Amidst all of our planning and our good intentions for the coming year, we can easily overlook our

greatest need. God himself. We need his grace and power if we are to glorify him and carry out his

will for our lives. That's one of the main reasons why prayer and fasting are so critical for us as

individuals and as churches. In this message, David Platte looks at the role of prayer and fasting

in the books of Ezra, Nehemiah, and Esther, and he urges us to put these spiritual disciplines into

practice. We'll consider nine reasons to pray and fast. This is the Radical with David Platte

Podcast. Here is David with a message titled nine reasons to pray and fast. If you have a bible

and I hope you or somebody around you does that you can look on with, let me invite you to open

to me to Ezra, chapter 8. Ezra, chapter 8, an Old Testament, feel free to use Tableau of

Contents if you need to Ezra, chapter 8, and I want to welcome those of you while you're turning

in Loudon and Arlington and Montgomery County and Prince William, which I'll pause and praise God

for Pastor Todd preaching last week as every other location pastor was out with circumstances

related to COVID, which I know has affected many individuals and families who are online today

as well as whether, regardless, it is really good to be able to come together in all these

different places around God's Word and hear from Him, and especially if you're joining with us,

whether in person here, any of those locations or online, we are really, really glad you're here.

We are starting today, 21 days of prayer and fasting together as a church. Actually, it'll technically

start tomorrow and go from January 10th through the 30th, and our hope is to encourage each other

individually and as a church family to start this year off right with a concentrated, intentional

focus on our relationships with God through prayer and fasting. So picture this like a getaway.

Heather and I recently celebrated our 22nd anniversary. We spent a few days away together

just being with each other, apart from all the busyness and craziness of life.

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