WHEN you Pray and Fast 

But in order to make War against the enemy we need to be clicking on and using our weapons…

And the weapon is readily available it is up to you WHEN you will pick it up…

When:  at or on which (referring to a time or circumstance)

Most of us know our weapon is prayer.

Most of us know our weapon is fasting.

The question become when…..

Now Matthew 6 is full of whens, when you give, the assumption is that you would

Matthew 6:5-14 

“And whenyou pray, you must not be like the hypocrites.  For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others.  Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.  But when you pray go into your room and shut the door and pray your Father who is in secret.  And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

And whenyou pray, do not heap up empty phrases as the Gentiles do, for they think that they will be heard for their many words.  Do not be like them, for your Father knows what you need before you ask him. Pray then like this:

Our Father in heaven, hallowed be your name, your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.  Give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors.  And lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil.  For if you forgive others their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you, but if you do not forgive others their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.

Jesus says “When you Pray – not If you pray.  The assumption would be that you are praying.

Not just your pastor, a connect group leader, youth leader, parent, but YOU!!

Remember when Jesus walks up on the three on the garden of Gethsemane, the surprise is that they weren’t praying. I think His surprise would be the same during this time and within the church. 

Dr. John Perkins continued to meditate on how necessary prayer is in the work of racial reconciliation. We pray because “the problems are greater than the resources.” 

We may not be able to have VBS, we may not be able to have youth camp, we may not be able to do a lot of things we were able to do but we can PRAY. 

And that is the weapon. But the question is when?

And when you want to add an exclamation point to that WHEN you add fasting.

For example, in Matthew 6:16–18, Jesus says,

When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

So, several things stand out in that passage. One is that Jesus says, “Whenyou fast” — not “Ifyou fast.” That is what I mean when I say it seems that he expects that his followers will be fasting.

First of all, let’s define fasting.

Here is a generally accepted definition of fasting among Christians over the centuries. Fasting is a temporary renunciation of something that is in itself good, like food, in order to intensify our expression of need for something greater — namely, God and his work in our lives.

Fasting is a way of saying with our stomach and our whole body how much we need and want and trust Jesus. It is a way of saying that we are not going to be enslaved by food as the source of our satisfaction. We will use the renunciation of food from time to time to express that Jesus is better than food. Jesus is more needful than food.

In Acts 13:1–3,there is this beautiful illustration of how fasting became instrumental in the laying hold of God for the shaping of world-changing ministry. Here is what it says:

Now there were in the church at Antioch prophets and teachers, Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen a lifelong friend of Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

So, the leaders of the church were fasting, it seems, in order to express to God their own need and longing and desire with their bodies for God’s guidance.

It adds the explanation point to our prayers!!

When you fast.

When you pray.

When you pick up your weapons these become your stories…

In his book Kingdom Prayer, Dr. Tony Evans talks about a prayer crusade in Columbia, South Carolina, that was centered around reconciliation and community restoration. They were expecting around 25,000 people to attend, half black and half white.  But there was a problem, a thunderstorm was making its way in their direction and threatening to prevent the whole event from taking place.   The pastors and leaders of the event met to pray and ask God to turn the storm back.  For some reason, their prayers seemed empty and almost powerless.  But a little lady named Linda asked if she could pray.  Her prayer was powerful as she reminded the Lord that His name was at stake.  She literally called the powers of heaven to come to their aid.  As 25,000 people watched, the storm advanced quickly in their direction.  A lot of people began putting up umbrellas, but Linda did not move.  She sat and waited to see how the Lord would move, and then this happened:

The rain rushed toward the stadium like a wall of water.  Yet when it hit the stadium, the path of the pounding rain split. Half of the rain went on one side of the stadium.  The other half went on the other side.  And then it literally met on the far side of the stadium.  All the while, Linda sat there with a confident look on her face. That night 25,000 people watched a miracle take place.

If I am gonna click, I’m gonna click on that WHEN

Oberammergau…you probably never heard of it.  What made the town famous, was its performance of the Passion of Christ every decade. It is believed that the Passion Play has been held every 10 years since 1634. A play of life and death, promised in a moment of mortal threat, and so began the history of the Oberammergau Passion Play in 1633.  During that time, the Black Plague was sweeping through Europe. The villagers of Oberammergau vowed that if their town was spared, they would perform the Passion of Christ every 10 years. The town was spared, and it is amazing that they have been honoring this pledge from generation to generation.  Pastor Daisenberger writes in his village chronicles: “The first decades of the 17th century went by in peaceful calm for the people of Oberammergau. But then followed the Thirty Years’ War with all its hardships from 1618 until 1648, which under the name of the Swedes’ War lives on the memory of the people. As early as 1631, infectious diseases spread in Swabia as well as in Bavaria. This village was spared by dutiful vigilance until the church festival in 1632, when a man named Kaspar Schisler brought the plague into the village. Faced with the great distress that the terrible illness inflicted upon the population, the leaders of the community came together and pledged to hold a passion tragedy once every ten years. From this day forward, not a single person perished, even though a great number of them still showed signs of the plague”.

If I am gonna click, I’m gonna click on that WHEN

Story from Red Moon Rising…

If I am gonna click, I’m gonna click on that WHEN

Would you join us this week in prayer and fasting

Let pick up our weapons.

Let use them to make war against the enemy.