Prayer with Fasting 2
[KJV] [MAT 17:21] Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting
This is one of the verses that the niv in its “wisdom” has removed from the book it calls a bible.
Let’s take a few moments to look at an aspect of this wonderful verse.
Prayer with fasting is a powerful weapon – part of our amour that the Lord Jesus has equipped us with.
There are several types of prayer & several types of fasting. Fasting can be done in its own right and can be combined with prayer – just like prayer can be combined with or without fasting.
To start with let’s look at 2 simple types of biblical fasting.
There must be something powerful and wonderful about this concept of mixing fasting with prayer to get it dropped out of modern books claiming to be bibles. Maybe we should give it a try. Just try baby steps – if you are a diabetic (like me) or have some other medical condition take care & know what you are doing before you launch out. For us there is a type of fasting called “no pleasant food” – maybe that was a good low GI diet anyway J
“NO PLEASANT FOOD”
[KJV] [Daniel 1:12] Prove thy servants, I beseech thee, ten days; and let them give us pulse to eat, and water to drink.
Daniel wanted to eat this instead of the King’s full dinner table. The King’s table was full of rich food. In those days when you were going to presented to the Monarch you needed more than a neat suit and a haircut. Men & WOMEN WERE PREPARED FOR MOTHS. The ladies were bathed in goat’s milk and prepared for maximum glamour. You can read accounts of this. This was an industry on its own. Young girls were prepared in every aspect. How to dress, how to act and even their bodies – they may not have had cosmetic surgery but they did what they could to prepare as girl for the event. It was the same for the boys. Daniel and his friends had to be prepared and fattened up. They had to look & smell god. Take the time to read the story for yourselves.
[KJV] [Daniel 1:13] Then let our countenances be looked upon before thee, and the countenance of the children that eat of the portion of the king’s meat: and as thou seest, deal with thy servants.
This is a good way to fast if you have to match your eating to any medication BUT read up on it first & ask a health professional if you want to.
So if you want to fast BUT you must eat something then eat this sort of thing. Our bodies are wonderful in that they can produce fat from carbohydrate & protein or indeed they can produce the missing one group from the other two groups for a season.
So we can eat simple plain food as a style of fast. We can deny ourselves the more dainty food that we love – the richer food and instead eat simpler food as Daniel did. His food here was pulse & water. The water part is easy – lots of water – if you are going to fast you need to drink lots & lots of water. My preference is filtered water at room temperature. Water dos fill you. What’s PULSE?
[KJV] [2 Samuel 17:28] Brought beds, and basons, and earthen vessels, and wheat, and barley, and flour, and parched corn, and beans, and lentiles, and parched pulse,
The next verse the food gets richer
[KJV] [2 Samuel 17:29] And honey, and butter, and sheep, and cheese of kine, for David, and for the people that were with him, to eat: for they said, The people is hungry, and weary, and thirsty, in the wilderness.
PULSE, n. [L. pulsus, beaten out, as seeds; Heb. a bean, to separate.] Leguminous plants or their seeds; the plants whose pericarp is a legume or pod, as beans, peas, &c.
Porridge would be a pulse of grain.
LEGUMINOUS, a. Pertaining to pulse; consisting of pulse. Leguminous plants are such as have a legume for a pericarp, as peas and beans.
1. In botany, a pericarp or seed-vessel, of two valves, in which the seeds are fixed to one suture only. In the latter circumstance it differs from a siliqua, in which the seeds are attached to both sutures. In popular use, a legume is called a pod, or a cod; as a pea-pod, or peas-cod.
Mashed peas – as in pie & peas without the pie!
P.S. this is why we should GO – Pray – Read – Look in small sections when we read the bible so that we pick up these things J
Another style is to fast for a time of the day say until the afternoon sacrifice at 3:00 pm or say noon to breakfast next day. This style of fast is for part of a day. This style of fast is to deny food but drink water for part of a day. Maybe to get started to have “no pleasant food” for a seasons of a day say 2 times a week. The 2 days of ½ day fasting each week was the habit of the Methodist Church at its start under John Wesley. This is a very doable fast. If you have to eat because of medication then take “no pleasant food”.
Breakfast is said to be the most important meal so have lunch as the last meal until breakfast the next day.
All of styles of fasting help prayer. When you have to eat because of a medical condition you can still fast & pray.
Another combination would be fast & read your word in the STOP – PRAY – READ – LOOK style with some fasting.
As I said fasting has been called extra-ordinary prayer and is part of the full armour of God.
[KJV] [Ephesians 6:11] Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.
[KJV] [Ephesians 6:13] Wherefore take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand.
[KJV] [Ephesians 6:18] Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication for all saints;
ALL PRAYER – prayer & fasting is part of the ALL PRAYER – ALL THE TYPES OF PRAYER. THE FASTING PRAYER IS PART OF THE “ALL PRAYER”.
HERE ARE SOME BIBLE TIMES OF FASTING:
[KJV] [Esther 4:16] Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.
[KJV] [Jonah 3:7] And he caused it to be proclaimed and published through Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying, Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste any thing: let them not feed, nor drink water:
[KJV] [Psalms 102:4] My heart is smitten, and withered like grass; so that I forget to eat my bread.
[KJV] [Matthew 5:6] Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.
The three “WHENs” of the New Testament church
[KJV] MAT 6:16 – 18 WHEN YOU FAST
[Matthew 6:16] Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
[Matthew 6:17] But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
[Matthew 6:18] That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
[KJV] MAT 6:5 – 9 WHEN YOU PRAY
[Matthew 6:5] And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
[Matthew 6:6] But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly.
[Matthew 6:7] But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking.
[Matthew 6:8] Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him.
[Matthew 6:9] After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name.
[KJV] MAT 6:1 – 4 WHEN YOU GIVE
[Matthew 6:1] Take heed that ye do not your alms before men, to be seen of them: otherwise ye have no reward of your Father which is in heaven.
[Matthew 6:2] Therefore when thou doest thine alms, do not sound a trumpet before thee, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, that they may have glory of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
[Matthew 6:3] But when thou doest alms, let not thy left hand know what thy right hand doeth:
[Matthew 6:4] That thine alms may be in secret: and thy Father which seeth in secret himself shall reward thee openly.
What is the difference between WHEN & IF?