After the fastNearing the end of the prayer and fasting, our regular lives start calling out to us. We may have recurring thoughts about what we will enjoy when the fast is over. Around this time, we are also considering what aspects of the fast we will incorporate into our lives moving forward. For example, if we had given up bread or dairy for the duration of the fast, we may be contemplating cu...  Read More

PerseveranceI use a tactic to get me through the last leg of the fast: thinking back to any previous season of prayer and fasting. I recall how, after it was over, it quickly became just a memory. I tell myself, "You can do it! Pretty soon, this will all be in the past! You've done it before, and you can do it again."The last leg of our prayer and fasting is likely the most exhausting! Maybe we've...  Read More

Enjoy the experienceSome of the sweetest days we will ever experience may be during times of prayer and fasting.After planning, committing, and preparing, we get to spend time with God in a different, more concentrated, and deliberate way than usual. Despite all the enemy's spiritual attacks against us and the distractions he has thrown our way, the Lord meets with us as we persevere, and it can b...  Read More

Spiritual WarfareWhen Jesus was out in the wilderness praying and fasting, Satan came to Him with various temptations, and he will come to us, too, as we pray and fast. There is a spiritual warfare aspect to prayer and fasting, and the enemy does not want us engaged in it.The first time I fasted for 21 days, every day at lunchtime, I could almost smell rice and beans cooking in a kitchen somewhere...  Read More

Nehemiah 9:1-3Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the sons of Israel assembled with fasting, in sackcloth and with dirt upon them.  The descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.  While they stood in their place, they read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for a fourth of the day; and f...  Read More

Nehemiah 9:1-3Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the sons of Israel assembled with fasting, in sackcloth and with dirt upon them.  The descendants of Israel separated themselves from all foreigners, and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.  While they stood in their place, they read from the book of the law of the Lord their God for a fourth of the day; and f...  Read More

Today’s Devotional:Do you have traction in your relationship with God and your life? Traction is what keeps us on course and moving in the right direction. Yet too many of us live with too much dis-traction, and our attention is diverted to what’s less important. When we get sidetracked, the distractions in life rob us of gaining traction in our relationship with God and the plans He has for us.Ac...  Read More

Today’s Devotional:Today is the first day of a great adventure—the adventure of turning down the noise of the world to more clearly hear the voice of God. Jeremiah 29:13 says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” The next 21 days of prayer and fasting is all about you seeking God with all your heart so you will find Him!We begin our time in the book of Nehemiah. In ...  Read More

The Believer’s Gift GiverNot only does the Holy Spirit empower individual believers to grow and mature in Christ, but he also imparts to each believer as he chooses different spiritual gifts to serve others. Eighteen different spiritual gifts are enumerated in four New Testament epistles (Romans 12:3-8; Ephesians 4:11-13; 1 Corinthians 12:7-11, 37-31; 1 Peter 4:10-11). These are not exhaustive lis...  Read More

The Believer’s GuideJesus promised that the Holy Spirit would guide all believers saying: “He will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you” (John 14:26). Repeating this promise two more times, Jesus said that the Spirit would “bear witness about me” (John 15:26) and “guide you into all truth” (John 16:13). This explains how the apostles were able to recall al...  Read More

1 Timothy 1:17Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen....  Read More

The Believer’s GrowthThough the Bible teaches that conversion includes the forgiveness of sins and being declared righteous and holy before God, Christians need to keep on growing in Christlikeness. This is a progressive, lifelong process, and it is the work of the Holy Spirit from beginning to end. Another name for this process is sanctification.Sanctification is both instantaneous and a process....  Read More