We are privileged to hear from Rebekah Hawk this week! If you would like to know more about her, just check out the contributors page.
Confession: I have found myself saying, “I’m praying about ___” –whether it was a big decision
we were facing, a request for healing, or a loved one’s salvation– and yet I could not claim to be
praying in a focused, intentional way. In other words, I would pray about the specific request if it
happened to cross my mind, but I was not focusing on the request in a set-aside time of prayer.
Recently, I’ve realized how weak and ineffective that prayer pattern has become in my life. I
have been learning about the power of fasting in combination with concentrated prayer.
It all began with a Sunday School class discussion of Mark 9, when Jesus heals the boy with the
unclean spirit. The disciples had tried and failed to cast out the demon, and when they asked
Jesus why they had not been able to perform the miracle, He tells them in Mark 9:29, “This kind
cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”
We had a really interesting discussion about the fact that some manuscripts add “and fasting,” in
which we concluded that we are not given, as New Testament saints, clear and explicit instructions
about what we should necessarily fast about, or what we should fast from; but we are expected to fast
(Matthew 9:15) and we are given clear instructions on how we are to behave when we are fasting
(Matthew 6:16-18).
I believe that Christ wants us to know that just as He fasted in the wilderness for 40 days,
believers can build our spiritual strength by removing something from our lives for a period of
time to help us focus on what we need from the Lord. You see, I had been “praying” about something
very dear to my heart for years. As these Scriptures and more spoke to me, convicting me about how
haphazard I’d been in my prayer life, I received some very good advice from an incredible friend.
She encouraged me to continue praying, but also to fast–to give something up for 40 days–and every
time I felt the desire for whatever I chose to fast from, I would use that moment to pray and ask God
for my petition. I cannot begin to tell you how much this simple act of fasting has
transformed my prayer life! On Day 24, God answered the first part of my petition in the most amazing
way. My petition has become even more focused now, and I cannot wait to share all of the details
when I reach the 40th day.
Is there something you need from God? I encourage you to be accountable to two or three close
friends (only my husband and two of my closest friends know what I am fasting from and about),
to consider what God might have you fast from, and then commit to focused, intentional prayer
and expectation that God will reveal Himself to you in a real and intimate way.
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