CHRIST CHURCH PRESBYTERIAN Day of Fasting & Prayer

On Good Friday, it is appropriate for Christians to set aside special time for fasting and prayer. A fast in such a season is an opportunity for personal self-examination, lament for the broken state of our world, and supplication on behalf of all people.

And so, we encourage all those who are medically able to spend this Friday engaging with God ahead of our communal dinner at 5.30 pm where we will break the fast together. Below is a suggested format that provides a structure to guide your prayers in six sessions through the course of the day: 7 am; 9 am; 11 am; 1 pm; 3 pm; 5 pm.

7.00 am ------

Start the day with a season of reflection and repentance. Begin with this prayer from Psalm 139.23-24.

Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me and lead me in the everlasting way.

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster. Who knows whether he will not turn and relent, and leave a blessing behind him, a grain offering and a drink offering, for the Lord your God? Joel 2.12-14

Continue with a period of reflection and repentance. Below is a helpful guide that walks through the ten commandments (this has been adapted from Martin Bucer—a protestant Reformer during the 16th century). Read each commandment, take a moment to reflect, and engage with the prayer.

I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol.

I confess that I have not believed in you, my one God and Father, but have put my faith and trust more in creatures than in you, my Creator, because I have feared them more than you. And, for their benefit and pleasure, I have done and left undone many things in disobedience to you and your commandments.

You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.

I confess that I have taken your holy Name in vain, that I have sworn falsely, that I have not always professed it, that I have not kept it holy as I ought; and, even more, I have slandered it with all my life, words, and deeds.

Observe the Sabbath day to keep it holy.

I confess that I have not kept your Sabbath holy, that I have not heard your holy Word with eagerness nor lived according to it; moreover that I have not yielded myself to you, nor rejoiced in your work done in me and others, but have often grumbled against it and been impatient.

Honor your father and your mother.

I confess that I have not honored my father and mother, that I have been disrespectful to those who I owe respect, such as father and mother, my superiors, and all who have tried to guide and teach me faithfully.

You shall not murder.

I confess that I have taken life: that I have offended my neighbor often and grossly by word and deed, caused him harm, grown angry at him, hated him, and deprived him of the honor he is due.

You shall not commit adultery.

I confess that I have been unchaste. I acknowledge the impurity of my thoughts and the excess and extravagance of my whole life in eating, drinking, clothing, and other things.

You shall not steal.

I confess that I have stolen. I acknowledge my greed. I admit that in the use of my worldly goods I have set myself against you and your holy laws. Greedily and against charity I have grasped them. And scarcely, if at all, have I given of them when my neighbor required it.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

I confess that I have born false witness, that I have been untrue and unfaithful toward my neighbor. I have lied to him, I have told lies about him, and I have failed to defend his honor and reputation as my own.

You shall not covet.

And, finally, I confess that I have coveted the possessions and spouses of others. I acknowledge in summary that my whole life is nothing else than sin and transgression of your commandments. Therefore, heavenly Father, I humbly ask that you forgive me of these and all my sins. Keep and preserve me that I may walk in your way and live according to your will; through Jesus Christ, your dear Son, our Savior. Amen.

After confession, read through Psalm 32 to express thanks to God for his grace and forgiveness that has intersected our lives in Jesus Christ.

Blessed is the one whose transgression is forgiven, whose sin is covered. Blessed is the man against whom the Lord counts no iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no deceit.

Take a moment to thank God for the blessing of forgiveness in Christ that is so undeserved. Meditate upon the immensity of God’s grace in your life in the face of your faults and failures.

For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; My strength was dried up as by the heat of summer. I acknowledged my sin to you, And I did not cover my iniquity; I said, “I will confess my transgressions to the Lord,” And you forgave the iniquity of my sin. Therefore, let everyone who is godly offer prayer to you at a time when you may be found. Surely in the rush of great waters, they shall not reach him. You are a hiding place for me; You preserve me from trouble; You surround me with shouts of deliverance.

Ask God to allow you to live in the freedom of the Gospel, forsaking evasive tactics like silence and hiding. Ask him to assist you to walk in the light by confessing your sins to him (1 John 1:7-10). And, pray that he will constantly surround you with the assurance of your deliverance from your sin in Jesus.

I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go; I will counsel you with my eye upon you. Be not like a horse or a mule, without understanding, Which must be curbed with bit and bridle, Or it will not stay near you.

Ask God for a soft heart and a teachable spirit; pray against pride and stubbornness of heart. Ask him to lead and guide us into all truth as we follow after him.

Many are the sorrows of the wicked, But steadfast love surrounds the one who trusts in the Lord. Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, O righteous, And shout for joy, all you upright in heart!

Rejoice, again, in the steadfast love of God revealed in Jesus Christ. Ask him to renew you in his mercies that are new for you this day.

9.00 am ------

First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way. 2 Timothy 2.1-2

Pray for President Joe Biden, Governor Ron DeSantis, Mayor Lenny Curry, and all other positions of in authority. Ask God to incline their hearts to govern with righteousness and justice; pray that the church will enjoy peace and that the gospel will advance in our country.

11.00 am ------

May God be gracious to us and bless us and make his face to shine upon us, that your way may be known on earth, your saving power among all nations. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise! Let the nations be glad and sing for joy, for you judge the peoples with equity and guide the nations upon earth. Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you! The earth has yielded its increase; God, our God, shall bless us. God shall bless us; let all the ends of the earth fear him! Psalm 67.1-7

This is good, and it is pleasing in the sight of God our Savior, who desires all people to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth. For there is one God, and there is one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all. 1 Timothy 2.3-5

Pray for God to draw men and women from every tribe and tongue and nation to faith in Jesus Christ. Take a moment to pray for our missionaries as they come to mind, asking God to bless them and use them in his work.

1.00 pm ------

For this reason I bow my knees before the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, that according to the riches of his glory he may grant you to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith—that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may have strength to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Ephesians 3.14-19

Ask God to renew us spiritually. Pray for personal and corporate renewal through the knowledge of Christ’s love during this season.

3.00 pm ------

Read the selection below from Isaiah 52.13-53.12. After reading, take time to reflect on the death of Jesus Christ and the grace of God given to us in him.

Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted. As many were astonished at you— his appearance was so marred, beyond human semblance, and his form beyond that of the children of mankind— so shall he sprinkle many nations. Kings shall shut their mouths because of him, for that which has not been told them they see, and that which they have not heard they understand. (ESV) Who has believed what he has heard from us? And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? For he grew up before him like a young plant, and like a root out of dry ground; he had no form or majesty that we should look at him, and no beauty that we should desire him. He was despised and rejected by men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and as one from whom men hide their faces he was despised, and we esteemed him not.

Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was pierced for our transgressions; he was crushed for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with his wounds we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.

He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent, so he opened not his mouth. By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people? And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.

Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand. Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities. Therefore, I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

5.00 pm. ------

Our Lord, come! 1 Corinthians 16.22

He will wipe away every tear from their eyes, and death shall be no more, neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain anymore, for the former things have passed away. Revelation 21.4

When the Lord restored the fortunes of Zion, we were like those who dream. Then our mouth was filled with laughter, and our tongue with shouts of joy; then they said among the nations, “The Lord has done great things for them.” The Lord has done great things for us; we are glad. Psalm 126.1-3

Ask God to hasten the day of Christ’s return that the groanings of the fallen creation may give way to shouts of joy.