Will You Go on a 21-Day Journey with Us?

Daniel 10 records the story of Daniel going on a 21-day journey of prayer and fasting before the Lord. It is an amazing read and I would encourage you to read the entire chapter. God did amazing things as a result of his humility before God.

I have felt for several months that 2010 will be a pivotal and strategic year for us individually, as a church, and yes, even as a nation. Desperate times call for desperate measures. As early as late spring and the early summer of 2009, I felt there would be a need in 2010 for us to call our church to a major time of being before God.

Please read carefully and peer into my heart today. I am asking us as a church, and you as a Christ-follower connected with our church, to set aside a 21-day period of time to get serious before the Lord. We are setting the dates of Sunday, January 3, beginning at sundown until sundown on Sunday, January 24, for this corporate time before God in prayer and some level of fasting. I realize that scheduled events or other matters may not permit you to join us the entire time. This is not some hard-core, legalistic challenge we are placing upon you. You can come in and out of those 21 days as you believe you must or you can create your own 21 days early in 2010, but just seek the Lord about joining us at whatever level possible on this spiritual journey.

This 21-day Spiritual Journey will involve a time of prayer and fasting, with many of our people consuming only water, juice, and broth. It may involve fasting from one meal a day, or for others, having just one meal a day. It could involve a daily meal of only vegetables and not any meat at all. For others, it may not involve a food fast at all, but perhaps a time of fasting from social networking on the Internet, from television, or from whatever you believe is a true sacrifice for you. The list of possibilities is endless, and in December we are going to share these with you.

Additionally, let me be more than clear—any sacrifice is not to be made in and of itself for selfish reasons. The purpose is to spend that extra time before the Lord, making special petitions to Him regarding things you are concerned about.

We are going to lead you to make a special Spirit-led prayer list that you can use in this 21-day period of time. We will lead you to pray for “7” matters before the Lord. Three of these will be personal matters, three we will give you related to our church, and one other one you will create under God’s leadership about our church. Therefore, begin right now to get before God about these things. As we begin seeking Him about those three things for our church, you begin to seek Him about those three personal things He may want you to come before Him about seriously.

Prayer and fasting is God’s gateway to spiritual breakthroughs. We want to see the floodgates of God’s power and Spirit be upon us in 2010. We want you to join us “at whatever level God leads you” in this 21-day journey.

Most weeks in January and February, I will be doing a series from the Old Testament book of Joel. God put this on my heart last summer, and I have waited until this moment in 2010 to do it. Friends, God is up to something. We must prepare. The time is now. Even now, we must rise up in a new way as God’s people.

You will begin to hear about this more throughout the entire month of December. Just begin to see how God is speaking to you about your role in this 21-day journey. More to come on this soon.