21-Day Fast: Why prayer AND fasting?
by gingerhohm on May 7th, 2010
filed under Journal
We hear a lot about prayer in Christian circles. “Pray without ceasing, pray for me brother, I’ll keep that in prayer!” In fact, rarely do we ever come together without starting with a prayer or ending with a prayer – or both! Prayer we get, but fasting? Not so much. What’s the big deal? Why do we need to pray AND fast?
.
It’s actually pretty straight-forward really. Prayer connects you with God; fasting disconnects you from the world. Bottom line? Sometimes prayer just isn’t enough. Jesus even says so, “However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting” (Matthew 17:21). There is something special that happens when we connect with God while simultaneously disconnecting from the world. It’s sort of like hitting the pause button or turning down the background noise, and just allowing ourselves to tune back in to hearing God’s voice.
.
Elijah understood it. After exhaustion drove him into the wilderness and fear hid him in a cave, God says, “I’m not in the wind; I’m not in the earthquake. I am that still small voice that is trying to get your attention.” God was able to get his attention by removing the distractions that interfered with Elijah hearing from God. Fasting does that. When fasting is handcuffed to prayer, it is an amazing process that can transform the ordinary Christian into the extraordinary Christian!