Our church worship team and staff started off the year with the Daniel Fast. Here are some thoughts about why fasting is powerful and why it’s linked to powerful prayer in scripture:
1) DEPENDANCE: It’s a physical reminder of where we place our dependence.
2) DISCIPLINE: It’s a framework for discipline in a tangible way. If you link prayer and food (or lack of food) it becomes clockwork (one of the reasons it’s so good to pray before meals). A person’s day is often centered around 8, 12 and 5 – and all kinds of planning and questions go into how those times are going to work out.
3) DIRECTION: Jesus fasted during a couple key times as he was in the midst of decisions.
4) DELIBERATE: Jesus used food and lack of food in very deliberate ways. The last supper became a tradition, on purpose. The feeding of the five thousand became a huge witness – and everyone loves free food. He had breakfast with Peter before he gave him a final mandate to feed his sheep. And the list goes on. For as many ways that food was at the center, Jesus also drew a contrast of no regular food for a while. This also creates openings and opportunities for God to be at work in our lives. We are emptied and we make room for Him.
Prayer seems more powerful when we are seeking direction from the Lord, in a disciplined way, with utter dependence and totally emptied. And fasting llows for a season of living like this. To find out what our staff team did, click here.
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