FAST - Day 1

Vapor Call to Fast

This daily prayer guide, scripture reading and devotional is a tool to assist use as we seek the Lord’s wisdom for the coming year and pray for Vapor Sports Ministries. None of the reading takes more than about 10 minutes. The daily prayer focus is repeated each of the following days. We also hope you will be able to join us; however you are able, in a time of fasting over the next few days.

It is good to begin each day by being still before the Lord and entering into worship so we can hear His voice more clearly as He speaks to us through the passages. I pray we will be blessed as we seek Him with all our heart.

Day 1 Consecration and Personal Repentance
Read Ezra 9:1-10:1; James 5: 1-5

“On the eighth day, when it was time to circumcise him, he was named Jesus, the name the angel had given him before he had been conceived. When the time of their purification … had been completed, Joseph and Mary took him to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord… and to offer a sacrifice …” Luke 2:21-24


We have just celebrated our Savior’s birth. According to Jewish tradition, right after the birth Joseph and Mary observed a time of purification and then circumcision for their baby. In like manner, I encourage us to enter a time of personal consecration so we might cut away the fleshly nature (symbolic of the sinful nature Galatians 5:19) and present ourselves to the Lord as living sacrifices (Romans 12:1, 2). How sweet to call upon the Name of the Lord and ask the Holy Spirit to purge us of uncleanness so we can be vessels emptied of self and fit for the Master’s use (II Tim. 2:21).

Jesus was circumcised on the eighth day; eight in the bible often symbolizes a time of new beginnings. We stand at the threshold of a new year. We need to circumcise our hearts before we can enter the new things God has prepared for us.

As Jesus was carried into the temple, Simeon was moved by the Spirit to go into the temple courts at that precise moment. Simeon had spent time with the Lord and was sensitive to His voice and His timing. Sensitivity to God’s timing and being obedient when moved by the Spirit is critical in the coming year. Anna too, recognized her Savior because she had spent time in the Lord’s presence. She too came up to Jesus at the exact moment when Simeon declared who Jesus was and prophesied about His future. Anna told all who were looking for a Redeemer about Him.

Both of these saints are examples to us of how their intimacy with God prepared them to recognize God’s promise fulfilled then it came. No one else in that temple saw the baby as the Redeemer He was until they announced it. No one else could see His future but the ones who had sat at God’s feet. This is the key to seeing what the Holy Spirit has prepared for us and receiving the ability to see Jesus for who He is when we encounter ‘the least of these’ (Matt. 25). “No one can see the Kingdom of God unless He is born again” (John 3:3). Neither can we see without His rulership in our hearts.

As we quiet ourselves before the Lord, let us ask the following questions and allow the Holy Spirit to quicken the answers to our hearts. They are not meant to condemn but rather to guide us through a process of releasing to Him that are things that are hindering us.

What are the things in my life God wants to cut away so I can enter into a deeper intimacy with Him?

Are there areas in my life where I have resisted His control?

How have I conformed to the culture around me instead of being transformed into His likeness?

Have I been guilty of living in luxury, selfishly wasting the resources He has given me on my own desires?

Where have I been self indulgent and/or self absorbed?

Have I been guilty of hoarding out of fear or self preservation instead of entrusting myself wholly to Him?

Have I ignored the cries of the harvesters who labor in the Lord’s work or have I been faithful to supply their needs?

What sacrifices is our Lord asking me to make?

What new beginning is right around the corner waiting for me if I take the steps He is asking?

Is there ruin around me that Lord would have me begin to sow love into and declare restoration over in the power of the Holy Spirit? (Isaiah 58:8 and 61)?

Are there breaches in the protective walls of prayer where I should be standing in the gap?

Who are the ‘living stones’ around me God would want added to His temple?

Prayer: Thank you Father that you have given us a firm place in your sanctuary. Thank you that you give light to our eyes and relief from our bondage to the things of this world. Thank you that you do not abandon us. Thank you for the kindness you show us. Thank you for the new life you have provided that we may share in your salvation; participate in repairing the ruins and rebuilding your living temple within our hearts. Lord, my Sanctifier, reveal to me my sin, cleanse me of all unrighteousness and fill me afresh with Your Spirit. Create in me a clean heart and renew a right Spirit within me. In Jesus’ name, amen.