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A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
While most people completely understand what it means to make adjustments for personal change, make proposals for widespread change, or boycott and strike for social change, few appreciate the value a sacrifice to God has for guaranteed change. Yet, fasting and praying has been and continues to be the most effective way to demonstrate a confidence and consciousness in the presence and power of God, which always yields results.
A decision to sacrifice food or pleasure in order to get God’s attention is a demonstration of faith and assurance in the God who sees, hears, and answers the cry of His people. I’m reminded of Cornelius in the book of Acts, chapter 10. He was a devout centurion of the Italian regiment who always prayed and gave generous alms to the poor; yet, after a time of fasting, God instructed Peter to share the Gospel with him, so that, in the end, Cornelius’ whole family and friends heard the Gospel, received the Holy Spirit, and were baptized! Theirs was an unlikely meeting that ushered change for and within both men.
A decision to sacrifice food or pleasure in order to get God’s attention is a demonstration of faith and assurance in the God who sees, hears, and answers the cry of His people. I’m reminded of Cornelius in the book of Acts, chapter 10. He was a devout centurion of the Italian regiment who always prayed and gave generous alms to the poor; yet, after a time of fasting, God instructed Peter to share the Gospel with him, so that, in the end, Cornelius’ whole family and friends heard the Gospel, received the Holy Spirit, and were baptized! Theirs was an unlikely meeting that ushered change for and within both men.
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
"(3) For I was envious of the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked...(13) All in vain have I kept my heart clean...(16,17) But when I thought how to understand this, it seemed to me a wearisome task, until I went into the sanctuary of God; then I discerned their end...(19) how they are destroyed in a moment...(20) like a dream when one awakes...(28) for me it is good to be near God."
- Psalm 73:3, 16, 17, 19, 20, 28You may or may not (for plenty of good reasons) remember the movie Requiem for a Dream that was based on the novel with the same title. It's a controversial and brutally honest story about human ambition and addictions. The story follows multiple characters and their personal pursuit of their hope-filled dreams. Tragically, their means to make their dreams reality slowly imprison them, and their dreams are put to death by the reality of their disillusioned lives. This gritty and depressing story ends with each character defeated by their dreams and left helpless by their reality.
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring and fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing and say, “You sit here in a good place,” while you say to the poor man, “You stand over there,” or, “Sit down at my feet,” have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? – James 2:1-4
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” - Jonah 1: 1-2
This passage shows the twinning seen throughout scripture of God’s righteousness and compassion.
- God acknowledges Ninevah’s dignity (“that great city”) and seeks its repentance.
- God sees Ninevah’s great evil and is angered and saddened by it.
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
Even within the evangelical community, there has been debate over the last decade on the crucial biblical teaching of justification. Luther called justification “the doctrine upon which the church stands or falls,” so we want to make sure that we put up fences to protect this precious truth.
What is so precious about justification? We could recite a long list to answer this question, but I want to focus in on one particular reason why this truth is precious, namely, it is the spark which ignites the fire of love for Jesus in the hearts of sinners like you and me. Let me show you this from Luke 7:36 – 50.
What is so precious about justification? We could recite a long list to answer this question, but I want to focus in on one particular reason why this truth is precious, namely, it is the spark which ignites the fire of love for Jesus in the hearts of sinners like you and me. Let me show you this from Luke 7:36 – 50.
Pastor, author and theologian Dr. Jack Deere delivered this message on Pain at Christian Union's Winter Faculty and Staff Conference.
Pain (52:15)
Pain (52:15)
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” (John 6:35 ESV)
“Daddy! Are you hungry? What’s for dinner? Can we go to…Shake Shack?!” This conversation occurs semi-regularly in our family; my kids are well aware of my proclivity for Shake Shack. They attempt to use my disposition toward their own ends in ways that are savvy beyond their years. It’s not uncommon, however, in consideration of their question, for me to need to pause and take account of the state of my stomach. I have to stop myself, attempt to gauge what is happening in my mid-section, and determine just how hungry I am. It often surprises me that I can get so caught up with what I am doing (work, the NY Times, a good book, a basketball game on TV) that I don’t even realize, until I stop, pause, and assess, that I actually am hungry! Certainly there are times when sizable hunger interrupts those distractions of its own accord and lets me know, in no uncertain terms, that it needs to be assuaged. But there are also times when my physical hunger goes ignored until someone helps me to stop and recognize my own internal state.
“Daddy! Are you hungry? What’s for dinner? Can we go to…Shake Shack?!” This conversation occurs semi-regularly in our family; my kids are well aware of my proclivity for Shake Shack. They attempt to use my disposition toward their own ends in ways that are savvy beyond their years. It’s not uncommon, however, in consideration of their question, for me to need to pause and take account of the state of my stomach. I have to stop myself, attempt to gauge what is happening in my mid-section, and determine just how hungry I am. It often surprises me that I can get so caught up with what I am doing (work, the NY Times, a good book, a basketball game on TV) that I don’t even realize, until I stop, pause, and assess, that I actually am hungry! Certainly there are times when sizable hunger interrupts those distractions of its own accord and lets me know, in no uncertain terms, that it needs to be assuaged. But there are also times when my physical hunger goes ignored until someone helps me to stop and recognize my own internal state.
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
It is possible to do all the right things in all the wrong ways. You may already know this, but it is something very easy to forget. It, therefore, ought to come as no surprise that we find warnings about this very thing throughout Scripture, especially in the Prophets. It is put perhaps most poignantly in the first chapter of Isaiah:
Hear the word of the LORD,
you rulers of Sodom!
Give ear to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
"What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the LORD;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
"When you come to appear before me,
who has required of you
this trampling of my courts?
Hear the word of the LORD,
you rulers of Sodom!
Give ear to the teaching of our God,
you people of Gomorrah!
"What to me is the multitude of your sacrifices?
says the LORD;
I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams
and the fat of well-fed beasts;
I do not delight in the blood of bulls,
or of lambs, or of goats.
"When you come to appear before me,
who has required of you
this trampling of my courts?
A Prayer and Fasting Devotional
Our culture is obsessed with being the most famous, the best, and the brightest. Perhaps it's not our culture so much as our human nature just exaggerated by technological capabilities. Regardless, this obsession has taken the secret, silent beauty out of the hard and mundane. The problem is that while perusing Instagram or Facebook, discontentment can begin to creep in as you creep on other people's so-called lives. We want to climb mountaintops and reach the stars so badly that the concept of being faithful in the little feels boring. But the truth is, the daily grind of small, faithful diligence is as admirable as it is difficult. Personally, my ability to be diligent is far from amazing, but with each new day I see that God has sustained me from the last and that I get to start over (Lamentations 3:23, Romans 8:28).
Acclaimed author and social critic Dr. Os Guinness was the special guest speaker at the Christian Union New York City Forum. (52:02)
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