Staff Writer – Carol Cato
As I write I have been fasting for the past 3 weeks with my church, it has not been easy. I fast from 6am – 6pm, as I’m on medication. Those of us who are not on medication fast all day, taking only water for 4 weeks. We’re now coming to the last week of fasting and I admit it has been very difficult.
I find myself looking at the clock mentally hurrying the time so that 6pm can come quicker. The pain in my stomach was unbearable in the mornings, especially if I drank cold water; I found warm water more comforting. Also, if I drank hot chocolate it would make me feel full, possibly because of the sugar content.
You may ask yourself ‘why am I punishing myself like this’ and before I sat to write this, I too asked myself the same question. My mind reflects back to when the Pastor said that we will be “Pursuing God”through Fasting & Prayer.
“God wired us for intimate fellowship with Himself and He gave us ways through which we develop that intimacy. Through prayer, worship, study of the Bible (His Word) etc. we become more intimate with Him.
As a church we are committed to this intimate fellowship with God our Father and set specific time aside each year to devote to pursuing God. During this time, God is the total focus of our attention. We deliberately set ourselves apart from as much of regular daily life as possible and instead use the time in the company of our God, seeking His presence.
We seek the presence of God knowing full well that when we seek Him with all our heart, we have a cast iron guarantee that we will find Him, or rather he finds us. Individually and collectively we rise early to seek Him, we hunger and thirst for Him – His word is our food, we pine after His power and His glory. We gather together daily, our voices raised in praise, joyful adoration, abandoned in His Presence: our lives being transformed, situations turned around, lives being renewed, salvation springing forth and each day we become more intimate with our Father.As Christians we must not lose sight of these words, loving Jehovah with all our hearts, experiencing the awesomeness of just being in his presence.
I was looking forward to fasting, but the day before the fast began I was offered
a job far from home. My heart sunk at the thought of having to give up the 
plans I had on how I was going undertake the fast – the spiritual improvement I was hoping to make through the daily prayer time at church went right out the window, there was nothing I could do about it. However, I didn’t give up on fasting, I thought I could manage it and for the first few days it was fine, but by the fourth day I was struggling. I’d lost my focus; I was in a new environment and was constantly hungry. I was drinking hot chocolate every 30minutes and as soon as the clock struck 6pm my dinner was already waiting for me. I was not getting to church in the evening – it wasn’t good.
God told me I needed to write about my experience of fasting in my blog and to give it my best shot for the final week. Happily I’ve reduced to just one cup of hot chocolate each day, I’m focussed and I have my Bible close by. I’ve managed to get to church even though it was 30 mins before service ended, but I knew God was smiling at my efforts.
What Does Prayer & Fasting Accomplish?
The intention of fasting is to cause a supernatural movement of God to take place within you and around your circumstances. You’ll notice things beginning to change.
Fasting is a means of cleansing and repentance from sin. As we verbalize our sins to God, and empty ourselves of food, we replace the emptiness with prayer; and as the word of God takes root in us and in our thoughts, it begins to cleanse the unrighteous areas of our lives.
Moses was probably the first person in the Bible to do a 40-day fast. Deuteronomy 9:9. During his fast Moses gave himself completely to God to be used as a vessel to bring forth the Ten Commandments.
Esther 4:16, In this scripture, Queen Esther called for a 3-day fast after learning about a plot to destroy all the Jews in her Kingdom. This was a spiritual emergency; Esther had no control of the situation because the order was already set in motion. God looked upon her fast, saw the sincerity of her heart and the seriousness of the situation and He intervened. The Jews were saved from destruction.
Spending time in prayer and fasting is not immediately effective in accomplishing the desires of those who fast. Fasting or not fasting, God only promises to answer our prayers when we ask according to His will. 1 John 5:14-15 tells us, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of him.”
In the prophet Isaiah’s time, the people grumbled that after fasting, God did not answer their desires in the way they wanted Isaiah 58:3-4. Isaiah responded by proclaiming that the external show of fasting and prayer, without the proper attitude of heart, was futile Isaiah 58:5-9.
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