November 23, 2014 | Fasting and Prayer

Dear All, welcome back to "The Nathan Report". I was away on vacations for two weeks, so accept my apology for absenteeism. This is the day that the Lord has made, we will rejoice and be glad in it.

We began with our weekly service with 'Praise and Worship', here is the playlist:

1) 10000 Reasons - Matt Redman

2) Your name is Holy - Brian Doerksen

3) Open the eyes of my heart Lord - Paul Baloche

4) Jesus is the Lord - Antioch Community Church

5) Hosanna (Holy Holy Holy) - Hosanna Music

It was a beautiful as well as an emotional worship. Post Praise and Worship, we have the list of following announcements:

- This Saturday 4:30 PM will be Women's fellowship. 

- 24th November - 14th December, Church will be involved in Fasting and Prayers. 

- Everyday between this period there will be a short prayer service between 6:00 AM - 7:00 AM. 

- Pastor will be visiting homes during this period, please contact Church website for more information by clicking here.

Today we will be talking about 'Fasting and Prayer'. 

Fasting and Prayer is a spiritual discipline and an essential thing in the life of the Church. If we go out, we will notice instead of fasting, we have fast food. It is made so quickly, as demand has increased in the market. We are not talking about food today, but this spiritual discipline. God is calling all of us for fasting and prayer.  There are people who have misunderstood what fasting is. 

Acts 13:2, While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”

If we look closely to this verse, though there were recognized "prophets" in the church (verse 1), that did not guarantee  hat the Holy Spirit would speak to them apart from their spending such extended time in worship, fasting and prayer. "They" likely refers to the whole congregation at worship, although the five prophets may well have mediated the spirit's message. 

What an assemblage was here! In these names we see that the Lord raises up instruments for his work, from various places and stations in life; and zeal for his glory induces men to give up flattering connexions and prospects to promote his cause. It is by the Spirit of Christ that his ministers are made both able and willing for his service, and taken from other cares that would hinder in it. Christ's ministers are to be employed in Christ's work, and, under the Spirit's guidance, to act for the glory of God the Father. They are separated to take pains, and not to take state. A blessing upon Barnabas and Saul in their present undertaking was sought for, and that they might be filled with the Holy Ghost in their work. Whatever means are used, or rules observed, the Holy Spirit alone can fit ministers for their important work, and call them to it.

Nehemiah 1:4, "As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days, and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven."

No seeming repentance or amendment will benefit those who reject Him, for self-dependence proves them still unhumbled. All the names written in the book of life, are those of penitent sinners, not of self-righteous persons, who think they have no need of repentance. Fasting and prayer has power. We have forgotten it. We look at situation and say, "What are we going to do now?"

Matthew 4:1-2, "1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry."

Acts 14:22, "Strengthening the souls of the disciples, encouraging them to continue in the faith, and saying that through many tribulations we must enter the kingdom of God."

- Martin Luther King spoke against compulsion in fasting though he was a man of fasting and prayer.

- John Calvin was a man of fasting and prayer. He once said, "Let us, therefore, forsake the vanity of the crowd and their false teachings and turn back to the word delivered to us from the beginning, "watching unto prayer" and continuing steadfast in fasting, beseeching fervently the all-seeing God "to lead us not into temptation, even as the Lord said, 'The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.'"

- John Know was a man or prayer and fasting. In response to Knox’s imprecatory prayers, Mary Queen of Scots is reputed to have said: “I fear the prayers of John Knox more than all the assembled armies of Europe.”

Fasting can be a declaration of our dependency on God against the powers of evil. When people knock on His door, he will open. 

2 Chronicles 7:14, "If my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land."

When He manifests Himself as a consuming Fire to sinners, His people can rejoice in Him as their Light. Nay, they had reason to say, that God was good in this. It is of the Lord's mercies we are not consumed, but the sacrifice in our stead, for which we should be very thankful. And whoever beholds with true faith, the Saviour agonizing and dying for man's sin, will, by that view, find his godly sorrow enlarged, his hatred of sin increased, his soul made more watchful, and his life more holy. Let us then stand in awe, and sin not. Let us fear the Lord's displeasure, hope in his mercy, and walk in his commandments.

I believe that most of us here share a deep desire to be more intimate, more devoted to God. But something gets in the way of that devotion. The desire we all have to give our hearts to Him is shared with a desire for things, yet, the weakness of our hunger for God is not because He is unsavory, as John Piper puts it, but because we keep ourselves stuffed with other things. In other words, we are so full on food & entertainment, that we have no appetite left for God.

Is there something wrong with food or moral entertainment? Of course not, but because these things are not bad, we often don’t realize that they can be to blame for our lack of hunger. You see, it is not our feasting with the wicked that typically robs us of our hunger for God but the constant nibbling at the table of the world that leaves us so full that we have no appetite left for God.

Fasting and prayer will remind you and makes you more and more hungry for God. 

John 4:34, "Jesus said to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to accomplish his work."

Why should we fast?
We must fast because this is the most powerful discipline of Christian life. At the same time, fasting is the most neglected Christian discipline. 

Illustration: Sometimes we cannot control our hunger. At times we cross a street and smell tasty food and become hungry. At times people get headache if they do not get tea or coffee.

Fasting can help us coming closer to our Lord. Fasting is that discipline which tries to recapture our hunger for God. It says to God, I am willing to forgo anything in order to be in your presence. Fasting provides an atmosphere whereby we are prepared to face up to the dulling effects of food and all those things which we continually nibble on. Some time after Moses watched the Lord part the Red Sea, he said to the Lord, “I want to see your glory”. My goodness, Moses, you saw the glory of the Lord when the Lord closed the waters, delivering you from the Egyptian armies! But for Moses, the only glory that He really wanted was to rest in the presence of God. It is with that heart, one that longs to bask in the presence of God, that we need to consider the biblical discipline of fasting.

Illustration: I was at Bandra court and someone informed me that the divorce rate has increased upto 5%.

What can we do? First we must dedicate ourselves to prayer and repentance. This disaster has not happened by itself; in some way all are responsible. Live-in relationships, contraception, abortion and divorce are plagues on our society and our Church. Repentance, prayer, fasting and family awareness are the cures. Nobody likes to talk about these things, but by our silence–our sin of omission–we make the problem worse. Jesus Christ came to heal us of our most serious disease–sin. The healing begins with obedience. Our sin began with disobedience; our healing begins with obedience.

Acts 13:1-3, "1 Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off."

Acts 14:23, "And when they had appointed elders for them in every church, with prayer and fasting they committed them to the Lord in whom they had believed."

There are three types of fasting mentioned in the Bible:

1. Partial Fasting

Daniel 10:2-3, "2 In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. 3 I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks."

Daniel at the end was stronger and healthier than those eating what they wanted. In the partial fast you omit certain foods for a while, but not others. Just skipping a meal to spend time in prayer would be another example of a partial fast.

2. Normal Fasting

Though fasting is never commanded, Jesus assumed that the disciples would want to in order to see great things happen. But it’s not something a Christian has to do, but can choose to do, not many guidelines given in scripture about fasting, either! Normal fast is no food, only liquids like water, juice, etc. 

3. Absolute Fasting

Exodus 34:28, "So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments."

Acts 9:9, "And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank."

Esther 4:16, "Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish."

In an absolute fast one abstains from solid and liquid "foods" for example, fruit juices are foods. Nothing enters your mouth at all, can be done for a very short time. 

Isaiah 58:8, "Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard."

Jeremiah 30:17, "For I will restore health to you, and your wounds I will heal, declares the LORD, because they have called you an outcast: ‘It is Zion, for whom no one cares!’"

A fast is a day to afflict the soul; if it does not express true sorrow for sin, and does not promote the putting away of sin, it is not a fast. These professors (as mentioned in Isaiah 58:8) )had shown sorrow on stated or occasioned fasts. But they indulged pride, covetousness, and malignant passions. To be liberal and merciful is more acceptable to God than mere fasting, which, without them, is vain and hypocritical. Many who seem humble in God's house, are hard at home, and harass their families. But no man's faith justifies, which does not work by love. Yet persons, families, neighbourhoods, churches, or nations, show repentance and sorrow for sin, by keeping a fast sincerely, and, from right motives, repenting, and doing good works. The heavy yoke of sin and oppression must be removed. As sin and sorrow dry the bones and weaken the strongest human constitution; so the duties of kindness and charity strengthen and refresh both body and mind. Those who do justly and love mercy, shall have the comfort, even in this world. Good works will bring the blessing of God, provided they are done from love to God and man, and wrought in the soul by the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 4:1-11, "1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. 2 And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3 And the tempter came and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.” 4 But he answered, “It is written,

“‘Man shall not live by bread alone,

    but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

5 Then the devil took him to the holy city and set him on the pinnacle of the temple 6 and said to him, “If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down, for it is written,

“‘He will command his angels concerning you,’

and

“‘On their hands they will bear you up,

    lest you strike your foot against a stone.’”

7 Jesus said to him, “Again it is written, ‘You shall not put the Lord your God to the test.’” 8 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory. 9 And he said to him, “All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.” 10 Then Jesus said to him, “Be gone, Satan! For it is written,

“‘You shall worship the Lord your God

    and him only shall you serve.’”

11 Then the devil left him, and behold, angels came and were ministering to him."

If you fast and pray seeking the face of God, not asking for anything else, just seeking His face, God of Heaven will hear us and He will heal us, our lives, our Church, our communities. 

Let us all pray:

Dear Lord, thank you for today and for our lives. We once again are back to your house and we know its just because you wanted us to be. Lord, we pray for our lives and we ask wisdom from you. During this period of 'Fasting and Prayer', guide us and fill us with your Holy Spirit, that our focus remain on you and not on tempting desires. Lord we are your children who makes mistakes and fall but we know you are the Lord of Lords and God of all and you know us better. Bless us and heal our broken hearts, broken bodies and broken soul and rejuvenate us with your blood spilled for us. Lord make us strong so that we walk the way you want us to walk. We pray for the Church to be led by your Spirit, that we may touch others and bring them to salvation. With your most precious name we ask. Amen!

We hope you enjoyed today's service. Join us for this period of fasting and prayers. God bless us all!

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