Fasting

 
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WHAT IS FASTING?

The purpose of fasting is to seek God. Fasting is a vehicle that we can climb into and be transported to where God is. Fasting allows us to depend on Holy Spirit to kill the sins in our lives. It allows us to have a tenacious hunger and thirst for God (Matthew 5:6). Please listen to Pastor Kevin’s sermon on fasting titled “The Forgotten Spiritual Discipline.” (Matthew 6:14-18). In the sermon Pastor Kevin mentions four types of fasting in scripture:

1. Normal Fast

A person abstains from all food, solid or liquid, but not from water—for the purpose of preparing for some significant event. Jesus fasted for forty days in preparation for his temptations from Satan and the inauguration of his public ministry (Matthew 4:1–2; Luke 4:1–2).

2. Partial Fast

A partial restriction of diet, but not total abstention. For a three-week period of mourning, Daniel ate no meat and drank no wine, and he applied no lotion to his body (Daniel 10:3). Although fasting in the Bible is primarily fasting from food, we can also fast from other things. Here we notice that Daniel fasted from wine and lotion. In 1 Corinthians 7, Paul mentions that a mutual agreement between a husband and his wife to abstain from sex to pray is considered fasting. So we can fast from anything, especially things that have control over us, for the purpose of hungering for God. For example, we can fast from Netflix, from Facebook, from our phones, etc. for the purpose of hungering for God. But it is not just putting these things away, but also picking up a hunger for God. Fasting involves praying and Bible intake.

3. Absolute Fast

During a relatively short, urgent period of time, a person could abstain from all food and water to discern God’s leading. Esther neither ate nor drank for three days during a period of national crisis (Esther 4:16), and at Paul’s dramatic conversion he abstained from eating and drinking for three days (Acts 9:9).

4. Private and Corporate Fasts

Fasting is usually a private affair, but at times the people of God came together for corporate or public fasts, such as on the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:37), in times of national emergency (2 Chronicles 20:1–4), or for seeking God’s guidance in prayer (Ezra 8:21–23).

In the Old Testament we find faithful servants of the Lord fasting such as: Samuel, Moses, Daniel, Hannah and  David. In the New Testament faithful servants such as John the Baptist, Peter, and Paul fasted. Many of the great reformers fasted regularly: Martin Luther, John Calvin, George Whitfield and Jonathan Edwards. Since fasting was a discipline of some of God’s most faithful servants, it should be a discipline in our lives as well.

RESOURCES

What is the Purpose of Fasting? by John Piper

Fasting: For the Purpose of Godliness by Luke Sedotal

Week 5 - Pray for yourself

PRAY FOR YOURSELF THIS WEEK. 

Week 4 - Pray for our government

Although we may disagree with our government on many things, one thing is certain that as Christians we have a command from Scripture to pray for our government (1 Timothy 2:1-3). Scripture goes even further to explain that we must submit to our government (1 Peter 2:13-17). That submission is only if our government does not ask us to do things that are contrary to Scripture or if they ask us to remain silent about issues that Scripture commands us to speak about. Our ultimate submission as Christians is to our God.

PRAY FOR PARISH PRESIDENT ARCHIE CHAISSON.

PRAY FOR OUR GOVERNOR JOHN BEL EDWARDS.

PRAY FOR OUR PRESIDENT JOE BIDEN.

PRAY FOR ALL THOSE WHO ARE LEADING IN THE WHITE HOUSE.

RESOURCES

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/david-platt-models-pray-president/

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/3-principles-for-how-relating-to-the-government/

https://www.9marks.org/article/publicly-praying-for-government-authorities/

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/grateful-for-almost-any-government

Week 3 - Pray for our evangelism

There are many commands in scripture concerning evangelism and discipleship of every believer. Our greatest example is Matthew 28:18-20 which is known to us as the Great Commission. In the text, Jesus shares that evangelism and discipleship are expected of all believers. 

If Matthew 28:18-20 is the great commission then Matthew 24:14 must be the great concern. Again, the emphasis of the text is on evangelism and discipleship. Jesus mentions to his disciples, “And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in all the world as a witness to all the nations, and then the end will come.”

Stats on evangelism and discipleship by George Barna:

Several professing Christians were asked a series of questions concerning evangelism and discipleship. When asked if they have a personal responsibility to share their faith with others, 73% of born again Christians said yes. When this conviction is put into practice, however, the numbers shifts downward. Only half (52%) of born-again Christians say they actually did share the Gospel at least once this past year to someone with different beliefs, in the hope that they might accept Jesus Christ as their Savior.

So why are people not evangelizing? 

–Fear of rejection
–Lack of knowledge on how to share
–Laziness
–Busyness

PRAY FOR MORE EVANGELISM AND DISCIPLESHIP IN YOUR LIFE. (1 PETER 3:15)

PRAY FOR AN OPEN DOOR FOR YOU TO SHARE WITH PEOPLE AROUND YOU. (COLOSSIANS 4:3)

PRAY THAT YOUR WALK WOULD BE A PLATFORM FOR THE GOSPEL AND NOT A STUMBLING BLOCK. (COLOSSIANS 4:5, 1 CORINTHIANS 9:27)

PRAY THAT YOUR SPEECH WOULD BE GUIDED BY THE HOLY SPIRIT AS YOU SHARE THE GOSPEL. (COLOSSIANS 4:6)

PRAY FOR MORE EVANGELISM AND DISCIPLESHIP IN OUR LOCAL CHURCH. (MATTHEW 28:18-20).

RESOURCES

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/conference_media/rediscovering-discipleship/

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/trevin-wax/bonhoeffer-on-discipleship/

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/essay/biblical-evangelism/

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/conference_media/honest-evangelism/

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/conference_media/evangelism-in-the-workplace/

Week 2 - Pray for our church

PRAY FOR UNITY. (PHILIPPIANS 2:1-5)

PRAY FOR A GREATER LOVE FOR EACH OTHER. (JOHN 13:34-35)

PRAY FOR A GREATER LOVE FOR GOD’S WORD. (PSALM 19:7-10)

PRAY FOR A GREATER LOVE FOR EVANGELISM. (MATTHEW 24:14)

PRAY FOR KEVIN AS HE LEADS FBC THIBODAUX.

Ten Things to Pray For Kevin

  1. Pray for a deeper relationship with God.
  2. Pray that he will love his wife like Christ loves the church.
  3. Pray that he will lead his boys with patience and love.
  4. Pray that he will have a greater love for people.
  5. Pray for Kevin as he prepares his sermon each week.
  6. Pray that he will be disciplined physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually.
  7. Pray that he will disciple his family.
  8. Pray that he will do the work of an evangelist.  
  9. Pray that he will make more disciples.
  10. Pray that he will shepherd God’s church well.  

PRAY FOR THE SUNDAY SCHOOL TEACHERS AS THEY PREPARE THEIR LESSONS EACH WEEK.

PRAY FOR GERARD AND OUR WORSHIP TEAM AS THEY LEAD US IN SONGS OF WORSHIP.

PRAY FOR OUR CHILDREN’S MINISTRY LEADERS AS THEY TEACH OUR CHILDREN THE WORD OF GOD. (PRAY FOR MORE VOLUNTEERS.)

PRAY FOR LISA CORTEZ AND OUR NURSERY TEAM AND FOR MORE VOLUNTEERS.

PRAY FOR SHAWN SNOW AND OUR SECURITY TEAM AS THEY WORK HARD TO PROVIDE A SAFE ENVIRONMENT FOR US TO WORSHIP.

PRAY FOR JODY SNOW AND THE WOMEN’S DISCIPLESHIP TEAM AS THEY LEAD OUR WOMEN IN DISCIPLESHIP.

PRAY FOR JERRY RIVET AS HE LEADS OUR MEN’S DISCIPLESHIP.

PRAY FOR LUKE SEDOTAL AND OUR FINANCIAL TEAM AS THEY LEAD IN ORGANIZING THE CHURCH’S FINANCES.

PRAY FOR ROBYN WILLIAMS, OUR CHURCH ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT.

PRAY FOR LUCAS BOLDEN AND THE MEDIA TEAM.

PRAY FOR GERALD BARBARA ANDRE AND THE FELLOWSHIP TEAM.

PRAY FOR THE COUNCIL AS THEY HELP IN MAKING DECISIONS FOR THE CHURCH.

RESOURCES

https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/thabiti-anyabwile/how-to-pray-for-your-pastor-from-my/

 

https://www.truthforlife.org/resources/sermon/a-prayer-for-pastors/

 

https://www.desiringgod.org/articles/seven-ways-to-pray-for-your-leaders

Week 1 - Pray for your family

PRAY FOR YOUR SPOUSE

One of the greatest thing in life that you can do for your spouse is to pray for them. We also encourage you to ask your wife or husband how can you pray for them during this week.
Here are 10 things to pray for wives, then things to pray for husbands. The lists below are provided by several members of First Baptist Thibodaux.  

Ten Things to Pray For Your Wife

  1. To have a consistent and thriving walk with God.
  2. To have spiritual protection from the world’s ideologies.
  3. To be content and satisfied in what God has provided her.
  4. To foster Godly friendships that uplift her spiritually.
  5. To be anxious for nothing and to let the peace of Christ rule in her heart.
  6. To submit to her husband’s authority even when it can be difficult, learning to trust her husband’s leadership.
  7. To identify and fight temptations and idols in her life.
  8. To desire to be a Godly parent, teaching her children to put God first.
  9. For Christian leaders in her life to guide her.
  10. To be evangelistic.

Ten Things to Pray For Your Husband

  1. To disconnect from work and connect at home with their families.
  2. To have a sincere prayer life.
  3. To have a wholesome time in the Word.
  4. To sacrificially love their wives.
  5. To have Christ like affection for others.
  6. To daily surrender to God’s will.
  7. To have an attitude of thanksgiving to God.
  8. To be a servant leader.
  9. To be gracious in their speech towards their families.
  10. To trust God in providing for their families.

PRAY FOR YOUR CHILDREN

Five Things to Pray For Your Children

  1. Pray for their salvation.
  2. Pray for their future spouse.
  3. Pray for their careers.
  4. Pray for their obedience.
  5. Pray for them to have a Christ-centered worldview.

Check out this article cited from the Gospel Coalition titled: “The Parents Daily Commute.”

PRAY FOR YOUR PARENTS

PRAY FOR UNSAVED FAMILY MEMBERS