Introduction to “Leaving Ordinary Prayer & Fasting Behind”

Beyond the Surface of Prayer & Fasting

Leaving Ordinary Prayer & Fasting Behind – Part 1

For years we’ve had people ask us “what is fasting all about” and “why would you or anyone else fast?” In fact, we’ve often had to defend our practice more than promote it. The simple answer can equate to this analogy. If dieting is the answer to our physical body becoming healthier, then what is the practice for our spiritual health? Since our spirit, soul, and body work together, what impacts one certainly impacts the other. Because normal is being the least educated or studied in regards to prayer and fasting, this leads an ordinary individual to get the concept wrong or incomplete. Most people (that means it’s normal) who believe the Bible will take hold of its words on many other topics. However, this same group will avoid the references that speak of fasting altogether. 

Before I get into the details of this series of messages which I’m eager to begin, allow me to provide this brief overview of what we will cover and use to take prayer to the next level.

Natural Thoughts about Prayer & Fasting
Common thinking is the biggest problem we have when it comes to any subject of life. Common thinking is what we have when we don’t have elevated thinking or the kind of thinking influenced by God. In sitting with a group of experienced pray-ers, I decided to form a baseline for the common ideas and definitions of what we think of when we ponder the practice of prayer and fasting. What did not surprise me was that these common responses have been around for ages. 

In order to improve or grow, we must first understand where we are. When you hear people say they’re fasting or your church asks you to go on fast, what emotion do you have? Are you anxious? Do you become disappointed? Are you excited about it? Or do you dread the coming start of the exercise?

What Does the Bible Have to Say about Prayer & Fasting?
Using the baseline we have in defining prayer and fasting, we then need to confirm a few things. With any topic, I always ask this question. What does the Bible say about it? What does the Bible have to say and reveal to us about prayer and fasting? Each time I ask this question I’m often shocked by the answers I find. Usually what our normal common thinking tells us is that we know very little about a matter. Could it be our lack of understanding about prayer and fasting has caused us to avoid it? Could our misunderstanding be the root cause of the poor results we have when we participate? Using the Bible, we will add to our knowledge and in doing so sharpen our skills in the practice of prayer & fasting.

The Rules Around Prayer and Fasting
In the exercise routines Pamela and I perform, the trainer speaks a lot about form. One of the common consensus is that poor or bad form when exercising can cause more harm than not doing the exercises altogether. In the same way, how we perform this spiritual exercise of prayer and fasting is critical to the outcome we receive from it. There are mistakes we can avoid to improve our form and effectiveness when it comes to our exercise. 

Getting Beyond the Beginners Stage of Prayer & Fasting
Lastly, we will spend our time discussing some next level ideas of course. Many times we do the same things over and over again and expect different results. They call that insanity. You can not get new results by doing the same thing you did yesterday. In fact, the only reason one would do the same action repeatedly is to ensure the same results. You see, we follow the recipe steps so that the cake will turn out the exact same each time without fail. 

Beginning with our next installment, we will journey into how we can make prayer and fasting a more desirable workout in our exercise routine of next level prayer.

Question: what prayer & fasting behavior have you been repeating that keep you from getting different results from this practice?

[1] ‭‭Matthew‬ ‭25:20-28‬ ‭NKJV‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬‬, Bible.com, accessed January 6, 2023, https://bible.com/bible/114/mat.25.20-28.NKJV

All Scripture references used by permission, see our Scripture copyrights.