Eye of the Needle (Spiritual)

"When you fast, pray also!"

Why is it prayer connected to fasting?
In the bible, there's a lot of accounts of fasting and with praying as well.
Fast means to abstain from food. It is a voluntary activity that you will dedicate your time without eating food and but rely own selves to God's strength that He will give while you focusing to a spiritual attainment.

Why we should fast at the first place?

Fasting is not about dieting technic that you have gained physical benefits, but as a contrary you may loose physical gained but will abound in spiritual. For fasting is a way of relying our life to God. It is a total dependency to God's presence when you fast because you spend time to really have a deeper relationship to God.
The aim of fasting is to have an intimate relationship to God. That's why we need to pray when we fast, so that we connect to God.
Only by a communication the relationship goes deeper, if there is no connection of the two individuals, how they will have a common ground. So when we fast, pray also to get closer to God.

Fasting is a way of boosting your spiritual body, but if the fasting makes you weak and nothing else, maybe there is a problem in your relationship to God.

As what I said, there are a lot of accounts of fasting and praying in the bible:

A. Fasting is a regular celebration.

Jeremiah 36:6 Therefore you shall go and read in the scroll on which you have written from my mouth the words of Jehovah in the ears of the people in the house of Jehovah on the day of fasting; and you shall also read them in the ears of all Judah who come from their cities.

(here, it's a common holiday for the Jews to celebrate this day of the fast. Volountarily or not they celebrates it. Also, God commanded to His appointee to speak the message of God to this people who gathered for the fasting. When you are in a fast, you become too spiritual and you can understand easily the message of God, for God is a spirit. For the word of God is the food of the spirit.)

B. Fasting should be a lifetime tradition

Leviticus 16:29 And this shall become a perpetual statute for you; in the seventh month on the tenth day of the month you shall afflict your souls and not do any work, neither the native nor the sojourner who sojourns among you.

(Even in this modern day, this old tradition and a covenant of God to His people is valid activity and it is for a lifetime, for God is forever and His covenant with you as well. )

C. Fasting is a Reconciliation with God

Leviticus 23:27 And on the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Expiation; you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall afflict your souls and present an offering by fire to Jehovah.

(fasting is a ceremonial assembly of God to His followers; where the agenda of the talk is about the reconciliation of God and humankind happened through sacrificial death of Jesus Christ. Jesus must be glorified in our fasting. He must be the center of our topic. Fasting is a sacrifice: of time, priority, fleshy desires, endurance, patient and faith. When you pray, you present the offering to God by giving the highest praise to Him, you start with praising and worshiping His Name and with thanks giving for what God have done in our life.)

D. Fasting is a Rest day

Number 29:7 And on the tenth day of this seventh month you shall have a holy convocation, and you shall afflict your souls; you shall not do any work.

(When you isolated your physical body to your spiritual, you denying your flesh and focusing unto the desire and will of the spirit, because fasting is a spiritual not physical activity. Flesh is against to the spirit vice versa.
So when you fast, you must leave your work, clear your thoughts of all anxieties in your material world, house chores, unfinished business, your stressful relatives, the episode in your favorite telenovelas, your kitchen chores or laundry etc. Fasting is your rest day to this material world because it is the time to come through spiritual world by connecting to God by prayer in the spirit.)

What happened when we do fasting?

A. We see the glory of God.

1. Moses did fasting in the mount Sanai,

Exodus 24:17 And the appearance of the glory of Jehovah was like consuming fire on the top of the mountain to the eyes of the children of Israel.
Exodus 24:18 And Moses entered into the midst of the cloud and went up on the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

(The glory of God is like a consuming fire, that you can't endure to see it when you are too fleshy, but only through being spiritual you will enjoy His glory. Moses is the best example of this, Israelites was too afraid to see God's glory for It is like a frightening consuming fire for them, but for Moses It is a great dwelling places, where he enjoyed companionship of God and it lasted for forty days and forty nights without food and water. )

When we are in the fast, we experiencing God's glory, we are like entering into God's dimension. That's why we have the access to hear God's voice, His instructions, or His disciplinary words for us, which is not easy to hear when we are in the flesh.

In, Deuteronomy 4:36 From heaven He let you hear His voice that He might discipline you, and upon the earth He showed you His great fire, and His words you heard from the midst of the fire.

Hebreo 12:29 For our God is also a consuming fire.

First, you must to endure this hardship when entering to that midst of the fire, but when endurance lasted numbness will come then suddenly you realized that you entered into God's dimension, so lastly, you can hear His voice clearly.

Take notice of this, In the Bible the number forty signifies tests or trials. It took Moses forty days and forty nights to see the revelation of God's dwelling place. This indicates that receiving revelation from God requires a long period of time, which is a trial or a test to us.

Exodus 34:28 And he was there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread, and he did not drink water. And He wrote upon the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

Don't think that all of our prayer is surely directed to God, prayer is a way of communication. Where it must have a mutual desire of the two individuals to engaged in a conversation. God is holy, and a deeper talk with God requires holiness, so it took a long period of time for a mortal to be sanctified as a normal qualification to hear His voice personally.

Here, Moses speaking to Jehovah. Through God's speaking to Moses during his lengthy stay with God, Moses was throughly infused with God and saturated with Him. As a result, Moses' face shone. According to this chapter, God did not first give Moses the tablets of the law; rather, He first spent time to infuse Moses with Himself by speaking to Moses concerning the enjoyment of Himself. Before God gave the law to Moses, God gave Himself to him. This clearly portrays God's intention.

Normally, we have a lot of anxiety before we enter into a fasting. Because we encountered the miserable world that darkens our perspective in life, the stressful people around us, or things concerning our livelihoods, etch. so our heart is full of distress, of blemishes, we are in the flesh before we do fasting, that's why God wants us to sanctified first our body. Denying the desires of the flesh, forget yourself and start to focus in God's glory.

Like Moses did, Deuteronomy 9:18 Then I threw myself down before Jehovah as at the beginning, forty days and forty nights; I did not eat food nor drink water, because of all your sin which you had sinned by doing that which was evil in the sight of Jehovah so as to anger Him.

2. Jesus also demonstrated a fasting in the wilderness,

Matthew 4:2 And when Jesus had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He became hungry.

( And we knew the story, Satan tempted His humanity in many ways, but Jesus didn't fell, for in His humanity He is sanctified by the glory of Lordship.)

B. The Holy Spirit of God will work in you

1. The Holy spirit will speak to you

Acts 13:2 And as they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for Me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.
Acts 13:3 Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
Acts 13:4 They then, having been sent out by the Holy Spirit,

( If we want to know what is the will of God for us? Do a fast and be filled with the Holy spirit, by this way we can hear God's calling, for God is a spirit.
We all know that sharing gospel is not easy task, but it is a very mission of every followers of God to share the Gospel, so we will have to talk to a non-believer. And it is not that easy, maybe we will feel shy for they are strangers to us, but if you are filled by the holy spirit nothing to be worry because the holy spirit will speak for you. It is our Helper in our spiritual life.

Imagine, if we are filled with the Holy spirit, we will have a direct access to God's voice. So whatever the instructions of God, we will easily know, and we can follow His will.

Just like the story of Philip sharing gospel to a stranger immediately as when the spirit have told him. (Read Acts 8:29-39) And the Spirit said to Philip, Approach and join this chariot. And when Philip ran up, he heard him reading Isaiah the prophet and said, Do you really know the things that you are reading?
And he said, How could I unless someone guides me? And he entreated Philip to come up and sit with him.

Now the passage of Scripture which he was reading was this: "As a sheep He was led to slaughter; and as a lamb before its shearer is dumb, so He does not open His mouth.
In His humiliation His judgment was taken away. Who shall declare His generation? For His life is taken away from the earth."
And the eunuch answered Philip and said, I beseech you, Concerning whom does the prophet say this? Concerning himself or concerning someone else?
And Philip opened his mouth, and beginning from this Scripture he announced Jesus as the gospel to him.
And as they were going along the road, they came upon some water, and the eunuch said, Look, water. What prevents me from being baptized?
And Philip said, If you believe from all your heart, you will be saved. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God.
And he ordered the chariot to stand still, and they both went down into the water, Philip and the eunuch, and he baptized him.
And when they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord caught Philip away; and the eunuch did not see him anymore, for he went on his way rejoicing.

(It is a good story of sharing the gospel to a stranger by the help of the holy spirit, it telling to us, "be filled with the holy spirit by fasting and praying!")

There are a lots of accounts in the bible about the speaking of the Holy spirit to the individuals:

-Acts 10:19 And while Peter was pondering over the vision, the Spirit said to him, Behold, there are three men seeking you.

-Acts 16:6-7 And they passed through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.
And when they had come to Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, yet the Spirit of Jesus did not allow them.

2. The Holy spirit will connect you to Jesus

Romans 8:9 But you are not in the flesh, but in the spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Yet if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not of Him.

( We cannot come into the Father in heaven but by Jesus alone. When we accepted Jesus as our personal savior, be baptized in Jesus Name and received the Holy spirit we became a new creation, we are not longer in the flesh but of the spirit. When the gospel happened to us, the spirit of Christ begin to dwell in us, and it sanctified us, made us holy, and became an acceptable person to the Father in Heaven. Christianity is nothing without Christ , and religion will not saved you but by the relationship to Christ Jesus.

1 Peter 1:11-12 Searching into what time or what manner of time the Spirit of Christ in them was making clear, testifying beforehand of the sufferings of Christ and the glories after these.
To them it was revealed that not to themselves but to you they ministered these things, which have now been announced to you through those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, which things angels long to look into.

(The revelation of the spiritual things happened when you are filled with the Spirit of Christ. And by fasting and deep praying you'll become more spiritual. Jesus offer a deeper talk with Him, as he said, come unto me and take a rest. Fast and talk to Jesus.
And all of the blurred things and questions will be cleared to us by the Holy spirit: are we really saved? How we can inherit the Kingdom of God? or what is the plan of God for me? How to be freed from my vices and desires of my flesh? These questions will be answered by the Holy spirit.)

Philippians 1:19 For I know that for me this will turn out to salvation through your petition and the bountiful supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ.

Galatians 4:6-7 And because you are sons, God has sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father!
So then you are no longer a slave but a son; and if a son, an heir also through God.

The Spirit of Jesus and the Holy Spirit in the preceding verse are used interchangeably, revealing that the Spirit of Jesus is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is a general title of the Spirit of God in the New Testament; the Spirit of Jesus is a particular expression concerning the Spirit of God and refers to the Spirit of the incarnated Savior who, as Jesus in His humanity, passed through human living and death on the cross. This indicates that in the Spirit of Jesus there is not only the divine element of God but also the human element of Jesus and the elements of His human living and His suffering of death as well. Such an all-inclusive Spirit was needed for the apostle's preaching ministry, a ministry of suffering carried out among human beings and for human beings in the human life.

3. The Holy spirit will give you power

We have to read the story about "The casting out of an epileptic demon in— Matthew 17:14-21
And when they came to the crowd, a man came to Jesus, falling on his knees before Him and saying,
Lord, have mercy on my son, for he has epilepsy and suffers terribly; for often he falls into the fire and often into the water.
And I brought him to Your disciples, and they were not able to heal him.
And Jesus answered and said, O unbelieving and perverted generation! How long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.
And Jesus rebuked it, and the demon came out from him; and the boy was healed from that hour.

Then the disciples, coming to Jesus privately, said, Why were we not able to cast it out?
And He said to them, Because of your little faith; for truly I say to you, If you have faith like a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, Move from here to there, and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.
But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.

(Jesus assured us that if we have faith in Him, nothing is impossible. Because God's power will work for you against the demons, against all the battles of life but unless we fast and pray we can't have this kind of faith)

C. We pursue God's provision

Remember king Jehoshaphat when he heard the report about the coming of their enemy. The multitude of Moabites and Ammonites attacked them, in 2 Chronicles 20:3-25 says, "And Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to pursue Jehovah, and he proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah."
And Judah gathered themselves to seek help from Jehovah; indeed out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek Jehovah.
And Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of Jehovah, before the new court.
As a result?

God spoke to them by Jahaziel saying, ", Listen, all you of Judah and you inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat. Thus says Jehovah to you, Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God's."

So, in verse 21. when Jehoshaphat had taken counsel with the people, he appointed them to sing to Jehovah and give thanks in holy array as they went out before the army and say, Give thanks to Jehovah, for His loving kindness endures forever.
And when they began to shout in song and to praise, Jehovah set ambushes for the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who were coming out against Judah; and they were struck.
And the children of Ammon and Moab stood up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir to absolutely destroy and demolish them; and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, every man helped to destroy his neighbor.

(What a great help from God, even you are facing to a multitude of problems, just pray and do a fast -there's always a help from God. By this, we pursuit God's provision. Seek God with all your heart and with all of your soul, and you will find His great help)

2 Chronicles 15:12 And they entered into a covenant to pursue Jehovah, the God of their fathers, with all their heart and with all their soul,

So, what to do?
Lend a time for fasting and praying.
But reminder:
a. be humble.  No proud people can be sanctified by the Holy spirit, so be humble to God, as you come in fasting and praying.

Ezra 8:21 Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a straight way for ourselves and for our little ones and for all our possessions.

b. be holy before God
Joel 1:14 Sanctify a fast; Call a solemn assembly; Gather the elders. And all the inhabitants of the land to the house of Jehovah your God; And cry unto Jehovah.

(Your sacrifice must be acceptable and holy before God, so that our cry will directly heard on His throne. And our fasting and praying will not be in vain.)

c. believe and trust God
Jonah 3:5 And the men of Nineveh believed God, and they proclaimed a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

( Our unbelief will hinder the effectiveness of our fasting and praying, so trust our God. And Jesus reminded us that All things are possible to him who believes.)

Mark 9:23 And Jesus said to him, You say, If You can. All things are possible to him who believes. v. 24 Immediately, crying out, the father of the child said, I believe; help my unbelief!