Prayer and Fasting (final remarks)

Fasting does not have to go with prayer and I only fast occasionally. How you do it is up to you. You could choose not to eat or drink a particular item. You’d also need to chose how long, whether one meal, a day, a week or longer. It’s really up to you and what your body can handle physically and/or the prayer on your heart. When I fast I’ll choose how long it’s going to be and I don’t eat food but I allow myself to drink anything I want. Typically, I’ll limit my drinking to juice and water to maintain some sort of nutrition. On a side note, this is not a diet. Although I have hoped that a byproduct of me not eating would be losing weight, it doesn’t happen. 

I told my two biggest stories of answers to prayer and fasting although I’m sure that there have been others. In the fall of ’95 I had moved back to Pensacola, FL three months earlier and before I started my first year as a college student I spent five days fasting. I’m not sure the specifics of my prayer to God but I felt it necessary as I was starting a new chapter in my life.

There have been days here and there where I would take one to three days in prayer. What I’ve also found interesting is that after I’ve stopped eating for a few days it’s sometimes actually hard to start up again. You have to start fixing food and you haven’t had dirty dishes for a while. Of course, this is different when kids are around because you shouldn’t make them go without food.

The last time I fasted was for Tina during the trial last year. I had determined that I would not eat from the day her trial started until there was a verdict. My prayer was for her, and all those associated with convicting Ernie of rape. You might imagine that I was very glad the verdict came in Friday night and not postponed until Monday. Did my prayers bring a guilty verdict? No, he was guilty and he would have been found that way whether I prayed or not but my prayer was for strength for Tina. I knew that it was going to be a rough, emotional week for her and since I needed to stay home with the kids while she was in NH, I was able to be with her in spirit by praying for her.

If you have never fasted, I would challenge you to try it. Try it for a meal or for a day. The first time I was challenged to do it I was told that a typical fast is three days but I never could have done that the first time. I challenge you to do it because it’s good for you to have more of a focus in your prayer. Pick a purpose for your fasting. Choose the length of time you want to focus on that purpose. It’s not a magic trick and it’s not going to force God to do something for you. Prayer and fasting is for you. It changes you, not God. Allow yourself to be changed.