How bad to you want it?
Matthew 17:20-21 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. 21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
It is day two of the New Year and most likely the second day of some sort of resolution for you. I hope that in your goals God is in there somewhere. The last couple of years I typically Fasted during this time of the year. This year Pastor Alan is calling for a 3 Day Fast for the church to do together; to seek guidance and God’s Will for the church, community, and each individual role in it. “God where do you want me to serve you?” The power of a church fasting together and seeking God on the same subject can produce mighty works of God.It is a humble self-sacrifice to honor God and concentrate fully on the time in prayer and His Word seeking Him. Fasting is a way to draw nearer to God; to hear the direction of God; to silence the white noise of the world by whole heartedly seeking Him in prayer and His Word.
We all love Matthew 17:20; for it speaks of the ability of the depth of our faith to move mountains. It speaks of the power of our faith; it speaks of the power of God at work in us; but it also is in a rebuke by Christ to His disciples for their lack of it. They had been unable earlier to cast out a demon due to their lack of faith. They had just come down from the Mount of Transfiguration with Christ and they were on their final journey with Him to Jerusalem. Their faith must had grown in these days, and Christ was showing them the power of it.; “and nothing will be impossible for you.” Christ was using these last days with them to strengthen them for their work to come serving Him. He again was using analogies with the smallest seed, doing the greatest work, with the inner strength, the inner faith in Him.
Matthew Henry has a great description of fasting: Fasting is of use to put an edge upon prayer; it is an evidence and instance of humiliation which is necessary in prayer, and is a means of mortifying some corrupt habits, and of disposing the body to serve the soul in prayer.” Do you really want to get close to God? Do you really want to seek God with all your heart, mind, body and soul? Would you replace that hunger pain you are feeling with prayer and time in His Word? Would you ask God for spiritual food in the place of junk that you put in your body every day? Are you ready to act of what you hear? Matthew 6 speaks of prayer and fasting; Christ gives us the example of how to pray in Matthew 6:9-13 in the Lord’s Prayer. We also receive the instruction of fasting as the private act between us and God. Matthew 6:8 so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. How bad do you want to get closer to God?
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