Carter Conlon from the historic Times Square Church in New York City.
Thank God. God was looking for a doorway to do something profound, and He found it in the house of a man who was given to prayer and fasting. Thanks for joining us this week for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon, in a message explaining, Why Do We Fast When We Pray? Jesus actually addressed fasting in the Bible, and would we do well to pay attention to His words, especially if we're serious about affecting change through prayer?
Here's Carter with today's message. I want to speak a message really entitled, Why Do We Fast When We Pray? Why do we fast when we pray?
We're strangely silent with that title. Father, I thank you, Lord, for Your word, which is a lamp for our feet and a light for our path. When we obey You, there are blessings that don't come any other way. And so, God, I'm asking You to help me to make this very simple tonight, and to be understandable to every heart. When the anointing of Your Holy Spirit comes upon a human heart, it allows us to understand things that we've not understood before, though they be plain before us.
So I'm asking tonight for the ability to speak this, and for each of our hearts the ability to hear it. And I thank You for it, in Jesus' name. Why do we fast when we pray? Now, we fast here at Times Square Church, many of us, on Tuesday night, which means that, personally speaking, every Tuesday I abstain from all solid food from Monday night right through till after service on Tuesday evening. I do it for a specific reason.
It's things that I have learned over the years in studying and reading the word of God, and we're going to talk about that in a little while. We never suggest that people abstain from solid food unless you are medically able to do so. Not a wise thing if you have diabetes, not a wise thing if you have a physical or medical condition to abstain from solid food for any amount of time, and never under any circumstance do we advise abstaining from liquid. You can only survive three days without water, so I don't recommend you try a five-day waterless fast because we'll be orchestrating your funeral here and not a blessing of what God did in your life, so don't attempt that. There's a great book on fasting called God's Chosen Fast. It's by the author is Arthur Wallace, W-A-L-L-I-S, and I do recommend it. It's fasting from a spiritual and a medical perspective for anybody that wants to undertake this discipline.
You should not undertake it without knowledge. Now, if you're of reasonably good health and you decide to fast with us on Tuesday from Monday midnight to Tuesday at the end of the service, you will not die even though your body's telling you that you will, you won't. For the first seven days actually of a fast, your body is really just consuming toxins. That means stored poisons in your body, so your body is just consuming these things, and then for the next roughly 33 days, it's consuming fat. If you go on an extended fast, if anybody here has ever done that, after a certain amount of time, you lose all hunger. You won't be hungry anymore until the point where your body's starting to consume muscle tissue. That's the point where starvation is setting in.
It's generally with a healthy person about the 40th day of a fast. Now, I don't recommend that, so please don't anybody try that. I don't recommend it. You really have to know what you're doing to undertake, and there has to be a spiritual reason to it. Just don't see how far you can go before you die. I mean, that's not smart, so don't do that. Suffice to say, we fast just for one day every Tuesday.
It's been a personal habit of mine for many years now. It's not just something new, because I saw something in the scriptures, and I'm going to try to convey it to you as simply as I can tonight. And so the question arises, why do we fast when we pray? Now, for me personally, when I began to study the scriptures, I saw something in it. I don't have to understand everything. I don't have to understand the deeper meaning behind everything. Sometimes certain things are just plain.
They're just there. For example, in Matthew chapter 6, verses 17 and 18, Jesus spoke of fasting as a natural expression of our devotion to God. He said, but you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place, and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. So Jesus spoke about fasting in the scriptures as if it was a natural part of our devotion to God, a natural part of our prayer life.
It was understood, I'm sure, by the listeners. It seems to have evaded many people, maybe in our contemporary society today, that this is a, it's just simply a practice that was in the scriptures. In Mark chapter 2 and verse 20, Jesus said, again, the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and they will fast in those days. In other words, he talked about a day coming when he was going to be taken to the cross, he was going to die, he was going to be three days in the grave, be raised from the dead, and he was going to ascend back into heaven. And he said, you don't need to fast while the bridegroom is with you, but there's a day coming when the bridegroom is going to be taken away, and in those days, you will fast. I remember when I saw it in the scriptures and I said, God, I don't fully understand why, but you seem to think it was a normal part of prayer and Christian living. And so God helped me to fast.
I wasn't, I was, I don't mean to be funny, but I was a slow faster, if I may put it that way. It took a long time to get off the ground because your body doesn't like to be deprived. And if you think it does, and you go one day without eating, if you've never done it before, your body will smell every hamburger, every steak, every meal you've ever enjoyed will go like a ticker tape through your mind. You'll be so obsessed, you can't think about anything but food.
You'd be so craved, you'd be like the army of the Israelites that weren't allowed to eat and they flew upon the spoil and ate it raw. I remember the first time ever that Pastor Teresa and I fasted, ever, for a full day. We were literally right down to midnight, it was 12 to 12. It was 11.50, we had the water boiling, it was 11.52. We had the hot dogs in the water. 11.59, we're taking them out and putting them on the bun and mustard, relish, onions, cheese, we just laced them.
And 12 o'clock sharp, it's the first strike of the clock. Half of that hot dog was in my mouth, right out of the gate. We ate so fast that we both laid in bed holding our stomachs and moaning after.
Thought we were going to die. One day, first day ever, that I'd ever, you don't realize how much your flesh really controls you until you take a moment and begin to fast. Now, in those days, we just did it because we thought, let's try this. I mean, it seems to be in the Bible and people fasted and people were talking about fasting, so let's give it a try, let's fast. I remember I went to Toronto not long after that and there was a church having a three-day Esther fast where they went without food or water for three days.
I don't recommend that at any time. By day two, I was taking extended showers with my mouth open. And this was a church in revival. They were in revival. I mean, the presence of God was there and they're undertaking this three-day fast for the nation. We thought, wow, this is awesome. The unfortunate thing is, Pastor Teresa and myself, one of my best friends and his wife, we booked a motel that was right next to a Mendoza Steakhouse. You ever heard of Mendoza Steaks?
And so me and my friend Larry, we would go over every day and we'd stand in the lobby of the Mendoza Steakhouse and we'd watch the waiters carrying them by and we'd read the menu. And we were thinking, oh, when this fast is over, I'm having the one with the mushrooms and the onions and stuff like that. We were just so food-driven because we were fasting but not quite sure of the concept. And when you're not sure of the concept of why we fast when we pray, then it becomes just all about the food. Because it's a youthful pursuit, but you don't really understand why we are fasting and what this is all about.
I think it's later on in my life I began to understand some things about fasting. You look in the Bible, for example, I'll just give you some examples. In Acts chapter 10, there was a man called Cornelius, a Gentile, a seeker of God, a sincere man who was a little short of obviously the full revelation of God at that time. He didn't understand the things or the ways of God, but it says in chapter 10 of Acts in verse 30, he said, so Cornelius said, this is Peter was told by God to go to this man's house, this particular man. Now God knows that this man is going to be the doorway to bringing the gospel to the rest of the world. Do you understand that?
The rest of the world was shut out. Salvation was only for the Jews up to this point. The Holy Spirit was not given to anybody other than those who were of the Jewish race. But this day, Peter is given this vision in prayer and he was fasting as well. And Peter goes to this man Cornelius's house. And Cornelius says four days ago, I was fasting until this hour. And at the ninth hour, I prayed in my house and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing. And it was through prayer and fasting, that truth and the power of God was revealed to the entire Gentile world, which most of us, not all of us, but most of us are tonight. Through prayer and fasting, this was the doorway into God doing something. It was simply a hungry man, spiritually speaking, saying, God, there's something about you I don't understand.
There's something you want to do that I don't fully grasp. And he was so sincere about this pursuit of God that he would deny his flesh and be singly focused on this one thing. I want to know who you are. I want to know what you do.
I want to know how you do it. And as he was praying and fasting, God commissions the Apostle Peter supernaturally to go to this man's house. And you know the story as Peter is sharing the gospel of Christ with Cornelius, his household and his friends. The Holy Spirit falls on all of them. They all start speaking with other tongues and the whole of the Gentile world becomes open to salvation through Jesus Christ.
A miracle comes to the rest of the world. And thank God because of it, many of us are here tonight. Thank God for a man who was seeking him.
Thank God. God was looking for a doorway to do something profound. And he found it in the house of a man who was given to prayer and fasting. And when I began as a young Christian later on to understand these things, I said, God, I want you to do something through my life. I want to be more than mediocre in my life.
I don't want to just follow the flow. Lord, I want my life to make a difference. And I began to fast. I fasted an unextended fast from time to time.
I began to, but my fasting was for a specific reason. God gave me a promise in the book of Proverbs and I wrote it out. I wrote it out on a huge piece of yellow bristle board with a green pen, green magic marker.
I still remember it and I tacked it to the wall in our kitchen. Pastor Teresa was not overly happy about it, but she left it there for a long, long time. It was a promise to me. My son, if you will receive my words and treasure my commands within you, in other words, if you will open your heart to my words and you will treasure what I speak to you so that you incline your ear to wisdom and apply your heart to understanding. Yes, if you cry out for discernment and lift up your voice for understanding as you seek her as silver, if you seek her as silver and search for her as for hidden treasures, then you will understand the fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. The Lord said, if you will seek me, you will find me. If you will open your heart to truth, you will understand it.
If you look for it as powerfully as you ever look for anything in your entire life, I promise to open it to you and you will be taken to another place that you could never go without the sincerity of heart. So my first point is just this, it's through prayer and fasting that we find out how sincere, how badly do you want truth? How badly do you want the word of God in your heart? How badly do you want to be able to read this Bible and have it understand and have it lodged in your heart and have it become a lamp for your feet and a light for your path?
Have it reorganize your thinking, restructure your insides? How badly do you want the kingdom of God to emanate in you and to flow through you? How badly do you want to stand and represent Jesus Christ in your generation? I wanted it bad enough that I was willing to fast to get it, willing to deny my flesh, willing to say, God, I'm focused on this and I want this with all of my heart. Then again in the book of Acts in chapter 14 verses 22 and 23, Paul the Apostle had just gone into Iconium and in Iconium the multitudes had dragged him out of the city and stoned him and left him to be dead. His disciples gathered around him, this is verse 19 and 20 right now in Acts chapter 14, they went into the city and the next day departed with Barnabas to Derbe. When they had preached the gospel to that city and made many disciples, they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples and exhorting them to continue in the faith by saying, we must through many tribulations enter the kingdom of God. So when they had appointed elders in every church and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed and when you follow the text of scripture through the book of Acts, you find that fasting was a part of everything they did. They prayed with fasting, they prayed for strength, they prayed for guidance, they prayed with sincerity and they prayed, oh God, don't let them fall, don't let them fail, don't let them turn back because things get hard. God, give them a new value system in their heart and in their mind. Help them to understand that what they've embraced is worth fighting for and it's eternal. And when they prayed and they fasted, they set apart leaders knowing that they were going to suffer. Do you understand? Many of these leaders went into times historically of incredible suffering and Paul knew it.
He had just climbed up from under a pile of rocks. That's why he was fasting. It wasn't about himself, it was about them. Oh God, keep these elders. Oh God, keep these ones that are appointed to lead your church and appointed to bring your truth into this generation. That's why they fasted. They were focused. They believed that God, the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much.
They believed it with all of their heart. They saw the power of prayer, but they knew that casual prayers are not what the moment called for. And then in Matthew chapter 17 verses 18 to 21, there was a man who brought his young child who was demon possessed to the disciples. And you know the story, they couldn't do anything.
They had a lot of theology, but they seemed to have no power. The Bible tells us in chapter 17 and verse 18, that Jesus rebuked the demon and it came out of him and the child was cured from that very hour. Now we spent part of our night tonight praying for children, not by our design, but by God's. We spent part of our time asking for healing for the children of this generation. Children that are becoming violent because they're raised on violence. They're becoming unlovely because they feel unloved. Not all, thank God.
It's probably just a small percentage, but it might be more than you and I realize. The disciples came to Jesus privately and said, why could we not cast it out? And Jesus said to them, because of your unbelief, for assuredly I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you shall say to this mountain, move from here to there and it will move and nothing will be impossible to you. That's an incredible promise. If you have faith, even the smallest amount that you can bring to God and you believe these things that are impossible for men in the natural become possible because of God operating through your life. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.
And so the question is, how badly do we want others to be free? We read these prayer requests tonight. I'm suicidal. I'm a Muslim. I'm caught in a homosexual relationship.
My daughter is plagued with thoughts of suicide. I'm old. I'm destitute. I'm bound by fear and pornography.
I love Jesus. I need to be free. I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place.
I'm an eight year old who's seriously ill. I'm stuck in sexual immorality, fornication, adultery, homosexuality and incest. So the question is, how bad do we want them to be free? Are we willing to deny ourselves a little bit that they might be free? Are we going to go on with this pitiful, powerless religion or are we going to have the ability to fast and pray? As Jesus said, I am not willing to stand at the foot of the mountain and watch the generation unchanged and whatever it takes, wherever God leads, whatever he requires of me, that's what I will do because I'm not willing. I'm simply not willing to live in a place where the power of God is not.
And so we have people from all over the world now, 195 countries sending their prayer requests in every week and they seem to be getting more desperate as the weeks go on. And so how badly do we want truth? How badly do we want our lives like Cornelius to make a difference? How badly do we want strength and guidance to not focus on ourselves but focus on others and endure hardship if necessary that they might come to the place that God wants them to be? And how badly do we want others to be free? Can we deny ourselves for their sake?
Can we deny ourselves food for one day for their sakes? Can it become a part of our life? Are we willing to pray and fast as a church? Are we willing to stand and believe God? Are we willing to be led into even deeper fasting if necessary that the presence of God may rest with us? It won't be long into the future of recalling a three-day fast in this church again where we gather nightly to pray, probably for these issues, for the people, not ourselves but for people in our generation that have no hope without the intervention of God in their lives.
I tell you, I want it bad enough to obey God. That's why we fast when we pray. It's not just some old-fashioned religious exercise.
It's a spiritual discipline that's clearly in the Word of God, clearly spoken about by Jesus and very clearly embraced by the early church. You see, nobody fasts anymore in our generation because church is all upside down and everything is about me. So if it's all about me, then I'm not going to deny myself for anybody else. But didn't Jesus say, if you're going to be my disciple, you have to deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me?
Isn't there a measure of self-denial that's involved in this victory? I'm not willing, folks, to let this young generation be taken captive any longer. I'm just not willing to lay on the sidelines and watch the devil destroy a whole generation. I'm not willing to stand by and watch evil triumph when God is on my side and God has given me promises and God has told me that if I have the faith of a mustard seed, I can say to this mountain, be moved and be cast into the sea and it shall obey me and nothing shall be impossible to those who believe. That's red letter in my Bible. That means that came out of the mouth of Jesus Christ himself, who cannot lie, does not exaggerate.
What he speaks is the absolute truth. And I guess the question overall is how bad do we want it? How bad do you want your life to be the doorway to somebody else's salvation? How bad do you want a new value system, a new heart, a new way of living, a new approaches to life, new pursuits? How bad do you want others around you to be free?
That's really the issue. When you bring it all down, then you begin to see that the whole motivation for our religion comes to the surface now. Why are we even in this in the first place? What are we being called to do? Go all the way with God. Wherever he leads, you follow him. What he asks you to do, do that.
Do it with sensibility. Do it under counsel, but do what God asks you to do and you watch what God will begin to do through you. You watch the miracles that will begin to abound. You watch the giftings of the Holy Spirit that will operate. You watch the authority that he will put in your voice that you know you don't naturally have. The wisdom he'll stick into your mind that is not your own. The understanding of the word of God that you know nobody but the Holy Spirit could have taught that to you the way he has shown it to you.
You watch what God will do. He's not limited by our education or lack thereof. He doesn't care about our social status.
It makes no difference where we've come from. Harken brethren has not God chosen the poor of this world who are rich in faith. Oh, praise God. Father, would you help us as a church Lord? Would you help us Lord to pray?
Would you help us to fast? Would you help us Lord God? Would you stir in us a holy discontent to live powerless lives when the power of heaven is at our disposal? Would you fill us with your Holy Spirit again and again? Would you give us the ability Lord that only you can to be the people that only you can make us into? God almighty, give us the power to fast when we pray.
In Jesus' name. Thank you for joining us this week for A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon from Times Square Church in New York City. For more information, log on to tsc.nyc. That's tsc.nyc. You can count on a powerful message each week on A Call to the Nation with Carter Conlon.
Whisper: medium.en / 2024-01-27 18:13:21 / 2024-01-27 18:23:01 / 10