THE DISCIPLINE OF PRAYER AND FASTING Rev Andrew Els. You will remember that we are spending some time looking at a number of spiritual

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1 THE DISCIPLINE OF PRAYER AND FASTING Rev Andrew Els Hymns: COME LET US SING LOVE DIVINE GREAT IS THY FAITHFULNESS WHAT A FRIEND WE HAVE IN JESUS Readings: 2 Corinthians 12:1-10 Matthew 6:5-18 You will remember that we are spending some time looking at a number of spiritual disciplines we are to build into our lives as disciples of Jesus so that we get to know God better and are able to live lives that are pleasing to God. If we truly want to deepen our intimacy with Jesus if we sincerely desire that God transforms our lives to make us more like Jesus then we have to be those who avoid spiritual idleness and overcome spiritual laziness. In other words growing in our faith is not automatic it doesn t just happen we have to be forward moving people who actively pursue a growing relationship with Jesus. In Deuteronomy 4:29 it says: if you search for God with all your heart and soul, you will find him. The spiritual disciplines are there to help us search for God so that in finding Him we may deepen our intimacy with Jesus, which in turn will affect every area of our life. Last week we looked at the discipline of worship and we determined that our whole life needs to be an act of worship because we were created to bring pleasure to God. This morning I want to look at two other disciplines I ve combined them because they are so closely linked and they are the discipline of prayer and the discipline of fasting.

2 Let s begin with the discipline of prayer. We have spent time in the past looking at what prayer is and the practices that are necessary for prayer to be effective and so this morning I want to just refresh your memory and look at some of the struggles we may face in this discipline. Now, I think it s true to say that most people on earth pray at some time or other some pray to gods who don t exist or nature or ancestors usually when people are in trouble and desperate they will call out to God, whether they know God or not. But none of this is really prayer the mere fact that you are addressing a higher entity or Supreme Being doesn t mean that you are praying certainly not in the sense in which we are speaking of this morning. Prayer that is meaningful and effective is an intimate two-way conversation with the living God and it s born and grows out of an existing relationship with the one and only true God in other words, it s only those who have this This kind of prayer is a discipline because although it comes naturally it is at the same time a struggle in other words, we have to learn how to master it particularly the area of listening to God, which we don t do too well and in the process of mastering it overcome opposition from the enemy, who hates it when we pray. Friends, we must understand that God s enemy will do anything to distract us because there s nothing that the devil fears more, other than God himself, than praying Christians and so he will steal our time and our passion he will cause us to doubt and to struggle to hear God s voice but as we prevail and overcome as we resolutely build it into our lives as a holy habit we will experience victory in our lives. Now, when it comes to praying we must follow the example of the Master and so we

3 are to pray often it must become a part of our day as we involve God in our lives and seek His leading and power as we learn to depend on God. Our praying also needs to be sensible and orderly Jesus gave us a model, which He told us to use as a guide and not just as a lot of words that are repeated without giving them much thought we must remember that for prayers to be dynamic they must be specific and so don t pray vaguely God please save all the people in Africa - but pray rather for people by name or for specific situations and circumstances. We also need to pray according to God s will, which becomes easier as we grow in our knowledge and understanding of God s nature, character and will even when we lack wisdom and don t know how to pray, God says we must ask we read in James 1:5 (NRSV): If any of you is lacking in wisdom, ask God, who gives to all generously and ungrudgingly, and it will be given you. Before we look at the discipline of fasting, I would like to spend some time looking at unanswered prayer why are some of our prayers seemingly unanswered? Many Christians throughout the ages have struggled with this very issue I certainly have and I m sure that most if not all of you have also struggled to understand why the response from heaven to some of our prayers is silence. Now, while we must accept that there are times when God just works in mysterious ways and at the end of the day all we can do is submit to His sovereignty - God s Word does offer us some guidance in this respect - let s see what we can learn. In Paul s prayer experience, as described in the passage in Corinthians, we see that the

4 reason prayer may go unanswered has to do with the very purpose of prayer. You see friends, we must remember that prayer is primarily about getting our lives in line with the will of God in other words, it has more to do with discovering what God wants than getting what we want even if what we want may seem perfectly good and right to us. There was absolutely nothing wrong with Paul s request for God s intervention and I m sure there was nothing wrong with Paul s faith in God to heal him but what Paul had to learn what we all have to learn is that what God wants always comes before what we want. So often the reason our prayers seem unanswered is that God has a greater purpose that He wants to work out in our lives in Paul s case God wanted to teach him to depend on Him in all circumstances to show him that when he can t, God can. Sometimes it s not that our prayers go unanswered, but rather that there s a delay in the answer it s not yes or no but wait and it s the wait that we can really struggle with and often interpret as silence from heaven. What adds to the problem here is the conditioning we receive from the world we live in it s a world where instant gratification is the order of the day and so when it comes to wanting results we want them now waiting is something we don t do very well even if there s nothing we can do about the circumstances. Unfortunately we have this same attitude when it comes to our prayers we have lost the ability to delay gratification and patiently wait for God with the result that we live most of the time out of tune with God s will. In the passage in 2 Corinthians Paul shows us the attitude we must have when God does

5 not answer when and as we expect. Paul wanted God to take his burden away he wanted deliverance but instead God gives him the grace to live with the problem not what he was expecting. But he doesn t become bitter and feel rejected by God he instead finds peace by accepting God s answer and in the end what could have been weakness becomes a source of strength as he faithfully continues to trust God. In light of this, the question, Why are some of our prayers not answered? is incomplete it should really be, Why are some of our prayers not answered, in the way we expect? When it comes to answered prayer, we all need to accept the sovereignty of God as is written in Isaiah 55:8-9: My thoughts are completely different from yours, says the LORD. And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine. For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts higher than your thoughts. I want to finally have a look at the discipline of fasting. As I ve already said - fasting and prayer go together if you fast without praying then you re just on a diet. Now fasting is a rather neglected discipline even if it is taught in both the OT and NT. In the passage we read in Matthew Jesus said when you fast not if you fast indicating that it s not an optional discipline it s a practice that we must build into our lives as disciples of Jesus and it s a practice that God rewards when we are willing to sacrifice what comes naturally (like eating) in order to encounter the supernatural (like the things of the Spirit of God) then God honours the sacrifice and God s power is

6 released in us. Throughout scripture we notice that when people had no power to deal with situations or they did not know what to do they fasted and prayed to invoke the power of God to help them in their time of great need and God s power was released. In Galatians 5 we read: So I advise you to live according to your new life in the Holy Spirit. Then you won t be doing what your sinful nature craves. The old sinful nature loves to do evil, which is just opposite from what the Holy Spirit wants. And the Spirit gives us desires that are opposite from what the sinful nature desires. These two forces are constantly fighting each other, and your choices are never free from this conflict. What prevents the power of Holy Spirit being released in our lives is the old, sinful nature (the flesh) which is the will (I want), the intelligence (I think) and the emotions (I feel) and so if we are to live victorious Christian lives then we have to bring our sinful nature into subjection to the Spirit and we do that through prayer and fasting. Some practical advice if you ve never fasted before then start small start with one meal a week for a month then progress to one day a week and then maybe a weekend once a year the length is really between you and God but keep at it, remember it s a discipline. One last thing for a fast to mean something to God it must mean something to you giving-up brussel sprouts can hardly be considered a fast it must take serious commitment and sacrifice. So to the discipline of worship, we ve now added the disciplines of prayer and fasting

7 let me remind you again that none of these are optional they must become holy habits in our lives if we are to grow in our intimacy with Jesus and become vessels God can use in the extension of His kingdom.