience with joy; giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in light.” Colossians 1:9-12 ESV