At the commencing of every year, we set aside a special time to seek God with all our hearts in prayer and with fasting. We want to set the tone for the year and be intentional in focusing on the Lord and what He is saying and doing. We know that it is in times like these where God reveals His heart and changes ours.
This year, our theme is Follow Jesus. The life of Jesus had many marked characteristics, but nothing is more marked than His prayerfulness. During the days of his life on earth, he offered up prayers and supplications (Hebrews 5:7). Jesus Christ prayed before His baptism with the Holy Spirit and entrance upon His public ministry (Luke 3:21-22).
He prayed entering upon an evangelistic journey, before choosing the twelve (Luke 6:12-13) before announcing to the twelve His approaching death – that is to say, before important steps in His life (Luke 9:18, 21-22). He prayed after great achievements and important crises of His life (Matthew 14:23; John 6:15). He prepared for important events of life by special sessions of prayer (Luke 6:12).
Here, we see the importance of prayer in Christ’s own life of devotion to the Father. As the second person of the Trinity in eternal communion with His Father, Jesus nevertheless knew success in His ministry required dedicated time in prayer. Prayer was Jesus’ continual lifestyle and practice. Jesus prayed as an example to his followers. His passion is that you and I would pray.
Jesus wants us as his followers to be passionate about prayer and excited without any reservations. He loves it when we earnestly seek Him and trust Him, praying diligently to the end. He loves it when we passionately seek Him and embrace a life of extravagant devotion to God in prayer. When we have made it our aim to grow in prayer, we have chosen a noble passion. When we have made it our goal to see prayer mobilized in our church, we have chosen a wise aspiration.
As 2023 begins, we as a church family have stepped into a new season. It is a time for us to reflect, think things over, take stock of the past year, and invite God to order our individual and corporate steps in the new year. I invite you into this cherished practice. The prayer and fasting will go from January 16th – January 21st. During this six-day time, I encourage everyone to participate in the fast as the Lord leads and to make it a priority to join in on our prayer gatherings.
Whether this is new to you or you have experienced this in previous years, I hope you will enter the next six days with great expectancy for how God will commune with us. “Then I proclaimed a fast there… that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions… So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer.” (Ezra 8:21, 23)
During this process, we humble ourselves before God and subdue all fleshly desires that may stand in our way of connection with God. We spend time studying the Word and praying, while listening for instructions for the year from God. Prayer and fasting at the beginning of the year gives us the opportunity to seek from the Lord the right way for us, our family, and our church, and all our possessions.
We are believing God for a new time of “open heavens” where the Holy Spirit is poured out, the Kingdom of God advances, and the promises of God are fulfilled. Be ready to submit unto God’s will and unto the direction that He leads us. Stay focused on the commitment we have made to be Jesus’ followers and be ready for Him to use us for great things. Pray that God will use us to lead others to Christ and that He will use us to follow His commandment to make disciples.
I am excited that we have made prayer and fasting a vital part of this year’s campaign. It is the tool that God has given us to use on all the disrepair in our lives, in our church body, in our communities, in our country. I would urge you to use the experience of prayer and fasting to restore our focus and revive the power of prayer in our lives and in our church. Feast on God during this important time. Let’s consecrate ourselves in this time in preparation for all that the Lord has for the new year.
Pastor Ronel G. Rubrica
KBCF Head Pastor
Download Prayer & Fasting Booklet
Digital copies of the prayer booklet are available in this website and social media pages. You can download the file by clicking the button below. Hard copies are also available upon request. KBCF is enjoining every family and attender to ascribe to the Lord all glory honor and praise, and continue to entrust to Him the whole year.
Corporate Prayer Gathering
We invite you to join our 5-Day Corporate Prayer Gathering from January 16-20, 2023(Monday to Friday), 7pm at KBCF Worship Hall. We will also have the culmination of our Prayer and Fasting on January 21, 2023, 9am at KBCF Worship hall, we will be hearing a word of encouragement which will fill the last portion of our booklet. So we encourage you to plan ahead, and let us all be blessed with what God will be revealing us as we seek Him this Prayer and Fasting Week! We hope to see you there.
Browse Booklet Online
You may also view the embedded booklet below:
KBCF-Prayer-and-Fasting-Booklet-2023You may also browse the devotions found in the Prayer & Fasting booklet in the Devotions section of the KBCF blog.
