Congregational Preparation for Lent
A Season of Prayer & Fasting & Great Expectation
Sun. Feb 18th we enter a commitment to prayer and fasting through Good Friday.
As Jesus turned his face towards Jerusalem, Matt. 16:21 informs that he was much aware of the suffering to come. It was for the joy of accomplishing the goal set before Him that endured the cross, dying like a criminal, that we might live by faith in him empowered by the Holy Spirit. Heb. 12:2
Consider the Following:
What Spiritual truth do you want God to make known to you?
What right(s) do you need to release into God’s hand that you can have victory over your flesh nature?
Who will you pray about placing their hope and faith in Jesus?
Is there reason(s) for not being a committed participant in the congregation’s season of prayer and fasting that God with you can’t resolve? Psalm 139:1-18
John 17:21-23 - Jesus’ Prayer for us:
”That all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one—
I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.“
Spiritual Benefits of Fasting
Fasting Kills Off Evil Desires
Romans 8:13 says “if you live according to the flesh, you will die, but if by the Spirit you put to death the deeds of the body, you will live.”
(See Galatians 5:19-21)
When we fast, we learn to say “no” to the body’s most basic and powerful desire: for food. Simply put, if you can gain control over your body’s basic desire for food, you can learn to control your body’s desire for anything. I often put it this way: once you learn to say “no” to food, lust is no problem.
Mastering the highest level of spiritual discipline gains you instant mastery over the lower ones. Nothing teaches our flesh to submit to the Spirit more powerfully than fasting.
Fasting breaks spiritual bondages! It is a bitter death-blow to the flesh, and once the flesh is mastered by fasting, it no longer has control over us. It stops being our “default” reaction. We are free to live unto God. Gal. 2:20
Fasting Brings Spiritual Clarity
Fasting humiliates our tendency to rely on the natural world and forces us to live from the spiritual energy within us as followers of Christ. The results, God’s voice becomes clearer. Fasting is a great way to gain clarity for an important decision.
Fasting Reveals The Things That Control Us
A greater awareness of dependency on flesh nature to resolve your needs rather than trusting the leading of the Holy Spirit.
Fasting Unlocks Spiritual Power
When we stop relying on inferior sources of power, the power of God is able to more fully envelop and fill us.
Building Trust and Love for God
Fasting teaches us to trust God at the deepest level. It forces us to depend on Him. That trust builds relationship, and relationship fosters a deeper love for God.
Godly fasting leads us into a higher realm of prayer by:
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Increasing our intimacy with God, putting us “on the same page” with Him.
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Giving us intimate knowledge of His will that we can pray into reality with confidence, boldness, and authority.
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Connecting us with the spiritual realm in such a way as to enable the effective use of our God given faith to skyrocket to new heights. The more ability to work in faith we have been given (by God’s grace), the more power we can receive and wield through that faith.
A soldier carrying any unnecessary supplies and/or weight is bound to be hampered and ultimately destroyed in battle. The same with us in the spiritual battles.
Like a soldier who can’t effectively fight while carrying a TV in one arm, we can’t effectively stand against Satan’s tricks and deceptions while holding onto the ways of this world.
We see it over and over again!
In the scripture, fasting was often commanded or was accompanied with prayer during times of great urgency or importance. See Ezra 8:21, Nehemiah 1:4, Luke 2:37 and Acts 14:23, just to name a few.
Fasting adds power to prayer by connecting us to God, thereby increasing our faith in God’s power.
Ultimate Purpose
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Ultimate Purpose ✝
Fasting and the Ultimate Purpose for Your Life
In Isaiah 58, God clearly articulates the ultimate purpose of fasting, and in the process, the ultimate goal of redeemed humanity as well.
The true result of a God-pleasing fast is JUSTICE, EQUITY, AND FREEDOM, both physically and spiritually, amongst humankind.
God wants to see people rescued from snares of the devil. He wants to see the oppressed set free. He wants to see wordly burdens lifted from the poor. He wants the hungry fed, the homeless sheltered, the naked clothed, and the needs of our brothers and sisters provided for.
The ultimate purpose of your life is laid out by Jesus’ standing orders to the church in Matthew 28:19-20:
“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.”
The purpose of your life is to make disciples - to teach them to obey what Jesus taught (which included a lifestyle of fasting and spiritual discipline).
The Gospel itself - the truth that a transformed, righteous, joyous life is possible through the trinitarian God of the universe (Father, Son & Holy Spirit) - is the only vehicle for achieving authentic justice in the world - justice that heals, restores, and unites. Without it, humanity remains lost and dead in sin, depending on ideas and systems that are not rooted in God’s eternal Word.
Will you continue to neglect this vital, life-changing discipline?
Read God’s promises in Isaiah 58:8-11 to those who heed His call to godly fasting…
