Return to Jesus
A communal day of fasting, repentance, and re-centering in the presence of Christ.
This day is about beginning the year the way every true potential movement begins: by returning our whole selves to Jesus. Before we carry the mission into Kansas City, we let Jesus reclaim our attention, allegiance, and affection. We acknowledge that the fire in us - our drive for mission, for impact, for breakthrough - can be fueled either by the Spirit or by our own striving, proving, and performing. Extraordinary prayer and fasting is how we slow down, strip away illusions, and return to the true Center.
“I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…” Philippians 3:8
Make that your prayer. Repeat that passage as your prayer.
Today’s guide is a little different. It offers four simple moments of reorientation spread throughout the day, spaces to pause, listen, and let Jesus speak. Today is an invitation to let Him search us, realign us, and draw us back to Himself again and again. It is a day of continuous metanoia: holy reorientation.
1. MORNING - Return
Scripture: “The time has come,” he said. “The kingdom of God has come near. Repent and believe the good news!” Mark 1:15
Prayer Focus: “Jesus, I return to You.”
Begin with 2–3 minutes of silence.
Pray: “Jesus, reveal where I’ve been driven by striving instead of the Spirit.”
Invite the Spirit to surface anything you’re using to earn, hide, prove, or control.
Respond with simple repentance: “My mental maps are flawed. Your way is better. I return to You.”
Practice: Speak Jesus’ name as a breath prayer:
Inhale: “Jesus…”
Exhale: “…You are Lord.”
Let this be the anchor of your day. Carry this breath prayer with you all morning. Return to it continually.
2. MIDDAY - Open
Scripture: Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. Psalm 139:23–24
Prayer Focus: “Search me, O God.”
As hunger grows, let your desire for Jesus grow deeper.
Ask the Spirit:
Where have I drifted?
Where am I resisting Your voice?
What needs healing?
Confess with honesty but without toxic shame.
Receive His love without hesitation.
Practice: Write down whatever surfaces: a word, a wound, a pattern, a fear. Offer it to Jesus with open hands. Actually open your hands, palms up. Continue with your breath prayer, Inhale: “Jesus…” Exhale: “…You are Lord.”
3. AFTERNOON - Align
Scripture: Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. John 15:4
Prayer Focus: “Apart from You, I can do nothing.”
This is the heart of the day: re-centering your life on Jesus as the Vine.
Pray for deep attachment to Jesus: heart, mind, imagination, and will.
Ask where your calendar, habits, or mission have drifted from His presence.
Ask what obedience looks like today, in the simplest form.
Practice: Write one I WILL statement for the week, something small, concrete, and deeply obedient. Who can you share it with? Do so.
4. EVENING - Recommit
Scripture: “I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord…” Philippians 3:8
Prayer Focus: “One thing I seek.”
Break your fast with gratitude.
Thank Jesus for His leadership over your life and this movement.
Pray for your microchurch, hub, or team to become a community where repentance is quick, common, and joyful.
Commit the year to Jesus again: “Jesus, You are my treasure. You are the center of my life and calling.”
Practice: Close the day with communion (alone or with others), remembering that intimacy with Jesus is the source of all mission.
Closing Prayer
Jesus, today as the KC Underground family, we return to You.
Search us, center us, renew us.
Strip away striving.
Heal our wounds.
Reorient our desires.
Bind us to Your heart and Your way.
Make us a people who repent quickly, obey joyfully,
and join you in every corner of our city.
You are our treasure.
You are our Lord.
You are our life.
Amen.