Title

Fasting and Praying

Scripture
So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer.
(Ezra 8:23)
Devotional
Oswald Chambers said in his writings, “Our Lord in His teachings always made prayer, not preparation for work, but the work.” For example, Jesus did not pray in the Garden of Gethsemane for strength for the battle of Calvary, Gethsemane was the battle. Calvary was the victory. Prayer and fasting go hand in hand. Nevertheless, not all prayer requires fasting, but all life requires prayer. Fasting is to be called, not necessarily chosen. There are certain situations that necessitate fasting: repentance, humility, deliverance, and direction. Let us pray without ceasing, but let us fast with a leading. Prayer for the believer should be as much a part of life as eating, and fasting as special as abstaining from eating. We do not fast to get God’s attention. We fast to get our attention on the things of God. Jesus clearly taught that there is a time to fast and pray and a way to fast and pray. (1)

(1) Luke 5:33 & Matthew 6:16-18
Text For The Day
Ezra 8:23: So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer.
Thought For The Day
“Christian fasting, at its root, is the hunger of a homesickness for God.” John Piper, A Hunger for God (Crossway, 1997). 
Questions To Ponder
Morning Study Guide
Defining:  “Fasting”: The, “Voluntary abstinence from food, as a religious mortification or humiliation; either total or partial abstinence from customary food, with a view to mortify the appetites, or to express grief and affliction on account of some calamity, or to deprecate an expected evil,” Noah Webster’s 1828 Dictionary.
 
Referencing: “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: To loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?” Isaiah 58:6
 
Applying: Hold the “fast” as a wonderful weapon of warfare over the enemy.