20 February 2010
Lord, teach us to pray (Part XIII)
Posted by admin1 under: Spiritual Growth .
And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, Why could not we cast him out? And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting (St. Mark 9: 28-29).
The scriptures define and describe fasting as total abstinence from all foods and liquids, from eating and drinking or tasting anything “…neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise…” (Esther 4: 16).
So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them. For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water: (Jonah 3: 5-7).
When we fast, we offer ourselves to God, to afflict our souls. “Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance. So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was intreated of us (Ezra 8: 21; 23).
Jesus taught many times about the importance of our prayer lives to be a secret to the public. This requirement does not exempt fasting. Our disposition when we are fasting “…should not be of a sad countenance nor appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.” (St. Matthew 6: 16-18; Isaiah 58: 3-7). Only God should know when we are fasting. We should therefore fast unto the Lord and not fast unto men to see.
When others see or know whenever we are fasting, they will think more highly of us than we actually are. That was the case with the Pharisee to the Publican (St. Luke 18: 9-14). God wants us to draw closer to him with our hearts, rather than make a show of our faith for the world to see (St. Matthew 15: 8).
Fasting is the highest and ultimate form and method of praying. It holds high spiritual value to God and thereby renders deliverance to those who use it with faith. Some of our problems can only be moved by prayer and fasting.
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