Last Sunday, I talked about the example of the early church in fasting and praying for leaders to be raised up. There was quite a response; some had heard about fasting as a spiritual discipline, but not many had considered the idea of fasting as a tool for focused prayer.
Christians can fast as a means of hearing from God, and it doesn’t always need to be fasting from food, though historically, it always involved that kind of fasting. Nowadays, it can involve fasting from other things we think we need, such as social media or television or even reading a particular magazine we like.
In Acts 13.2-3, Luke records that when the church in Antioch of Syria worshipped the Lord and fasted, “the Holy Spirit said, ‘Appoint Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them.’ So after more fasting and prayer, the men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way” (NLT). Thus began what would become known as Paul’s first missionary journey.
Notice that it was in response to their worship and their fasting that the Holy Spirit spoke clearly to the church.
It’s not often that entire churches participate in a fast from anything. In that message I referenced earlier, I told a story about a pastor friend of mine who shared with his leadership team that he was fasting and praying to hear from God, and his leaders joined him. They all came back with the same message from the Lord, and God has been blessing their church with growth in faith and in numbers.
We often think of fasting as an old-fashioned kind of discipline, or one that only certain kinds of Christians undertake. Yet Scripture suggests to us that fasting is a normal spiritual discipline for all followers of Jesus.
In the coming days, I’ll be challenging the people of St. Paul’s Church, Nobleton to participate in a week of fasting and praying for God to raise up Christian leaders – both pastors and volunteers – to give leadership through these days when it is not easy to be the church. If you’re part of the St. Paul’s family, you’ll hear from me about that, but if you’re one of the many readers of Encouragement who are not part of the St. Paul’s family, feel free to reach out to me to let me know you’d like to participate, and I will include you in my communication about it, so that you can fast and pray for leaders for your own church family.
Too many things create ‘noise’ in our lives, preventing us from hearing from the Lord. A time of fasting and prayer can be liberating, allowing us to squelch the competition that makes God’s voice merely one sound in a cacophony. Fasting and praying gives us a chance to hear God’s voice clearly.
Whether you join me or not, give it a try!
Passionately His 