You’re Invited To 21 Days of Seeking God First 

January 1-21, 2023

     21 Days of Seeking God First is a time when you you can intentionally seek God through fasting, prayer, and scripture. The entire Lighthouse Community family agrees to journey together for 21 days, beginning with the first Sunday of the year. This sets the tone for our entire year to seek out God first in every area of our lives.
 
     Below, you’ll find resources that will help you for the next 21 Days.
    • What Is Fasting?
    • New Testament Prayers You Can Use
    • Bible Meditation Guide
    • Through the New Testament in 21 Days Guide

 

 

What Is Fasting?

Start your new year with a focus on the spiritual discipline of fasting. This article describes several kinds of fasts  that encourage reflection and closeness to God.
 
TYPES OF FASTS
 

COMPLETE FAST
This fast calls for drinking only liquids, typically water with light juices as an option (Matthew 4:1-11).

SELECTIVE FAST
This type of fast involves removing certain elements from your diet. One example of a selective fast is the Daniel Fast, during which you remove meat, sweets, or bread from your diet and consume water and juice for fluids and fruits and vegetables for food (Daniel 1).

PARTIAL FAST
This fast is sometimes called the Jewish Fast and involves abstaining from eating any type of food in the morning and afternoon. This can either correlate to specific times of the day, such as 6:00 am to 3:00 pm, or from sunup to sundown, or one meal a day.

SOUL FAST
This fast is common for those who do not have much experience fasting food, who have health issues that prevent them from fasting food, or who wish to refocus certain areas of their life that are out of balance. For instance, someone might select to abstain from using social media or watching television for the duration of the fast, and then choose to carefully bring that element back into their life in an orderly fashion at the conclusion of the fast.

 
THE CRITICAL PART OF FASTING IS NOT ONLY REMOVING BUT REPLACING AS WELL.
 
By fasting food or another activity that is integral to your daily life, you are intentionally creating a gap. That gap is best filled with seeking God through scripture study and prayer. Scroll down to find resources that will help you in prayer and bible reading.

New Testament Prayers You Can Use

MATTHEW 6:9-13 | ESV
 
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
Your kingdom come,
your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread,
and forgive us our debts,
as we also have forgiven our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
EPHESIANS 3:14-21 | ESV
 
For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
 
that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being,
 
so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love,
 
may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth,
 
and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.
 
Now to him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.
LUKE 18:13 | NLT
 
But the tax collector stood at a distance and dared not even lift his eyes to heaven as he prayed. Instead, he beat his chest in sorrow, saying, ‘O God, be merciful to me, for I am a sinner.’
COLOSSIANS 1:9-12 | NIV
 
For this reason, since the day we heard about you, we have not stopped praying for you
 
and asking God to fill you with the knowledge of his will through all spiritual wisdom and understanding.
 
And we pray this in order that you may live a life worthy of the Lord and may please him in every way: bearing fruit in every good work,
growing in the knowledge of God,
being strengthened with all power according to his glorious might
 
so that you may have great endurance and patience, and joyfully giving thanks to the Father, who has qualified you to share in the inheritance of the saints in the kingdom of light.

 BIBLE READING GUIDES

21 Days of Seeking God First
Bible Meditation Guide
 
 
Click the image to download the guide
Through the New Testament
in 21 Days Guide
 
 
Click the image to download the guide