Christians are very familiar with the matter of fasting in prayer, but unfortunately, many misunderstand its meaning and treat it as a common thing. I am afraid that there are not many who really know what it means to fast and pray. Now let us come to the Bible and take a good look into this matter.
When the Bible first mentions prayer, it does not speak of the need to fast. You do not see either Noah or Abraham praying with fasting. The case of Moses is somewhat different. The Bible does not explicitly say that he fasted and prayed, but it seems certain that he did when he went up to God on Mount Sinai. From that time onward, the Bible frequently mentions the matter of fasting in prayer. Especially in the New Testament, it is very evident that fasting is greatly related to prayer. The first man who fasted in the New Testament was John the Baptist. Matthew 11:18 says “John came neither eating nor drinking.” Of course, that does not mean that John fasted absolutely. It means that he took no part in the worldly enjoyment. On the one hand, John neither ate nor drank, and on the other hand he still ate “locusts and wild honey” (Matt. 3:4). In any case, he should be listed among those who fasted.
In the New Testament record, the second person who fasted was the Lord Jesus. When the Lord first came forth to minister, He fasted before God for forty days. Later, in His teaching, He also spoke something about fasting. He said that while He was with the disciples they did not need to fast, but when He would be taken away from them, they would have to fast (Mark 2:18-20). He also said that some demons cannot be cast out by prayer alone (Matt. 17:21). So by the example of the Lord Jesus, we can see that He was a real fasting One. At the same time, His teachings show us what fasting actually is. Later on, the Bible shows us that during the apostolic age, the Apostles often fasted and prayed. Acts 13 gives a very clear record of five prophets and teachers in the church at Antioch who fasted and prayed while they ministered to the Lord. In particular, when two among them were to be sent to the Gentiles, they fasted and prayed before sending them away. We may say that the record of fasting reaches its climax in Acts 13.
I have very briefly pointed out the relationship between fasting and prayer. From these records we can actually see what the relationship is between fasting and prayer, or what is the meaning of fasting in prayer.
First, fasting is a spontaneous expression as man receives a great responsibility before God. At such a time, man will spontaneously fast. The experiences in our human life also substantiate this point. Often when we encounter an important matter in the course of our human living, we become unable to eat. True, some matters can make us happy and cause us to eat more, but other matters may press us to a point that we simply cannot eat. Because the matter which we encounter is so great and the responsibility so heavy, we spontaneously lose our appetite for food. However, when the matter is taken care of and the responsibility discharged, we feel relieved and our appetite returns for normal eating. Likewise, as we receive a great matter from God, we are so burdened within that we fast without purposing to do so. Because Moses received a great responsibility from God on Mount Sinai, he was unable to eat for forty days. Later on, as the Lord Jesus came forth to minister, having received great responsibility, he was also unable to eat. This does not mean that He actually could not eat. It means that He had no heart to eat. It was as if there were no room in Him to contain food. In Acts 13, a tremendous responsibility was placed upon the prophets and teachers in Antioch. Therefore, they spontaneously fasted and prayed in order to spare their whole being any distraction from that responsibility. This is the first meaning of fasting.
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