This past week I participated in a week-long prayer and fasting. It is the third time I joined this prayer and fasting in the church I am attending since November 2019. This week-long event is held twice a year among the church members. For the first two times I participated in prayer and fasting with the church, I fasted with my social media and online browsing, but this time I chose partial fasting where I fasted one meal, originally I intended to two meals and I was successful on the first day, but for the days that allowed I decided to have it as one meal since work and other activities demanded that I ate at least two meals a day. I felt like a failure, so I prayed to God for forgiveness and understanding of my iniquities.
When I was young the only knowledge I had about fasting was people do this during Holy Week. In my young and ignorant mind, I tried to participate with the intention of pleasing God in my own little ways. I remembered that I even tried not to eat meat or any food that has meat during those days even though it was the only viand I would like to eat with rice back then, I did not want to eat fish and vegetables. I guess you could that I always failed. There was an idea implanted in me that meat is dirty and it pollutes and corrupts our body if eaten during Holy Week. I was young and with limited and confusing knowledge about faith and God. And It thought prayer was just a one-way communication with God, so I could tell Him my wants and needs.
Prayer and Fasting are spiritual disciplines we need and must practice in developing a personal and intimate relationship with God. That's how I see them.
Prayer has been my constant means of talking to God since I have come to know and experience Him on a personal level. There are moments that I cry while remembering His mercy and grace in my life, how His redemptive power gives hope and joy in my once bitter and angry life. God also answers in our prayer, though they are not verbal and some are not given right away, still, there is something miraculous in the way God responds in our prayer and sometimes it is really hard to explain, that it seems like it is beyond human comprehension. Christians coined it as Spirit-filled prayer for us to live a Spirit-filled life.
Here are definite answers I got from the booklet provided by the church about prayer and fasting:
This is the suggested pattern of prayer found in the booklet:
Every day there is an assigned Scripture for what we prayed for and I got to journal my thoughts on the soft copy of the booklet through the Write on PDF app on my android phone.
All by God's grace, I was able to attend and participate in the Prayer and Fasting week. We were reminded that prayer and fasting as a church or as an individual were not just one or two times event in a year, it could be a once-in-a-week routine, depending on your chosen day, and it was also suggested that it could be on Friday. I still have a long way to go and a lot to improve in the areas of spiritual disciplines of prayer and fasting, and I praise God for guiding me and providing opportunities to be closer to Him, and as He always does, staying close to me. By His grace, may we always turn to Him in prayer, whether in joy or in pain. God bless our brave hearts!
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