Praying and Fasting For Spiritual Discernment

Wait for the Lord; be strong and take heart and wait for the Lord.  Psalm 27:14

Here are three important things to remember in fasting:

1) Fasting always involves food!   The Hebrew root  for fast means “to cover the mouth.” The Greek root word for fast means “to abstain from food.
 2) Fasting always  involves prayer! Fasting without prayer is nothing more than a diet.  Our focus during the fast is spiritual nourishment, we can’t neglect out prayers and petitions during the fast.
 3) Fasting always  involves waiting! Fasting puts our spirit, soul and body into a position where we wait to hear, to receive direction and ultimately find.

Why pray and fast?

The prophet Daniel is one of the many examples of Prayer and Fasting for spiritual discernment.  In Daniel 1 we see Daniel requesting permission to not eat from the King’s table  however this is really not a fast as Daniel is simply avoiding the food that were prohibited by God.

Daniel 9 is a great example of fasting and prayer.  

In the first year of Darius son of Xerxes[a] (a Mede by descent), who was made ruler over the Babylonian[b] kingdom— 2 in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the LORD given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. 3 So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.

Note that Daniel pleads with the Lord, he is not only fasting but humbling himself as well through the use of sackcloth and ashes.   How he prays while he is fasting is also a great example of how to pray while fasting:

“Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 5 we have sinned and done wrong. We have been wicked and have rebelled; we have turned away from your commands and laws.6 We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes and our ancestors, and to all the people of the land. (Daniel 9:5-6)

Daniel understands that it is not God but the people that have caused their misery.  They are in captivity and will be for seventy years because they were wicked and rebelled; they turned away from the commandments of the Lord

We should fast and pray the same!

Everyone in the Body of Christ throughout this nation could repeat Daniel’s prayer and fast.  We have fallen so short of what God planned for this country.   The Pew Forum reports that presently less than half o the people in this country that was founded on the principles of God even attend church anymore.

Note how Daniel’s prayer is answered:

20 While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill— 21 while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. 22 He instructed me and said to me, “Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. 23 As soon as you began to pray, a word went out, which I have come to tell you, for you are highly esteemed. Therefore, consider the word and understand the vision. (Daniel 9:20-23)

In this instance Daniel received an immediate answer from the Lord.  In the very next chapter however he is told that the answer from the Lord was delayed for 21 days:

12 Then he continued, “Do not be afraid, Daniel. Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. 13 But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. 14 Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come.” (Daniel 10:12-14)

I’m sure that Daniel was happy that he had decided to fast and pray for the full 21 days.    Daniel understood the principles of fasting and prayer.  It involved ‘shutting the mouth’,  eliminating certain foods from his diet. It was a period of intense prayer; Daniel cried out and confessed his sins and the sins of the people. Fasting involved waiting; Daniel was patient. If the people were to be in captivity for 70 years, he could pray and fast for 21 days to seek God’s release and redemption.