FAST AND PRAY

This week, we asked our congregation to consider taking a day, to fast and pray. Prayer is so important to us as individual Christians, and to our church as a whole; but I admit that fasting has been somewhat of a ignored topic. I remember preaching about it a couple of years ago, but beyond that, I have made it just a personal issue for me in my own walk. But, as I prepared for last week's message on God's sovereignty and talked about where we find ourselves as a church, the idea hit me. We need to allow the entire church to participate, asking God to do something incredible, and demonstrating our desire for Him by setting aside, for a time, other desires, such as food.

Fasting is a tricky thing because Jesus warned that we should not be like the Pharisees, who fasted publicly and acted in such a way that everyone knew they were fasting. Jesus said: they have received their reward - public honor for their piety. But instead, we are to fast privately, not letting others know our hunger, so that we can be blessed by God. However, we see in the Bible, that there are times to call an entire group of people, even an entire nation, to fast as a group; and in those circumstances, it is certainly appropriate to let everyone know the plan and to do it at the same time.

Just a few things God has taught me during times of fasting:

• I can go without food or other things longer than I think I can
• I need Him more than anything
• He does satisfy more than food, more then other pleasures I enjoy
• If I pray during the times I would normally enjoy something else, I feel closer to God and feel strengthened in that commitment
• I notice, then, to a greater degree, what God does in response to these times of fasting

May our times of fasting and prayer be humble times, selfless times, times to focus on God and to make Him our satisfaction!