Deepening and Strengthening Prayer: A Little Motivation, Part Five – Shades of Grace | Natalie Nichols- Shades of Grace | Natalie Nichols
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Jan 12th 19 Posted by Natalie Nichols in Fasting

Deepening and Strengthening Prayer: A Little Motivation, Part Five

deepening-strengthening-prayer

Has your prayer life been puny lately? Have you struggled to make prayer a priority? Do you feel that praying is futile because God won’t answer?

In Parts One, Two, Three and Four of A Little Motivation, we began taking a look at some of the actions you’re taking before God when you fast—and in turn, how you can expect Him to respond. We saw that when you fast you are:

  1. Seeking First God’s Kingdom and His Righteousness
  2. Drawing Near to God
  3. Requiring His Presence
  4. Humbling Yourself Before God
  5. Declaring Your Helplessness and Hope in God
  6. Bringing Your Body and Soul Into Subjection to the Holy Spirit
  7. Tasting God’s Presence and Taking Refuge in Him

Today we continue with an eighth action of your fasting. When you fast, you are deepening and strengthening your prayers.

8. Deepening and Strengthening Your Prayers

In Touch God Through Prayer Wesley Duewel writes, “Fasting is still God’s chosen way to deepen and strengthen prayer. You will be the poorer spiritually and your prayer life will never be what God wants it to be until you practice the privilege of fasting.” 1

”Fasting feeds your faith and, as Elmer Towns writes, “takes your prayers to a higher level of fulfillment.” 2

Faith is what moves God from heaven to earth. So it behooves us to find out what our faith needs in order to be strong.

Andrew Murray writes, “Faith needs a life of prayer in which to grow and keep strong. … Prayer needs fasting for its full and perfect development.” 3

Since one of the goals of fasting is to develop our prayer life, we abstain not just from food but also from distractions, entertainment, and all the things that have kept us from the prayer closet.

 “Fasting is abstaining from anything that hinders prayer.”
~ Andrew Bonar

We’re fasting to know God. And the way we get to know God better is through prayer and time in the Word. If we go without food but don’t make time to pray and meditate on the Word, we’re merely on a diet. Fasting is not just doing without food, it’s making prayer a priority. It’s spending more time and focus in prayer and the Word.

When we prioritize prayer in this way, we’re developing our prayer life, which leads to the full growth of our faith. This means that we’re taking our prayers to a higher level of fulfillment! We’re deepening and strengthening our prayers!

God Answers Prayer

God does not answer diets, but He does answer prayer! So as you combine fasting with prayer, may these scriptures build your faith and expectancy:

  • “Oh, Lord God! You Yourself made the heavens and earth by Your great power and with Your outstretched arm. Nothing is too difficult for You!” (Jeremiah 32:17).
  • “Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I” (Isaiah 58:9).
  • “So I say to you; Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened” (Luke 11:9).
  • “For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and his ears are attentive to their prayer…” (1 Peter 3:12).
  • “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to his will, he hears us. And if we know that he hears us—whatever we ask—we know that we have what we asked of him” (I John 5: 14-15).
  • “And whatever you ask for in prayer, having faith and [really] believing, you will receive” (Matthew 21:22, AMP).
  • “Therefore I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours” (Mark 11:24).

Questions:

  • Has your prayer life been puny lately? Have you struggled to make prayer a priority?
  • Have you been neglecting prayer intentionally because you doubt whether God will answer?
  • How does it encourage you to be reminded that God answers prayer?
  • How have you felt the deepening and strengthening of your prayers during the fast?
  • As you fast and pray, you’re developing your prayer life, leading to the full growth of your faith—which takes your prayers to a higher level of fulfillment!

 

OTHER ARTICLES IN THIS SERIES

RELATED ARTICLES

On the Topic of Prayer:

FASTING DAY 7 FROM THE ARCHIVES

____________

  1. Wesley L. Duewel, Touch the World Through Prayer (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1986), 95
  2. Elmer Towns, The Beginner’s Guide to Fasting (Ventura, CA: Regal Books, 2001), 8
  3. Andrew Murray, Andrew Murray on Prayer (New Kensington, PA: Whitaker House, 1998), 372



 

Disclosure of Material Connection: Some of the links in the post above are “affiliate links.” This means if you click on the link and purchase the item, Shades of Grace will receive an affiliate commission. Regardless, I only recommend products or services I use personally and believe will add value to my readers. I am disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255 “Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising.”

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