40- Day Corporate Prayer and Fasting

Fasting and Prayer - Scriptures to Read during Fast: The more you focus on our prayer time, pressing in with heightened sensitivity through the sacrifice of fasting, our will aligns with God’s. No longer are we praying with wrong motives, but instead petitioning the Lord with a heart of worship, gratitude, and an outward vision that cares for the needs of others. His desires become our desires.

1. Fasting During Loss of Friend:

   “ Therefore David took hold of his own clothes and tore them, and so did all the men who were with him. And they mourned and wept and fasted until evening for Saul and for Jonathan his son, for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword” 2 Samuel 1:11-12 (NKJV).

2. Nehemiah Prays for His People:

   “ The words of Nehemiah the son of Hachaliah. It came to pass in the month of Chislev, in the twentieth year, as I was in Shushan[a] the citadel,  that Hanani one of my brethren came with men from Judah; and I asked them concerning the Jews who had escaped, who had survived the captivity, and concerning Jerusalem.  And they said to me, “The survivors who are left from the captivity in the province are there in great distress and reproach. The wall of Jerusalem is also broken down, and its gates are burned with fire.” So it was, when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days; I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven. And I said: “I pray, Lord God of heaven, O great and awesome God, You who keep Your covenant and mercy with those who love You and observe Your commandments,  please let Your ear be attentive and Your eyes open, that You may hear the prayer of Your servant which I pray before You now, day and night, for the children of Israel Your servants, and confess the sins of the children of Israel which we have sinned against You. Both my father’s house and I have sinned” Nehemiah 1:1-6 (NKJV).

3. David Makes An Urgent Plea for Help in Trouble:

   “ For the waters have come up to my neck.  I sink in deep mire,Where there is no standing;I have come into deep waters,Where the floods overflow me.  I am weary with my crying; My throat is dry; My eyes fail while I wait for my God. Those who hate me without a cause; Are more than the hairs of my head; They are mighty who would destroy me, Being my enemies wrongfully; Though I have stolen nothing, I still must restore it. O God, You know my foolishness; And my sins are not hidden from You. Let not those who [c]wait for You, O Lord God of hosts, be ashamed because of me; Let not those who seek You be [d]confounded because of me, O God of Israel.  Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; Shame has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers, And an alien to my mother’s children;  Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up,And the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me. When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting,That became my reproach. I also made sackcloth my garment;I became a byword to them” Psalm 69:1-11 (NKJV).

   When you read your Bible, you are hearing directly from the one who created you, loves you, and sustains you. God wants you to join the conversation through prayer. The Bible also gives you words to offer back to God. Throughout its pages, we see models for faithful prayer. When you echo these words in your own prayer life, you cement the biblical truths in your heart as you send them to God in praise.