Transcript Slide 1

Prayer
Copyright © Simon G. Harris
Scripture quotations taken from the
Praying with fasting
HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL
VERSION. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984
by International Bible Society. Used by
permission
Fasting
Luke 2:37
and then was a widow until she was eighty-four.
She never left the temple but worshiped night
and day, fasting and praying.
Fasting
Acts 13:2
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."
Fasting
Numbers 14:24
But because my servant Caleb has a different
spirit and follows me wholeheartedly, I will
bring him into the land he went to, and his
descendants will inherit it.
All the main Biblical
characters fasted
Moses
Exodus 34:28
Moses was there with the LORD forty days and
forty nights without eating bread or drinking
water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of
the covenant--the Ten Commandments.
All the main Biblical
characters fasted
David
Psalm 35:13
Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth
and humbled myself with fasting.
When my prayers returned to me unanswered,
All the main Biblical
characters fasted
Daniel
Daniel 9:3
So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with
him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in
sackcloth and ashes.
All the main Biblical
characters fasted
Esther
Esther 4:16
"Go, gather together all the Jews who are in
Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for
three days, night or day. I and my maids will
fast as you do.
All the main Biblical
characters fasted
Jesus
Matthew 4:2
After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was
hungry.
All the main Biblical
characters fasted
Paul
Acts 9:9
For three days he was blind, and did not eat or
drink anything.
Group fasts
Day of Atonement
Leviticus 23:27
"The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day
of Atonement. Hold a sacred assembly and deny
yourselves, and present an offering made to the
LORD by fire.
Group fasts
Time of crisis
2 Chron. 20:1-4 … Alarmed, Jehoshaphat
resolved to inquire of the LORD, and he
proclaimed a fast for all Judah. The people of
Judah came together to seek help from the
LORD; …
Group fasts
Time of need
Ezra 8:21-23
There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast,
so that we might humble ourselves before our
God and ask him for a safe journey for us and
our children, with all our possessions.
Group fasts
Time of renewal
Joel 2:12
"Even now," declares the LORD,
"return to me with all your heart,
with fasting and weeping and mourning."
Group fasts
Time of repentance
Jonah 3:5
The Ninevites believed God. They declared a
fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the
least, put on sackcloth.
Regular fasts
Part of a worshipper’s
rhythm
Zech. 8:19 This is what the LORD Almighty
says: "The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh
and tenth months will become joyful and glad
occasions and happy festivals for Judah.
Therefore love truth and peace."
The Teaching of Jesus
Matthew 6:2
"So when you give …..
Matthew 6:5
"And when you pray, …….
Matthew 6:16
"When you fast…….
The Teaching of Jesus
A time to fast
Now is that time
Matthew 9:15
Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the
bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The
time will come when the bridegroom will be
taken from them; then they will fast.
The purpose of fasting
i. obedience
Isaiah 55:9
"As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
The purpose of fasting
ii. worship
to centre on God
Acts 13:2
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."
The purpose of fasting
ii. worship
to centre on God
Zechariah 7:5
"Ask all the people of the land and the priests,
'When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and
seventh months for the past seventy years, was
it really for me that you fasted?
The purpose of fasting
iii. prayer
Ezra 8:23
So we fasted and petitioned our God about this,
and he answered our prayer.
The purpose of fasting
iii. prayer
Neh. 1:4
When I heard these things, I sat down and
wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and
prayed before the God of heaven.
The purpose of fasting
iv. cleansing
Psalm 69:10
When I wept, and chastened my soul with
fasting, that was to my reproach.
The purpose of fasting
v. trust
Matthew 4:4
But he answered and said, It is written, Man
shall not live by bread alone, but by every word
that proceeds out of the mouth of God.
The purpose of fasting
v. trust
John 4:34
"My food," said Jesus, "is to do the will of him
who sent me and to finish his work.
The purpose of fasting
vi. breakthrough
Mark 9:29
He replied, "This kind can come out only by
prayer.*" [NIV]
Translation Notes - Mark 9:29
*Some manuscripts prayer and fasting
The purpose of fasting
vii. listening
Daniel 10:1-3 The understanding of the
message came to him in a vision.
At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three
weeks. 3I ate no choice food; no meat or wine
touched my lips; …
The purpose of fasting
vii. listening
Acts 13:2
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."
The purpose of fasting
vii. listening
Acts 14:23
Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in
each church and, with prayer and fasting,
committed them to the Lord, in whom they had
put their trust.
CH Spurgeon
“
Our seasons of fasting and prayer at the
Tabernacle have been high days indeed;
never has Heaven’s gate stood wider; never
have our hearts been nearer the central
Glory.
”