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The average person has over 30,000 thoughts a day. Through an uncontrolled thought life, we create the conditions for illness; we create an environment to host sickness and disease. Research shows that fear, all on its own, triggers more than 1,400 known physical and chemical responses and activates more than 30 different hormones. There are intellectual and medical reasons to forgive or pardon. Toxic waste generated by toxic thoughts causes the following illnesses: diabetes, cancer, asthma, skin problems and allergies to name just a few. Choosing the right scriptures and a daily mediation plan is extremely important. You will never know what God desires for your life if you are not willing to take time to read and study His Word. God’s Word is the most important aspect of maintaining a well balance life and having a successful fast. It is filled with examples, solutions, prayers, warnings, counsel, wisdom and so much more to help guide and direct us through every stage of our journey in life. Like new born babies, you must crave spiritual milk so that you will grow into a full experience of salvation. The inspired Word of God will minister to your every need as it has done for so many in ages past. Remember! You are seeking spiritual guidance, healing, deliverance, and a closer walk with God. A well–designed plan for reading and studying the Word will help you maintain a spiritual focus. A spiritual fast should have a start and finish. There should be time designated for prayer, reading, meditating, walking, eating, and sleeping. The more disciplined and committed you are, the more effective your fast will be. Do not allow your time for any of the above to be compromised or minimized, each is important. God is not looking for super heroes, but those who are faithful. For a Christian, prayer should be a natural way of life, not just for times of crisis, moments of need or simply to guide you through a fast. During your fast you may be faced with some difficult situations that may prevent you from completing your goal and objective. Do not become discouraged. You are not the first and certainly will not be the last who will begin this spiritual journey and not complete it on time. However, you must remain focused. When your motives are pure and your intentions are right, when your mind is focused on trusting the Lord. In every aspect of your life, you will discover that there is nothing you will not be able to accomplish through the counsel of God. As soon as you can define the problem, there is an even greater opportunity for you to find a solution and get back on track. Expect the unexpected, usually people want to be free of problems. However, the problem you long to be free of, may actually be designed to shape and develop you in becoming what the Lord has destined for your life. At the same time keep in mind not every problem will be solved through fasting and prayer, but you will gain wisdom, deeper spiritual insight, and understanding about who you are and the God of our Salvation.
Beginning on Ash Wednesday, Lent is a season of reflection and preparation before the celebrations of Easter. By observing the 40 days of Lent, Christians replicate Jesus Christ's sacrifice and withdrawal into the desert for 40 days. Lent is marked by fasting, both from food and festivities. The combination of fasting and praying is not a fad or a novelty approach to spiritual discipline. Fasting and praying are not part of a human–engineered method or plan. They are not the means to manipulate a situation or to create a circumstance. Fasting and praying are Bible–based disciplines that are appropriate for all believers of all ages throughout all centuries in all parts of the world. The Bible has a great deal to say about both fasting and praying, including commands to fast and pray. The Bible also gives us examples of people who fasted and prayed, using different types of fasts for different reasons, all of which are very positive results. Jesus fasted and prayed. Jesus' disciples fasted and prayed after the Resurrection. Many of the Old Testament heroes and heroines of the faith fasted and prayed. The followers of John the Baptist fasted and prayed. Many in the early church fasted and prayed. What the Scriptures have taught us directly and by the examples of the saints is surely something we are to do. Fasting and prayer can put you into the best possible position for a breakthrough, in which that breakthrough might be in the realm of the spirit. It may be in the realm of your emotions or personal habits. It may be in the realm of a very practical area of life, such as a relationship or finances. There are countless personal stories that periods of fasting and prayer produce great spiritual results, many of which fall into the realm of a breakthrough. Something that wasn’t a reality, suddenly was. What didn’t in the past, now begin to work out suddenly. The unwanted situation or object that was there, suddenly isn’t there. The relationship that was unloving, now suddenly was loving. The job that hadn’t materialized, suddenly did.
The season of Lent is one of the two penitential seasons in the church’s liturgical calendar. It begins on Ash Wednesday and concludes on the afternoon of Holy Thursday. Lent is meant to be a time of spiritual renewal in which we take stock of our relationship with God and neighbor, undertake penance for the sins we have committed, and seek to make positive changes in our daily lives. Reading the Word of God during Lent not only helps us to stay tuned with God, but also your greater purpose in the Kingdom. The Word of God helps us overcome adversities, challenges, crisis, hardships, heartaches, sicknesses and diseases that come against the body as well as the spiritual battles that we will have to face daily against the wiles of the devil and his demonic agents. The below scriptures will help you focus on repentance and reflection during the season of Lent. Use this time to grow in your faith as you think upon all that Jesus Christ has done for you!
The Lent Pilgrimage Scriptures from March 6, 2019 – April 20, 2019:
Day 1 – March 6th:
“Then the Lord God formed a man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being” Genesis 2:7 (NIV).
Day 2 – March 7th:
“Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments” Exodus 34:28 (NIV).
Day 3 – March 8th:
“I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, “The gracious hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.” So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer” Ezra 8:22 –23 (NIV).
Day 4 – March 9th:
“I also said to myself, “As for humans, God tests them so that they may see that they are like the animals. Surely the fate of human beings is like that of the animals; the same fate awaits them both: As one dies, so dies the other. All have the same breath; humans have no advantage over animals. Everything is meaningless. All go to the same place; all come from dust, and to dust all return” Ecclesiastes 3:18–20 (NIV).
Day 5 – March 11th:
““Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter— when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” Isaiah 58:6 (NIV).
Sunday May 10th (Non-Fast Day):
“Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy” Exodus 20:8-11 (NIV).
Day 6 – March 12th:
“Daniel then said to the guard whom the chief official had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, “Please test your servants for ten days: Give us nothing but vegetables to eat and water to drink. Then compare our appearance with that of the young men who eat the royal food, and treat your servants in accordance with what you see.”” Daniel 1:11–13 (NIV).
Day 7 – March 13th:
“Satisfy us in the morning with your unfailing love, that we may sing for joy and be glad all our days. Make us glad for as many days as you have afflicted us, for as many years as we have seen trouble” Psalm 90:14 –15 (NIV.)
Day 8 – March 14th:
“Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast” Matthew 9:14–15 (NIV).
Day 9 – March 15th:
“The stone the builders rejected has become the cornerstone; the Lord has done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes. The Lord has done it this very day; let us rejoice today and be glad” Psalm 118:22–24 (NIV).
Day 10 – March 16th:
“I seek you with all my heart; do not let me stray from your commands. I have hidden your word in my heart that I might not sin against you” Psalm 119:10–11 (NIV).
Day 11 – March 18th:
“How sweet are your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth! I gain understanding from your precepts; therefore I hate every wrong path” Psalm 119:103–104 (NIV).
Day 12 – March 19th:
“Take delight in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart. Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him and he will do this: He will make your righteous reward shine like the dawn, your vindication like the noonday sun” Psalm 37:4–6 (NIV).
Day 13 – March 20th:
“At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over” Daniel 10:2–3 (NIV).
Day 14 – March 21st:
“The Lord is my shepherd, I lack nothing. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he refreshes my soul. He guides me along the right paths, for his name’s sake” Psalm 23:1–3 (NIV).
Day 15 – March 22nd:
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart” Jeremiah 29:11–13 (NIV).
Sunday - March 17th (Non-Fast Day):
“Then God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done” Genesis 2:3 (NIV).
Day 16 – March 23rd:
“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’” Matthew 4:1–4 (NIV).
Day 17 – March 25th:
“Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one’s head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?” Isaiah 58:5 (NIV).
Day 18 – March 26th:
“Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the one who takes refuge in him. Fear the Lord, you his holy people, for those who fear him lack nothing” Psalm 34:8–9 (NIV).
Day 19 – March 27th:
““Even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.” Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Who knows? He may turn and relent and leave behind a blessing—grain offerings and drink offerings for the Lord your God” Joel 2:12–14 (NIV).
Day 20 – March 28th:
“Jonah obeyed the word of the Lord and went to Nineveh. Now Nineveh was a very large city; it took three days to go through it. Jonah began by going a day’s journey into the city, proclaiming, “Forty more days and Nineveh will be overthrown.” The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth” Jonah 3:3–5 (NIV).
Sunday -March 24th (Non-Fast Day):
“Observe the Sabbath day by keeping it holy, as the Lord your God has commanded you. Six days you shall labor and do all your work, but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your ox, your donkey or any of your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns, so that your male and female servants may rest, as you do” Deuteronomy 5:12–14 (NIV).