Lifeline
“But when you pray, go into your private room, shut your door, and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:6).
On way to declutter and deep clean our hearts is through fasting. But why is it that prayer is so essential to fasting?
You see, the purpose of fasting, as we touched on in our last devotion, is for us to break a routine and allow God to disrupt our lives through a season of fasting. But we don’t do this with the intention to hurry through the season so that God will give us whatever we’ve been praying for. That’s manipulation. You can’t bribe God for a blessing.
You’re giving up something in the natural so that you become more aware of Him working in the supernatural. How does this happen? Through prayer.
When Jesus began teaching His disciples about spiritual discipline, He began with prayer. We so often forget the power of prayer, and in Christian culture, it can become so monotonous and mundane—so routine—that it loses all meaning.
What is prayer? It’s more than asking things of God; it’s more than saying what we know we should say but not really meaning it. “Dear Lord, thank you for x,y,z…bless this day, bless this food, help us to be more like You…amen.” Pass the biscuits. Where’s the power? Where’s the passion?
We don’t have to blow the windows out every time we say a prayer, but there’s a difference between praying because we should and praying because it’s our lifeline. It’s different when we realize that prayer is our doorway straight to the Father, and we feel like we’re going to burst at the seams just to know what He wants to say. I’ve got to know what You’re saying, Lord. I’ve got to be near You. How many times have we been that desperate for Him?
Prayer is communication with the Father. It’s where we learn His heart, and when we learn His heart, we begin to care less about what’s in His hands. Fasting then becomes less about the blessing and more about pursuing your Father. Prayer and fasting—you can’t have one without the other.
On way to declutter and deep clean our hearts is through fasting. But why is it that prayer is so essential to fasting?
You see, the purpose of fasting, as we touched on in our last devotion, is for us to break a routine and allow God to disrupt our lives through a season of fasting. But we don’t do this with the intention to hurry through the season so that God will give us whatever we’ve been praying for. That’s manipulation. You can’t bribe God for a blessing.
You’re giving up something in the natural so that you become more aware of Him working in the supernatural. How does this happen? Through prayer.
When Jesus began teaching His disciples about spiritual discipline, He began with prayer. We so often forget the power of prayer, and in Christian culture, it can become so monotonous and mundane—so routine—that it loses all meaning.
What is prayer? It’s more than asking things of God; it’s more than saying what we know we should say but not really meaning it. “Dear Lord, thank you for x,y,z…bless this day, bless this food, help us to be more like You…amen.” Pass the biscuits. Where’s the power? Where’s the passion?
We don’t have to blow the windows out every time we say a prayer, but there’s a difference between praying because we should and praying because it’s our lifeline. It’s different when we realize that prayer is our doorway straight to the Father, and we feel like we’re going to burst at the seams just to know what He wants to say. I’ve got to know what You’re saying, Lord. I’ve got to be near You. How many times have we been that desperate for Him?
Prayer is communication with the Father. It’s where we learn His heart, and when we learn His heart, we begin to care less about what’s in His hands. Fasting then becomes less about the blessing and more about pursuing your Father. Prayer and fasting—you can’t have one without the other.
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1 Comment
Thank you Pastor Ed. This verse I held on to tightly in a serious time of trouble for me. I was so worried about not being sincere with God. My motives can easily take over when others see or hear what I am praying for. With this I learned that no matter who is watching or listening I can go in my secret place and be real with my Father. In a way I have been fasting for a long time now. Even still at one point I fasted from something and prayed for someone a couple years ago for a week. This was only done because I was directed to by the Holy Spirit. I made it like 5 days but He answered my prayer. First He told me she was gonna be ok and then a couple months later I found out her stage 3 cancer was completely gone. I’m still trying to quit vaping but I’m not doing very well. My motive I think is the problem because I just want to do it because our church is doing it. Love you guys. I will keep praying about it.