Day 9
Depending on how closely you stuck to the fast, you should actually feel bursts of energy and incredible mental clarity. It is amazing what the brain can do when the body rids itself of toxins and the digestive system has been given rest. But don’t think for a second that you are above temptation just because you are so close to the end of this fast. Stay connected to others, especially now you are so close.
If there was one thing that I could pass on regarding prayer and fasting it would be this...there is nothing fast about fasting!
You could well be thinking by now that after fasting for well over a week, you should be seeing some amazing answers to prayer in your life. But the question remains...where are those answers?
The reason we think like that is because we have a wrong view of fasting; it doesn’t give us fast answers, but rather it prepares ME and positions ME to be able to handle the answers when they do come.
There have been many times in my own life that I saw no answers to prayer at all during a fast, but there has never been a fast where I haven’t changed in the process. When the answer did come, in some cases months or even years later, I was in the right place to receive them.
Think of a small child that continually asks their parent if they could have that very special toy NOW. I want it NOW! The parent is not deaf to the request. However, the parent waits until the right time to get what the child asked for. God always hears your heartfelt cry. However, He never guarantees the answer right away. God doesn’t change during your fast - God changes you during your fast.
Take encouragement today from one of the Bible’s most well-known characters - Daniel. Daniel fasted for twenty-one days and, humanly speaking, it appeared nothing had happened! Daniel didn’t see or hear anything in fact for twenty-four days, but Heaven heard, and his answer was on its way from the very first day.
Daniel 10:12
...Then he (the Angel) continued, ‘Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them’.
When you fast and pray, Heaven takes note. It may not seem like anything is happening, but the truth is that from the moment your fast began, God has been working. Don’t quit praying. Don’t stop seeking. Continue in this journey with the expectation that you will see God do extraordinary things in your life.
If there was one thing that I could pass on regarding prayer and fasting it would be this...there is nothing fast about fasting!
You could well be thinking by now that after fasting for well over a week, you should be seeing some amazing answers to prayer in your life. But the question remains...where are those answers?
The reason we think like that is because we have a wrong view of fasting; it doesn’t give us fast answers, but rather it prepares ME and positions ME to be able to handle the answers when they do come.
There have been many times in my own life that I saw no answers to prayer at all during a fast, but there has never been a fast where I haven’t changed in the process. When the answer did come, in some cases months or even years later, I was in the right place to receive them.
Think of a small child that continually asks their parent if they could have that very special toy NOW. I want it NOW! The parent is not deaf to the request. However, the parent waits until the right time to get what the child asked for. God always hears your heartfelt cry. However, He never guarantees the answer right away. God doesn’t change during your fast - God changes you during your fast.
Take encouragement today from one of the Bible’s most well-known characters - Daniel. Daniel fasted for twenty-one days and, humanly speaking, it appeared nothing had happened! Daniel didn’t see or hear anything in fact for twenty-four days, but Heaven heard, and his answer was on its way from the very first day.
Daniel 10:12
...Then he (the Angel) continued, ‘Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them’.
When you fast and pray, Heaven takes note. It may not seem like anything is happening, but the truth is that from the moment your fast began, God has been working. Don’t quit praying. Don’t stop seeking. Continue in this journey with the expectation that you will see God do extraordinary things in your life.
Thought For The Day
The wait is never wasted.
Verses For The Day
Luke 18:1-8
Then Jesus told His disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night? Will He keep putting them off? I tell you, He will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
Then Jesus told His disciples a parable to show them that they should always pray and not give up. He said: “In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor cared what people thought. And there was a widow in that town who kept coming to him with the plea, ‘Grant me justice against my adversary.’ For some time he refused. But finally he said to himself, ‘Even though I don’t fear God or care what people think, yet because this widow keeps bothering me, I will see that she gets justice, so that she won’t eventually come and attack me!’” And the Lord said, “Listen to what the unjust judge says. And will not God bring about justice for His chosen ones, who cry out to Him day and night? Will He keep putting them off? I tell you, He will see that they get justice, and quickly. However, when the Son of Man comes, will He find faith on the earth?”
Daily Prayer Focus
Pray for our church to explode in size this year as we each catch the revelation that prayer is the key to a move of God in every area of our lives.