THE DETOX PRAYER

Click HERE to download & print a PDF version of this curriculum!

GROUP AGENDA:

  1. Welcome & Fellowship
  2. Open in prayer
  3. Go over the lesson (Below)
  4. Ask everyone “What is one thing you learned today?”
  5. Encourage all to give on the app
  6. Ask P12 leaders in your group how their meeting went last week (and remind them to take attendance on Friday)
  7. Ask for prayer requests and pray

 

7-DAY DETOX INSTRUCTIONS:

On Wednesday, November 11, our church declared a corporate 7-Day Detox.  Here are the specifics:

  1. Fast every day until 6pm.
  2. Fast all social media for the duration of the detox (Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, Tik-Tok, etc.)
  3. Fast all secular media (Movies, TV, newsfeeds, music, etc.)
  4. Watch the 7-Day Detox Daily Devotional every morning. (On The App)
  5. Attend all services in person or online.
  6. Tithe.
  7. Read or listen to book “Holiness” by Henry Blackaby
  8. Spend at least 30 minutes a day in the Word, worship and prayer. 

The Corporate 7-Day Detox ends on Wednesday, November 18 at our Wednesday night service, but you can start your own 7-Day Detox anytime!  Why not start today?

 

LEADERSHIP PRINCIPLE OF THE DAY:

For our leadership principle today, let’s take a look at a quote from our favorite author this week, Henry Blackaby:

“When spiritual leaders have done their jobs, the people around them have encountered God and obeyed his will.” – Spiritual Leadership: Moving People on to God’s Agenda, by Henry Blackaby

The measure of a great leader is not how many followers they have amassed, but rather how many people they have led closer to Jesus.  If people are drawing closer to God under our leadership then we are on the right track.  If people are not walking closer to God, then we need to make some adjustments right away.

Now, let’s jump into today’s teaching!

 

THE DETOX PRAYER:

Detox: A process or period of time in which one abstains or rids the body of toxic or unhealthy substances or behavior.

Fast: a time of abstaining from food, drink, and certain habits for a spiritual purpose.

TWO OF GOALS OF A 7-DAY DETOX:

GOAL #1 – DISCONNECT 

…from everything that has been cutting us off from God’s presence, personal transformation, God’s miracle-working power, our God-given purpose, and communion with Him.

GOAL #2 – RECONNECT 

…to God and everything that he has for us.

Our Goal is to disconnect to connect. We are disconnecting from an empty life to the abundant life that Christ came to give us.

QUESTION – Would someone like to share a testimony of what God’s been doing in their life through this detox?

WHAT IS THE DETOX PRAYER?

This is prayer we should be praying while we are fasting.

Psalm 51:10 (TLB) 10 Create in me a new, clean heart, O God, filled with clean thoughts and right desires.

1) A PRAYER OF PURIFICATION 

A. IN THIS PRAYER, WE ARE ASKING GOD TO CREATE A PURE HEART IN US.

Create: (Bara) transform, cut out, cut down, do a miracle, feed, produce, connect

In this prayer, we are asking God to cut the unrighteous people, things, habits out of your life. It will be painful, but that pain will bring hope, health, and purity.

QUESTION – Have you ever had God cut something out of your life?  What was the result?

Clean: (Ta-hore) pure in a physical, chemical, and moral sense, unmixed, unpolluted.

You CAN live a pure life, free from all the addictions, bad habits, and sin.  When we pray the detox prayer, God will respond and help.

B. ONLY THE PURE IN HEART WILL SEE AND EXPERIENCE THE BLESSINGS OF GOD.

Matthew 5:8 (CSB) Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God.

See: meet and converse with, to learn and gain knowledge and revelation of, to receive provision, assistance, and care to make and receive a request, to gaze at something remarkable.

Any heart that is harboring unclean thoughts and attitudes will not see and experience God.  The more purified our hearts become the more we will see God and the more others will see God in us. 

QUESTION – Why do you think purity is required to see God

C. ONLY A PURE HEART CAN SINCERELY LOVE OTHERS AND GOD. 

“A disobedient life only develops an unloving character.” – Marco Garcia

1 Peter 1:22 (NABRE) 22 Since you have purified yourselves by obedience to the truth for sincere mutual love, love one another intensely from a [pure] heart.

Sin kills your love for others and for God.  Obedience to the truth will purify your heart and allow the love of God to flow freely to others in your life.

QUESTION – Why do you think sin makes it so hard for us to really love others?

2) A PRAYER OF REPENTANCE

Fasting without repentance is just a religious exercise with no power to connect us to God, transform our lives, or the lives of others.

A. THE LORD TELLS US TO COME BACK TO HIM WITH REPENTANCE AND FASTING.

Joel 2:12 (GNT) “But even now,” says the Lord, “repent sincerely and return to me with fasting and weeping and mourning.

Repentance: (me-tä-no-e’-o) A wholehearted turn from sin to God with abhorrence (a feeling of extreme repugnance for one’s past sins.)

QUESTION – Why do you think fasting and repentance go hand-in-hand?

A. IT TAKES TWO TURNS TO GET RIGHT WITH GOD. 

We must turn away from sin.  We must turn toward God. 

Acts 2:38 (TLB) And Peter replied, “Each one of you must turn from sin, return to God, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins; then you also shall receive this gift, the Holy Spirit.

B. THE FIRST BENEFIT OF REPENTING OF OUR SINS IS THAT GOD WILL HEAR OUR PRAYERS.

Psalm 66:18 (NLT) If I had not confessed the sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.

John 9:31 (NLT) We know that God doesn’t listen to sinners, but he is ready to hear those who worship him and do his will.

Isaiah 59:1-2 (NLT) Listen! The Lord’s arm is not too weak to save you, nor is his ear too deaf to hear you call. 2 It’s your sins that have cut you off from God. Because of your sins, he has turned away and will not listen anymore.

QUESTION – What is one thing you learned today?

GIVING

Psalm 41:1-2 (ESV) – Blessed is the one who considers the poor!  In the day of trouble the Lord delivers him; 2 the Lord protects him and keeps him alive; he is called blessed in the land; you do not give him up to the will of his enemies.

Our church has always taken care of the poor, and God has blessed us a result.  Let’s continue to make an impact on both the physical and spiritual poor in our city through giving today.  

PS. Don’t forget we’ve got our BIG THANKSGIVING DINNER OUTREACH on November 24, 10AM-2PM! 

How to Give:

  1. Open the App and click “Give.”
  2. Change the fund to “P12.”
  3. Set up your tithe on recurring giving

PRAYER REQUESTS: 

Does anyone have any prayer requests?