The Sunday Mail
Desire Ncube
THE first month of the year is a hive of spiritual activity as Christians from different denominations have dedicated it to corporate fasting and prayer. Fasting and praying at the beginning of the year has become a tradition with most Christians.
Most believers point out that the prayers equip them for any eventuality that might crop up during the course of the year.
Christ Assemblies of God Church leader, Pastor Moses Mazhindu said fasting keeps one sensitive to the Holy Spirit, enabling him or her to lead a holy life.
“Our church will be participating in a 21-day Daniel fast which is the most commonly used type of partial fast,” Pastor Mazhindu said.
“This Daniel fast stems from Daniel 10 v 2- 3 in the Bible when Daniel was under Babylonian captivity during exile.
“A Daniel fast is not just for a time of mourning, but it represents an opportunity to cleanse one’s body from impurities that build up over time. lt also cleanses one’s spirit so that they can hear God’s voice more clearly.
“It is an opportunity to demonstrate to God that we are more interested in the things of His kingdom than the things of this earth,” he explained.
He said the bodily benefits of fasting are natural side effects, but should not be the main goal of a fast.
“I must note that a fast is not a diet, it’s not a starvation plan for weight-loss purposes, and it is not merely going on a ‘cleanse’ to lose weight or reap physical benefits.”
Pastor Innocent Sibanda of Remnant Ministries International said the great thing about walking with God in life is that there is always the opportunity to start afresh. God offers us a new day and a new dawn, no matter what we have gone through.
“At the start of the new year, why not take a moment to thank God for being alive. Why not ask for His forgiveness where you have failed, and dedicate this new year to Him, to serve Him and love Him afresh,” Pastor Sibanda said.
He said a good way of planning for the year ahead is to write down the main areas of one’s life such as work, family, friends and church, among others.
“One will then meditate on what God might do in these areas.
“Once you have done this you might want to share this with your partner or a close friend, and give your decisions over to God in prayer and fasting.
“This is what our church members are doing,” he said.
Methodist Church in Zimbabwe education secretary, Reverend Elliot Mashonganyika said his church has set-aside the month of January for fasting.
“As a church we do a partial fast at the beginning of the year. We have declared the month of January as a covenant month, we renew our faith and love to God as a church. We take this time to commune with God as individuals, societies and the whole church.”
However, he said they do not have any stipulated number of days for fasting as each and every society has the latitude to choose appropriate fasting days.
“As a church we don’t have specific days of fasting. Each and every society selects the number of days they want to fast but within the month of January. Some make use of the first 10 days while others take 21 days, some take the whole month,” Rev Mashonganyika said.
Seventh Day Adventist Church national communication secretary, Pastor Felix Njini said his church uses the first 10 days of January for prayer and fast.
“Basing from the book of Acts chapter 1 and 2, the church adopted the culture of prayer and fasting for 10 days during the first month of the year.
“Acts talks about the disciples of Jesus. They were earnestly praying and fasting in the upper room, waiting for the Holy Spirit to descend. This brought positive results for them and we are convinced that if we use the same spirit it will work for us.
“The whole church will be fasting, from the General Conference in USA to the local church. We will also have evening meetings,” said Pastor Njini.
Pastor Boy Moyo of the Apostolic Faith Mission in Zimbabwe said it is very important to start the year with fasting and prayer.
“As a church we have found it wise to embrace the 10 day January fasting. We believe by doing so we prepare ourselves for the spiritual battle ahead of us, we will be able to stand the trials and temptations of the coming year,” he said.
However, United Family International Church (Ufic) spokesperson Pastor Prime Kufa said fasting should not be religious.
“As a church we are not fasting, we follow the Holy Spirit and it did not instruct us to do so. Fasting should not be religious, as a church we fast several times throughout the year. We listen to the Holy Spirit, when there is a need to fast we fast.
“The battle that we are fighting is spiritual, satan knows that Christians will be very strong at the beginning of the year because we had made it a custom to fast and pray during that time, as the year progresses most of the Christians will be weak and prone to satanic attacks. The devil will capitalise on that.
“Christians should fast and pray throughout the year. Not to say this is a fasting period, it’s dangerous and wrong.”
In the same vein, Bishop Juru of the African Apostolic Church said fasting in the month of January is alien to them.
“We are Christians but we don’t fast during the first month of the year.
“We don’t just follow what other people are doing.
“It’s not a must to partake in these fasts, each and every church has its own doctrine and ours is different from the rest and we are proud of that,” he said.
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