Prayer and Fasting

By -

 

Prayer and Fasting

  1. The Combination of Praying and Fasting
    • Mark 9:29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.
      • Fasting:
        • Abstinence (Voluntary forbearance especially from indulgence of an appetite or craving or from easting some foods)
        • To abstain from food
        • Hebrew word for fasting means to cover over one's mouth 
    • Examples of Fasting in the Word
  2. What Fasting is and is not
    • Fasting is not twisting the arm of God to force Him to move on our behalf. 
    • It is not a diet.
    • Fasting is:
      • Putting the flesh under submission
      • Focusing on the supernatural and not the natural
      • Focusing on the will of the Father and not the will of the flesh
      • A time to feed upon the Word of God and not natural food
      • A specified time set apart to seek God through prayer and the Word
    • Matthew 4:1-4 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
    • John 4:34 Jesus saith unto them, My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.
    • Isaiah 58:1-14 "God's Chosen Fast"
      • To loose the bonds of wickedness
      • To undo heavy burdens
      • To let the oppressed go free
      • To break every yoke
      • To share your bread with the hungry
      • To bring the poor to your house
      • To clothe the naked
      • Not hiding yourself from those in need
    • Fasting focuses on the plan, will, and purpose of the Father.
    • Fasting is not focusing on the problem.
    • Matthew 6:16-18 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may 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.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Once Saved Always Saved?

By -
Image
 Is it true that once you are saved that you are always saved? Let's see what the Bible really says.  Matthew 7:21-23 Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.  Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. It seems from these verses that the person thought that he or she was saved. It is possible that they had an emotional experience that was mistaken for salvation. The words "I never knew you" means that there was not relationship developed with Jesus. In order to be truly saved, you must have relationship with Jesus.   Romans 8:38-39 For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, n...
Read more

The Journey

By -
Image
When I was about 6 or 7 years old, I watched Rev. Charles Stanley on television. At that time, my family only had three channels. Many times, I would wake up on Sunday mornings and watch television while eating peanut butter sandwiches or peanut butter and crackers.  Two of the channels only had news on it. The other channel had preaching. Therefore, the preaching was more interesting to me. I have never liked watching news. One memorable Sunday, I was sitting in the recliner eating peanut butter sandwiches while listening to Rev. Charles Stanley. He must have been preaching a sermon about repentance because I remember that he gave an analogy concerning heaven and hell. I do not remember it word for word, but the main idea has stuck with me. According to the analogy, people are on a journey. They can only go two directions. One direction is hell. The other direction is heaven. When you are born, you start out facing the direction of hell because of Adam’s sin. When you get ol...
Read more