Desperate Praying

It's been said that there are no atheists in foxholes. Being in mortal danger focuses the mind. Brave men and women in the line of fire know that only by the grace of God will they survive. Sometimes Christians pray without a sense of great need. In the New Testament, we're taught to combine prayer and fasting when the subject of our prayers is serious. Today, teaching from the words of Jesus on how fasting helps us pray in a way that changes our hearts.

Please stay with us. Go to Matthew chapter 6 and learn about desperate praying. The Moody Choir comes now to open our service. Bless his holy name. Lord of my soul, get not all his benefits. Who forgives all thine iniquities. Who dealeth all thy diseases. Who redeemeth thy life from destruction. Who cometh thee with love in thy midst.

And never, ever cease. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me. Bless his holy name. Bless his holy name. Bless his holy name. Bless his holy name. Bless his holy name.

Bless his holy name. Now at this time, in a moment, we're going to be singing about God, our help in ages past. Whenever we come to a new year, we begin to think about time passing.

It's a benchmark. It's a reminder of where we've been and where we are headed. Last night, as Rebecca and I were praying just around the coming of the new year, she mentioned in her prayer that God knows the future exactly and meticulously. But you and I have no idea what's going to happen. None.

The best of predictions come up short. But God is the one who connects the past and the present because he is the God of all ages. Oh, God, our help in ages past. Would you bow with me as we commit this service to the Lord and ask his special blessing upon us? Our Father, we thank you today that you are God from everlasting to everlasting, even as we shall be hearing from your word. And we thank you today that you are the Lord and we acknowledge you as being the God of all the years and all the centuries and all the eons and for all eternity. Today, Lord, we open our hearts to you and invite you to help us to worship in spirit and in truth.

Set aside the distractions and make this a memorable day for your glory. In Jesus name. Amen. In the name of the Lord. In the name of the Lord.

Jesus. In the name of the Lord. In the name of the Lord. In the name of the Lord.

Oh, God, our help in ages past. We thank you today that you are God from everlasting to everlasting, even as we commit this service to the Lord. I invite you to follow along with me in your bulletin as we read together selections from Psalm 90.

Please read aloud with me on the bold print. This is God's holy word. Lord, you have been our dwelling place in all generations before the mountains were brought forth or ever you had formed the earth and the world from everlasting to everlasting.

You are God. You return man to dust and say, return, O children of man, for a thousand years in your sight are but as yesterday when it is past or as a watch in the night. For we are brought to an end by your anger, by your wrath we are dismayed. You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. For all our days pass away under your wrath, we bring our years to an end like a sigh. The years of our life are 70 or even by reason of strength 80, yet their span is but toil and trouble.

They are soon gone and we fly away. So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. Satisfy us in the morning with your steadfast love that we may rejoice and be glad all our days. Let your work be shown to your servants and your glorious power to their children. Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us and establish the work of our hands upon us.

Yes, establish the work of our hands. I say, Lord, for there is none like you. All of my days I want to praise the wonders of your mighty love.

I comfort, I shelter, tower of refuge and strength. Let every breath, all that I am, never cease to worship you. Shout to the Lord, all the earth, let us sing.

Power and majesty, praise to the King. Mountains bow down and the sea to the Lord and the sound of your name. I sing your joy and the words of your hand.

Forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand. Nothing compares to the promise I have given you. My Jesus, my Savior, for there is none like you. All of my days I want to praise the wonders of your mighty love.

I comfort, I shelter, tower of refuge and strength. Let every breath, all that I am, never cease to worship you. Shout to the Lord, all the earth, let us sing.

Power and majesty, praise to the King. Mountains bow down and the sea to the Lord and the sound of your name. I sing your joy and the words of your hand.

Forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand. Nothing compares to the promise I have given you. Shout to the Lord, all the earth, let us sing.

Power and majesty, praise to the King. Mountains bow down and the sea to the Lord and the sound of your name. I sing your joy and the words of your hand. Forever I'll love you, forever I'll stand. Nothing compares to the promise I have given you. Nothing compares to the promise I have given you.

Jesus! Be thou my vision, O Lord of my life. God be on us to be, safe at thou art. Thou my rest, God, my day, Lord, my night. Make me your singing, my presence, my light. Be thou my wisdom, and thou my true word. I ever will be, and thou will be known. Now I pray for you, my light and stone.

Now give me value, and I will be kind. Which is my kingdom, no rent, empty graves. Thou my inheritance, thou and no waste. Now I am thou only, first in my heart. My King of Heaven, my treasure of hearts. My King of Heaven, my victory won.

May I reach heaven, such old righteous son. My God, my Lord, whatever befall. Still be thy vision, O Lord of mine.

Still be thy vision, O ruler of all. I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice. To worship you, O my soul, rejoice. Take joy, my King.

God, you win. May it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear. I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice. To worship you, O my soul, rejoice. Take joy, my King.

God, you win. May it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear. I love you, Lord, and I lift my voice. To worship you, O my soul, rejoice. Take joy, my King. God, you win. May it be a sweet, sweet sound.

In your ear. Amen. Amen.

May it be a sweet, sweet sound in your ear. Amen. It's true to say that only desperate people pray. It's only desperation really that drives us to our knees, either the desperation of a situation and circumstances, or possibly the desperation to know God, which is a much better desperation, but only desperate people pray. And another reason why people don't pray is they think that God doesn't really answer prayer anyway.

It's not going to change anything. So even Christians have been known to go day after day without any substantive praying. What a tragedy. And then when it comes to desperate praying, I'm reminded of the fact that in the Bible, fasting is mentioned at least 50 times. And even though it occurs so often in Scripture, Moses fasted, the prophets fasted, Nehemiah fasted, Jesus fasted, Paul fasted, all of the apostles, the early church fasted. Somehow we think to ourselves that that doesn't apply to us. We think that fasting went the way of medieval mysticism.

It went the way of the monastery. Why should we fast if we can actually feast? You know, the apostle Paul says, and I think it's the King James Version, he says in 1 Corinthians, I buffet my body. And we change that a little bit and we say, I buffet my body. Why should we do without food, we say to ourselves?

And then in addition to that, we add the other stipulation and say that I don't understand why it works. Why is fasting important? After all, no matter when we pray, we always come to God on the basis of Jesus Christ.

God hears us and we know that God hears us. Why is he going to hear us anymore just because we fast? And so Christians don't fast, by and large, if you do. And yet fasting, which played such a great role in the history of the church and the writings and the experiences of the biblical characters, has all but disappeared from the church.

And I want to change that beginning today. But first of all, a couple of misconceptions and misuse regarding fasting. In fact, maybe that's the reason why we are so reluctant to fast is because we know that it can be misused.

For example, misuse number one is it's a way to manipulate God. After all, God hasn't answered my prayer when I just pray generally and now I'm going to fast, and it's about time that he come through for me and my fasting will prove my sincerity. And how can God in heaven say no if I fast?

Watch it. That's a misuse of fasting. It's not a way to manipulate God.

It's not a way to get your will. David fasted when he was told that his child was going to die. In fact, the Bible says that he went out and he lay on the ground and fasted, and yet the child died.

It's not a way to manipulate God. There's a second problem that people have with fasting, and it's a great danger, and that is they use it as merit. By that I mean they think to themselves, well, you know, after all, I've done a lot of things bad, I'm living in sin, I'm sleeping with my girlfriend, but if I fast, surely that'll kind of balance things out and even the score.

God has a great deal to say about that. You know, in the book of Isaiah, the Lord made it very, very clear that he was not interested simply in people fasting and doing all the right things and even humbling themselves. He says that the fast that he has chosen, he says, is a day for a person to humble himself?

Yes. Will you call this a fast and a day acceptable to the Lord? Is not this the fast that I choose? To lose the bonds of wickedness, to undo straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free and to break every yoke, and to share your bread with the hungry and the homeless, and on and on it goes? God is saying if your fasting doesn't change your heart, if your fasting does not increase the amount of love that you have in your heart and your ability to do good works, then stop it. I can't stand this outward act of fasting unless it brings about an interchange.

There's a third misuse and that is, of course, piety. Jesus referred to this, you remember, in the book of Matthew and he made it very clear. He said, when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites for they disfigure their faces, that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they've received their reward, but when you fast, anoint your head, wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your Father who is in secret and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. Now, don't become obsessed with this business that other people shouldn't know that you're fasting. Many of you are going to fast this week. Wednesday is the day that we have designated. And in your bulletin today, there's information as to how you can make the best use of that day of fasting.

But the fact is that many people make this syllogism. Pious people fast, I am fasting, therefore I must be pious. If you go out for lunch with someone on Wednesday, just simply tell them that you're not eating, you're fasting. Don't make a big deal of it, that's what Jesus is saying. But whatever you do, don't think to yourself, wow, I want everybody to know that I fasted this past Wednesday.

So they all say, oh, he's so spiritual, he must glow in the dark at night. That's what Jesus was speaking about. Fasting is a full body response to God, usually at a critical time and a critical time of desperation. That's what fasting is. Want to say a few words about your body when you fast? Your friends will tell you that you are going to starve to death. Your stomach is going to tell you that they want to take you to court because this is cruel and unusual punishment.

You're going to think of every reason in the world that this is a very bad idea. You know that camels, you know why camels have a hump? It's because it's their pantry. So that when they run out of food, they take some of the food that is on the shelf in their hump and they use it, the hump that is on a camel. It's full of water, yes, but primarily food. We're like that too, we walk around and we have some extra pantries that we are bringing with us.

But we always want to keep the shelves stocked. We don't want to ever take anything that's in the pantry and use it because our stomach cries out and says, what are you doing to me now? So first of all, what fasting does to the body is it teaches us some discipline. It says to that stomach of yours, no matter how much you holler, no matter how painful it gets, I'm going to show you I don't have to eat. Now if you're anorexic, don't fast.

Go to a doctor, get some help, put on some weight. But most of us don't fit into that category and I have some news for you. If some of you were to fast a full 36 hours, I assure you that you would still be alive at the end of the fast.

You will be, promise. So that's one benefit to the body. The other benefit is that it reminds us of a lesson that we need to learn. Just as we need food for our body and our bodies cry out when we do not give it that food, in the very same way that's what God is to the soul. And you see, we spend all of our time being concerned about the body and how much we eat and sometimes what we eat and all that is important and how our body looks and our soul is totally neglected when really God is to the soul what food is to the body.

How important is God to you? So when you have those hunger pains and when your stomach tells you that this is a very, very bad idea and you are going to be irritable, at that moment you say, God, I wish that I desired you as much as I desire a hamburger right now. Wouldn't that be wonderful if we desired God that way? Now in the Bible, there's very little evidence that fasting was ever done for physical reasons and I know that doctors disagree on this. But I was talking to one person who said that a longer fast, maybe seven days, maybe 21 days, of course, with a lot of water and maybe juices, will actually bring about a cleansing and a healing of the body. He said that when you go through this period of time there may be aches and pains that you're experiencing and the body is healing itself.

So there may be benefits to the body. But in the scripture, the real benefit of fasting is always connected with the soul. It's connected with the soul. And in the Bible, fasting is always connected with confession of sin. That's why fasting and mourning always go together.

You'll notice, for example, Joel speaks about this. And he says, yet now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning, and rend your hearts and not your garments, and return to the Lord, for he is gracious and merciful. You see, what the people were doing is because in biblical times the ripping of your clothes indicated your mourning. They would go through all of these rituals. They'd tear their clothes. They would let everybody know that they were fasting. And God says, don't tear your clothes.

Don't rend your garments, rend your heart. Understand that the real purpose of fasting is a deeper kind of repentance. You see, fasting will bring out your sin. As a matter of fact, the very fact that you are so irritable because you haven't eaten, Lord help you, for a couple of hours, that very fact shows that, you know, you are still quite a sinner, aren't you, and quite unsanctified. Why should skipping a few meals cause you to be so difficult to get along with? I remember one person saying is, I'm not sanctified in the morning until I have a cup of coffee.

Oh really? Chapter and verse please? The Holy Spirit can't work in my heart until I have some coffee? Why can't the Holy Spirit of God give you a sense of peace and tranquility even in the midst of hunger? Thousands of Christians throughout the world have had to prove that because remember, many people are starving.

In fact, there was a news report on the news just this week that about 25% of the people in North Korea are starving and among them there are Christians. So can the Holy Spirit of God work in our hearts when we are hungry or does the Holy Spirit only bring about his fullness and satisfaction when we're fully satisfied? That's the purpose of fasting, is to help us to see that we are greater sinners that we've realized so that we may repent more fully of our sin. Fasting also enables us to have heightened spiritual sensitivity and when we begin to have that we oftentimes find that in the process of fasting we become involved with spiritual warfare. I mean certainly Jesus did when he was there in the desert and after he had fasted for 40 days and 40 nights the devil came to him and don't be surprised if the devil shows up when you fast. He'll tell you that fasting is useless, that you shouldn't do it, there's no reason to it and you should not be that desperate for God anyway. And so he will come to you and give you all kinds of reasons why you should not be fasting. So fasting benefits the soul.

Let me say also that fasting, it helps us to win spiritual victories. You remember when Jesus was on the Mount of Transfiguration he came down and he saw that there was a man who ran to him who said, you know, I have a child with an unclean spirit. We don't know how the child got that unclean spirit but evidently there is such a thing as demonic involvement in certain families, maybe because of occultism or whatever. And the father said, you know, this spirit, this evil spirit throws the boy down and he foams at the mouth and the spirit tries to kill the boy by throwing him in the fire.

And Jesus came and the demon left. And later on the disciples said to Jesus, now why couldn't we cast him out? They were trying to do it. They had the power to do it.

They had the authority to do it. But Jesus said, this kind does not come out unless there's prayer. And then many manuscripts add that Jesus said, and fasting. There are times when we can just serve the Lord and an ordinary prayer is important and it's good enough but there are times of desperation where we say we are going to seek God in a focused way for us to eat food during this period of time would almost be sacrilege because we are absolutely desperate to see God work here and to do a miracle. Now in the Bible there are many illustrations of victory that has come about in people's lives as a result of fasting. I spoke about Jesus a moment ago.

He was there 40 days, 40 nights without any food and of course the tempter came to him. And Jesus reminded the devil that man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God. Now this week when you fast and I assume you're going to Jesus assumed that people would fast. Jesus never said, now if you fast do this. He said, when you fast then make sure that you don't do it as an outward show.

So I'm expecting you to fast this week. And Jesus gave us a good word. When you are so hungry and you think to yourself you're not going to make it throughout the day why don't you quote that verse of scripture. Man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God and say, oh God give me a hunger for yourself that is as great as the hunger right now that I have for food. Spiritual victories, personal victories have been won.

Let me ask you, are some of you parents desperate for a child that has wandered from the fold, a prodigal son or a prodigal daughter? How desperate are you for God to intervene in their life and to do something? How desperate are we to see issues of economics in our lives and relational issues and let me ask you how are we going to at Moody Church see marriages that are on the rocks where there's hostility and where there is oppression and demonic work in the life of this couple. How are we going to see victories unless we are willing to pray and to fast and finally get serious about seeking God.

How long are we going to be satisfied with complacency instead of individual victory? I never realized this before till this week but in the ninth chapter of Deuteronomy Moses said this that when the children of Israel sinned with the calf, you remember the golden calf that they made, Moses said I went up onto the mountain and for 40 days and 40 nights I ate no food and drank no water I fasted and I called on God and then he goes on to say and the Lord listened. How many of us would be willing to do that? By the way Moses and Jesus both fasted 40 days and 40 nights without food or water and that's a very bad idea for us to do.

You say why can't we use them as role models? News flash, you are neither Moses nor are you Jesus, all right? If you fast you drink water you drink juices because your body needs it and if you have some medical condition you check with your doctor before you fast but the question still is how desperate are we to see the work of God at Moody Church? That's the question that I'm laying before you here today. And then we have oftentimes corporate victory, great corporate victory. I love this passage, I've used it many times in 2 Chronicles Jehoshaphat, the enemy is coming against them. Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord and proclaimed a fast throughout all of Judah and Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord and all the cities of Judah came and they sought the Lord.

Jehoshaphat prayed a wonderful prayer but I'll give you only the conclusion. Our God will you not execute judgment on them for we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do but our eyes are on you. And I'll tell you today, we don't know what to do.

I have at least a dozen or more books on my shelf that tell us how we can win America back, how we can re-establish this country and get some of our freedoms back. All of that and we don't know what to do and all the books and all the ideas simply are not working. Have you ever thought of how weak the church is? Two percent of the population, I'm speaking now about homosexuality and I'm not referring to those of you who are listening to this who struggle with homosexuality, I'm speaking about those who are the radicals.

Two percent have more power in the legislatures of this world and have the ear of more politicians and the support of more politicians than the Christian church in America today. We don't know what to do. We don't know what to do but our eyes are on the Lord. I think of creeping Sharia in America and all of the implications of that. I think for example of us economically and in every other way we need God and we don't know what to do but our eyes are on the Lord.

Jehoshaphat says proclaim a fast. Now it's possible to grow a big church without prayer, essentially without prayer. I mean you know you can begin a service with prayer and then say some things along the line and people can pray before they eat or pray before their Bible study. The reason I know that is because, sad to say there are some rather large churches in America that don't even have a prayer meeting. They have no real, they would never think of proclaiming a fast or a solemn assembly where the whole church is praying together and fasting on a certain day. They wouldn't think of that and I know that personally because I've asked some of the pastors. But you know what you don't have in those churches is the deliverance of people, people who are on drugs, people habitual sins and addictions and marriages that are falling apart.

You don't have a lot of stories of miracles of God doing the impossible in people's lives. That only happens through prayer and fasting. And that's why developing a culture of prayer here at The Moody Church is so incredibly important.

Let me mention a couple of things in conclusion. First of all, the true fast that we are proclaiming on Wednesday and at times throughout the year, and I hope that Wednesday is only an example when we fast corporately and I hope that you fast more often than that individually. A true fast deepens our repentance. That's the fast that God has chosen.

Where it isn't an outward show where we set time apart and say, Lord, show me what you see. Search me, O Lord, and know my heart and see if there be any wicked way in me and lead me in the everlasting path. That's the kind of fast that God has chosen.

Secondly, it's a fast that seeks God's face and not just God's hand. You see, most of us would like to have God answer our prayer, Lord, I have a son that isn't following you, I've got a financial issue, I've got this, this, and that's my list for the day, Lord, and just in case you don't do it, I'll give you the same list tomorrow. And you don't even look in God's face. How would I like it if one of my grandchildren came to me and said, Papa, and they all call me Papa, give me some money. And the kid has just come in, he's just arrived at the house, and he hasn't even looked me in the eye, but he says, give me some money. Give me your hand, what can I take?

I say, wait a moment, I don't like the way this is going. I can give you the money, but would you please look into my eyes first, can you and I connect together? You see, our greatest need is not to have all of our requests answered, our greatest need is to see God, to connect with God, our greatest need is to seek God's face, because in doing that, we submit to God, we submit to his purposes, and fasting isn't a time when we finally get from God what we want or what we need, nearly as much as it is a time when we develop an intimate relationship with God that's just between us, that is both satisfying and meaningful, and then all of the other things begin to take care of themselves. Like Jesus said, seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all these things will be added onto you.

And we go to the add-ons first, don't we? Seeking him and his righteousness becomes passé. So let us seek God's face and not just his hand. And then, of course, fasting affirms a life of continued obedience. It's not a matter of saying, well, you know, I'm going to fast on Wednesday and we're expecting all of you to, I'm going to fast on Wednesday and then that's going to be it for the year. I've done my fasting.

That's a wrong attitude. It should be a lifelong desire that you and I submit to the sovereignty of God and in his presence fast. And let those hunger pangs drive us to God and say, oh, God, I wish that I loved you, I wish that I desired you as much as I desire food right now. I've often fasted, often fasted 36 hours, but only once did I go way beyond that to several days. And those first days were so difficult. But when you get beyond the first three or four days, actually, fasting is not that difficult at all.

It is just that in that phase where our stomach tells us that we should stop doing this, that's the difficult part. Get through that and above all, meet God. So the question that I'm going to leave with you today is how hungry are you for God?

Are you desperate or not so desperate because, you know, you're doing well, your bills are paid, you're in good health. And so, you know, you don't see any real reason why you have to seek the Lord. Let me tell you, this coming year, God may bring circumstances into your life where you are driven to your knees because only desperate people pray. And we come with our need and we end up with a whole new relationship with God, which is really what it's all about anyway.

As a deer pants for the water brook, so my soul pants after you, oh God. What do you want God to do in the next months? Are you and I desperate enough to say we'll do anything from our point of view?

Yes, it is God's decision what he does. But we are going to align ourselves with the breath and the wind of the Spirit and seek God. And even if we don't get what we're seeking after, we'll find him. As it says in Joel, you shall find me if you search for me with all your heart.

That's the fast that God has chosen. Will you join me as we pray? I do want to ask you the question again, how thirsty are you for God? How hungry are you for God?

Does this hunger consume you or is it a sideline? I'm asking myself the same question. Father, here at this church where you have been so good to us and you have blessed many, may it be said that we have only begun to see what you will do and can do. In the transformation of lives, lifting oppression, bringing victory, connecting, helping, serving, and being your people, and being all that we can be to your glory. In Jesus' name, amen.

One small thing I have counted, lost, spent, and purchased, found, compared to these. Knowing you, Jesus, knowing you, there is no greater need. You're my all, you're the rest, you're my joy, my righteousness, and I love you, Lord. Now my heart's desire is to know you more, to be found in you and known as yours. To possess my faith, my good heart, I'll serve at singing of righteousness. On today's Moody Church Hour, Erwin Lutzer spoke about desperate praying, a look at how fasting is a vital part of seeking the face of God in time of need.

It's because of the investment of many people that The Moody Church Hour is heard around the country. We'd like to ask you to consider becoming an endurance partner, someone who stands with us on a regular basis with your prayers and gifts. For full information, go to our website at moodyoffer.com and click on the endurance partner button. That's moodyoffer.com. Or call us at 1-800-215-5001.

That's 1-800-215-5001. Or you can write to us at Moody Church Media, 1635 North LaSalle Boulevard, Chicago, Illinois, 60614. Join us next time for another Moody Church Hour with Pastor Erwin Lutzer and the Congregation of Historic Moody Church in Chicago. This broadcast is a ministry of The Moody Church.