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Throughout each month in 2021, we will be praying and fasting through our membership covenant; asking God to help us hunger for his glory and be faithful to fulfill the things we have committed to each other as church members. These are commitments he has called us to live out together according to his word. Likewise, each month we will be praying and fasting for significant cultural issues of our day and asking the Lord for his truth and righteousness to be known throughout the world. 

Fasting Together: March 9, 2021

• Membership Covenant Topic(s): Praying Earnestly for The Spiritual Health and Growth of CCC Members 
  • Praying for one another (1 Thessalonians 1:2; 5:17).

• Cultural Issue: Stewardship of Biblical Manhood
• Interceding for the universal Church to steward God’s design for Biblical Manhood

Sing:

• All Hail the Power of Jesus' Name
• Jesus is Mine
• My Jesus I Love Thee

Read and Reflect:

For The Church: Praying Earnestly for The Spiritual Health and Growth of CCC Members 

“Until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to mature manhood, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ, so that we may no longer be children, tossed to and fro by the waves and carried about by every wind of doctrine, by human cunning, by craftiness in deceitful schemes. Rather, speaking the truth in love, we are to grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.”  Eph 4:13–16

The passage above reveals God’s intention for his church. The saints minister to one another which builds up each member of the body into the likeness of Christ. Though we may not always be in robust seasons of spiritual growth, by God’s grace in Christ, and through the work of the Spirit, we are being transformed from one degree of glory to another. One of the ways we can minister to one another is by praying for each other to grow. How often do you pray for the spiritual progress of the brothers and sisters in our congregation? Paul’s example with the Thessalonians is simple but helpful for us. He prays for this church always, and without ceasing (1 Thess 1:2; 5:17). He cares greatly for this body and he knows that only God can sustain and grow them. Let’s spend time today praying and fasting for the spiritual progress of the saints we are covenanted with.     

For Our World: Stewarding Biblical Manhood

“Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love.” 1 Cor 16: 13–14

In our postmodern world, discussions on gender have controversially come to the forefront of the culture. God’s design for Biblical manhood and womanhood, masculinity and femininity, is under attack in nearly every sector. Therefore, over the next two months we want to be praying and fasting for God to protect his Church. We want to be praying and fasting for the Church to be faithful to guard and preserve the doctrines of Biblical manhood and womanhood which God has revealed through the Scriptures. (next month our topic will be Biblical womanhood). Men and women are created in the image of God (Gen 1:26–27)– equal in dignity, yet different to complement each other in our functional representation of God. God has given men (single and married) responsibilities to fulfill, such as: repenting and believing, and being baptized into Christ (Acts 2:38), loving God with all heart, soul and strength and studying the will of God (Deut 5:6; Rom 12:2), working for God’s glory (Gen 1:26–2:25), serving as the spiritual protector, provider, and leader for his family (Gen 3:11, 17; 1 Tim 5:9; Eph 5:25–28; 6:4), and serving the church with the gifts God has provided (1 Pet 4:10). 

Prayer points:

• Please spend time praying and fasting for godly men to act like men, as God has designed us.
• Pray that we would consider the brothers and sisters around us, and we would take time to pray for them and for their spiritual growth and maturity in Christ. 
• Pray that our covenant fellowship would be growing in maturity. 
• Pray that God would reveal the areas where we are spiritually immature and need growth, and that he would give us grace to grow. Pray that we would continually confess these areas of sin and immaturity to the Lord and to one another.   
• Pray that we would grow in praying faithfully for one another, seeking to be a people who pray often and for all things.
• Pray for God to strengthen and protect his Church from the societal pressures and man-made wisdom of the day attempting to infiltrate the Church. 
• Pray for the Church to guard the doctrines that God has entrusted to us, like, Biblical Manhood. 
• Pray for men in the church to be faithful to the responsibilities that God has called us to (and pray this for the men of CCC). 
  
  

Helpful fasting resources:

• A Hunger for God: Desiring God Through Fasting and Prayer, John Piper
• "Fasting for Beginners" by David Mathis (Desiring God)
• "How Do I Delight Myself in the Lord?" by John Piper
• Fixing the Mind: A Guide to Meditation
  

Fasting from (ideas):

• Food
• Technology 
• Entertainment 
• Social Media/News