I just wanted to post a reminder that the
elders have requested that all who are able dedicate themselves tomorrow (Wed,
Nov 15) to fasting and prayer for the healing of Phil and Adrienne Pittman and Hilda
Phillips. Phil and Hilda are both
fighting cancer. Adrienne is enduring a
host of medical difficulties, most recently complications from a broken hip and
hip replacement surgery. So we are
dedicating ourselves tomorrow to praying for their healing. The day will culminate in a prayer service at
the church at 6:30pm.
Some of us may have never fasted before, so I
wanted to give a little instruction. “Christian
fasting is a believer’s voluntary abstinence from food for spiritual purposes.”[1] Those who attended our prayer gathering two
weeks ago are aware of the numerous kinds of biblical fasts. I won’t reproduce all of those here. The one we are recommending is what we would
call a normal fast – abstaining from all food, but not liquids (Matt 4:2; Luke 4:2). Some may want to fast for the 24
hours leading up to the prayer meeting, breaking the fast after the
meeting. Others for health reasons may
not be able to fast that long, and may only be able to miss a single meal. Still others may not be able to fast at
all. Whatever your ability, we are
asking that you devote yourselves to prayer for the healing of these loved
ones.
What is the purpose of fasting as it relates
to prayer? In his book on spiritual disciplines,
Dr. Donald Whitney notes numerous biblical, spiritual purposes for fasting. One of them is to strengthen prayer (Ezra 8:23; Daniel 9:3). John Calvin wrote, “Whenever
men are to pray to God concerning any great matter, it would be expedient to
appoint fasting along with prayer.” Whitney
adds, “There’s something about fasting that sharpens the edge of our
intercessions and deepens the passion of our supplication. So the people of God have frequently utilized
fasting when they have felt a special urgency about the concerns they lift before
the Father.”[2]
The act of fasting is helpful in at least a
couple of practical ways. First, the
discomfort of going without food is a constant reminder of the purpose for
which we are fasting. With every hunger
pain, we are reminded, “I’m dedicating this day to praying for a specific
urgent request.” Second, the time that
we would have spent eating can be given to praying for that issue. We are afforded then more time to pray than
we would on a normal day.
Fasting is an expression of need for God to
do what only He can do. “Fasting is when
we hunger for God – for a fresh encounter with God, for God to answer a prayer,
for God to save someone, for God to work powerfully in our church, for God to
guide us or protect us – more than we hunger for the food God made us to live
on.”[3] Many of us have been deeply troubled by the
struggles that Phil, Adrienne, and Hilda have been enduring. We hunger for God to help them, to heal them
for His own glory. So we are fasting as
an expression of that hunger and to ask Him to do that very thing.
Please join us in this. And may the Lord be glorified.
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