21 Days of Prayer and Fasting- 2021

Day 2- Rest

Author: Kristi Crocker

Psalm 146:10

“The LORD reigns forever, your God, O Zion, for all generations. Praise the LORD.”

Friends, please don’t fool yourself into thinking that peace is the absence of chaos. Chaos expresses the life circumstances that you would rather not be experiencing. Peace however is getting above the fray and into the high mountain where you can experience rest.

This is not a passive position but a battle that we fight every single day of our lives. So, why not fight for victory? The cities of the earth are every voice, every circumstance, every ounce of emotional energy released that contends for your ability to climb into the high mountain.

It is to these cities that we must speak….” The Lord Reigns.”

Get high above every present circumstance – get into the high mountain and say to the cities of the earth, “THE LORD REIGNS!”

Prophetic Word from the Lord:

Come away with Me my son/My daughter. Your heart is full of anxieties that I never placed there.

The voices that you are listening to have been planted within your heart and the roots run very deep. I am a jealous God and I do not want only a portion of your heart.

I want all of your heart. Do away with the needless search for answers.

Your attempts to get the answers that you crave will never enable you to enter the rest that you so desire.

I have the answers but to obtain them you must seek differently.

Come away with Me to the high mountain.

Put on your hiking boots for we have a journey to take. I will show you how to cut through the briars and thicket that have obstructed your view.

This will require effort and tenacity on your part, but I will show you the right path to take.

Stay close, hear My voice, and follow My lead and this will produce the peace and rest that you so desperately desire.

Remember that I Am above all things.

PRAY: Lord, help me find rest in You. I lay all of my burdens and distractions at Your feet and pick up peace. There is no other rest like sitting in Your presence. So, today, I choose to lean into Your voice. I choose to follow Your lead. I choose to rest in You. 

Day 1 - Prayer

Author: Lena Hall 

It’s the very first day of 2021. I sit down in my normal quiet time spot, ready to start a New Year with the Lord. I am tired and weary from 2020, but on the other hand, I am also full of hope and expectant for the future. I didn’t sleep well the night before, my mind clouded with anxious thoughts and feelings of fear. I wake so early it’s still pitch-black outside. I had decided the day before that I was going to start my Bible reading in the book of Mark. I have no direction and no plan. I know I’m just going to start with the first chapter of Mark. I begin reading and stop at this verse:

 “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where He prayed.” – Mark 1:35

 I underline it and just sit with it for a moment.

 This past year has been so noisy, wouldn’t you agree? Social media, news, constant notifications, emails, our ability to be accessible at any moment’s notice – it is so deafening sometimes. I am so weary from all the noise. And my Father knows it – and He gently reminds me in this quiet, dark morning of the New Year of the way back to Him and His peace…it’s through Him.

 It is so easy to be caught up in our busy schedules – our noisy lives – that we neglect times of solitude, individual worship and prayer. In this New Year, I am following Jesus’s example in the following ways:

• I will seek the Lord before my busy schedule takes over my thoughts.
• I will withdraw from noise so I can focus on God.
• I will follow Jesus’s attitude of regular communion with my Father.
• I will reflect on the priorities Jesus had for His life.
• I will determine to pray on a more regular basis, not just in times of crisis.

 If prayer was important for Jesus, then it must really be important for His followers!

 PRAY: Father God, thank you for the gift of prayer. Help me to see prayer not as just some sort of religious babble – instead let me see it as a conversation with a loving and caring Father who adores me abundantly. Lord, you are speaking to my heart. You are inviting me into your love and grace. Give me the courage to quiet and stop the noise around me and open my ears to Your loving voice. I say yes to You today. Amen.