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Fast+ Read + Pray = The Challenge
PartOne
January12, 2025
“Be” goal for 2025:________________
The Challenge = Fast+ Read + Pray
1. Fast for21 Days
“‘Wehave fasted before you!’ they say.‘Why aren’tyou impressed? We have been very hard on ourselves, and you don’teven notice it!’
“Iwill tell you why!” I respond. “It’s because you are fasting to please yourselves. Evenwhile you fast, you keep oppressing your workers. What good is fasting when youkeep on fighting and quarreling? This kind of fasting will never get youanywhere with me.” (Isaiah 58:3-4, New LivingTranslation)
“This is the kind of fastingI want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those whowork for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bindpeople.” (Isaiah 58:6, NLT)
“Thenyour salvation will come like the dawn, and your wounds will quickly heal. Yourgodliness will lead you forward, and the glory of the Lord will protect youfrom behind. Then when you call, the Lord will answer. ‘Yes,I am here,’ he will quickly reply. (Isaiah 58:8–9, NLT)
“Pleasetest us for ten days on a diet of vegetables and water. . . . At the end of theten days, Daniel and his three friends looked healthier and better nourishedthan the young men who had been eating the food assigned by the king.” (Daniel 1:12, 15, NLT)
2. Readthrough Acts
“Onthe day of Pentecost all the believerswere meeting together in one place.” (Acts 2:1, NLT)
“Suddenly,there was a sound from heaven like the roaring of a mighty windstorm, and itfilled the house where they were sitting. Then, what looked like flames ortongues of fire appeared and settled on each of them. And everyone present wasfilled with the Holy Spirit and began speaking in other languages, as the HolySpirit gave them this ability.” (Acts 2:2–4, NLT)
Peter replied, “Eachof you must repent of your sins and turn to God, and be baptized in the name ofJesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. Then you will receive the giftof the Holy Spirit. . . . Those who believed what Peter said were baptized andadded to the church that day—about 3,000 in all.”
(Acts 2:38–41, NLT)
“Allthe believers devoted themselves to the apostles’teaching, to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper)…”
(Acts 2:42, NLT)
They worshiped together at the Temple each day, met in homesfor the Lord’s Supper, and shared their mealswith great joy and generosity
(Acts 2:46, NLT)
“And each day the Lord added to their fellowship those whowere being saved.” (Acts 2:47, NLT)
3. Pray every day
“Allthe believers devoted themselves . . . . to prayer.” (Acts 2:42, NLT)
“Ifyou have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Movefrom here to there,’ and it will move;and nothing will be impossible for you. . . . by prayer and fasting.” (Matthew 17:20–21, New King James Version)
“Oneday as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “AppointBarnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them.” (Acts 13:2, NLT)
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“OLord, you know every heart. Show us which of these… you have chosen”
(Acts 1:24, NLT)
During this fast, I’mpraying for: _____________________________