Prayer & Fasting
Please read Matthew 6:16-18.
16And whenever you are fasting, do not look gloomy and sour and dreary like the hypocrites, for they put on a dismal countenance, that their fasting may be apparent to and seen by men. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full already.
17But when you fast, perfume your head and wash your face,
18So that your fasting may not be noticed by men but by your Father, Who sees in secret; and your Father, Who sees in secret, will reward you in the open.
Many years ago a great man of faith was asked, “What do you really think about God?”
His reply – “It matters very little what I think about God, but it matters a great deal what God thinks about me.”
Perhaps a better question for all of us would be – “What does God expect of me?”
Perhaps we should ask ourselves – “Who am I really trying to impress with my faith walk?”
In Matthew 6 Jesus gives us a pattern by which each of us is to live as a child of God – When you give, when you pray, when you fast. This is how we are to live before God and our fellow man.
God must always be the audience for whom we perform our daily life. He hates hypocrisy, but loves reality.
To fast is to humble ourselves before God.
To pray is to seek intimacy with God.
To give is to serve others.
To fast is to discipline the desires of our flesh.
The real purpose of our fasting is that we become unselfish.
It implies the giving up of anything which may hinder us in the main business of life, which is that we may be perfected (matured, complete, whole) for His use, to be His instruments, that His purpose for us be fulfilled.
Fasting and prayer bring us to a place that we may be quite willing to undertake any work God may assign us to do.
One thing is very clear – prayer and fasting links us up with, connects us to, and focuses us on the very ministry of Jesus Christ.
Only through prayer and fasting will the ministry and message of Jesus be restored in our lives and to the church.
