Why We Should Fast
I have written this book on a topic that we do not hear a lot about. I cannot remember the last time I heard a message about fasting. Fasting is mentioned many times throughout the Bible, so it must have some significance in our lives, otherwise why is it in the word of God?
There are many aspects to fasting. How do we fast? Are there different ways that we can fast? Why fast at all? Are there any benefits of fasting?
These questions I hope to answer in this book. I hope by the time you get to the end of this book, you will discern for yourself the importance of fasting, and how it can affect every prayer we offer to God.
We all know about the fasting diet that is supposed to be good for our physical health, and it is a good way to lose a bit of weight and to gain some general health benefits. But this type of fasting differs totally from Christian fasting.
A Christian fast will be a spiritual experience, and most definitely must have a Christian purpose. If there is no Christian purpose, then the fast is just a matter of going hungry. When you read about fasting throughout the bible, you see that the vast majority of times that a fast is called for, there is an urgent need to approach God for His help in a particular situation.
So today I would like to concentrate on this topic and see how others have used fasting in the past, and just how we should use it in our lives today.
We pray for each other and ask for healing, or for work, or pray for guidance for the best outcome in a particular problem. But how often do we combine our prayers with fasting?
Combine fasting and Prayer
Do we ever see a need to fast? Is there ever a situation, either in our own lives, the lives of family and friends, or the entire world at large, where we need desperately for God to look favourably on our requests for help? Maybe we have prayed for something for years and have seen no response from God on the matter, and we have wondered why?
Could it be that our prayers on their own are not enough? Could it be that if we want God to respond to our prayers, then we absolutely must combine our prayers with fasting?
We can learn a great deal about the effectiveness of a fast from many of the stories in the Old Testament, and also a few in the new.
So now I would like to look into God’s holy scriptures to see if we may miss something from our prayers. What can we do to make our prayers more effective? How did the characters in the bible get “God’s ear”?
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