Fasting Day 2
Asha Brewer
Hello Sisters!
I hope everyone had a most wonderful day! What did you notice about the fast yesterday? How did it impact your prayers? How did it impact your faith? What are you most highly anticipating by the end of the fast on Sunday?
As I progress through the fasting Scripture in Matthew Chapter 6, I am intrigued by the secrecy of fasting. I am also intrigued that the activities preceding fasting also involve so much secrecy. Terms like the “prayer closet,” “not letting your left hand know what your right hand is doing,” “the Father who sees in secret will reward you.” I’m thinking, why so much secrecy??! (And really, how can my left hand not know what my right hand is doing? I mean, I’m left-handed, so he’s the hand in charge. Everyone reports to him, so he knows what’s up! ← Literally what went through my head growing up, tehe).
In reading through these Scriptures now, I am realizing that we should be asking, “What is the meaning behind what I do?” What is the meaning behind why I give to the needy? Does it look good to round out my resume? Is it so I can feel “better” about who I am or “better” than someone else because I am able to give? What is the meaning behind the prayers I offer up to the Lord? Is it just to check mark that I prayed that morning? Is it to thank Him for something really quickly, so I can ask Him for something? What is the meaning behind my fasting? Is it so I can be in the running for some spiritual award? Is it to make me feel superior to others in the faith?
If I am honest, sometimes I loose sight of the meaning of what I do in my faith walk. I would say my prayer life is most impacted by this. I will make a “habit” of checking in the morning and possibly at night, but it is literally a check-in. It’s like a drive-by, “Hey, God! Good morning! You’re so great! I love You!” And then off to work. Yes, I mean the words I say, but does my prayer itself have meaning for me? Am I doing it just because I am supposed to? Or am I doing it because I want to...I need to...I can’t wait to?
As we proceed with the fast, I think it is really important to look at the meaning behind our prayers. Why do we embrace the act of praying? What are the different ways in which we pray (e.g. out loud, standing up, kneeling down, shouting, pacing, etc)? Why do we pray certain ways in certain places? (I pray one way in the car, I pray another way at home, I pray an even third way at church, etc). What determines the length of our prayers? What determines what we even say? How do we stop the world around us, so we can earnestly pray--and without distractions or a feeling/awareness of how much “time” has passed and what we need to do/where we need to go next?
I love you all, and I hope you have a most wonderful day!
Happy early birthday to Dawn!
Happy baby to Sakeena!
Happy wedding week to Antoinyce!
We celebrate with you and the people that love you! :) | Dr. Asha Fields Brewer Creator of Healthy Conversations Speaker, Writer, Educator, Radio Personality |
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Asha Brewer
Hello Sisters!!
I don’t know about you, but this fast is really having an impact on me. I feel like I have so much more clarity in my spiritual mind, if that makes any sense. It is as if fog is lifting, and I am able to “see” things better spiritually. I see the people I am praying for and what they are dealing with. I see how to cater my prayers to address their needs and the struggles they are experiencing. I see the hurts and issues they are bearing. It’s a really interesting and warm place to be in my faith. What about you? What have you noticed with the fast?
What’s interesting is that a handful of you were already fasting and/or consecrating for something else. (Amazing how God puts His people on the same wavelength in the Spirit). How have you noticed the impacts of your consecrating time and its impact on you as a person and a spiritual body?
Going back to the Matthew Chapter 6 Scripture on fasting, here are some other thoughts to consider. Remember how we looked at the fact that fasting as an experience was bookended this way?:
Giving to the needy
The Lord’s Prayer
Fasting
Lay up treasures in Heaven
Do not be anxious
The first three activities share this phrase (ESV), “And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” This provided a comforting reassurance, because it tells me a couple of things.
God is looking to respond to me. The fact that He sees in secret means He came looking for me in a hidden place. God came there intending to respond to me and bless me.
The effectiveness of my giving, praying, and fasting is reliant upon my relationship with God. Notice that Jesus references God as your Father in this phrase. He didn’t say any of God’s formal names. He called Him “Father.” This shows me that my relationship with Him is really important as I pursue a deeper faith experience, especially in more meaningful ways like fasting. I could fast for 40 days and 40 nights, but without the relationship, is it all for nothing? If I don’t base my giving, praying, and fasting on my relationship with God, then what am I really doing anyway?
Maybe these three activities are ways to get closer to God and have a better relationship with Him?
Maybe they are ways to have a stronger relationship with Him?
Maybe they are ways to have a deeper relationship with Him? Just because He is called “my Father,” do I always feel like I am His “daughter”? When I fall out of that feeling, perhaps I have fallen out of relationship with Him?
These are just some things to consider as we press forward in this fast. We are centering our energies on praying against suicide and all connected spirits. I have added to my prayers that these spirits be replaced with the Holy Spirit and all of His fruit (Galatians 5:22- love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control). Reason being, there is a Scripture (I’ll put it below) that talks about a demon leaving, having no place to go, grabbing all of his friends, and returning to the place he left because it was empty. So I don’t want to pray these people empty. I want to pray that the demon is ejected and the empty spaces are filled with the Spirit. Does anyone have any perspectives to share to help us be strategic with our prayer and fasting?
Have a wonderful day!!
P.S. Prayer call on Sunday? See previous email...
Considering 7:30 am EST, 6:30 am CST, 5:30 am Mountain, 3:30 pm Dubai. Let us know!
Matthew 12: 43-45, Message
43-45 “When a defiling evil spirit is expelled from someone, it drifts along through the desert looking for an oasis, some unsuspecting soul it can bedevil. When it doesn’t find anyone, it says, ‘I’ll go back to my old haunt.’ On return it finds the person spotlessly clean, but vacant. It then runs out and rounds up seven other spirits more evil than itself and they all move in, whooping it up. That person ends up far worse off than if he’d never gotten cleaned up in the first place.
“That’s what this generation is like: You may think you have cleaned out the junk from your lives and gotten ready for God, but you weren’t hospitable to my kingdom message, and now all the devils are moving back in.”