Set aside time to pray and if possible, attend the extra GOCM Prayer Services:

• Grace of Christ services will provide encouragement and strength during the fast...

• In Addition to regular Saturday Morning meetings at 7:15am...
  * Sunday,  May 5th - 7:00pm  - Day 1
  * Monday, May 6th - 7:00pm -  Day 2
  * Tuesday, May 7th - 7:00pm - Day 3
  * All services held at Grace of Christ Ministries Prayer and Word Center
   

Fast Recommendations:

• A fast is abstaining from physical food for a period of time for spiritual purposes.

• This is a liquid only fast (usually includes juice, broth, coffee, tea and plenty, plenty of water)

• We are asking participants, as a minimum/baseline, to fast each day from a period of 6am to 6pm and to pray fervently each day.  Read Judges 20:26 where the children of Israel fasted sun up to sun down and God gave them a great victory.
  * This means before 6am and after 6pm, you can eat sensibly.
  * Many will be led to do even more than the 6am-6pm baseline.

• We ask pregnant women, nursing mothers and children under 18 to not fast but PRAY!

• Persons over the age of 70 we do not generally recommend to fast but be led whether to participate.

• Regardless, pray fervently!
   

Prepare for the fast:

• Recommended reading is "The 21-Day Fast Field Guide" by Ted Shuttlesworth Jr.
  * Order on Amazon.com  -  https://a.co/d/jl1roci
  * This book not only gives great fasting guidelines (some mentioned on this page) but also is a great
    devotional for each day of the fast.
  * Watch this video for encouragement to seek the Lord through prayer and fasting...
    https://youtu.be/tVC_ImELlNo

• Determine what you are believing for during the fast and write it down. 

• Take a moment to determine how you will fast, make a plan of action and consecrate the fast that you will not give up or give in.

• If you make a mistake, don’t quit but recommit and keep going.

• Always use wisdom when breaking a fast, especially when doing a multiple day liquid only fast.  Gradually introduce solid foods back into your diet.

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Scripture Precedent and Benefits of Prayer and Fasting:

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• Isaiah 58:6-8
  6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
  7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
  8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.
   

• Matthew 9:14-15
  14 Then came to him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but thy disciples fast not?
  15 And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast.

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• Matthew 6:16-18
  16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
  17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
  18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
   

• Matthew 17:18-21
  18 And Jesus rebuked the devil; and he departed out of him: and the child was cured from that very hour.
  19 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
  20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
  21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
   

• Luke 4:1-4 & 13-15
  1 And Jesus being full of the Holy Ghost returned from Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
  2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.
  3 And the devil said unto him, If thou be the Son of God, command this stone that it be made bread.
  4 And Jesus answered him, saying, It is written, That man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God...
  13 And when the devil had ended all the temptation, he departed from him for a season.
  14 And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into Galilee: and there went out a fame of him through all the region round about.
  15 And he taught in their synagogues, being glorified of all.
   

• Acts 13:2-3
  2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
  3 And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

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