The Fasting Practiceਨਮੂਨਾ

Day 3: To Amplify Our Prayers

May 1940. The Nazis have just overrun France. 338,000 Allied troops in retreat are trapped on the beach at Dunkirk. There is no hope of rescue in time. The British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, is gearing up for the annihilation of the British army, the last defense between England and the Third Reich’s blitzkrieg advance. But on Friday, May 24, King George, upon hearing the news of the impending invasion, called the nation to a day of fasting and prayer. Tens of thousands of people literally lined up to get into Westminster Abbey in London to plead for God’s mercy. Just hours after King George called for prayer, Hitler issued a baffling order to his tank division to stop; and over the next three days, all 338,000 troops were saved. That generation called it “the miracle of Dunkirk.”

Now, was it a miracle? Or just a coincidence? God’s response to prayer and fasting? Or just poor strategic planning by the German army? Here’s what I know for sure: All through the library of Scripture, prayer and fasting go together. You can pray without fasting, and you can fast without praying, but when you combine the two, it’s like there’s a chemical reaction that amplifies the power of prayer.

Fasting is both a way to hear God and to be heard by God. Here’s a word on each.

First, to hear God. In Acts 13 we read a fascinating story about the first disciples of Jesus. As they are fasting and praying, the voice of God comes with clear direction regarding Saul (later “Paul”) and Barnabas. This has been my experience, along with countless followers of Jesus: In times of fasting and waiting on God for direction, that’s when I’m most likely to hear God’s voice.

Secondly, fasting is also to be heard by God. God hears our prayers, whether we are fasting or not; but there’s something about fasting that seems to amplify our prayers before God. This is one of the primary reasons we fast, as God said through the prophet Isaiah, for “your voice to be heard on high.” (Isaiah 58:4) Or, that can be translated, “to make your voice heard in heaven” (NET). Do you ever feel stuck in prayer? As the preacher Tony Evans put it, “Fasting helps us to activate God’s power.” To break through all that stands between you and God’s plans, purposes, and power for your life.

Now, we have to be careful here. Fasting is not a hunger strike to pressure God to give in to our demands. And yet — back to the line from the prophet Jeremiah, you will “find me when you seek me with all your heart” (Jeremiah 29:13) — there is something about the seeking and finding that God really seems to find value in.

While there’s a diverse array of theological opinions in the Church of Jesus on why some prayers are answered and others are not, one thing is very clear in Scripture: God responds to prayer and fasting. I think of the story in Jonah 3, where the city of Nineveh is warned by the prophet Jonah of its coming destruction, but then we read: (Jonah 3:5-10) “The Ninevites believed God. A fast was proclaimed, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth... When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he relented and did not bring on them the destruction he had threatened.”

When it comes to hearing and being heard by God, not only is fasting an aid to prayer, it’s an amplifier of prayer. And a powerful one at that. But remember: The end goal of prayer is not ultimately to get what we want from God, but to get God himself. It’s union; it’s to enter the inner life of the Trinity, to hear the Father and Son and Spirit speak their love over you; and to speak back your love in return.

So, when you need to hear God, or you need to be heard by God: Practice fasting.