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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: May 11, 2021

For The Church 

• Membership Covenant Topic(s): Households Dedicated to the Worship of God
• Godly families (Deuteronomy 6:4–9; Ephesians 6:4).

For Our World 

• Cultural Issue: Hope and Restoration for Broken Homes 
• Interceding for the Church to minister to those whose families are broken and who do not have the gospel or an understanding of God’s design for the family. 

Sing:

• Holy Spirit, Living Breath of God
• A Christian's Daily Prayer

Read and Reflect:

For The Church: Households Dedicated to the Worship of God

“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. 6 And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart. 7 You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise. 8 You shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes. 9 You shall write them on the doorposts of your house and on your gates.” Deuteronomy 6:4–9 (The Shema)

In God’s care and provision for his people, he has intentionally and strategically designed the home as a place for his people to worship him daily as we prepare for corporate worship weekly. Prior to their entrance into the Promised Land, Moses urges Israel in verse 4 to listen up and consider that their God is the only God. And because of this, he commands in verse 5, “You shall love” the one true God “with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” This idea stressed giving one’s entire self to God and his commands. This type of devotion creates a deep culture of committed worship in the household. In context, Moses is wanting the people of Israel to love God fully, love God daily, and to consider his glory in everything they do. We can observe this in verse 7 as the Hebrew word for teach (shinan) means simply to “repeat” over and over. This suggests that God’s glory is to be the “language” of our homes, and Moses is helpful to give examples about these conversations and practices in vv.7–9. Loving God and discussing his glory is the fuel by which our households run.  

How is this supposed to look in our households? Here are a few examples per household scenario for us to consider: 

• Fathers, instruct your children with the Scriptures and daily shepherd them toward Christ (Eph 6:4). Teach them the basics of doctrine, lead them in conversations and by example, pray for them and teach them to pray. 
• Mothers, first off, we celebrate you this week and praise the Lord for you and your role in our households. Like Fathers, you also teach your children who God is and serve as a model of faithfulness for them to observe and replicate (Proverbs 1:8; 31:28). 
• Singles, devote your household to seeking first the Kingdom of God and his righteousness (Matt 6:33). With the time God has given you, dedicate yourselves fully to God and service to the church and the nations (I Cor 7:32–35). Show hospitality to your brothers and sisters. Serve as an example to the children God has placed around you by caring for them, serving as another godly example for them, and by teaching them. 
• Married couples, both young and older, live out the glorious gospel in your marriages (Eph 5:22–30). Husbands, love your wives and serve them faithfully as Christ has loved and served you. Wives, follow the leadership of your husbands as you would the Lord himself, honoring and promoting God’s design for marriage. Discuss and rejoice in the Scriptures and pray together. Let the worship of your home and your love for God and each other permeate the glory of God to a lost world and serve to be an encouragement to your brothers and sisters in the church. 
• Grandparents, worship God in the home and be intentional to share your life and the truth about God with your grandchildren (Deut 4:9). Pass along the truth of God’s word and stories from your life that exemplify his faithfulness to you. Serve as an example to your children and grandchildren of faithful perseverance and spiritual maturation. 

For Our World: Hope and Restoration for Broken Homes 

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.” Matthew 7:24–27

Thinking about the number of people who have built their households on the sand, as described by Jesus in vv. 26–27, ought to devastate our hearts. When God is not loved or considered or worshipped, humanity naturally does what is right in our own eyes (Judges 21:25). It can be debilitating for us to think about the overwhelming amount of brokenness in our society, and specifically how society itself is attempting to redefine and reestablish God’s original design for households. Beloved, they desperately need the gospel. They desperately need God to move amongst them and redeem them. We need to disciple them in the truth of Christ and teach them God’s design, which includes his design for the family. May God be gracious to collect a remnant of people for himself so that he may be worshipped in households.

Prayer points:

• Pray that we would love God with all of our hearts, souls, and might in private, in our familial relationships, and corporately. 
• Pray that we would rely on the Spirit to glorify God in everything that we do throughout the course of our days. 
• Pray that God’s glory would serve as the fuel behind the worship and conversations in our households. 
• Pray that God would reveal the areas of our households where we are spiritually immature and need growth, and renew us in his grace. Pray that we would continually confess these areas of sin and immaturity to the Lord and to one another.   
• Pray that we would encourage one another to steward God’s design for the home.
• Pray for God to strengthen and protect his Church from the societal pressures and man-made wisdom of the day attempting to infiltrate households. 
• Pray for the Church to guard God’s design for households, and be ready and willing to stand firm in it. 
• Pray that our hearts would break for the devastation occurring within society, and pray for God to give us an increasing love for these people.
• Pray for courage to carry the good news to broken homes, and pray for them to respond by faith in Christ alone. 

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