PRACTICE OF PRAYER AND FASTING. WEDNESDAY NOVEMBER 1
TEXT: ISAIAH 58:1-8
Key verse:
“And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from
the temple,
but served
God with fastings and prayers night and day”
Luke 2:37.
The local
church should teach and train her members on scriptural fasting. Believers need
to know that the Lord expects His children to fast. Matthew 9:14-15,Then came
to Him the disciples of John, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast oft, but
Thy disciples fast not? And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bride
chamber mourn, as long as the bridegroom is with them? but the days will come,
when the bridegroom shall be taken from them, and then shall they fast. Fasting
must be carried out according to biblical pattern. There are those who fast to
let people know of their ability to fast. The Lord warns against this, because
it has no reward. The glory they receive from men is their reward. God has no
blessing to give them for their outward show. Matthew 6:16-18, Moreover when ye
fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their
faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have
their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thane head, and wash thy
face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in
secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. The
discipline of fasting requires moderation, temperance or self-control so as not
to go to excess to abuse it and bring harm upon oneself and others. The account of the New Testament Church does
not reveal a church full of fasting. The marathon fasting many ministers often
pull their church members through is strange to the early church. Care must be
taken not to undermine the place of prayer and faith apart from fasting.
Fasting must not be exalted above its Biblical place. Jesus fasted and taught
the necessity of fasting. Believers of the early church practiced fasting as a
Christian discipline. Fasting is often accompanied by prayer, but Bible practice
shows that it is a spiritual discipline of its own as the payment of tithes.
Fasting is a spiritual discipline that involves abstinence from food, solid and
liquid, or from food and water, for one day or more. This abstinence afflicts
the physical body. Promote righteousness and holiness in your life above
fasting; exalt the discipline of knowing God's word and obeying it above
fasting. Exalt holy and righteous living above marathon fasts.
Thought for
the day: Put emphasis on holiness rather than marathon fasting
Song for the
day: Make me righteous (3X) O Lord
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