This past Sunday we kicked off a new series called, “For Rhode Island”! As a church we desire, like Nehemiah, to see revival among the people nearest and dearest to us. We know this was a passion of Nehemiah’s because it says in scripture that he both prayed and fasted to God on behalf of his people. Likewise, we have decided to begin this series with a challenge—let’s pray and fast together as we seek God “for Rhode Island”!
Maybe this is the first time that you have been challenged to pray and fast on a regular basis. Paul challenges the Thessalonian church to take on a posture of prayer (1 Thess. 5:17), but often we are distracted or interrupted by things in our day to day life. While many of the things we are distracted by are not inherently bad, when we are distracted from our great God and the mission He has called us to be on with Him, we tend to need a reset to draw near to the heart of God.
Fasting provides for the Christian an opportunity to draw near to the heart of God in real and tangible ways. Whether you fast from food, activity, or certain leisure and entertainment, fast purposefully. For a person who has never fasted from meals, you may want to begin with fasting from a single meal once a day for a week. The staff of CCF will be doing at least this with you, and will use the lunch time hour to intentionally pray for Rhode Island. If you would like guidance on how to pray or orient your thoughts during this week of fasting, below is a devotional to help along those lines. We hope that this tool will be a great blessing to you this week as you seek God with us for Rhode Island.
