THE ESSENCE OF PRAYER AND FASTING
The essence of Prayer and Fasting is a platform For a Change of Stories.
Globally around the world today, Christians are having their time of long fasting and prayer. Some are fasting for two weeks, some three weeks while in some cycles, it’s 100 days. There’s fervency to pray at this season of the year as everyone is doing everything possible to secure a good and profitable year for every Christian worldwide.
Truly the time of fasting is here as Jesus said in scriptures – Mark 2:20 / Luke 5:35 – they shall fast in those days….
Now as we fast, what are we expecting?
What are the likely things that will happen?
This is the reason why we will be looking at this topic for the rest of the month:
The Benefits of fasting and praying?
We are not praying and fasting to show the world how religious we are or how pious and obedient we are. Matthew 6:16-18. We are not to be known or recognized by our fasting and praying. We are to be known by our fruits that came through our living in obedience, living like Jesus on earth so that when they see us, it’s as good as seeing Jesus.
Among the benefits of prayer and fasting are the following:
1. Supernatural change of story. Genesis 32:24-30
A lot of uncountable lives have been transformed on the altar of prayer and fasting over and over again. We have seen this both in Bible times and in our present-day experiences. Prayer is eternally ordained for a supernatural turnaround concerning things or areas of our lives that we desire a change.
As a matter of fact, that’s why God will always delight in our prayers and very eagerly so, to change our stories and give us our desired requests.
We see here, Jacob being left alone – Genesis 32:24 and he began to wrestle with a man which we also know to be an angel. Has it ever crossed your mind, what the angel was doing there at that time? What was the assignment of that angel there?
What has he come to do? What actually led to the wrestling combat? It may not be clear what the angel came to do or why he was there, and it may also never be clear what led to the wrestling combat but one thing is very clear, Jacob was smart enough to make the most of that opportunity to change his story for life. He refused to miss that great opportunity so he had to tenaciously tackle the angel in that combat and refuse to let him go until he’s blessed. You wonder how a mortal man could be in a wrestling combat with an angel and still survive and also prevail. Well, at the end of the day, he did not only prevail in the contest but he got a change of name from being a man to a nation. His name was changed from being just a man (Jacob) to a nation (Israel) and the angel blessed him there. This blessing is the actual thing missing in the life of Jacob despite the fact he used deceit to collect it from his father.
So, as you continue to pray and fast this period, desire a change of story, desire a turnaround expect a positive and upward change in every aspect of your life. Expect your life to move forward, expect your career and business to experience a supernatural lift in the name of Jesus.
As you desire it, call it forth and you see it.
visit the prayer altar for the prayer points