Prayer and Fasting
Craig Smith • October 30, 2022
A few harmful tendencies that keep us from the holy habits…
• A lot of
– “…You do not have, because you do not ask God.” (James 4:2)
• A lot of
– “When you ask, you do not receive, because you ask with wrong motives, that you may spend what you get on your pleasures.” (James 4:3)
• A lack of
– “‘Simon,’ he said to Peter, ‘are you asleep? Could you not keep watch for one hour? Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation.’” (Mark 14:37b-38a)
For thousands of years the church has practiced the gifts of prayer and fasting…
• Prayer requires
– “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him.” (1 John 5:14-15)
• Prayer requires
– “And pray in the Spirit on all occasions with all kinds of prayers and requests. With this in mind, be alert and always keep on praying for all the saints.” (Eph. 6:18)
• Prayer requires
– “I appeal to you, brethren, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by the love of the Spirit, to strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf…” (Rom. 15:30, RSV)
• Prayer requires
– “I wait for the LORD, my soul waits, and in His word I put my hope.” (Psalm 130:5)
Fasting: abstaining from
appetite to build
appetite – “…Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” (Matt. 4:4)
• Fasting to seek
and
– “When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted… ‘Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son.’” (1 Kings 21:27a, 29b)
• Fasting to
God to fight, rescue, protect or guide* – “There by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask Him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions.” (Ezra 8:21)
• Fasting to rely upon God in times of
– “Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days He was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them He was hungry.” (Luke 4:1-2)
But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. (Matt. 6:17-18)
