To those who may be alone and struggling with life’s burdens, hearing others lift them up to the throne of grace can be a great encouragement. It also builds in us love and concern for others as we intercede for them. (adapted from Got Questions Ministries)

The first Thursday of every month, Every Nation (EN) churches around the world join together for a monthly day of corporate fasting and prayer. This is a time that unites EN churches and members to pray and ask God to open doors to the Gospel of Jesus, and as a part of EN churches, UChurch is invited to participate in this!

So please join us on Thursday, April 5 for corporate prayer. Plan to fast on that day, and come prepared in the evening to hear from God and lift up prayers to Him.

Date: Thursday, April 5, 2012 

Time: 7:00 – 9:00pm

Location: UofC room ST128

“My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.” (Isaiah 56:7)

1. A Word About Food
2. What Fasting Is Not
3. What Fasting Is
4. Types of Fasting
5. Why Fast?
6. Some Biblical Principles on Fasting
7. Occasions For Fasting
8. What Will Be Your Response
9. Some Biblical References

Click here to download this resource.

It is not surprising that throughout history, God has often called on his people to come together and humble themselves through prayer and fasting. When God’s people fast and pray, the spiritual progress becomes tangible. Nations change, revivals spark, people experience freedom on every level. It changes the future because it changes the people involved.

Thus the heads-up: prepare yourselves. As Jesus taught, you don’t go into a battle unless you have the resolve and the resources to complete it. Take the next little while to carefully think about what level of participation you can commit to regarding the fast. What type of fast can you do in the seven days? Look at your schedule and consider limiting physical and social activities so you can participate. For additional information about what you can do to prepare for next week’s fast, click here.

Download the 2012 Fasting Guide: this is the manual that will be used to guide next week’s fast. Please print a copy for yourself and for others in your household who will be participating.

Dates: January 16 – January 22

Prayer Schedule:

During the fasting week, certain evenings will be set aside to gather and pray. If you have children, consider having them join you for a small part of a corporate prayer time so they may be part of the experience.

Monday, January 16:

• 6:30 – 8:00pm at the Macatula’s home

Tuesday, January 17:

• 6:30 – 8:00pm at Debie’s home

Wednesday, January 18:

• 6:30 – 8:00pm at Ope’s home
• 7:00 – 9:00pm at the Reding’s home (49 Tuscany Hills Bay NW)

Thursday, January 19:

• ‘Unite the Light’ prayer and worship from 7:00 – 8:00pm at the UofC room EDC179
• Corporate Prayer from 7:00 – 9:00pm at the UofC room EDC280

Friday, January 20:

• 6:30 – 8:00pm at the Macatula’s home (contact Rodelyn at  rcmacatula@yahoo.com for address)

Saturday, January 21:

• 6:30 – 8:00pm at the Macatula’s home (contact Rodelyn at  rcmacatula@yahoo.com for address)

Sunday, January 22: (break the fast)

• 10:35am – 12:30pm at the UofC (room ST148)

In our western culture we seem to believe that it is more important to pray alone than with others. This is a symptom of our society that has elevated individualism to be more desirable than community. History reveals that in previous societies, the people did not even have a word for individualism.  They had no concept of an individual who did not belong to a group.  We have become a society of Solo sapiens! As it relates to prayer, we have lost the New Testament conviction that we must pray together, first, before we are to learn to pray alone.

More is said in Acts and the Epistles about corporate prayer, corporate learning of Biblical truth, corporate evangelism and corporate Christian maturity and growth than about the personal aspects of these Christian disciplines. Don’t misunderstand, the two are intricately related. But the personal dimensions of Christianity are difficult to maintain and practice unless they grow out of a proper corporate experience on a regular basis.  If all we do is pray alone, it is like having only one leg to get around with. Two legs are always better than just one, no matter how strong that one leg is. Both legs are required if you intend to ever run. If we were to place as much emphasis on the other leg (corporate) as we do praying alone, we would be running a lot farther and faster.

In Acts 2 we see the seeds of how the new followers of Jesus lived their new faith. They devoted themselves (plural) to teaching, fellowship, prayer, and meals and were generous with one another, meeting in homes and at the temple.  It is good to understand that until the advent of the printing press, God’s word was experienced primarily in community as followers of Jesus heard the truth explained in regular gatherings. The basic approach to learning was auditory and corporate. Today most followers of Jesus enjoy their own copy of the scriptures, which increases our knowledge, and learning of scripture through private study and devotions. The downside is that this fuels an individualistic approach to our faith, including prayer.

In western culture the church has lived like this for so long that it has become the accepted norm. Even when corporate prayer happens, many describe their experiences as B-O-R-I-N-G and tedious.  As if to excuse the need to pray with others, everyone assumes that private prayer is happening full on, when in fact most people (if honest) will admit just the opposite – they pray very little. Prayer for most people almost becomes synonymous with drudgery.

The fact is that healthy corporate prayer times are just the opposite of what most people now understand. Many people, especially new followers of Jesus, will declare the corporate prayer times together as the most significant times of their lives.  Try and tell the 2,500 who show up every Tuesday night for corporate prayer at the Brooklyn church that what they’re doing is boring. They would probably just grin and suggest you “come and see.”

I will never forget my first corporate prayer time – I was a new follower of Jesus and found myself going to my first ‘bible study’. No Sunday churches existed so by the time I got to this home group, I still had never prayed with anyone, anywhere. I got very little out of the study; it was way over my head at the time. They used a lot of words I had never heard before: sanctification, justification, propitiation …  I thought, “what ever happened to ‘Jesus loves me this I know, for the Bible tells me so?’”   As the dry study came to a close, the leader asked us to ‘hold hands’ so we could pray.  We were sitting cross-legged on the floor – about 10 of us. I had not held hands with another dude since lining up for potty time in kindergarten. I complied, and before I could say ‘sweaty palms’, I was flying!

I don’t know how long it endured or if I said anything in the moment, all I remember is feeling a euphoric high unlike anything I had experienced before.  At the end when the guy beside me pried my hand from his, I exploded with a pronouncement worthy of an Oscar – “this is the best high EVER!”

Since then I have logged my share of praying in corporate settings. Some are as dull as unbuttered toast, other times I felt like I had died and gone to heaven (good thing).  Other times God has done amazing things in me as tears flowed for God-only-knows how long.  Over the years my personal times in prayer have grown as well – I have learned how to be with God. When I look back on how I transformed from an awkward, stiff, bumbling, self-conscious babe, into a pleasant ease where I can actually hear God (most of the time), I realize it is because of my experience with corporate prayer – watching and learning from others.

As I read the accounts of the disciples learning from Jesus, I was struck by the fact they one day confronted Him and asked Him to teach them “how to pray”.  Seems they had been observing Him – His intimacy with God. It was so different from the technical, styled repetitions they grew up watching in the religious folks around them. They saw Jesus speaking with his Papa from the heart.  They saw something like I learned to spot when watching others who were more mature in their faith – I saw people’s hearts. They saw Jesus’ heart, and it flowed – and even better – God answered. The confidence, the power, the humility…wow! No wonder the disciples wanted to learn!

You see: God does not require a style, or a pattern, or a technique – He does not hear us any better when we use lots of “amens” or cock our head 30 degrees upward.  He sees and hears our hearts – the innerness of us – and He loves it!

Why pray together? Two reasons I think are worth the effort:

1. His presence: there’s just nothing else like it. In the New Testament church, they risked their lives and all they owned to experience it because they new it was the best high ever. God’s presence was palpable – it changed, encouraged, and strengthened everyone present. The fact is that if you think you’re strong enough, encouraged enough, or changed enough, don’t bother to pray with others. God is into helping those who know they need him.
2. When I pray with others, I get to see and hear other peoples’ hearts, their innerness. I learn what a broken contrite heart sounds like, I see what a repentant heart looks like, I get to watch and learn what joy filled heart is like.  I get to see people who know God better perhaps than I do hear, receive, smile, cry, dance, weep, mourn, travail, and be loved by (and love in return) the God of the entire universe.

I am not mature yet; I need to keep learning how to communicate with God.  You would think by now that I might have it down to a nice pattern – but just like my wife after 27 years, she does not want ‘slick’ or pattern; she wants me. She wants me to ‘share feelings.’ Why? Because she wants to hear my heart; because she loves me.  And as much as I find this hard to do at times (yeah macho men!), I am learning how to do it – how to drop the guard.  The same thing goes for talking with Abba father.

I often can still have my guard up when I go to spend time with God. The reasons are long – I am still learning about my guards, my walls.  Yes, I love corporate prayer – I get to see old and young, wise and silly, hard and soft, downtrodden and victorious people lay bare their hearts and it inspires me to do the same, it teaches me how to be free, even when I don’t want to.

Some will tell you to pray  with others because it makes things happen – sure, that is true, but this is a byproduct of an intimate exchange. Pray together because Papa wants to see and hear your heart!  It’s far more rewarding I guarantee!

“Again. I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven.”  Jesus – Matt 18:19

- Brant

(source of article themes: Fresh Encounters by Daniel Henderson)

*thumbnail photo courtesy of Flickr user …-Wink-… “Another Chain-keh.” 03 Feb. 2009. Online image. Flickr. 19 Jan 2011.

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As Daniel Henderson records in his book, Fresh Encounters, a few years ago a prayer craze seemed to explode upon North America fueled by an obscure prayer that was highlighted in a book titled The Prayer of Jabez. Multi-millions of copies were sold.  In it Bruce Wilkerson challenged his readers that if we prayed the principles of that prayer, God could bless those praying in similar fashion as he experienced in his ministry, that you could experience spiritual and expanded ministry for Him – making a difference in the kingdom.  However not long after a controversy began to brew around the book. It seems that many people thought they would get financial and material blessing if they prayed this prayer.  They started praying selfishly, missing God’s intention entirely. Many people had become more concerned with what God would do for them, instead of what they could (with God’s blessing) do for Him.

It’s not the first time followers have done the ‘right thing’ – prayer, with the wrong motive.  When it comes to prayer many of us have wrong motives. Here are a few I have wrestled with over the years that Daniel Henderson helped outline for me:

Guilt

Because we know prayer is commanded, important and expected, we often feel obligated to pray ourselves or attend prayer meetings and we feel guilt if we don’t.  Guilt however cannot sustain us and keeps us from enjoying the experience. I have found that when I was motivated by guilt, I would look for the slightest excuse to avoid prayer times/meetings.

Acceptance

This one cuts to our sense of belonging. Many of us have grown up in families or culture where our self-esteem is bolstered by our performance and what we think people think about us. Inwardly we think we are only worthy of love when we did things that were deemed impressive or good.  For some of us, we translate that into Christian disciplines with a works-based acceptance with God. Many people inwardly believe that the more they pray, the more God will love them, accept them.  Some of us even have extended this to spiritual leaders around us – that we would feel the acceptance and support of these leaders when we ‘do’ what is encouraged. God loves us, not because of who we are or what we do. He loves us because of who He is. He cannot help it because He is love.  We ought not to pray to be accepted by God. That was settled when he went to the cross for us.

Growth

This logic goes like this – “If I pray, God will be pleased. If God is pleased, He will bless me. If he blesses me, the thing I am doing will grow.” (this could be our business, our ministry, our church, our Home Group, our career, our future spouse, our finances, etc.) For pastors or spiritual leaders, the motive becomes the belief that a growing (big) church is always better.

What we don’t see often is that under the surface, our motive is egotistic.  No matter what ‘thing’ we are doing, if it gets blessed the accolades of personal gratification connected to ‘success’ will closely follow.

God does delight in praying people, and He is eager for things like our churches, our needs, our relationships, etc. to advance. However, He will not reduce something as pure and distinctive as prayer to the next strategy for our human-centered success.  For example, when prayer does not succeed as a church growth tool, it is often discarded for a more “effective” methodology.  When prayer does not work as a means to advance anything we personally are trying to build/grow/get, often we too will discard it and look for some other technique to get results.

Revival

One thing that happens to spiritual leaders is that they hear about the past moves of God in history (called ‘revivals’) and they long to see them today – the impact of good trumping evil.  They hear that what causes God to start a revival is prayer, so off they go to pray for this lofty Godly move. Mercifully all of the spiritual leaders I have come to respect eventfully discover a simple truth along the way.  God comes to them and asks them, “Are you seeking to be revived from Me (God), or are you seeking Me (God) for revival?” Another way to put it is, “are seeking me for what I can do (God’s hands), or are you seeking me for who I am (God’s face).

Yes, revivals do occur because prayer occurs – but when you look into the prayers that sparked a revival, they were all born in an ongoing cry to be revived, not to bring revival.

Recorded in Exodus 32-34, we read of God removing his presence because of Israel’s idolatrous folly with the golden calf.  God essentially said to Moses, “You go on to the Promised Land and I will protect you all the way, because I am a God of my word. But my manifest presence will not go with you.” (Ex. 33:1-3)  Moses and the people knew they were dead in the water – they mourned and repented. Moses went and sought God in prayer ‘face to face” and declared, “Lord, your manifest presence is the only thing that makes us different from anyone else in the world. If your presence does not go with us, we are not moving an inch.” (Ex. 33:15-16) Revival happens ‘out there’ when it first happens in us. The motive to pray is not to get God to do something, but to be with God. It is a relationship that is built intimately where his presence has room to revive us, remove things, and draw us to turn from those things that send His presence away.

The only enduring motive to pray is this: He is worthy to be sought – period. His presence is better than anything else – this is the focused passion God loves to respond to.

“God entrusts His most fruitful plans to those who maintain the most focused passion.”

-Brant

*thumbnail photo courtesy of Flickr user Laura Ferreira. “With a Little Help From a Friend.” 03 Oct. 2009. Online image. Flickr. 19 Jan. 2011.

In the early eighties the Nikolai Kirche Church opened their doors for ‘alternative’ young people who had formed protest groups for disarmament. “I suddenly realized,” says Christian, “that if we would open our doors for these types, the communists would no longer be able to say that the church was just a museum, a place for old ladies waiting to die. The church could again become a grassroots counter movement.”

In 1982 the Nikolai Kirche Church started weekly prayer meetings that went on unbroken for seven years, until the Wall fell. When discouragement kicked in, they reminded each other of Jesus’ words that when two or three gather, He is in their midst. “We realized that if we would stop praying, there would be no hope for change in Germany.”

A few years later Christian started a group for people who wanted to leave the ‘socialist paradise’. He put a sign in front of the church building saying ‘this church is open for everyone’. “Soon we became the best guarded place in the whole GDR because we took ordinary people seriously, and offered them hope.”

When in 1988 a group of protesters got arrested in Berlin, the Nikolai Kirche Church started daily prayer meetings for their release. Hundreds of people joined in, many of them non-Christians. The Sermon on the Mount was central to these prayer gatherings that quickly drew over 2,000 people and continued to grow. This made the government nervous and they sent hundreds of undercover agents to the prayer meetings. “This was just great,” says Christian. “The government sent its employees to church, and they were now forced to listen to Jesus’ teachings. So I started the meeting with a ‘warm welcome to the unofficial representatives of the state’. Everyone laughed, except the secret police guys. The people turned their heads and could immediately spot the cops. This broke the tension.”

By October 1989 over 60,000 people had gathered in and around the church. It was the largest demonstration ever held in the GDR. Everyone had brought candles. In Berlin close to a million were rumored to join the weekly prayer times.  “The Lord reminded me of this Scripture that says that ‘it’s not by might, and not by power, but by His Spirit” Christian noted.

The only successful revolution in Germany was a non-violent one. – The Wall came down.

Later the police stated that they were prepared for everything, but not for prayer and candles.

(source: http://cimarronsong.wordpress.com/2009/02/12/prayer-and-the-berlin-wall/)

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For us in UChurch, I pray we too will one day be unknown for who we are, but rather be known for the things in our world that changed because we took Jesus at his word.

Markus Laegel, who heads up a prayer movement called 24-7 Germany, has written a chapter in a new book about his experiences of the power of prayer growing up in Leipzig on the day the Berlin Wall came down. Here are some excerpts that describe the events – he was 13 at the time….

“Rev. Christian Führer, described one particular Saturday: ‘For ten hours, uniformed men beat the defenceless people, who did not retaliate, and took them away in lorries. Hundreds of them were herded into stables in Markkleeberg.’

‘What if my Dad’s in the middle of it, in prison, even? Just like we watched yesterday on TV.’ Dad did come home that Monday evening. It was very late, but he was okay. They had only got out of the city by using side roads and diversions. Twice they were stopped by police. Next Monday, though, he’d be back in Leipzig again (at the prayer meeting)  and I’d be there with him. This time I had not been allowed as I was still only 13, but it was my birthday in three days. Then I’d be 14. I could go along and I would go along. What I experienced then was the most extraordinary thing my young eyes had ever seen. This I have never forgotten…

Thousands of people gather. They’re here to pray. They’re praying for peace. The prayer is set to start at 6pm. The idea is to use the Nikolai church, but that’s already full and it’s still only 4 o’clock. We go down to the church of St. Thomas. That’s full too, but we manage to find a space. Mum, Dad and me. We’re a family. Not just us, but everyone. Everyone in EVERY church at that moment. The people sit and stand wherever there’s room. The pews were filled long ago.

The people pray simple but honest prayers. Many of them probably don’t even believe in God, but who else can help them?

As the final hymn “Dona nobis pacem” – “Give us peace, Lord!” is sung, I experience the same miracle that also happened the week before.”

Rev. Führer also writes:

“… when more than 2000 of us came out of the church – I will never forget the sight – tens of thousands more were waiting outside in the square. They were holding candles. When you hold a candle you need both hands. You have to guard the flame, stop it from being blown out.

You can’t hold a stone or a club at the same time. And then the miracle occurred. The SPIRIT OF JESUS, a Spirit of non-violence, took hold of the masses and what resulted was material, peaceful violence. The army, fighting patrols and police were drawn in, started conversations and retreated.

Thousands of people with candles. People who’ve never met before, suddenly a family. They lay their candles at the feet of the armed soldiers and police. The steps of the STASI building – the organization that spied on, abused and sold people out – now awash with candles. It looks like a river of peace and light.

On that Monday it was as if I heard God inside of me whisper – even though it was only a whisper I was startled – ‘In the same way as this unjust system has fallen, so every other unjust system will fall.’ It has a hold on me to this very day. That experience is the reason I’m doing this 24-7 prayer thing. I want to see God’s justice triumph so that ‘my’ generation can be free. I don’t want to put up with people still living under oppression. So many have merely swapped communism for consumerism. Free they’re certainly not.

As early as 10 years previously – since 1979 – people had started praying in the Nikolai church in Leipzig. Every Monday. They prayed for peace and justice. For 10 long years they endured suffering and defamation. In October 1989 there were tens of thousands of them.”

(source: http://www.24-7prayer.com/articles/661)

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One of the profound truths that struck me as I read this account was the fact that God used the very people who were praying to be the answer to their own prayer. They became the very force God would use to bring light into the darkness.  They sought for peace in prayer every week for 7 years and they ended up beoming peaceful – full of the Prince of Peace. It was so tangible, the forces collapsed in the presence of the people.

The most dangerous aspect to corporate prayer is not in the praying, it is in the way God changes those who are praying. They become bold in Him. Prayer changes the future because prayer changes us.

- Brant

*thumbnail photo courtesy of Flickr user echiner1. “Candles in Meteora.” 21 Jun 2009. Online image. Flickr. 19 Jan 2011.

- What is Fasting?

- Types of Fasting

- Why Should I Fast?

- Biblical Principles on Fasting

- Occasions for Fasting

Click on the link to read more: Fasting Basics

- Why You Should Fast

- How to Fast Safely

- How to Adequately Prepare Yourself

- How to Make this Spiritual Exercise all it can be

- How to Break a Fast

Click on the link to access this guide for yourself: Personal Guide to Fasting and Prayer

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek
my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will
forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

The benefits of fasting are many and varied. Isaiah 58 alone, outlines at least six
benefits: victory over spiritual forces, health and healing, answered prayer, guidance,
power over sin, and anointing for ministry.

There is a difference, however, between benefits and reasons. Benefits refer to God’s
response to our fasting, but reasons refer to our initial motive. It is tempting to focus on
the benefits of fasting and miss the main reason for fasting: to draw near to God.

“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and
weeping and mourning.” Joel 2:12

Richard Foster is to the point: “If our fasting is not unto God, we have failed. Physical
benefits, success in prayer, the enduring with power, spiritual insights — these must
never replace God as the center of our fasting.”

Fasting is an act of starving our flesh, that we might hunger for God. Our motive is to
express that He is the bread that satisfies our hunger, and the water that quenches our
thirst (John 6:35).

So as you enter into this time of fasting, use this as an opportunity to receive more of
who God is.

“If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek
my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will
forgive their sin and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14

The benefits of fasting are many and varied. Isaiah 58 alone, outlines at least six
benefits: victory over spiritual forces, health and healing, answered prayer, guidance,
power over sin, and anointing for ministry.

There is a difference, however, between benefits and reasons. Benefits refer to God’s
response to our fasting, but reasons refer to our initial motive. It is tempting to focus on
the benefits of fasting and miss the main reason for fasting: to draw near to God.

“Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and
weeping and mourning.” Joel 2:12

Richard Foster is to the point: “If our fasting is not unto God, we have failed. Physical
benefits, success in prayer, the enduring with power, spiritual insights — these must
never replace God as the center of our fasting.”

Fasting is an act of starving our flesh, that we might hunger for God. Our motive is to
express that He is the bread that satisfies our hunger, and the water that quenches our
thirst (John 6:35).

So as you enter into this time of fasting, use this as an opportunity to receive more of
who God is.

Click here for the booklet that includes suggestions and guidelines for Every Nation’s 2010 nationwide fast.

Verses used:
Brant: Jeremiah 29:13-14, Matthew 6:16-18, Psalm 51:16-17, Isaiah 58:6