For the past several years, our church has set aside 21 days for prayer and fasting leading up to Easter. Some people do the Daniel fast while others do a complete fast.
During this time, we seek God, pray big prayers, pray for people to come to Christ and ask God for breakthroughs for ourselves and others. We've seen God some amazing things during those 21 days.
Rarely do you hear children being taught about fasting much less encouraged to participate in it. But we believe it's important to teach children about this spiritual discipline and how to seek God in a fresh, new way during a fast.
We believe God wants to work in the hearts of kids through prayer and fasting just like He does for adults. And we've found that kids will respond and grow spiritually when we teach them and give them opportunity to participate. If kids are going to be lifelong followers of Jesus, they must experience Him in a real and personal way. A time of prayer and fasting is a great way for kids to encounter Jesus' presence.
We also believe that when a child fasts, it should come under the guidance and direction of his or her parents. Our strategy is to explain to the kids what fasting is and then give their parents tools to continue the conversation and offer their kids options for fasting.
For kids, fasting from all food is obviously not encouraged, but kids can fast from certain kinds of food such as ice cream, candy and other favorites. Other ways for kids to fast can include video games, TV, iPads, etc.
Below are two testimonies of kids who are participating in the fast as well as the handout we give to parents.