I decided to do a 72 hour fast and prayer time in the first week of 2012. I initially just invited a couple friends to join me, friends whom I knew to be yearning for a deeper move of God in their lives. But then I thought I may as well send out an invitation to a slightly broader group of relatives and friends, ministry colleagues, old Bible college alumni and Facebook friends.
Eventually about 30 people from Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Weyburn, Regina, Moose Jaw, Calgary, Prince George, Williams Lake, Kamloops, Cranbrook, Grand Forks, Chilliwack, Langley, Vancouver, Nanaimo, Jakarta and Maluku fasted at different levels and prayed at the same time.
We were a bit shocked but of course very thankful how soon and powerfully God showed up. The first night of fasting with prayer the 10 or so people praying in Indonesia in two different provinces simultaneously (including myself) experienced the amazing sweet presence of God to the point that most were unable to stand and there was much laughter and supernatural joy for about 2 hours.
But emotional experiences are not the point or goal and I feel this initial phenomena was intended to help us persevere regardless of any enjoyable bits. So regardless of the initial fireworks, I am actually much more happy with how much praying I was enabled to do during the 72 hours. While people sent me some prayer requests, as I began praying for them I feel I received unexpected alternate issues to pray for them as well. ( I am wary of interference from my own imagination however so for now I'll just wait and see how much was accurate). When I would receive a new image or issue to pray for it was accompanied by a wave of God's presence inducing euphoria/elation/ecstasy and I laughed till my stomach hurt.
I hope that the addition of fasting to our prayer lives becomes a weekly habit. Even if it is just one meal every week, or get up to pray a few hours before breakfast, I know God will honor our fumbling baby steps far abundantly more than we can ask or imagine.
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