Today is the first day of our 40 Days Prayer and Fasting. If you haven’t already done so, you may download PDF file of the guide book here. Below are some information about the background of fasting and how you can put it into practice.

WHAT IS FASTING?
Fasting means humbling ourselves before God and telling Him that we deny our flesh to seek Him instead. As a spiritual discipline, fasting is an act of not eating and drinking to focus ourselves on God and giving spiritual food to our spirit and flesh.

WHAT DID THE BIBLE SAY ABOUT FASTING?

• Fasting in the Old Testament
  In the Old Testament, fasting was a moment where people gathered to humble themselves, to receive the purification from sins through repentance, to obtain spiritual renewal, and to find divine help. Fasting was often associated with tears and humbling experiences before God. In the Old Testament, fasting was defined in Joel 2: 12-13.

  The people of God to proclaim a fast for God’s protection upon the Jews in the Babylonian captivity who were returning to Jerusalem (Ezra 8: 21). In the Bible, there were many occurrences. Moses fasted for 40 days twice until he experienced God’s glory (Deuteronomy 9: 9, 18). The bible also recorded the Israelites’ fasting days in Judges 20: 26 and in 1Samuel 7: 6 King David fasted in many occasions; before the became a king, during the sickness of his son as well as his enemies (Psalm 35: 13). David also fasted for the sins of his people (Psalm 69: 9-10). Elisa, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, and Daniel fasted in the time of needs.

• Fasting in the New Testament
  Lord Jesus gave the example of fasting when He fasted 40 days after being baptized. For Jesus, the most important thing is not the fasting itself, but whether or not we do it. in Luke 2: 36-37 there was a woman of an advanced years, called Anna, who unceasingly served God in prayer and fasted day and night. In Antioch, the prophets and Jesus’ early disciples also fasted (Acts 13: 2), and Apostle Paul wrote several times in his letter that “in fasting often, “(2 Corinthians 11: 27). For every child of God, the question is not “do I have to fast?” but “when should I fast?”

TYPES OF FASTING
There are 3 choices:
1. For those who have previously fasted, it is recommended to skip two meals. End the fasting at 6pm. The fasting will then continue from 10pm that night till 6pm the next day.
2. For those who have just started fasting, it is recommended to just skip one meal breakfast, lunch, or dinner.
3. For those who are not physically fit, it is recommended to break fast up till noon only.

END THE FASTING TOGETHER
You may determine the time to end your fasting as well as to pray together with others or as a family, in care group, or in each prayer cell. You can coordinate it in your local church. Recommended time is as follows:
6pm – 7pm End the fasting together
7pm – 9pm Prayer time together

Happy Fasting. God Bless You!

This coming Monday, July 18, IFGF GISI churches worldwide will start the annual 40 Days Prayer and Fasting. Through this event, we are looking forward to see God’s miracles and breakthrough to be testified among His churches. To participate on this Prayer and Fasting, you may download PDF file of the guide book here.

Below is a message from IFGF GISI Founder and Chairman, Pastor Jimmy Oentoro, reminding us the real meaning and purpose of prayer and fasting.

Shalom,

When we talk about prayer and fasting, some people are thinking of rabbis, nuns, or other “spiritual” people. But actually, prayer and fasting has got to become a part of the lives of every people of God. In the Bible, there are many stories of people from all walks of life who took up fasting as their spiritual discipline: a king, a queen, a prophet, a government official, and even Jesus had once fasted. They fasted to ask for protection, during worship, to start a ministry, to consecrate themselves, and so on. Remember:

• Prayer and fasting is not a “hunger strike”. Prayer and fasting actually declares our surrender to the will of God, whereas a “hunger strike” means you want our will forced upon the Lord. In prayer and fasting, we humbly seek God (2 Chronicles 7:14) and declare our dependence upon Him.
• Prayer and fasting is not a “diet”. In a diet, you reduce your food intake to decrease your body size, but prayer and fasting is an opportunity to increase our faith by knowing our Creator. Depriving oneself of food without providing for time to pray is not fasting, but a mere diet.
• Prayer and fasting is not “changing our meal times”, but instead it is an act to change ourselves by disciplining our bodies and saying NO to food. At the same time, we are building “self control” by saying NO to other fleshly desires (1 Corinthians 9:27) as well as evil wills, words, and deeds.
• Prayer and fasting is not a “detox” to clean your body, but rather to clean our lives from all kinds of sin. True repentance is oftentimes portrayed through prayer and fasting.

Through the Biblical characters we will learn about for 40 days during this prayer and fasting, I hope that we can come to see a different side to their lives. That is, how they can faithfully follow God, no matter what their circumstances are, because of their diligent prayer and fasting. Let us learn from them and trust that during the next 40 days, we will grow to become stronger individuals and experience spiritual rejuvenation. Happy Fasting!

God Bless You,
Rev. Dr. Jimmy Oentoro
Founder & Chairman of IFGF GISI

As the month of mission in IFGF GISI is coming, we are once again challenged to evangelize to the lost. Through 40 Days of Mission Journey together (25 April – 2 June 2011), we will take time to reflect on & respond to the needs of the people around us. In IFGF GISI itself, the 3 Habits of Shepherding have been introduced, as tools that we can use to take divine opportunities to eat with, pray for, and do acts of love to others.

We know very well what our call is as Christians and His church. Whatever our specific call is – as apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers – we are to share the Gospel of Jesus’ love to all. And mission, through which this is achieved, has been the very DNA of our movement IFGF GISI since its inception.

Today we can see the great needs to share this Gospel to many different parts of the world. And so we cannot remain ignorant to what’s been happening around the world. Disasters, wars, and perhaps other calamities are taking place one after another. The world needs to come to know Christ the Savior and we must take charge as Christ’s ambassadors of change!

The Lord said to Peter to feed and take care of his sheep if he loved Him (John 21:17). And I believe this applies to all of us, His children, who have been redeemed and given the privilege to take part in His work. Let’s continue in our work to save and take care of the lost. And have a wonderful 40 Days of Mission Journey in each of your local churches!

{source: IFGF Headquarter website}