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Why We Fast

We are setting aside 21 days to fast and pray, believing that God has greater things in store for us, both in our lives and in the future of Community Church. Fasting is about surrender, letting go of lesser things so God can do more in us and through us.

“Very truly I tell you, whoever believes in me will do the works I have been doing, and they will do even greater things than these.” – John 14:12

Fasting creates space for God’s presence to move in powerful ways. As we deny ourselves, we draw closer to Him, trusting that His plans for us as individuals and as a church are greater than anything we could imagine.

We invite you to join Community Church for 21 Days of Prayer & Fasting as we seek God for greater things in our lives and our church’s next season.

21 Days of Prayer & Fasting starts September 14.

How Are We Fasting for 21 Days?
For these 21 days, we’re doing a Daniel Fast together. That means simplifying what we eat and focusing on fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, nuts, seeds, and water while stepping away from meat, sweets, processed foods, and other comforts.

The goal isn’t simply to change what’s on our plate. It’s to intentionally remove distractions and create more room to seek God through prayer and time in His Word. As we fast together, we’re asking God to deepen our dependence on Him and bring breakthrough in our lives, families, church, and community.
Learn More About The Daniel Fast

Day 21: And You Also Must Testify

Welcome to day 21 of 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. You made it, and I am so proud of you. Now, before you decide, hey, what you’re going to eat, let’s talk about what you’re going to do next because, yes, the fast is ending, but the invitation to remain in Jesus continues.

And look at, you know, where he takes his disciples at the end of John 15:27. You know, yesterday we heard Jesus; he promised that the Holy Spirit would testify about him.

And then he turns, you know, to his disciples and he says, and you also, you know, these men had walked with him. They had heard his teaching. They had witnessed him do miracle after miracle.

And now they had a responsibility to tell what they knew. And as we follow Jesus, you know, we have something to share too. What God is doing in your life can become part of how, you know, someone else hears about him.

You know, think back over the 21 days: what have you brought to God that you were carrying alone? What have you begun to obey? I mean, have you asked for forgiveness for something, started praying again? Have you taken a step towards someone you’ve been avoiding? Just start there. You don’t need to make your story sound big and impressive. Just tell the truth about where you are and how you’re learning to trust Jesus.

You know, you could say I’ve been anxious and now I’m learning to just bring that anxiety to God. Or, you know, I realized I owed someone an apology. Following Jesus is now changing how I take responsibility.

Or maybe I’m working, you know, through some things, but I’m learning I don’t have to face them all alone. You know, some of you hesitate to share your story because your story is messy. You know, there’s chapters in there you wish you could just rewrite or remove all together.

I just want to encourage you. You can speak honestly about God’s faithfulness while you’re still in the middle of your story. Just use wisdom, you know, about what you share.

You don’t have to, you know, you don’t owe everybody every single detail, but don’t assume God can only use the parts of your life that you’re proud of. You know, someone you know may need the encouragement that you can offer. So here’s your final assignment for this fast.

I want you to write down the names of people that you want to invite to church and to revival nights. I just want you to go through them and pray for them out loud by name. And then I want you to reach out to them personally.

Keep it simple. You know, you could say something like, I’ve been spending these last few weeks praying and making room for God, and I’d love for you to come to church with me or come to revival nights and come sit with me. It’s been so good for me.

I think you’ll enjoy it too. You know, you can’t decide how they’re going to respond, but you can make sure that they know that they’re welcome. And tomorrow, just keep praying.

Tomorrow, keep opening your Bible. And tomorrow, just keep putting into practice what Jesus has taught you. You know, 21 days can end, but your walk with Jesus keeps going.

So listen, Sunday’s here. Revival Nights are here. Let’s come expectant, and let’s invite someone to come with us.

I love you. I’m proud of you. I can’t wait to see you in church and at revival nights.

Day 20: The Advocate Comes

Welcome to day 20. Now, if you’re anything like me, you’ve caught yourself saying this, Hey, I’ve got this. And immediately you’ve wondered how you were going to pull it off.

You know, people are counting on you. You looked confident, but underneath you were thinking, I have no idea what to do next. You know, responsibility has a way of revealing where we need help.

Now imagine being, you know, in that room with Jesus, you, you’ve left everything. You’ve dropped everything to follow him. And he’s telling you that opposition is going to come your way.

And that, by the way, he’s going to go away. So how are you supposed to carry on? I mean, before they face what’s ahead, Jesus makes them a promise. And he says this, uh, when the advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the father, the spirit of truth who goes out from the father, he will testify about me.

You see Jesus, he sees what they’re facing, and he promises them help. You know, some of us have become so accustomed, you know, to just pushing through, uh, whatever it is that we’ve been asked to do. And then we forget to ask for help.

You know, we prepare, we organize, we plan, uh, you know, we, we, we do everything we know to do, but inside we, we know we need more than another plan. We need the Holy Spirit to help us. You know, some of you remember a moment when you were deeply aware of his presence.

You know, maybe it was in an altar or maybe in a quiet room or just during a season when God, he met you and changed the direction of your life. I want you to thank God for that moment. I want you to tell that story and then bring him the person you are today, right here and now, because today has its own pressures.

Today has its own temptations, its own opportunities to trust in him. You know, your history with God can give you confidence to seek him. Now, notice what Jesus says.

He says the Spirit will testify about me. The Holy Spirit directs our attention to Jesus as we ask him to fill us. We’re asking him to make us attentive to Christ, responsive to his word, courageous, and following him.

And that reaches into everyday life. You know, the conversation, uh, where you need wisdom for, or the temptation, the struggle, the thing that you’re finding it so hard to resist, the person that you need courage to tell about Jesus. So today make, make the prayer super personal.

It could sound like this. Holy Spirit, fill me afresh and anew with your Spirit. Help me recognize your truth.

Help me to respond to your leading, strengthen me where I’m weak and, and help me to make Jesus known through my everyday life, through even my words. Amen. You know, after you praise a prayer like that, take a few minutes just to be quiet.

Bring him what you’ve been trying to manage on your own. Just open his word, be willing to act on whatever he’s already made clear. And I just want to, again, personally invite you to come to revival nights, come ready to pray, ready to worship, ready to respond to God.

You know, you don’t have to create or recreate an experience, you know, from years gone by. You can come honestly with the needs that you have. You know, Jesus knew his disciples would need help.

And he knows that you do too. I hope that encourages you. I love you.

And I’ll see you tomorrow.

Day 19: They Do Not Know Him

Welcome to day 19. And I hope God is doing a deep work in your life through these 21 days of prayer and fasting. And I hope that you are also expecting God to do great things, not only in you during these 21 days, but also in our church, especially as we lead up to our Revival Nights.

It’s just around the corner. So please be praying for God to move in our church and also be inviting your friends. Think about people you want to bring with you to revival nights.

It’s going to be amazing. Now, today is again day 19. You know, yesterday we talked about having the courage to stand.

And today we’re talking about the heart you have, you know, while you’re standing. Because you can hold your ground and also lose your compassion. So here’s what Jesus says in John 15:21.

He says this: Jesus is preparing his disciples for rejection, but he also helps them see beyond the rejection to the people doing the rejecting. They don’t know the one who sent me. It’s what he says.

That doesn’t excuse the harm. It just reveals something that, you know, something their response alone cannot tell you. They don’t know the Father Jesus came to make known.

And that should shape your response and my response to people who reject us. Think about the person who makes a joke every time you mention church, or the family member who challenges everything that you believe, or the coworker whom you’ve learned just to keep your faith quiet when you’re around them. You know, it’s easy to start preparing your defense before they even finish speaking.

You know, you’ve got your answer ready, a correction ready. Maybe you’ve been replaying the conversation, thinking about what you should have said. And here’s my question for you though.

Have you spent as much time praying for the person as you have preparing for your response? See that question right there? It challenges me too, because over time, frustration can settle into the way that we see people. We stop wondering about their story. We stop asking questions and being curious about them.

You know, we hear one comment and then we decide we know everything we need to know about that person. But there is still a person behind that comment. You may not know what they’ve experienced.

You may not know what they’ve been taught about God. You may not know whether someone used his name while causing harm to them. You can listen long enough to learn.

So don’t let someone’s resistance to your faith become your excuse to stop loving them. You can speak with conviction and still be patient. You can set a boundary and still pray for their good.

You can acknowledge that something hurt without giving bitterness a permanent place in your heart. Remember, remember the patience that Jesus has shown you. Remember how much you’re still learning, and let that just soften the way you approach someone else.

So here’s today’s homework. Bring one person to God by name and pray for them. Say, Father, you know their story.

Help them know that you’re love. Show me where I’ve become defensive or dismissive, and give me wisdom to listen, courage to speak the truth, and compassion in how I respond. You know, after you pray that prayer, I want you to think about one person and just look for an opportunity to put that prayer into practice.

Ask a sincere question. Listen without planning your comeback. Just offer help where you can and let your interaction, your next interaction, leave room for grace.

You know, I love you. I hope this encourages you, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

Day 18: The World Will Not Applaud

Welcome to day 18 of 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. You know, it’s it’s easy to say you’ll follow Jesus when everybody else is going in the same direction, but what happens when following him like costs you something? The phone stops ringing, the invitations, they stop coming, the conversation changes when you walk into the room, an opportunity comes with a compromise, and you know, you have to turn it down. You know, Jesus prepares his disciples for that moment.

In John 15:18-19, Jesus says this: if the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first. You know, he tells them plainly that belonging to him will put them at odds with a world that rejected him. And we need to hear that because approval can have a powerful hold on us.

You know, we want to be accepted. We want the relationship to stay comfortable. We want to hold on to our convictions and also keep everybody happy.

Then a moment comes when we have to choose. Will I obey Jesus when obedience costs me approval? You know, maybe you’re facing that choice right now. You’re being maybe asked to adjust the numbers or keep quiet about something dishonest going on or join in while somebody else’s reputation gets torn apart.

And you can feel the pressure. You know, they say things like, well, hey, don’t make this difficult or everybody else does it. Nobody has to know.

But you belong to Jesus in that room, too. The faith that you bring into church on Sunday has to come with you into work on Monday. It has to come into that conversation, into that decision.

Doing the right thing might actually cost you. So let’s be clear. Being disliked doesn’t automatically mean you’re being faithful.

Sometimes we just need to change our attitude and apologize or just learn to listen. Be nice. Jesus calls us to represent him with love and integrity.

And that takes both conviction and humility. You can refuse to participate without humiliating someone. You can tell the truth with gentleness.

You can treat people with dignity even when they don’t return it. Their response doesn’t have to determine your obedience. Jesus says, keep in mind that it hated me first.

You know, when faithfulness, it brings rejection. Remember, remember who you’re following. Jesus understands the cost.

You can bring him the fear, the disappointment, and the desire to be accepted. So today, name the place where you feel pressure to compromise. Just be specific.

You know, maybe it’s the job site or the classroom or the group chat, the relationship. And then I want you to pray something like this. Jesus, I belong to you here, too.

Give me the courage to do what is right. Humility in how I do it and love for the people who disagree. Help me, Jesus, trust in you and trust you with the outcome.

So decide now what faithfulness looks like when that moment comes. You can follow Jesus even when the room goes quiet. So I love you, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

Day 17: Love Each Other

Welcome to day 17. Have you ever noticed how you can finish an argument and not really solve the problem? You know, nobody’s raising their voice anymore. Everybody’s gone back to their routine, but something has changed.

You talk less, you distance more, you stick to subjects that won’t start anything. The conflict, it just got quiet, but the relationship never got repaired. Keep that in mind when you hear what Jesus says in John 15:17.

He says this, this is my commandment, love each other. You know, he’s already given this command earlier in the chapter. And now he repeats it.

Apparently, we need to hear it again because we can find plenty of reasons to leave a relationship exactly where it is. You know, Hey, I’ve already tried, you know, they know where to find me. Hey, when they apologize, then we can talk.

You know, I understand those responses and I’ve said them all myself. You know, when someone hurts you, taking another step towards that person can feel like giving them an opportunity, like permission, just to hurt you again. But love can tell the truth about what happened.

Love can establish a healthy boundary. Love can ask for change. What we need to examine is whether we’re leaving room for God to work or simply settling into resentment.

You know, after 24 years of pastoring this church, I know how important it is to run toward conflict and not away from it. Just leaving conflict alone won’t make it go away. It will actually make it worse.

And as we are in these 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting and gearing up for revival nights, we should not only just ask God to change our hearts, but we should also ask him to change our conversations. You know, at community church, we say nothing over love. And today that means bringing one relationship before God and asking, hey, what responsibility do I have here? Maybe you need to apologize for something you’ve been defending.

Maybe you need to listen to a perspective you already dismissed. Or maybe you just need to stop repeating the story to everybody except the person involved. Hey, listen, if you’ve been hurt in life as I have, you know that rebuilding trust takes time.

And some relationships, they just require distance for safety. But where a conversation is possible, you can approach it with honesty and humility. And here’s today’s assignment.

Just choose one relationship, a strained relationship in your life, and just take one constructive step. You could send a text that goes like, hey, I don’t want us to keep avoiding this anymore. Would you be willing to talk? Or maybe you could start with, I’ve been thinking about my part in what happened.

I owe you an apology. Just keep it simple. Own your part.

Give them room to respond. And then you can pray something like this. Jesus, help me love this person with wisdom and honesty and humility, and show me my next step.

After you pray that, then just take the step that you’ve been hoping they would take first. I hope that encourages you today. I love you, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

Day 16: Chosen and Appointed

Welcome to day 16. Now, think about what happens when someone you respect gives you a responsibility. You know, they trust you with a project, they ask you to lead a team, they put something important in front of you and in your hands, and so you pay attention, right? You know, what you do next matters to someone besides you.

Now, listen to what Jesus tells his disciples in John 15:16. He says this: You did not choose me, but I chose you and appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit, fruit that will last. It means you’re chosen, appointed.

Those words carry responsibility. You know, Jesus was giving these men a purpose that would shape the rest of their lives, and as his followers, we just need to consider what that means for the way that we live ours, because it’s easy to approach faith, you know, like it’s a membership. You know, we found a church that we liked.

We attend, you know, when we can. We contribute when something interests us, but Jesus speaks about an assignment. He says, go and bear fruit.

Following Jesus gives you responsibility wherever you already have influence. Just think about, you know, where that puts you today, you know, at work, where someone is watching how you handle pressure, at home, you know, where your family experiences the difference between what you say you believe and actually how you behave, you know, with a friend who keeps saying he’s fine and you know he isn’t. You have opportunities to love and serve and speak and point people towards Jesus.

You don’t need a church title to take those opportunities seriously, and notice the kind of fruit Jesus describes, fruit that will last. That should, you know, make us just stop and consider, you know, what are we building? We spend a lot of energy on things that need to be done again and again, and next week, you know, the inbox fills up and another deadline arrives. There’s always something else to fix.

Those responsibilities matter, but within them, we have opportunities to invest in people. You can finish the project and help a younger co-worker, you know, grow. You can get your kids to practice and use the drive to listen to what’s going on in their life.

You can notice someone struggling and make time for an honest conversation. You know, what are the people around you receiving because you follow Jesus? That’s today’s question. So just choose one place where you already have responsibility.

Then identify one person you can invest in this week. You know, learn what they’re facing. Follow through on an offer to help.

Share how your faith has shaped you when the opportunity comes. So start with a prayer that could go something like this. Jesus, thank you for calling me to follow you.

Help me take seriously the people that you’ve given me opportunities to serve. Show me one step I can take today and give me the courage to follow through. Amen.

Hey, listen, you’ve been given influence. Use it to help someone else grow. I love you, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

Day 15: Friends, Not Servants

Today is day 15 and the kickoff of week three. You’re doing great. Stay with it.

Now, let me ask you something. Who do you call when you’re facing a decision that you cannot afford to get wrong? You know, someone you trust, someone who will tell you the truth, someone who cares enough to challenge you. I want you to keep that relationship in mind as you hear what Jesus says in John 15:14-15.

He says, I no longer call you servants because a servant doesn’t know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends. For everything that I learned from my father, I have made known to you.

You know, Jesus had spent years walking with these men, his disciples. They worked together, they ate together, they vacationed together, they faced opposition together. He corrected them.

He gave them responsibility. He showed them what really mattered to his father. And yet he called them friends.

You know, Jesus invites you into a relationship where you can just be honest and expect to be challenged. You know, most of us, we understand responsibility. You know, people depend on us.

Decisions need to be made. Problems need to be solved. So we get so used to carrying things ourselves.

You know, the pressure at work, maybe some tension at home, the habit we think, you know, we can handle. And we just tell ourselves, hey, we’ll figure it out. But carrying responsibility alone can become a habit that follows us into our relationship with God.

We’ll serve him. We’ll work hard for him. We’ll show up when somebody needs something.

Yet when it comes to what’s actually weighing on us, we keep him at a distance. So here’s the question. Have you become so focused on working for God that you’ve stopped talking with God? You know, Jesus, he takes obedience seriously.

In verse 14, he says, you are my friends if you do what I command. You know, this friendship will ask something of you. Honesty, trust, a willingness to follow through when his words confront the way that you’re living.

Listen, you can bring him the decision you don’t know how to make. You can also bring him the decision you already know is right, but you haven’t had the courage to make it yet. So today, just take 10 minutes.

Put the phone away. Open John:15. Just bring one real issue to Jesus.

You can just say something like this. Here’s what I’m facing. Here’s what I’m afraid of.

Here’s where I need wisdom. And then just ask him, you know, what have you already taught me that I need to put into practice? So read, pray, be quiet long enough to pay attention to his voice. Write down what you hear, what you notice.

Measure it against scripture. You may still need advice. You may still need time, but you can face the responsibility knowing you’ve brought it honestly before him.

You know, the people who depend on you need you to depend on Jesus. He’s invited you to come close. Take him up on it.

I love you, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

Day 14: Lay It Down

Welcome to day 14. We’re two weeks in and only one to go. You know, today Jesus, who put a price on everything we talked about yesterday, says in John 15:13: “Greater love has no one than this: that someone laid down his life for his friends.”

You know, he’s only 24 hours away from going to the cross and doing exactly that. You know, this is not a nice like sentiment from a comfortable man. This is a preview.

And I want to ask you a question today that I have to ask myself regularly. When is the last time your faith cost you something you could measure? I mean, not cost you in your feelings or not cost you your intentions, but actually cost you, like money you would have kept, time you wanted back, a Saturday, a comfort, you know, being the one to apologize when you were not the one who was wrong, being embarrassed, being inconvenienced by somebody else’s mess. You know, so many followers of Jesus today want a safe, sanitized, comfortable, convenient version of Christianity where nothing ever has to leave your pocket.

You know, we have built a version of faith in this country that just fits neatly around our busy little lives and never disturbs it. But that’s not the kind of Savior we serve. No, Jesus, our King, he set the example of love for us when he laid down his life.

And then he says, if anybody wants to follow me, you must do the same. Love cost Jesus his life. What does your love for Jesus cost you? You know, Jesus didn’t lay down a preference.

He laid down his life. So what do you need to lay down? Maybe you need to take yesterday’s name, the one that surfaced, and ask a harder question today. What would it actually cost me to love that person, to forgive them, to pray for them, to invite them to church? You know, you’ve given up certain foods for the last 14 days, so I know that you can give something up.

Now it’s time to give something away. So I want to pray for you today. Your prayer could sound like this.

Jesus, you know what happened. You know why loving this person is hard for me. Help them experience your love.

Bring healing where there’s hurt in their life and truth where they need to know it. Show me what love really looks like in relationship to them. Help me live a life that will cost me something.

I refuse to live a shallow faith. It doesn’t require sacrifice. So give me the courage to love like you.

Amen. You know, week three, it starts tomorrow, and it’s all about people. I can’t wait to share it with you.

I love you. I’ll see you tomorrow.

Day 13: Love Like This

Welcome to day 13 of 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. Have you ever had a quiet, peaceful morning and then one name just lights up on your phone, and before you can even read the text message, your jaw clenches, your shoulders tighten, and your blood pressure begins to rise; you already know this is going to require something of you. I just want you to keep that person in mind as you hear what Jesus has to say in John 15, verse 12.

He says, “My command is this: love each other as I have loved you. You know, those last six words just really bring the challenge home, don’t they? As I have loved you. Jesus makes his love for us the measure of how we love each other.

You know, just think about the patience he’s shown you. Think about the forgiveness that you’ve needed, the times that you knew what was right and still chose something else. He knows your whole story, and he has loved you through more than anyone else even knows about.

So receiving that kind of love, it changes what we’re willing then to give to others. But this is where it gets really personal because most of us have someone we’ve just grown tired of making an effort with, right? You know, hey, we’ll just be civil, we’ll keep the peace. And we’ve stopped being curious about what that person is carrying.

We’ve decided we know, you know, who they are and what to expect. You know, maybe they’ve given us really good reason to be cautious. And love, it takes those realities seriously.

Trust may need to be built, and boundaries may need to be put in place. Praying for someone doesn’t require giving them unrestricted access to your life. But even with a boundary in place, we can still ask God to keep resentment from taking over our hearts.

So here’s a question worth just sitting with today. Can you sincerely ask God to do something good in the life of someone who has hurt you? And that can be a difficult prayer to pray. You may have to begin with a prayer that sounds something like this.

Jesus, I know you love this person. Help me want what’s good for them because right now I’m really struggling. You know, that’s an honest place to start.

So today, just bring one name before God. I want you to say it out loud and spend a few moments just praying specifically for that person. Ask God to, you know, give them wisdom, to bring healing where they’re hurting, to help them recognize his love and respond to his truth.

And ask him to work in you too. You know, your prayer could sound something like this today. Jesus, you know what happened.

You know what I’m carrying. Just help me see this person with compassion. Show me how to love them with wisdom and honesty and grace.

Amen. Your feelings may take time to change. Just keep bringing them to Jesus.

And today, let the name that raises your blood pressure become the name that prompts you to pray. I love you, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

DAY 12: COMPLETE JOY

Welcome to day 12. Now today, Jesus tells us, you know, where all of this is going. John 15, you know, the vine, the branches, the pruning, the remaining, the abiding, the obedience.

He says in verse 11, I have told you this so that my joy may be in you and that your joy may be complete. Joy. That’s what Jesus wants for you.

And notice whose joy he offers. He says, my joy. You see, the invitation to remain, it’s an invitation to share in the joy of Jesus.

You should let that change the way you hear everything else that he’s been saying. Even the pruning has a process. Even the obedience, when it costs you something, it belongs inside a relationship with a Savior who just desires your joy.

So it’s day 12. If you’re anything like me, you’ve been battling hunger. You’ve battled fatigue.

A teenager in your house has ordered wings and fries, and you’re like, get thee behind me, Satan. Right? In fact, the fast is maybe even put you a little bit on edge. Maybe you’ve been short with people that you really love, or maybe you’ve just been like angry on edge for no apparent reason.

And joy, it might feel a long way off, but for some of you, it’s felt that way for months, hasn’t it? And you just kept showing up. You kept your commitments. You kept answering the phone and taking care of people.

But somewhere in the middle of being dependable, you became depleted, and you haven’t told anybody. You’re grateful for what you have. You just miss enjoying it.

So hear me. You can count your blessings and still need someone to help you carry your burdens. So just bring that honesty to Jesus.

A difficult season doesn’t mean you failed at remaining. Grief is real. Exhaustion is real.

And sometimes faithful people even struggle to feel joy. Hey, I’m one of them. So remember when Jesus spoke these words, he said the cross was ahead of him.

He understood sorrow, yet he still promised joy. That means you can bring both your faith and your sadness to him. You don’t have to force a smile on your face before you come close to Jesus.

So I want to encourage you today. Take a few quiet moments with John 15:11. Just read it again slowly.

You know, pay attention to the word, my joy in you. And maybe you can just say a little prayer to go something like this. Jesus, you know what this season has taken out of me.

You know where I’m tired. You know what I miss. So let your joy take root in me again.

Help me receive your love and notice your goodness in my life today. You know, after you pray that, maybe just stay there for a moment. You know, you don’t have to always just hurry on to your next responsibility.

And if you’ve been struggling quietly, let me encourage you. Tell somebody that you trust that here’s what’s going on in my life. You know, don’t carry it alone.

Maybe you’re a small group leader or a friend in your small group or just somebody you really care about, you really trust. Give them a chance to walk with you because Jesus cares about the person who’s carrying responsibilities. He cares about you.

His invitation is open. So remain in him. Just bring your whole heart, even the weary, on-edge parts.

I hope that encourages you today. I love you, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

Day 11: Obedience Is the Address

Welcome to day 11. Now, yesterday we rested in God’s love, but today we want to put his love into motion. Jesus says this in John 15:10.

He says, If you keep my commandments, you will remain in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and remain in his love. So Jesus is, he’s connecting, you know, remaining with responding. His love invites us into a life where we actually do what he says, you know; abiding has an address, and it’s called obedience.

You know, sometimes the distance between what we believe and how we live is just one step we keep postponing. We know we owe someone an apology. We keep asking for the right timing.

We know we need to help, but we keep waiting until we feel ready, whatever that means. You know, we know the truth needs to be told and we just keep, you know, praying for a more convenient moment. Listen, I’ve done all of that.

And then some, uh, I can put, you know, pray about it on my list. When you do something about it really belongs there. You see, prayer can become a hiding place for an unwilling heart.

I’m talking about the things Jesus has already made clear. He says, love one another, tell the truth, forgive, serve. Those commands deserve a response.

And yes, obedience can be uncomfortable. You know, the apology, it might cost you your pride. Telling the truth might have consequences attached to it.

Asking for help might mean admitting you’ve been struggling longer than anybody knows. But you know, we just need to bring that fear to Jesus, ask him for courage, and take the next step with him. You can obey with a trembling voice.

You can do the right thing before it feels easy. Remember what we learned yesterday: you are already loved. So today’s obedience is in response to that love.

Jesus himself, he points to his obedience to the father as the, as the pattern for ours. So here’s our challenge for day 11. Just put one clear command into practice before your head hits the pillow tonight.

Make it specific, write it down, an action that you’re going to take. I’m going to apologize. I will tell the truth.

I will ask for help and then just follow through. You know, give that person your attention. Own your part of whatever happened without an excuse.

Let someone know what’s really happening. Listen, fasting sharpens your ability to hear God’s voice. Obedience keeps it sharp.

So walk in obedience today and stay sharp. I love you. And I’ll see you tomorrow.

Day 10: Deepening Love Reflection

Welcome to day 10 of 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. Now today’s invitation is simple, but it’s not easy. I want you to spend 10 minutes just receiving the love of God.

Hey, if you’re anything like me, that will be harder than, like, skipping an entire meal. Hey, give us an assignment, we’re on it. Give us a problem, we’ll work on it.

But invite us to sit quietly with nothing to prove, you know, suddenly we’re checking the clock. But listen to what Jesus says in John 15, nine, as the father has loved me, so have I loved you. Now remain in my love.

So before you rush to the next verse, just kind of let that settle in your spirit. Jesus describes his love for you by pointing to the love of the Father for him. I mean, think about the depth of that kind of love, the closeness, the intimacy, the delight.

And then hear Jesus say, so have I loved you. Hey, some of us, we have an easier time believing God can use us than believing he delights in us. You know, we serve, we show up, we become the person everybody can count on.

And somewhere along the way, we start treating our relationship with God like a performance review. Have I done enough? Have I given enough? Have I prayed enough? Even a fast like this can just become another way to somehow earn God’s approval. So let me just remind you today: hey, you began this fast already, loved.

God’s love was there before day one, before you volunteered, before you signed up for a serve team, before you had anything to put on your spiritual resume. And on the days, even when you’re exhausted and have very little to give, his love remains. You know, Jeremiah 317 gives us an extraordinary picture of God rejoicing over his people with singing.

Have you ever watched a parent sing over a sleeping child? Becca would sing over our kids every single night when she would put them down. You know, even though our child hadn’t even accomplished a thing yet, Becca’s delight over them came from a parent’s love for their child. Let that picture just challenge the way you imagine God looking at you.

So here’s today’s practice. Put your phone away, sit somewhere quiet for 10 minutes, and read John 15, nine slowly, and then pray. Jesus, help me receive the love you say you have for me.

You know, when your mind wanders to unfinished work, gently bring it back. When you feel the urge to prove yourself, just tell him. You can bring your restlessness into his presence too.

You may feel peaceful; you may feel distracted. Either way, his promise holds. Before you get back to everything you need to do, remember how deeply you are loved.

And I love you too. And I’ll see you tomorrow.

Day 9: Bearing Fruit in Life

Welcome to day nine of 21 Days of Prayer & Fasting. Today, we’re gonna take an honest look at what’s growing in our lives. And I’m gonna take that honest look right alongside of you.

You know, Jesus says this in John 15:8, this is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples. You see, you can identify a tree by what you see growing on its branches. If you see an apple, you know it’s an apple tree.

If you see the pine cone, you know it’s a pine tree. If you see oranges, well, obviously it’s an orange tree. You see, over time, our lives should reveal our connection to Jesus, the vine.

And his love begins to shape how we live and how we love. His patience starts showing up in our actions and reactions. His goodness influences decisions that nobody else will see.

You know, that’s fruit. And here’s something that I’ve had to watch in my own life. My abilities can develop faster than my character.

I can become a better communicator while becoming a poorer listener. I can lead a meeting with patience and then walk into my front door with none left for my family. I can prepare a message about Jesus without even making room for Jesus to work in me.

You know, maybe you know that tension as well. You’re carrying more responsibility. I mean, people trust in your judgment, but what’s growing beneath the surface? Galatians 5, it gives us a really good place to look.

You should read it today. Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. You know, read that list really slow today.

And where do you see growth? Thank God for it. Maybe you’re quicker now to apologize. Maybe a situation that once set you spiraling for days, now you see it as an opportunity to trust God even more.

I mean, small beginnings are worth noticing, gang. Then ask the harder question. You know, where would the people closest to me say I need to grow the most? Maybe it’s your tone, you know, when you’re interrupted or your response when you don’t get your own way.

See, those ordinary moments, they just give us opportunities to practice what we pray. So just choose one area today. Bring it honestly to God and ask Him for help with just one specific response.

I mean, your prayer could sound like this. Holy Spirit, grow patience in me. You know, when I feel myself getting irritated, help me pause and listen.

Holy Spirit, grow gentleness in me. Help me tell the truth without using my words to hurt other people. Listen to me, friend, listen.

Fruit takes time to mature. So just stay close to Jesus. Respond to His correction and keep practicing obedience.

You can trust the Spirit to do a great work in you. I love you, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

Day 8: Ask Whatever You Wish

Welcome to day eight of 21 Days of Prayer & Fasting. You know, we’ve spent a week just making room for God. But today I want us to begin to really bring him our requests. Jesus makes an incredible promise in John 15:7.

Let me read it for you. He says this: If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask for whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. I mean, wow.

That should make us just stop in our tracks. I mean, ask whatever you wish yes, but hey, read the beginning of that sentence again. He says If you remain in me and my words remain in you See the asking grows out of the abiding.

And as we spend time with Jesus and let his words just take root in us. It begins to shape our lives; we begin to care about only what he cares about.

And then our prayers grow beyond what would make life easier into what would make us more fruitful. We actually get to the point in our faith that we only want what God wants for our lives. So that’s why Jesus can say Ask for whatever you want because if we’re remaining in him, we will only want what he wants to begin with.

So here’s the question: What have you stopped praying about? I mean, maybe you pray for months, maybe years, and somewhere along the way disappointment just convinced you to lower your expectations. Yeah, you still pray about the meeting or the traffic, the long week ahead, and your Father, though, cares about those things, but he also welcomes the requests that you can barely bring yourself to say out loud.

You know the marriage that you’re afraid will never heal, the child you long to see come home, the place in your own heart. You’ve almost given up believing; you know that God can change. Bring that to him. Eight days of fasting haven’t earned you or me an answered prayer.

But Jesus has already invited you to come to the Father. You come because he loves you, and you can trust him with what matters to you most.

You know in Matthew 7 Jesus tells us to ask and seek and knock. He describes a father who gives good gifts to his children, and First John reminds us that our confidence rests.

In asking according to his will, we can ask boldly and leave the outcome in his hands. So today, just write down one request that you’ve been hesitant to bring. You know, put a date beside it. Take time to pray over it with your bible open, allowing his word to shape your asking.

You don’t have to know how God will respond before you bring him the request. What would you ask your Father today if you trusted that he really wanted to hear from you? So start there. I love you. I’ll see you tomorrow.

Day 7: The Danger of Drift

Welcome to day seven, we’re one week in. I’m so proud of you for making it this far. And let me just encourage you, keep showing up and keep making room for God in your life.

You know, Bekah and I have been, we’ve been taking our kids to the Jersey shore every summer since they were in diapers. When they got old enough and they knew how to swim, I’d let them go into the ocean on their own. With one caveat, they had to stay right in front of the lifeguards.

But if you’ve ever been to the shore, the ocean current is strong. And you know, when you’re a kid, you’re just playing around, splashing around. You can easily drift down the shore without even realizing it.

And then look up and realize you’re far away from the lifeguard. What happens to kids in the ocean can also happen to us in our spiritual walk. And that’s why Jesus says this in John chapter 15.

He says, if you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers. That’s a hard one to hear. And I don’t wanna sand the edges off of it.

But I want you to notice something about how it happens. You know, there’s no dramatic moment in that sentence. Nobody storms off.

Nobody says, forget you, God. No, it’s just the branch stops being connected to the vine and then it dries out. And slowly enough, it dries out until it’s brittle.

And I’ve been a pastor for nearly 30 years. And so I’ve, you know, watched many people walk away from God when they never planned to do that. They just got busy.

Prayer became something reserved for emergencies. A few Sundays away from church became a few months away. And the people who used to encourage them in their faith haven’t heard from them in a while.

And each decision seems small, but together they carried them somewhere they never intended to go. And drift can happen, even while you’re still in church. I mean, you know the songs, you serve on a team, people count on you, people know you.

But somewhere along the way, your relationship with Jesus started running on yesterday’s experiences. And friend, if that’s you, pay attention to what Jesus says to the church in Revelation. He says, remember, repent, and do the things you did at first.

Remember when you made time for him. What did that look like? An open Bible before you opened your phone, an honest prayer on the drive to work, a friend who asked how you were really doing and waited for the answer. Then repent; tell God where you’ve wandered.

You know, you can be honest with the one who already knows and calls you to return. Then take a step. Today, pick up one practice that helped you stay close to Jesus and tell somebody.

You know, Hebrews reminds us to encourage one another daily because we need help recognizing the drift that we can’t see in ourselves. Send that text. You know, hey, I’ve been feeling distanced from God.

Hey, would you pray for me this week? You know, that conversation could be your first step back. You know, one week down, as we enter week two, let’s give Jesus our full attention again. I love you, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

DAY 6: Dependent on God

Welcome to day six of 21 days of prayer and fasting. Today, we’re gonna talk about something that capable people really struggle to admit, and it’s we need help. And yes, I’m preaching to myself today.

In John chapter 15, in verse five, Jesus says this, apart from me, you can do nothing. I’m like, nothing? I mean, Jesus, have you seen my calendar? I’m getting a lot done. You know, but a full calendar doesn’t tell us whether we’re bearing fruit or not.

You know, a branch can look healthy for a little while after it’s disconnected from the vine, but what it cannot do is sustain its own life, and neither can we. You know, God gave you gifts, and you’ve developed skills, you’ve gained experience, and those are all good things, but somewhere along the way, we can begin trusting the gifts while losing touch with the giver of the gifts. So we stop praying about what we think we’ve mastered.

I don’t know, maybe that’s your marriage. You know how to keep the peace, but you’ve stopped asking God to deepen your love. You know, maybe it’s your work.

You know all the answers before anybody asks the questions. Hey, when was the last time you asked God for wisdom at work? You know, maybe it’s serving right here at church. You know how to prepare the lesson, lead the team, run the event, but have you prayed for the people you lead? Have you asked the Holy Spirit to fill you afresh and anew? Here’s today’s question.

Where has confidence in your ability crowded out your dependence on God? You know, Paul learned to bring his weakness to God, and God met him there. He said, my grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness. Listen, friend, you don’t have to manufacture a weakness to me, God.

You already depend on him for every breath. Prayer is where you acknowledge it, and fasting gives that prayer a physical reminder. So when hunger interrupts your day, let it interrupt your self-sufficiency too.

So why not just pause and just name one area you’ve been managing without bringing it to God, and then pray before you take the next step. You know, whether it’s the meeting, answering the phone, the conversation, the decision, say, God, I’ve gotten comfortable doing this without asking for your help. Forgive me.

Give me wisdom. Make me attentive to you. Teach me to depend on you here and now.

For it’s not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord. So today, bring your strongest ability back to the one who gave it to you in the first place. I love you, and I’ll see you tomorrow.

DAY 5: THE TRUE VINE

Well, today is day five, and I mean, this is the one. If you only take one word out of these 21 days, make it this one, and the word is remain. You know, Jesus says in John chapter 15, verse four, he says, remain in me as I also remain in you.

No branch can bear fruit by itself. It must remain in the vine. So remain, you know, some of your Bible translations might say the word abide.

It just means stay, stay put, don’t wander off, you know, kind of pitch a tent and camp here for a while, hang out. Jesus is saying, put down some roots, make yourself at home in my presence. Here’s why, you know, a branch doesn’t bear fruit by striving.

A branch bears fruit by abiding. You see, fruit is not the result of trying harder. Fruit is the result of staying closer, closer to Jesus, connected to Jesus, connected to the vine.

Listen, abiding is not a mood, it’s not a vibe, it’s not a feeling that comes over you during worship on a Sunday when the spirit moves, and those moments are real, and I thank God for them, but you can’t build a life on them because you cannot schedule them. Abiding, on the other hand, is a set of small decisions that you repeat until they begin to shape your life. That’s it, that’s the whole secret.

It’s not complicated and it’s not glamorous. We are five days into this fast and you’ve already proven that you can give something up. Now, I want you to build something up.

So today, if you haven’t done so already, I want you to decide on paper what remaining actually looks like for you for the next 16 days. You know, when, where, how long, what do you do the second that you wake up before your phone starts popping off? You know, you gotta make a decision. Make it small enough that you actually do it on a bad day.

Small and consistent beats big and occasional every single time. Because in three weeks, this fast is going to end and Revival Nights is going to come and go and what carries you past all of it, it’s not just the intensity, it’s the rhythm you built while you were hungry. So decide today, then stay there.

Remain, let’s pray. Jesus, help me remain in you today. When I’m distracted or tempted to pull away from you, draw me closer, teach me to trust your love, listen to your voice and depend on your strength.

Let my life bear fruit as I stay connected to you, amen.

DAY 4: ALREADY CLEAN

Welcome to day four of 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting. You know, some years ago when my wife started working full-time with me at the church, I made the strategic decision to hire someone to come and clean our house twice a month. You know, it was a huge relief to me and to Bekah, at least I thought it was.

Because on the night before the cleaner would show up to clean the next day, Bekakh and I, we found ourselves actually cleaning the house. And we laugh about it now, but sometimes, you know, we approach God that way, don’t we? You know, let me get this under control. Let me, you know, figure this out.

Let me, you know, have a better week and then I’ll come to you, Jesus. Well, you know, Jesus said this to his disciples in John chapter 15. He says this, verse 3, You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.

Now just stop for a minute and think about you know, who he is saying that to. This is the same group of men who are going to argue about who’s the greatest. They’re going to fall asleep while he asks them to pray.

They’re going to run when it gets hard. They’re going to deny that they even knew him. And before any of that happens, he looks at them and he says, you’re already clean.

Like the cleansing is God’s work. It’s his act of grace. It’s not something you produce by, you know, feeling bad enough for long enough.

And that is exactly what makes today safe. Because some of you are in this fourth day of the fast. You’re trying to do everything right on the outside.

And yet there is one thing you have never named. Not to God, not to your spouse, not to a friend. You have just been kind of managing it behind the scenes, keeping it fed and keeping it quiet, you know, that anger, that lust, that critical spirit, that greed, that resentment.

And it’s costing you more than you’re willing to admit. Because here’s what I know about secrets. They do not get smaller when you carry them.

They actually get heavier and they get roots. And so today I’m asking you to say the specific thing out loud. Not a general, hey God, forgive me of my sins.

The actual word for the actual thing out loud, where you can hear it yourself. You know, say it out loud. And then here’s what I want you to do.

I want you to go over to Psalm 51 and read it slowly and let David say the rest for you. You’re not confessing to get clean. You’re confessing because he already made a way for you to be clean.

There is nothing you are about to say that he didn’t already know when he chose you. So say it today. So let’s pray.

Jesus, thank you that I can come honestly into your presence. I confess the sin I’ve been hiding and excusing. So forgive me, cleanse me.

Holy Spirit, give me the power to turn from it, the courage to receive help. Teach me to walk openly with you, trusting in your grace. Amen.

DAY 3: CUT BACK TO GROW

Welcome to day three. Now, today, you gotta stay with me because today is the other half of what we talked about yesterday. Yesterday, we read that God cuts off the branch that bears no fruit, but listen to the rest of verse two.

Jesus says this, and every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will even be more fruitful. Now, I wanna read that slowly again. And every branch that does bear fruit, he prunes so that it will be even more fruitful.

Jesus says that the branch that is doing well gets cut too. That is the verse that has gotten me through some of the hardest years of my life. And I really hope it encourages somebody today who could really use some encouragement because here’s what happens.

You know, you’re doing your best to follow Jesus, to live for him, to do the right thing, but you’ll learn pretty quick that doing the right thing, the godly thing, it doesn’t necessarily mean that everything goes right. You know, you go through a season of loss, like a real loss, a job that doesn’t work out, a relationship that just can’t be mended, a ministry door that gets closed, a year that like seriously took something like out of you that still has yet to come back. And somewhere in the middle of all of that, you do the math just like I did, and you come to the conclusion just like I did, hey, God must have stepped back, God must have abandoned me, I must have done something wrong, and I must have messed up, and here’s the deal.

I wanna challenge that thought today because it was wrong in me, and I believe it’s probably wrong in you. Because what if the cutting was not abandonment? What if the cutting was an investment? Jesus says the gardener prunes the fruit, the fruitful branch, on purpose, and he tells you the reason out loud, so that it will bear more fruit, that it will be more fruitful. Pruning is how God increases capacity.

You know, what he takes is almost in service of what he’s about to give, so that relationship or that opportunity or that job, maybe it was God the gardener intentionally removing something from your life so that he could make more room for something more, something better, not just for you, but for his kingdom work in and through you. Now, I get it. The losses in life are real and they hurt, and I’m not suggesting that whatever was cut out of your life whatever that loss was, I’m not suggesting it was good.

I’m just telling you, God is not wasting it. He never wastes a hurt, he never wastes a painful moment, but he can use it to one day help you bear more fruit in your life. So today, day three of the fast, in your time of prayer, let me just encourage you, bring the last thing you lost to God.

Don’t try to minimize it, don’t try to explain it away, and don’t try to pretend it didn’t hurt. Just say, God, if you were pruning me, then grow something here and now. Friend, he’s not finished with you.

I love you, I’ll see you tomorrow.

DAY 2: THE PRUNING

Welcome to day two. You know, yesterday Jesus said, he said, I am the vine and God is the gardener. And today Jesus tells us exactly what a gardener does.

And I’ll be honest with you, it’s not, you know, comfortable to hear. In John 15 verse 2, Jesus says, he, referring to God, the gardener, he cuts off every branch in me that bears no fruit. Like, cuts it off.

That’s the word. Not ignores, not works around, cuts off. Listen, fruit matters to God.

And his care includes dealing with what hinders growth. And here’s what I’ve learned about God. In seasons like this, he’s not primarily, you know, after, like, the big sin in your life.

I mean, he’s after the clutter in your life, the stuff that isn’t necessarily evil. It’s just not producing anything good. And it has been quietly drinking up the resources that were meant for something else.

I mean, you know, you can be busy every night of the week and still be avoiding the one thing that God has asked you to do. A busy life is not necessarily a fruitful life. And that’s why God cuts off the branch that bears no fruit.

I want you to think about that for a second, a branch that bears no fruit. It’s still getting fed. It’s still pulling water and nutrients out of the vine.

It looks alive. It has leaves on it. And it has not yet produced anything, though, in years.

And you, you probably have one of those. Maybe it’s a commitment that you made years ago. You said yes to it in, like, 2019.

And you’ve been remaining faithful to that commitment, but you’ve also been resenting it ever since. Maybe it’s a habit that eats up, like, two hours every night. Maybe it’s a relationship that only takes.

Maybe it’s a version of yourself that you’ve been defending for a decade that God is not asking you to defend anymore. You see, fasting is what makes this question askable. When you take something out of your life on purpose for 21 days, you start to notice everything else you have been carrying that God never handed you.

So pray this with me today out of Psalm 139. Oh, God, search me, God. Show me the branch that’s not bearing any fruit.

And give me the nerve to hold still while you cut. It’s in your name I pray. Amen.

I love you. I’ll see you tomorrow.

DAY 1: THE TRUE VINE

Welcome to day one of 21 days of prayer and fasting. Now, before we ask God for one single thing over these next 21 days, I want us to settle something right here and right now. Because if we skip this, you know, the rest of this is just a bunch of religious effort with a hungry stomach attached to it.

So as we begin our study on John chapter 15, I want you to notice what Jesus says first. He says this, he says, I am the true vine and my father is the gardener. I just look what he did there.

He just took like both jobs. He said, he’s the vine, he’s the source. He’s the thing that all of life runs through.

And then the father is the gardener. He’s the one who decides what gets tended and what gets cut, which leaves us with neither one. And here’s why that matters.

You know, I’ve been doing this a long time, devoted my life to this book and living for Jesus. And I can tell you that the most exhausted Christians that I’ve ever met, they were exhausted because they quietly took one of these two jobs. Like somewhere along the way, they decided, you know, hey, I have to be the source.

I have to generate the energy. I have to produce the fruit, make things happen, deliver the results and show up with a good attitude for work and show up in a good mood on Sunday morning at church. And then some of us decided we had to be the gardener.

We had to solve all the problems, manage everybody, fix everybody, prune everybody, including ourselves. You know, friend, that is an exhausting way to live out your Christian faith because here’s the truth. Neither one of those two things is your job.

Jesus says he is the vine and the father is the gardener. And as we will discover, you and me, we are the branch. Now the branch has work to do, but you can only do that work while you’re depending on the vine, on Jesus, on his wisdom, on his strength, on his Holy Spirit.

Your assignment is to stay connected to Jesus. Don’t break away from the vine. Don’t disconnect your life from the source.

See, that’s our job as the branch is to stay dependent, stay connected to Jesus, stay in his presence, spend time with him every day. So on day one of our 21 days of prayer and fasting, I’m asking you, hey, not to try harder, not to carry more. I’m actually asking you to put something down that you were never intended to carry in the first place.

So here is our prayer today. God, show me where I’ve been the vine. God, show me where I’ve been the gardener and show me what my life looks like if I’m neither one.

It’s in your name I pray, amen. That’s the first step and we’ll pick it up there tomorrow.

START HERE

Well, hey, Community Church, we’re about to spend 21 days praying and fasting and listening to God’s voice together. And our focus is gonna be on John chapter 15, where Jesus says this, I love it. He goes, remain in me and I in you.

So what we’re gonna do for 21 days is to make room to hear God’s voice, to spend time with Jesus, and then also put into practice what he says. I love what it also says in Psalm 119:60. He says this, I will hurry and not delay to obey the commands of the Lord.

So that’s our posture for the next 21 days. We’re gonna say, God, hey, when you speak, I want to respond. And as we act on God’s word, as we learn to trust him more deeply, here’s what’s gonna happen.

The Holy Spirit is gonna empower us to change us. Like from the inside out, he’s gonna change our habits, help us surrender our sin, forgive and take next steps that maybe we’ve just been afraid to take. And those steps of obedience, they can become places of spiritual breakthrough.

Listen, we can’t control God’s timing, but we can respond to what he’s making clear to us today. So let me give you some advice on how to prepare for this fast. Number one, first, choose your fast.

As a church, we’re doing the Daniel Fast and you’ll find all the information about that fast on our website. But you just need to make a specific plan for setting aside food and all the time we spend preparing it or going out to eat so that we can spend time with Jesus so we can seek him. Listen, if you have a medical condition or you take medication, just consult your healthcare professional first.

Don’t try to change your medication on your own. If a Daniel Fast isn’t gonna work for you, you can still participate. Join us in prayer.

And then you can fast other things that might distract you like social media or binge watching your favorite Netflix show. Second, you need to choose a time and a place to pray and meet with God every day. I would schedule it, put it on your calendar, make an appointment with Jesus.

Find a spot also where you can just quiet all the distractions and just give God your attention, even if it’s just for 10 or 15 minutes a day. This could be like in your favorite chair in your living room or at your kitchen table or just even sitting in your truck on your lunch break, but choose a place and stick to it. Third, bring your Bible and your journal with you when you meet with God.

And so that when you read the scripture every day, read it slowly. And then when you pray, pray something like Holy Spirit, help me understand your word. Show me how to live it.

And then just write down in your journal what you sense God’s saying to you and what you’re going to do about it. Listen, I don’t know what you need God to do in the next 21 days. Maybe you need him to heal a broken relationship.

Maybe you need to just like jumpstart some good spiritual habits like reading your word and spending time in prayer every day. Or maybe like physically, you just need to go to bed earlier and get on a better rhythm, drink more water. Don’t eat sugar.

I don’t know. For some of you, you might be seeking a direction. You’ve got a big decision ahead of you and you just need God to give you wisdom that the Holy Spirit will guide you in what to do.

Some of you just need God to do a miracle just in your life or your family, whatever it is. My prayer is that God is going to meet you in these next 21 days and do above and beyond what you could ever imagine. So let me pray for you as we begin.

Father, just give us ears to hear and hearts ready to obey. Holy Spirit, open your word to us and empower us to put it into practice. Grow our faith as we trust in you.

Bring freedom where we’re bound, courage where we’re afraid, and a deeper hunger for you, Jesus. And when you speak, help us to respond without delay. It’s in Jesus’ name, Amen.

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