WEEK OF PRAYER AND FASTING 2025 - DAY 5

Read Joel 1:14

‘Consecrate a fast;
    call a solemn assembly.
Gather the elders
    and all the inhabitants of the land
to the house of the Lord your God,
    and cry out to the Lord’.

COMMENT: In the book of Joel, the prophet warns the people that because of their sin, idolatry and immorality, a judgement is coming.

In response, Joel then calls the people to gather as one in order to pray and fast as a way of seeking the Lord in repentance.

This is a well established pattern in the Old Testament, and as Irene highlighted in our prayer gathering last night, we also find from Matthew 6 and 7 that Jesus expected this to be a normative pattern or rhythm marking our Christian lives too.

The assumption is ‘when’ not ‘if’ you pray and fast or give.

At certain times and moments, the Lord has ordained to move in response to the prayerful actions of his gathered people.

Food is a daily necessity, and when we set it aside, it is an act of expressing our recognition that what we need most is the Lord himself. And certainly, in all our praying this week - it is the presence of the Lord that we have been ultimately seeking.

As we heard on Sunday from Isaiah 55 - ‘Incline your ear, and come to me; hear, that your soul may live’ and ‘seek the Lord while he may be found; call upon him while he is near’.

Let me encourage you either today or tomorrow, from lunch time, to begin a fast. Drink plenty of water, and devote the time to seeking the Lord and crying out to him.

We’d then love you to join with us for a time of breaking the fast through food, prayer and praise at 12PM on Saturday at the Church.

Please let Richard know if you are planning to come along.

PRAYER POINTS

1. Thank the Lord for the way that he invites us to draw close to him and the way that he invites us to know his presence.

2. Ask the Lord to sustain you and your church family as we pray and fast together. Ask him to meet with us by his Spirit.

3. Ask the Lord if there are any scriptures or prophetic images he wants to draw your attention to.

4. Pray for our nation - ask the Lord to lead us out of sin, idolatry and immorality. Pray for our national leaders across all political parties, that they would be drawn to the love and way of Christ. Pray for laws which would reflect the righteousness and justice of God.

5. Ask the Lord to be increasingly present with us through the spiritual gifts the Spirit works through each one us. (See 1 Cor. 12:7 - ‘To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good‘.)