Fasting and Prayer, A Christian Way of Life

Should Christians fast? If yes, why should we be doing it? How fasting and prayer related to each other. How important fasting and prayer are in our lives today?

When Jesus was approached by His disciples concerning their inability to heal the sick boy, brought to them by his father, Jesus replied in Matthew 17:21, “this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.”

What is fasting? and, Why should we be doing it? In answering the first of these questions, we can say that biblical fasting is a sacrificial, voluntary abstaining from food (and sometimes from drink) for a definite period of time for a spiritual purpose. It rarely, if ever, occurs in the Bible as a standalone endeavor. In other words, it is not a practice that God’s people engage in all by itself but something that they do in conjunction with prayer.

Why We Fast?

1.                  To strengthen prayer. “Whenever men are to pray to God concerning any great matter,” wrote John Calvin, “it would be expedient to appoint fasting along with prayer.” There is something about fasting that sharpens the edge of our intercessions and gives passion to our supplications. So it has frequently been used by the people of God when there is a special urgency about the concerns they lift before the Father. When Ezra was about to lead a group of exiles back to Jerusalem, he proclaimed a fast in order for the people to seek the Lord earnestly for safe passage (Ezra 8:23).

2.                  To show our earnestness. Fasting helps us express an earnestness in our prayers (Acts 14:23). In denying ourselves food, we are telling the Lord that we mean business, that we are putting our money where our mouth is, so to speak. Andrew Murray put it this way: “Fasting helps us to express, to deepen, and to confirm the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything, to sacrifice ourselves, to attain what we seek for the kingdom of God.”

3.                  To express our wholehearted faith in seeking the Lord. Oftentimes in the Bible, fasting is an expression of wholehearted devotion to God. It is a way of showing that we really are repentant and that He really is more important to us than mere physical pleasures (Joel 2:12–13).

4.                  To plead with the Lord. At other times, fasting is an expression of mourning—either over death (2 Sam. 12:16) or over sin (Jonah 3:5)—and of pleading with the Lord to hear our prayers for mercy and for healing. That would seem to be the point of Jonah 3:5; Esther 9:31; and Joel 1:14.

5.                  To seek wisdom and guidance. In 2 Chronicles 20:1–30, Jehoshaphat proclaimed a national fast in order that all the people might seek the Lord’s wisdom and guidance in the midst of an encroaching military host that was coming on them from Edom. This suggests that fasting and praying in the midst of daunting tasks and overwhelming circumstances are entirely appropriate for us.

6.                  To express humble reliance on the Lord. In Ezra 8:21–23, we have evidence of a fast being proclaimed as an expression of humility and dependence on God for His provision. Here, fasting is not entered into lightly or flippantly but with humble reliance on God that He will hear their prayers and provide what they need when they need it.

7.                  To prepare ourselves against temptation. In Matthew 4:1–3, Jesus fasts so that He might be able to withstand the devil’s temptations, not in order that the devil might have grounds on which to be able to tempt Him, as some may think. (Satan tempts Jesus three ways, not just in His physical appetite.) If Jesus fasted to be better prepared for temptation, how much more should we do likewise?

Fasting is never a way of manipulating God into answering our prayers or showing us mercy. It is not a hunger strike to ensure that God will meet our list of demands. It is a way of expressing our love for Him and our gratitude for all that He has done for us. It is a way of communing with Him and of keeping our hearts fixed upon Him. The world is continually seeking to pull our desires away from the Lord. It continually beckons us to find our pleasure in food or drink or other worldly delights. Fasting reminds us that the Lord is our chief pleasure, and it trains us to keep it that way. It helps us remember that “fullness of joy” and “pleasures forevermore” can only be found in His presence and at His right hand (Ps. 16:11). For this reason, fasting plays an important role in the battle for our desires, which lies at the heart of what Christianity is all about. We neglect it to our peril.

Therefore, this Wednesday (May 1^st, May Day) may the whole church come together for interceding before God as we, as a church, are going through some crucial and challenging period. In times like these, God alone is our strength, wisdom, and guidance. We need to seek Him; we need to seek Him right; we need to seek Him earnestly; we need to seek Him urgently; and we need to seek Him sacrificially. Would you come to seek Him in prayer and fasting?