Full Power (FP) - Fasting and Prayer
Key Passages: - Matt 17:14-21; Mark 9:14-29; Daniel 9:2-4
We live in an age of instant gratification – we prefer instant noodles instead of a nutritious cooked meal that would take time and effort. We prefer chat messages rather than face to face communication. We want to quickly get to the summary without hearing the whole story.

But the ways and works of God do not seem to be instant. Look at the passage from the Bible in Matt.17:14-21 NKJV
14 And when they had come to the multitude, a man came to Him, kneeling down to Him and saying, 15 “Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is [c]an epileptic and suffers severely; for he often falls into the fire and often into the water. 16 So I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him.” 17 Then Jesus answered and said, “O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I bear with you? Bring him here to Me.” 18 And Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of him; and the child was cured from that very hour. 19 Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?”20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your [e]unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you[i]. 21 However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

We could glean many lessons from the above passage but today let’s focus on prayer and fasting. Observing verse 21, we can know that there are certain kinds of hardships which will not leave by prayer alone. The addendum of fasting gives way to deliverance.
Prayer (with fasting) is not easy. In fact, one of the questions raised by the disciples was, “Lord, teach us to pray?” (Luke11:1). When the disciples were with Jesus, they saw Jesus pray and also witnessed the power that comes from such surrendered prayer. Therefore, they too wanted that same intimacy and access that comes only in prayer. The Bible says,the disciples of Jesus did not fast as the disciples of the Pharisees. Jesus said that once He departs from them, they would long for Him as one longs for the Bridegroom and would fast (Matt 9:14-15). Fasting is also seen in the first century church. In Acts 13:3, we see the disciples fasted and prayed and sought the Lord.

Fasting is not a means to earn the blessings of God. In fact, we can earn nothing from God. It is all grace, from beginning to end. Fasting is included in our prayer to intensify our prayer, to add to the intensity of our petition. Fasting must be more than observing an outward ritual; there must be inward obedience, longing for and submission to the Lord. Self-centred fasting is fasting done incorrectly. (Matt.6:16-18). True fasting will lead to humility before God and Christlike ministry to others. We deprive ourselves food and/or drink, so that we might see answers to prayers for the glory of God and the good of his people. Fasting makes us humble and displays our tremendous need for God. As John Piper says, the danger of fasting is that we fall in love with the gift, the danger of fasting is that we belittle the gift and glory in our own willpower. Fasting with the right attitude is a way of breaking sin’s power, freeing us from the control of lust, sinful habits. Fasting should be freeing. (Isa.58:8).

A biblical pattern of heartfelt prayer with fasting. Dan.9:1-19

1. Studying the Word of God (vs.2)

2. Prayer and supplication (vs.3)

3. Humbling one’s self-(vs.3)

4. Confession-(vs.4)

5. Worship God- (v.7 O Lord, righteousness belongs to You; v.9 to the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness ;v.14- The Lord our God is righteous in all the works which He does; v.15- O Lord our God who brought Your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand and made Yourself a name)

6. Covenant with God (Vs.13-turn from our iniquities)

7. Pleas for Mercy to God (vs.17)

8. Focus on the glory of God (vs.19)


There is much we can learn from Daniel’s prayer, particularly the pattern of fasting and prayer in Daniel 9.
(Revised: Monthly Devotions via Elvanto)