READ: REVELATION 5:6-8
In 1 Samuel 1:7, right
in the midst of deep sorrow, Hannah declared a fast. Some Christians cannot
fast at all because their stomach has become their god. The day they do not
praise and worship it with food, it will appear the whole world is coming to an
end. Ecclesiastes 3:1 says, “To every thing there is a season, and a
time to every purpose under the heaven”. There is a time to eat and a
time to fast. If youeat when you should be fasting, you may panic when you
should be at rest. Some people have their fears about fasting – that they will
become ill or have ulcer or even die. Every Christian should fast. Do not let
anybody deceive you. Fasting does not kill. If fasting kills, I would have been
dead a long time ago. On the contrary, fasting makes you younger, burns off
excessive fat and makes you stronger and healthier. Many people experience
healing of different bodily ailments including ulcer during a fast. Fasting
draws you closer to God and makes you live the life of the Spirit. Fast
regularly at least once or twice a week.
For some people fasting is only abstinence from food. They do not have time to pray. This type of fasting is more of dieting. The body still benefits from it but the spirit man hardly profits from it. For greater results, combine fasting with prayer, praise worship, Bible study, etc. Today’s reading talks about prayers entering containers. One thing about fasting and prayer is that if done properly, the effect is never wasted. The more you pray and fast, the more your heavenly container is filled. Just as you can go to the bank to make withdrawals from your savings in time of financial need so also can you make a withdrawal in prayer. Some believers pray too little everyday hence they have nothing to store for future use. But those who pray big daily utilize their daily need of prayer, while the balance goes into their reserves. Have you experienced a period where you always prayed and spent quality time in God’s presence, then for a day or two, due to some reasons, you find yourself not in God’s presence, yet, after a brief spiritual dryness, you began to feel God’s presence for a period? You were only withdrawing from your prayer bank! Hours spent in His presence are not lost. They are reserved for tomorrow.
For some people fasting is only abstinence from food. They do not have time to pray. This type of fasting is more of dieting. The body still benefits from it but the spirit man hardly profits from it. For greater results, combine fasting with prayer, praise worship, Bible study, etc. Today’s reading talks about prayers entering containers. One thing about fasting and prayer is that if done properly, the effect is never wasted. The more you pray and fast, the more your heavenly container is filled. Just as you can go to the bank to make withdrawals from your savings in time of financial need so also can you make a withdrawal in prayer. Some believers pray too little everyday hence they have nothing to store for future use. But those who pray big daily utilize their daily need of prayer, while the balance goes into their reserves. Have you experienced a period where you always prayed and spent quality time in God’s presence, then for a day or two, due to some reasons, you find yourself not in God’s presence, yet, after a brief spiritual dryness, you began to feel God’s presence for a period? You were only withdrawing from your prayer bank! Hours spent in His presence are not lost. They are reserved for tomorrow.
MEMORIZE:
MATTHEW 17:21 –However this kind goes not out but by prayer and fasting.
