Fasting and Prayer: Tools of Worship

Perhaps the biggest indictment against American Christians is the busyness that keeps us from spending time with God. I've never been on an international mission trip, but I have many friends from different parts of the world and I have many friends who have traveled to different parts of the world and the stories they tell of people spending hours (yes hours!) in worship is vastly different from my own experiences. I've heard stories of people walking for days just to hear someone read the Bible. I've heard of people sitting for hours in the underground church of China taking notes and studying the Scriptures through the night. Here at home I've heard gripes and complaints when the service slides past noon and I've seen people with Tourette Syndrome-like movements shake a watch until the whole congregation can see it. There seems to be a profound difference. We are too busy for God and certainly too busy to spend time with him.

Enter fasting and prayer. Fasting and prayer are two spiritual practices the church has utilized for centuries and in recent days the two have fallen on hard times. Fundamental to the practice is the very simple fact that in order to fast and prayer, one has to dedicate the all-important time necessary for the practice. We have no problem spending a couple of hours deciding where to eat, eating and hanging out, but if we take that same time slot and fill it with things like bible reading, prayer and meditation, then we suddenly don't have time. The truth is, we make time for what is important to us. When we fast and pray, we are saying with our attitude and action that our relationship with God is important and he is worthy of my most precious commodity - TIME.

As you walk with the Lord, you might consider giving up a meal a day or every meal one day a week and dedicate that time to the Lord. We spend about 56 hours a week sleeping, 40 to 60 hours a week (or more) working, depending on your recreational habits another 20 or so hours playing and 20 or more hours a week eating. Don't you know God would speak to you if you spent one day's allotment for food (between two and six hours) in prayer and meditation with Him? Our problem isn't lack of knowledge about God. Our problem is that we don't really know the God we all know about. By spending some time fasting and praying, we can get to know the God who desires to make himself known to us. I hope you'll take the time to rekindle your relationship with the Lord, this week!