In January 2013, ASAP launched a " 21-Day Prayer and Fasting Initiative " in which staff and praying friends committed themselves to a Daniel fast of simple foods and/or fasting from media and entertainment for 21 days. We were blessed to have people participating from around the world, including Hawaii and Nigeria. ASAP sent to the group via email information about fasting and words of encouragement from the bible and the writings of Ellen White. The group then replied via email with their testimonies during the fast. God blessed the united prayers of His children who came together to intercede for friends here and abroad. May Jesus Christ, our Interecessor, bless you as your read a sampling of those testimonies:

During ASAP’s 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting in January I decided to heed the words of Jesus, so I spent much time in intercessory prayer for friends of mine. One friend began fasting on the first of the year, about 10 days before we at ASAP began our fast. She really needed a car so although I wasn’t fasting yet, I prayed with her and for her about this. A couple of days before ASAP’s fast began, my friend informed me that someone had offered to sell her a car for a very good price, and to let her pay for it in installments. We praised God for answering this prayer, and I was especially excited that God had done this even before I began fasting.

A couple of days later when we at ASAP began our fast, I prayed for a friend who needed a loan so that she could register for classes at the university she attends. She had spent the previous weeks applying for loans and getting declined. Just a few days into the fast, which was also a few days before her classes would begin, she was approved for a loan! We praised God together for His perfect timing in providing her with this need.

Finally, I spent the entire three weeks praying for a friend who is battling a serious illness. Unlike the other two friends I was praying for, God did not answer my prayers for this until after the fast had ended. A short time after I finished fasting, I learned that this friend’s health is improving. In Steps to Christ , Ellen White wrote that “prayer is the opening of the heart to God as to a friend.” Throughout my prayer and fasting experience, I learned that when I approach prayer in this manner, God in His love and mercy responds to me, just as a friend does in conversation. Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

-- Jeanette Yeboah-Amoako

At one of our noon prayer meetings, a woman who has never visited the ASAP office came to pray. After the prayer time was over, she asked for any elders in the group to come to her home and to pray for and anoint her husband, who had been “sick with worry” for about a week (the man's condition developed within a few weeks of the shooting at the Sandy Hook School in December 2012). Two of the ASAP staff, a board member, and another pastor and his wife from Andrews University immediately went to this woman’s home. They found the lady’s husband standing in front of his chair, motionless and non-responsive to questions and offers of help or something to drink. It was suggested that he sit down for prayer and he seemed to want to comply, but could not bend his knees; the man seemed catatonic. The group interceded for this man at length and anointed him—without any apparent change in his condition. The group eventually left the home, but continued to pray earnestly.

It was about a week later that the man for whom the group prayed showed up at our afternoon prayer fellowship with a bright, beaming smile! He was so appreciative of the prayers and we could see the oppressive weight on him was lifted! This man and his wife have become regular attendees of our afternoon prayer fellowship. We praise God for this quick answer to effectual, fervent prayer —and our new-found friends in Christ!

-- Wayne Labins