The past couple days I’ve been doing a liquids fast (meaning I only consume liquids) and today H squad did a 24 hr vigal. Here are some thoughts produced from said experience:
Praying and fasting can be a lot of work. They require going out of our way and making sacrifices. So why do we do it?
Most people pray and fast because they want something from God. We view it as a sort of give and take. We give God our time and attention plus whatever we’re giving up. The he listens to our request and considers how he will answer us.
The thing is he already knows all of the requests we will make. He knows each and every prayer before we pray it. He knows our desires from the depths of our hearts. Psalms speaks of how God knows what’s in our hearts more than we do. So why does he ask us to do it all throughout scripture?
He wants us to pray so that we will seek Him. He wants us to ask so that we lay our hearts bare before him, vulnerable and without pretense. He wants us to fast so that we will see what our priorities truly are- and ultimately He wants us to choose to make Him our true top priority. He wants us to put Him before ourselves and have real relationship with him.
Now will this automatically happen from praying and fasting? Not necessarily. We can easily make it a box we check off every day (or however many times a year in the case of fasting). We can look for loop holes or religiously follow a set of guidelines. The good stuff happens though when we go into it not simply asking God for something but saying, “Lord right now these are my needs. I’m open to you for how you’d like to take care of them. I give them to you and forfeit my rights to decide. Your choice is the best and I want whatever you have for me. I just want you.”
Sometimes it’s a super spiritual experience. Sometimes it’s a chore. Sometimes it’s something you do because it says to in the bible (just a matter of being obedient). But each time, no matter the reason or outcome, I feel like God sees our faithfulness and pulls us just a little closer to His side.
There have been times when I fasted and the day it ended God answered my prayer in a super cool miraculous way. One time God stopped me on day 2 and informed me that I knew what I needed to do- I just didn’t want to do it. So I acknowledged my hidden stubbornness and stopped at the beginning of what was supposed to be a 2 week fast. This fast was kind of a middle of the pack experience. It was only for 62 hours but I felt like God wanted me to do it. I have yet to see the fruit but in the end it may have been God just have wanted me to look at Him a little closer for a few days.
So if you feel like you’ve never prayed a real conversation with God (or it’s been a while) I encourage you to try it out now. And if you’re not sure about this whole fasting thing google some scripture about it, pray, and consider doing a fast. God is faithful and I know He will bless your efforts.
If you have any questions or comments feel free to leave them below. I’d love to talk with you about this subject that I feel is very dear to our Daddy’s heart. 🙂
