Heavenly Father, help us to know how to seek Your Word and Your will for our lives and our loved ones in this coming year. Would you like great teaching on how to fast successfully? Sign up for our newest devotional series HERE.

IFA is asking all of our intercessors, who are able, to fast the first Friday of every month in 2019, or join our staff in fasting every Friday in 2019. If you are making this commitment, please leave a comment below and encourage others who will be fasting as well.

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Do not deprive each other except perhaps by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.  (1 Cor 7:5)

If we go to the Bible and to the history of Israel and the early church, we find the fasting was a regular part of the life of God’s people. Under the Old Covenant, Israel was required by God to fast collectively at least once a year on the Day of Atonement and on other occasions. There are also records of individuals who fasted—Moses fasted, David fasted, Elijah fasted, and many of the Kings of Israel led their people in fasting.

In the book of Acts, we have records of the early Church fasting together in groups for special needs. Particularly when they were sending forth apostles, but also when they were appointing elders in local churches, the early Church would collectively fast and pray for God’s guidance. Reliable Church tradition and recorded history also tell us that for several centuries the early Church practiced fasting regularly on Wednesday and Friday of each week. These were the two days normally recognized for fasting.

The early Methodists, under John and Charles Wesley, regularly practiced fasting. It was a normal part of their procedure, although I find that today many Methodists have never heard of it. In fact, John Wesley would not ordain a man to the Methodist ministry unless he would commit himself to fast every Wednesday and Friday until 4:00 p.m. In other words, Wesley regarded it as an absolutely normal part of any Christian minister’s life and discipline. Personally, I believe that the restoration of this practice would change the lives and the influence of many ministries and ministers. (By Derek Prince, excerpted from How to Fast Successfully)