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PRAYER + FASTING

C3 Toronto

Home / Prayer & Fasting

At C3 Toronto, we seek to put GOD FIRST in everything that we do. The way that we start our year is no exception! In January, we begin our season of PRAYER AND FASTING—an intentional and prayerful period of refraining from food. We fast to focus on faithfully seeking God, as an expression of our trust in His power alone. We believe that fasting is an act of worship to God and that it ushers God’s presence into our lives, our church, and the world.

To help you engage in this year’s Prayer and Fasting season, we’ve created a resource guide that we hope will answer all of your questions.

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TIMING OF A FAST

C3 Toronto’s season of Prayer and Fasting lasts for 21 days, beginning on the 4th day of January and ending on the 24th day of January.

As part of our fasting season, we meet every weekday morning at 6:00 a.m. and Saturdays at 9:00 a.m. to pray together as a church. While we are still adhering to safety guidelines related to COVID-19, our morning prayer will continue online on our Instagram, @c3toronto.

TYPES OF FASTS

There are several types of fasting that you can choose from, but all involve refraining from a category of food for a designated period of time!

COMPLETE FAST

This fast calls for drinking only liquids, typically water with light juices as an option.

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, or 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  eating between 6:00 a.m. and 3:00 p.m., or from sunup to sundown.

If you have specific health needs that don’t allow you to partake in fasting from food, we encourage you to speak to a trusted leader or reach out to [email protected] to find another fasting option that could work for you!

HOW TO PREPARE FOR FASTING

  • As you get ready to engage in Prayer and Fasting, we encourage you to do some research on your chosen fast! This will help you to shop for any resources that you might need throughout your fast (juices, vitamins, teas, produce, etc.).
  • As we do in all seasons of life, we encourage you to spend time in prayer even before we start Prayer and Fasting! Spend time worshipping God for what He is going to do through this season.
  • Join us for Dream Sunday on January 3rd, when we’ll come together virtually in expectation for the specific things we’re believing God for this year! Consider what you’re releasing into God’s hands this year—be specific and believe with full faith! This will be a year of miracles!

IS THIS YOUR FIRST TIME FASTING?

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Can I fast something other than food, like social media?

    We believe that all fasts should have an element of refraining from a category of food for a set period of time. Particularly amidst the global pandemic, we want to encourage you to make sure that you’re staying connected and engaged! Refraining from social media can be one aspect of your Prayer and Fasting season, but make sure you’re not fasting connection!

  • Why is prayer part of the fasting experience?

    The bible tells us that fasting is always accompanied by a time of increased prayer. When we rely more fully on God and focus more of ourselves on faithfully seeking Him, we know that we will see Him move!

  • Do we meet at 6:00 a.m. every day of the week?

    Almost! On Saturdays, prayer moves to 9:00 a.m. and on Sundays, we gather together for Church Online!

  • Where do we meet for prayer?

    This year, we will be meeting on Instagram Live at 6:00 a.m. on weekdays and on Saturdays at 9:00 a.m. Follow @c3toronto to join in!

  • Do we meet at 6:00 a.m. and on Thursday nights during Prayer and Fasting?

    During Prayer and Fasting season, Thursday night prayer will temporarily be replaced by 6:00 a.m. prayer!

  • Do I have to sign up for Prayer and Fasting?

    Nope! All you have to do is make your own, personal fasting plan and show up to morning prayer! If you haven’t yet, we highly recommend joining one of our December/January Connect Groups—being in community and sharing your experience with Prayer and Fasting is so powerful!

RESOURCES FOR FASTING


Further reading about fasting

  • Guide to Fasting and Prayer
  • Awakening: A new approach to faith, fasting, and spiritual freedom 
  • 7 Basic Steps to Successful Fasting and Prayer 


Prayer & Fasting Playlists

  • Spotify: Prayer & Fasting


Recommended YouVersion Devotions

  • FASTING PLANS
    • The Vine – Fasting
    • Awakening: 21 Days Of Prayer And Fasting Devotional
    • Less of Me/More of Him, A 21-Day Fasting Study
  • Feeling bold? Start the year getting the WHOLE CANNON of scripture in you
    • 30 Day Shred
    • Begin a habit that you keep up throughout the year (we should put the 2021 one up, but I can’t find it in YouVersion yet)
    • Bible in One Year 2020 With Nicky Gumbel

SCRIPTURES FOR FASTING

  • Matthew 6:16-18

    “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

  • Matthew 9:14-15

    Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

  • Luke 18:9-14

    He also told this parable to some who trusted in themselves that they were righteous, and treated others with contempt: “Two men went up into the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee, standing by himself, prayed thus: ‘God, I thank you that I am not like other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.’ But the tax collector, standing far off, would not even lift up his eyes to heaven, but beat his breast, saying, ‘God, be merciful to me, a sinner!’ I tell you, this man went down to his house justified, rather than the other. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, but the one who humbles himself will be exalted.”

  • Acts 27:33-37

    As day was about to dawn, Paul urged them all to take some food, saying, “Today is the fourteenth day that you have continued in suspense and without food, having taken nothing. Therefore I urge you to take some food. For it will give you strength, for not a hair is to perish from the head of any of you.” And when he had said these things, he took bread, and giving thanks to God in the presence of all he broke it and began to eat. Then they all were encouraged and ate some food themselves.

  • Nehemiah 9:1-3

    Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers. And they stood up in their place and read from the Book of the Law of the Lord their God for a quarter of the day; for another quarter of it they made confession and worshiped the Lord their God.

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