Open Heaven: 21 Days of Fasting and PrayerIsampula

INTRODUCTION
God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him. As we come before God in the next 21 days of fasting and prayer, God will renew our faith, launch new dreams and release us into our destiny. This in turn will result in a revival that changes the spiritual landscape of our nation!

Our theme for these 21 days is ‘Open Heaven’. We believe that in this season God wants to open up heaven over our lives. Under an Open Heaven, there’s a greater sense of God’s presence, clarity in hearing His voice, and a release of His favour and power on our lives.

Each week in this devotional will have its own focus – Returning to God, Stepping Into an Open Heaven, and Living Under an Open Heaven. Each day includes a devotional reading with some suggestions for prayer and reflection. Don’t just read the devotionals but take time to reflect and pray about your response to God’s word. Allow Him to speak and change your heart, and lead you into the things He has prepared for you this year. Each day also has a chapter of Scripture that you can read, taking you through Colossians, 1-2 Timothy and 1-3 John over 21 days.

Before starting the devotional, take time to prepare yourself and decide what you will fast, and what you are believing God for. The more prepared you are as you enter these 21 days, the more you can expect God to do.

WEEK ONE - RETURNING TO GOD
This first week, we fix our minds and hearts on Returning to God. We begin our 21-day journey with humility and a heart that’s marked with a desperate desire to come back to God. We must decide in our hearts that it’s God or nothing. Let’s lay hold of God and not let Him go until He blesses us. God will reward your spiritual hunger for Him with great satisfaction!

GET DESPERATE FOR GOD
As we start this 21-day journey towards the Open Heaven that God has for us, we must begin with a desperation for God Himself. He is the one who opens heaven over our lives, and we need an encounter with Him more than anything else.

When David wrote Psalm 63, he was running away from someone who wanted to kill him. Anyone would be desperate to get out of those circumstances. But instead of asking God to deliver him from his situation, David cried out in desperation for God Himself! David recognised his need for God, and knew how important it was to search not just for deliverance, but for the One who could deliver him.

Like David, we must seek God earnestly. Put aside other things to make time to read His Word, pray, and be in His presence. Be aggressive about not letting urgent things crowd out what is most important - an encounter with God. God promises that those who seek Him will find Him, so decide today that you will stay the course over the next 21 days to seek His face.

Like David, we must long for God. Ask God to stir up a fresh hunger and thirst for the things of God. Choose to deny your flesh through fasting and ask God to give you a renewed desire for spiritual things.

We believe that this year will bring an Open Heaven over our lives, but it begins with us getting desperate for God. Make Him your greatest desire and your greatest pursuit this year!

Response:
Have we become more desperate for the things of God than God himself? Take some time to re-focus our attention on Him and ask the Holy Spirit to stir up a fresh desperation to encounter God.

What are some things that we desire more than God? Surrender them to God and choose to pursue God more than these things.

Prayer:
Dear God, I acknowledge that I need You in every area of my life. I want to seek You sincerely and with all my heart. Change my desires so that You are foremost and that I will desire nothing more than You. I believe that as I do so, I will find You. In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.