21-Day Fast: Fasting for Revival in America

Monday, August 12 - Sunday, September 1, 2019

Join fellow Christians across America in a 21-day fast (fasting from food). Participants will follow the example of men and women of Scripture who humbled themselves and sought the Lord through fasting. Our country needs the spiritual renewal that only God can bring. May He hear our cry and answer!

Starting Monday, August 12, 2019, participants will seek God through the biblical practice of fasting. You may choose to fast from all foods for the entire 21 days—drinking only liquids—or you may choose to fast one or two meals each day. For some, health limitations will require a different type of fast (see fasting resources). However God leads you, we are thrilled to have you be a part.

Please sign up below to participate. By signing up, each morning during the fast, you will receive a special devotional by email to encourage you as we devote ourselves to the Lord together in this special and humble way. May God draw near and bring spiritual renewal to us and to our nation as we seek Him through prayer and fasting!

Join the Fast

The Value of Corporate Fasting

Wednesday, August 21, 2019
Devotional for Day 10

“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?

Blow the trumpet in Zion; consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly; gather the people. Consecrate the congregation; assemble the elders; gather the children, even nursing infants. Let the bridegroom leave his room, and the bride her chamber.

Between the vestibule and the altar let the priests, the ministers of the Lord, weep and say, “Spare your people, O Lord, and make not your heritage a reproach, a byword among the nations. Why should they say among the peoples, ‘Where is their God?’” — Joel 2:12-17 (ESV)

The book of Joel is centered on repentance. After a time of idolatry (among other sins) God sent a famine to the people of Israel. This famine was followed by the sending of the prophet Joel, who was used as an instrument to bring the Israelites to a recognition of their sins, and to turn back to their God in faith. This call continues to all people. We are to walk daily in repentance and faith. 

It was God’s desire for the people of Israel to take their sin seriously. God desired heartfelt repentance. He wanted not merely the ritual of tearing garments, which was a sign of mourning, but a changed heart. God desires the same for us. Let us not let fasting and other spiritual disciplines be empty ritual, but always approach them with a contrite heart.

This call to repentance in Joel is not only an individual action, but God tells Israel to come together as a nation. They had a specific time set aside to fast together, and to mourn their sins. This included all people in the nation—even infants! Those who were entering into a time of celebration like a new husband and wife were even to engage in this fast.

Sins are not only individual. We, as people, live in and through relationships with others. We live as part of our families, communities, and our nation. Sin is so pervasive in this world that it affects each of those realms of life. We acknowledge this as we come together with us to a time of fasting and repentance.

As we fast at this time for our own nation, we do so trusting that Christ died for this nation. We pray that God would make the gospel manifest here, that faith may arise in the hearts of all people in this country. 

God, our Creator and Redeemer, we confess that we do not take our sin as seriously as we should. We recognize that sometimes, You need to wake us up from our spiritual slumber as You did through the prophet Joel. We pray that this awakening would occur, not only in our own lives, but for all who belong to this nation. We ask this in the name and for the sake of Jesus Christ, the Savior of all people. Amen.

Jordan Cooper
Ministry Fellow, Christian Union at Cornell

1,176 People Fasting

Join with the believers who have committed themselves to fasting for twenty-one days.

Why Fast?

Fasting was practiced in the Old Testament, New Testament and in church history to entreat God for Him to move in extraordinary ways. We need God in the U.S. now more than ever.

Moses fasted 40 days, Nehemiah fasted 120 days, and large numbers of Jews in Esther's time fasted for 70 days in their time of need.

2 Chronicles 7:14 says that when we humble ourselves and confess our sins, God intervenes in history to heal our land. In Psalm 35:13 King David humbled himself through fasting and many others in the Scriptures have done the same to gain favor from God. Moses fasted 40 days, Nehemiah fasted 120 days, and large numbers of Jews in Esther’s time fasted for 70 days in their time of need. Jesus fasted 40 days, Christians in the book of Acts fasted regularly, and believers for 2000 years have sought God through fasting and prayer. Thousands of American Christians humbling themselves through an extended fast will be very meaningful to God and will help move Him, according to His word, to bring change to the United States.

How to Fast

The fast lasts for 21 days, beginning Monday, August 12th, 2019 through Sunday, September 1st. As a signed-up participant, you will receive an email each morning of the fast, featuring a devotional to encourage and motivate you as you fast.

You may choose to fast from foods for the entire 21 days -- drinking only liquids -- or you may choose to fast one or two meals each day. However God leads you, we are thrilled to have you be a part.

Don't be afraid to take on this biblical challenge to draw closer to God and see Him exalt you as you humble yourself through fasting.

If you don’t have a lot of experience fasting, this may be a challenging endeavor. Christians throughout the centuries have sought God through fasting and have found Him in wonderful ways as a result. Don’t be afraid to take on this biblical challenge to draw closer to God and see Him exalt those who humble themselves through fasting.

Fasting Resources

American Christians are often unfamiliar with the practice even though fasting was common for Christians through the centuries and is regularly done in the international Church. For more information check out this FAQ for Fasting and this curated list of resources.

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God's Next Move in America

America’s Christian heritage is among the greatest of all the nations in the world. God’s Kingdom has thrived here through the 1700s, 1800s, and 1900s, largely due to nationwide moves of God’s Spirit. We need another history-making move of God. By His sovereign grace, God ensures that we play a part in Heaven’s work. He draws near to us when we draw near to Him (James 4:8). We must ask, seek, and knock for an outpouring of His Spirit (Luke 11:5-13).

“Whenever God is about to do something truly great,
He first sets His people praying!” Matthew Henry, 1662-1714