21 Days of Prayer and Fasting

A Season of Prayer and Fasting

Well, good morning, folks. This is the one Sunday of the year that we don't meet in person. The other 51 Sundays, we gather in our three different locations, and we just finished our Christmas services—12 of them across our three locations. Today, we're taking a Sabbath Sunday, and all our staff and thousands of volunteers get to exhale on this last Sunday of the year.

What a year it's been. It's been over 11 years since we planted Church of the City, and 2024 was probably our most exciting year yet. We hosted the largest Fostering Hope event ever, bought and opened a home to provide housing for foster children in downtown Nashville, and broke ground on the village in Franklin.

Now we have just three days left of this year. On January 1, we begin a brand new year, and we begin our annual rhythm of 21 days of prayer and fasting.

Why We Fast

When Jesus began his three-year ministry, he took a season of seeking the Lord in the desert—a season of prayer, a season of fasting. Throughout the Book of Acts, we see focused times of prayer and fasting where the church was getting ready to launch a new season or begin something new that God was going to do.

We feel like we want to begin a brand new year by taking the first 21 days and setting them aside for focused seeking of the Lord. The next 21 days has the power to shift not only your life, but also the life of our church, even our community. This is not just a spiritual discipline—it's a spiritual opportunity, an invitation to draw near to God in a profound way.

When you really understand it, fasting is not a burden, it's a gift. It's a way to recalibrate our hearts, to turn down the noise of the world, and to tune in to the voice of the Spirit of God.

Fasting is not about earning God's favor. Jesus has already done that for you. Fasting is about creating space in our lives for God to move. It's a declaration that we need him more than we need food, more than we need comfort, more than anything else the world offers. When we fast, we're saying:

"Lord, I'm willing to lay aside something I love to pursue someone I love more."

It's a reminder of our dependence on God. When Jesus was teaching in Matthew 6, he said, "When you fast"—not "if" you fast. Fasting is an assumed part of a life devoted to God. It's probably the most neglected spiritual practice in the modern world, and it's important for us as a church to begin the year returning to this ancient discipline.

How We're Engaging the Fast

For the last several weeks, we've been handing out a card that outlines the 21 days. It uses the acronym PRAY:

1. Praise – drawing near to God by praising him
2. Repentance – asking the Lord to search your heart, bringing repentance before him
3. Ask – coming before God, petitioning him on behalf of ourselves or others
4. Yield – closing our time of prayer by submitting ourselves to the Spirit, saying, "God, have your way in my life. I yield myself to you."

On the back of the card, we describe the ways you can engage in the fast. Generally, we recommend a progression over three movements:

• Days 1–7: Liquid only, no solid foods
• Days 8–14: Liquid only for two meals, introducing one solid meal
• Days 15–21: Liquid for one meal, two solid meals

Some people choose to do liquid only for the entire 21 days. People have different versions of this, but this is the pattern we often recommend.

The card also prompts you to write down specific things: how you believe God is asking you to engage, what you're praying for personally, for your family, and for a friend. When you pray specific prayers, you see specific answers. When you pray general prayers, sometimes you have no idea if God even answers them. So we want to encourage you to pray bold and specific prayers.

A Word of Grace

I know some in our church struggle with food addictions, eating disorders, or body image issues. There is so much pressure in our time to conform to a so-called ideal image. If that's you, maybe this is an invitation from God not to fast from food. Maybe it's a time to simply receive God's love and realize you are beautifully and wonderfully made. If this is an issue you wrestle with, consider taking another area of your life and offering that as an act of worship instead.

Four Spiritual Benefits of Fasting

1. Clarity and Focus Fasting is like noise-reduction headphones—it blocks out distractions and turns up the voice of God. When you fast, distractions fade, the voice of God becomes clearer, and you start to see things from his perspective. Decisions that once seemed cloudy start to come into focus. We planted Church of the City out of a season of fasting—I felt like God gave me the name "Church of the City" during a time of fasting.

2. Spiritual Breakthrough Fasting invites God to break chains in our lives. Are you stuck in a pattern of sin or struggling with a heavy burden? Fasting is a powerful way to seek freedom, healing, and breakthrough.

3. Deeper Intimacy with God When you deny your physical hunger, you become more aware of your spiritual hunger. You begin to crave the presence of God in a different way.

"As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God." (Psalm 42:1)

4. Aligning with God's Will Fasting helps us align our hearts with God's purposes. It's a way to let go of your own agenda and say, "God, may your will be done in my life."

What to Expect

Fasting isn't easy. It's ironic that it's called fasting, because time seems to go slow when you're not eating. You realize how much of our lives are oriented around food—meeting for breakfast, lunch meetings, dinner meetings, birthdays. When you enter a season of fasting, you disrupt all of that.

So you're probably going to be hungry. You're going to be distracted. You may even have moments where you doubt this is even worth it. But let me encourage you: the struggle is part of the process. It's in that sacrifice, in that struggle, that we grow.

You will also experience an increase of God's presence. It may not come immediately, but as you push past the initial hunger, you'll start to experience God in a different way—noticing his presence as you pray in ways you haven't before.

And remember: you're not doing this on your own. We're doing this as a community, as a church family. Let's encourage one another, pray for one another, and pray that God brings breakthrough.

Practical Steps Forward

• Decide what kind of fast you're going to do—full fast, partial fast, or the three-movement approach.
• Set specific prayer goals. What are you asking God to do in your life, your family, and our church as we begin this new year?

We'll provide daily audio prayer guides every morning at 5:00 a.m. through the COTC Daily text prompt—a guided prayer experience for the first 21 days. We'll also have prayer and worship gatherings at each of our locations (details at cotc.com/21days).

We're also beginning a new series on January 5 called Teach Us to Pray—seven weeks walking through the Lord's Prayer, covering adoration, petition, intercession, listening to God's voice, confession, and spiritual warfare.

An Invitation to Seek God

Maybe you're praying for someone you love—a son, a daughter, a spouse, a friend. Maybe you're praying for guidance or direction. Maybe you need a breakthrough. Maybe you need to grow in hunger for God in your heart.

Maybe the lure of life in Middle Tennessee has numbed your desires for the kingdom of God. Maybe your passion has cooled. Instead of being content, maybe we should contend for the kingdom of God to come. Or maybe there's a lingering sin you want broken—a season of prayer and fasting can be really effective for breakthrough.

I believe God is calling us to something extraordinary as a church, and this is an important way for us to begin. Maybe you've never fasted before—this might be completely new for you. Visit cotc.com/21days for guidance, resources, and videos to answer your questions.

I believe God wants to show us something really special in the first 21 days of this year, and it starts with us humbling ourselves, seeking his face, and making room for him to move. As we begin this journey, I want to challenge you: jump in with us. Don't hold back. Let's be a church that is hungry for God, a church that seeks him with all our heart. And as we do, I believe we're going to see him do exceedingly, abundantly more than we could ask or imagine.

Closing Prayer

God, we come to you as 2024 closes out. If there are things we need to leave in this year—some habits, some hang-ups, some challenges—Lord, I pray you'd speak to us and find us laying them down. I pray you would give us a real hunger for your presence as we begin this new year.

I pray this 21 days would set our hearts and minds on a path—a trajectory where we're really seeking first the kingdom and trusting you. I pray for all that is to come in 2025. We know some wonderful things are going to happen and some difficult things are going to happen, and we just say, God, we trust you.

Thank you for 2024. Thank you for the way you have blessed our church, guided us, and blessed us. I am so thankful to be part of this church family. We look toward this new year asking for your ongoing guidance and direction. I pray blessing on everyone listening, every family and every part of our church represented, as we commence this brand new year.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Happy New Year, everyone.