Recently I was talking to a woman about her prayer life. I asked her if she ever considered fasting along with prayer. She told me that God has so many times answered her prayers without the use of fasting. “And besides”, she stated, “fasting is many times for those without enough faith to believe in answered prayer!”
Startled by this, I had to try and understand her reasoning. I realize fasting is not always easy, but I shared with her that fasting with prayer is such an essential part of our Christian life, for there are so many reasons to fast.
Great devastation had prompted Daniel to seek God in fasting. It was his way of pouring out his heart and asking for mercy.
Many in the bible used fasting and prayer as intercession for seeking God. Esther asked the Jewish people to fast for her before she appeared and spoke to her husband who was King.
Fasting along with prayer is also seen as service to the Lord. Remember Anna? Even at an old age, she would fast and pray, waiting on the Lord. And Peter, along with the other disciples would always fast before being sent off to serve.
So where do we stand? Is fasting a part of our Christian life? There are so many ways to fast: from sweets, from media entertainment, and from other indulgences such as coffee. And there is always the Daniel Fast of eating only vegetables.
So be encouraged by these words found in Ezra 8:23 we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.