Week of Prayer and Fasting

January 4 - January 11
Theme: "I Have DECIDED"

“I Have Decided” is 7 Days of Prayer, Fasting, Worship, and Reading God’s Word. A time where we will intentionally press into seeking God every day, as we believe for Him to move in powerful ways. Our world is hurting. sickness, politics, the economy, injustice, and world events have all been used by the enemy to disillusion us from the Truth of God and who He is. We are living in fear as the evil one is attacking with great intensity. The battle we face is not just what is seen, but what is unseen. After seeking the Lord in prayer and His Word, we believe this is a time for God's people to fast, pray, worship, and read His Word to seek divine intervention. We, the mission partners of GSBC, will be fasting, praying, worshiping, and Reading God’s Word for 7 days beginning on January 04, 2026. Below we have provided for you resources, additional information, a daily prayer focus, and scripture readings for each day of the 7 days of our fast. When we say fast, we mean to extract something from your life that would distract or keep you from pursuing God with your whole heart. Scroll down to read more about fasting and see examples.

WHY DO WE PRAY AND FAST?

Fasting is a tool used to refocus your heart and life back on what truly matters, Jesus. John Piper says it simply, “Fasting is a temporary renunciation of something that is in itself good, like food, in order to intensify our expression of need for something greater — namely, God and His work in our lives.”

WHAT SHOULD I FAST?

Although food is a very common item people choose to fast, it is not the only option. To name a few; social media, television, computer, apps, and music. Martyn Lloyd-Jones said, “Fasting should really be made to include abstinence from anything which is legitimate in and of itself for the sake of some special spiritual purpose.” 

WHAT SHOULD I PRAY FOR WHILE I AM FASTING?

There are many different ways you can choose to devote your time while you are praying and fasting. Praying for a deeper faith, personal situations, family, circumstances, a more rooted relationship with Christ, and more are all examples of what some people may pray about during their time of fasting. Additionally, you can pray for the ministries at GSBC and those that we support. Check out www.goodshepherdchurch.com  for all the ministries at GSBC and all Global Ministries.

TYPES OF FASTS

Your personal fast should present a level of challenge, but it is very important to know your body, your options, and most importantly, to seek God in prayer and follow what the Holy Spirit leads you to do.

COMPLETE FAST

Your personal fast should present a level of challenge, but it is very important to know your body, your options, and most importantly, to seek God in prayer and follow what the Holy Spirit leads you to do.

SELECTIVE FAST

This type of fast involves removing certain elements from your diet. One example of a selective fast is the Daniel Fast, during which you remove meat, sweets, and bread from your diet and consume water and juice for fluids and fruits and vegetables for food.

PARTIAL FAST

This fast is sometimes called the “Jewish Fast” and involves abstaining from eating any type of food in the morning and afternoon. This can either correlate to specific times of the day, such as 6:00 am to 3:00 pm, or from sun-up to sun-down.

STUFF FAST

This fast is a great option if you do not have much experience fasting food, have health issues that prevent you from fasting from food, or if you wish to refocus certain areas of your life that are out of balance. For example, you might choose to stop using social media or watching television for the duration of the fast and then carefully bring that element back into your life in healthy doses at the conclusion of the fast.

DANIEL FAST

During the Daniel Fast you will not consume any sugar or sweeteners of any kind, nor will you have any caffeine or artificial chemicals. Many people experience a physical detox during the first few days of the fast, including headaches, fatigue, leg cramps, and other typical symptoms. Here is a link to more information. Daniel Fast

DAILY PRAYER

Prayer not only changes us, but it invites God to work with power to change our circumstances and communities. The greatest movements of God are started and sustained through the united prayers of God’s people.

CREATING A LIFESTYLE OF PRAYER  

"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
Prayer is most effective when it is not something, we do every now and then, but we cultivate when it is a lifestyle. To understand how to have a prayer lifestyle, we can look at the example Jesus gave during His life on earth.
  • Have a Certain Time – Jesus got up early in the morning to spend time with His Heavenly Father. Make a daily appointment with God — whether it is first thing in the morning, at lunch, or in the evening—and faithfully keep it. 
  • Have a Certain Place – Jesus had a specific place where He went to pray. Having a designated place to pray helps us remove distractions and frees us to worship and pray out loud. 
  • Have a Certain Plan – When Jesus taught His disciples how to pray, He gave them a prayer outline. We call it “The Lord’s Prayer.”

This outline, along with several other tools, is available in this guide. As we pray every day, our prayer time plans can vary, maybe including worship music, Bible reading, and quiet time to listen to God. It does not always have to look the same; it just helps when we plan to connect regularly with God.
Prayer is most effective when it is not something, we do every now and then, but we cultivate when it is a lifestyle. To understand how to have a prayer lifestyle, we can look at the example Jesus gave during His life on earth.

PRAYER FOCUS

As we set aside time each day, we desire to be in one accord with each other as we come before God. We have a prayer focus outlined each day for the GSBC Family to come together. These focuses are intentional for us as a church to rally around and lift up in unity. We will be praying for our ministries, pastors, people groups, and leaders. This is the moment where the GSBC body can unite together in prayer.

Below is a list of daily topics to guide you, as you pray during the fast:

DAY 1: January 4th, 2026 – Love of God & To know God – Deepen relationship: Not just know about Him, but to know Him. That His Grace and unconditional love would not just be knowledge, but we would experience and live it out. Ephesians 1:17-23, Philippians 2:12-18

DAY 2: January 5th, 2026 – Purity – A pure heart – Coming clean and confessing any lingering sin. Clean hearts. Psalms 139

DAY 3: January 6th, 2026 – Revelation – Gain wisdom of God, the Word of God would come alive and be real. Ephesians 3:16-21

DAY 4: January 7th, 2026 – GSBC – Prayer for the entire ministry, community, leadership, purpose, mission, vision and what God is doing in this season through GSBC. Ephesians 6:10-24

DAY 5: January 8th, 2026 – Family – On behalf of those in the family (sickness, hurt, do not know God). James 5:13-20

DAY 6: January 9th, 2026 – World Crisis – Breaking the dark principalities in our World (persecution of Christians, sickness, abortion, false religions, poverty, sex trafficking, justice). Matthew 6:1-14

DAY 7: January 10th, 2026 – Direction – On what to do in season, fulfilment of God’s destiny in your life. Ephesians 5:15-21

CORPORATE PRAYER & WORSHIP EXPERIENCE

Along with fasting, prayer, and scripture reading we will also be providing three corporate prayer and worship experiences. We are gathering online via Zoom on January 5, 2026, from 7-8pm for a time of prayer for the ministry, Purpose, Mission, and Vision of GSBC., On January 7th, from 6-7pm we will have a mid-week “Night Of Worship And Prayer” at the facilities. Join us as we lift up the community, leadership, gatherings, and everything God has called the ministry of GSBC to do in this season. During this time of fasting, prayer, worship and reading of God’s word, we feel it is important to set aside some time to have a corporate prayer and worship experience together. We encourage you to join us in person. However, if you are unable to join us in person you are welcome to join us on-line, as the worship experience will be streamed live on our church website (thegoodshepherdchurch.com). Let us be intentional about our time of fasting, prayer, worship and reading of God’s word for one week. In doing so, we are believing God will move in a mighty, incredible, and miraculous way. It is time, “I Have Decided” to start this year with God first!