“Behold, I am doing a new thing; now it springs forth, do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
— ISAIAH 43:19 (NIV)
Forty days of focused prayer will not solve every problem you bring into them.
But forty days of focused prayer will reorganise your interior life so that whatever you face afterward is faced from a different posture — quieter, more anchored, more aware of the One who walks with you.
This companion guide is the manual for that journey.
✦
What This Guide Is
The 40 Days & 40 Nights of Prayer Official Companion Guide is a 133-page structured prayer manual by Michael Sanmi Dawodu of Sanmi Dawodu Ministries. It is not a casual devotional. It is a journey — designed to carry you through forty-seven consecutive days of consecrated prayer, scripture meditation, and daily declaration.
The number forty in Scripture is the number of completion through testing. Moses spent forty days on the mountain and came down with the Law. Elijah walked forty days in the wilderness and heard the still small voice at Horeb. Jesus fasted forty days in the wilderness and emerged in the power of the Spirit to begin His public ministry. Every single time the number forty appears in Scripture as a span of consecration, what came after was decisively different from what came before.
The journey here extends to forty-seven days — the foundational forty days of consecration plus seven days of Passion Week — because the arc of Scripture always leads from the wilderness to the cross and the empty tomb. To end on Day 40 alone would be to stop just before the very thing the journey was preparing you for.
133
Pages
47
Daily Entries
6
Prayer Points / Day
47
Declarations
47
Journal Pages
Instant Download
What Is Inside
The 47-Day Journey at a Glance
Week 1 — Foundation
Setting the altar, repentance, surrender, hunger for His presence, faith over feeling, the discipline of daily prayer, Sabbath rest.
Week 2 — Identity & Sonship
Made in His image, adopted by the Father, co-heirs with Christ, royal priesthood, ambassadors of heaven, Beloved, walking in confidence.
Week 3 — Family & Generations
Marriage covenant, the destiny of children, honouring parents, generational blessings, breaking generational curses, spiritual legacy, household salvation.
Week 4 — Provision & Purpose
Daily bread, kingdom assignment, open doors, divine connections, honest labour, faithful stewardship, generosity.
Week 5 — Healing & Wholeness
Physical healing, emotional healing, mind renewal, freedom from fear, forgiveness, restoration of the years, wholeness in Christ.
Week 6 — Authority & Warfare
Putting on the armour, praying Scripture, binding and loosing, standing firm, breakthrough on Day 40.
Passion Week — Days 41–47
Palm Sunday · Holy Monday · Holy Tuesday · Spy Wednesday · Maundy Thursday · Good Friday · Resurrection Sunday. The entire arc of consecration finds its climax not in the wilderness but at the cross and the empty tomb.
How to Use This Guide
Each daily entry is designed for 15–25 minutes. Set the same hour and the same room every day — most readers find early morning works best when the mind is quiet and the day's demands have not yet arrived.
The six prayer points each day are not suggestions — they are the structured intercession of the day. Spend at least one to two minutes on each point, longer if the Holy Spirit leads. Do not rush through this part.
Declarations are not hype. They are agreements between you and what heaven has already spoken. Read them aloud before you leave your prayer time — there is power in hearing your own voice declare the Word of God.
Use the 47 journaling pages at the back. Write the date, the day number, and your honest answer to the reflection question. Over 47 days, these entries become one of the most valuable spiritual records of your year.
The guide includes a full section on choosing your fast — Daniel Fast, Sunrise-to-Sunset, Full Fast, or Media/Selective Fast. Decide before Day 1 begins and commit for the full journey. There is no spiritual hierarchy among them.
This Guide Is For You If
You have been wanting to go deeper in prayer but have never had a structure that could hold a 40-day commitment together from Day 1 to Day 47.
You are in a season that requires breakthrough — in your family, your health, your finances, your calling, or your spirit — and you are ready to consecrate time to seek God for it.
You are in ministry burnout, spiritual dryness, or a season of quiet despair — and you need a structured journey that will carry you through, one day at a time, even when motivation fails.
You want to lead a church, small group, or prayer community through a corporate fasting and prayer season — with structured daily content, declarations, and journaling that every member can follow.
You have walked seasons of consecration before and you want to return — better equipped, with a manual in your hands that matches the seriousness of the journey.
From the Foreword
“Forty days of focused prayer will not solve every problem you bring into them. But forty days of focused prayer will reorganise your interior life so that whatever you face afterward is faced from a different posture — quieter, more anchored, more aware of the One who walks with you.”
Michael Sanmi Dawodu
Founder, Sanmi Dawodu Ministries · Chicago, Illinois · sanmidawodu.org
A Sample Entry — Day 1
Day 1 · Week 1 — Foundation
Setting the Altar
Consecration as the Beginning of Breakthrough
“And he built there an altar to the LORD, and called upon the name of the LORD.” — Genesis 12:8
Before there was a Tabernacle, before there was a Temple, before there was even a promised land — there was an altar. Wherever Abraham went, he built one. An altar is not a feeling. It is a decision. A consecrated season begins the moment you say, “Lord, this time is Yours.”
Prayer Points
✦ Father, I set apart these forty days as holy ground unto You.
✦ I withdraw my time, my appetite, and my attention from anything that competes with You.
✦ Build in me an altar that is consecrated, undivided, and pleasing in Your sight.
✦ Let the fire of Your Spirit fall on this altar from Day 1 and never go out.
✦ Lord, I declare that what is offered on this altar will be received in Heaven.
✦ I dedicate this season to encountering You above every other outcome.
Today's Declaration
“These forty days are holy ground unto the Lord. The fire on this altar will not go out.”
Reflection Question
What practical thing do I need to lay on the altar before these forty days can truly begin?
About the Author
Michael Sanmi Dawodu is the founder of Sanmi Dawodu Ministries, a global digital evangelism and discipleship platform based in Chicago, Illinois. Through preaching, intercessory prayer, and faith-based content, the ministry reaches believers across cultures with the life-changing message of the Gospel. This companion guide is the flagship resource of the 40 Days & 40 Nights of Prayer series — the ministry's most comprehensive and widely used prayer resource.
Website: sanmidawodu.org ·
Series: sanmidawodu.org/40-days-prayer ·
Email: hello@sanmidawodu.org
“The new thing God promised in Isaiah 43:19 was always pointing toward Calvary and the resurrection. To end on Day 40 alone would be to stop just before the very thing the journey was preparing you for.”
Sanmi Dawodu Ministries · sanmidawodu.org
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