Prayer for others

God makes it clear that we are to pray for fellow believers. We are to pray constantly for our brothers and sisters in Christ. This is a command for all aspects of life and during all times. Prayer for our fellow brothers and sisters is not to be tainted by our own will or our own motives. Prayer needs to be of God and to God in order to be lifted up to God in a proper and edifying way of giving glory to God. Jesus prayed to the extent of praying that if it was God's will then let it be so... and Jesus is the ultimate example, so too should we pray this way.

At the crux of the situation, if your prayer is most helpful to your brother and hurtful to you, then I believe that is when prayer is most God honoring. To know that you are asking God for something that will help your brother in Christ and not help you- even hurt you- makes you realize that you are on the right track. Man's instincts as a fallen race is to put your needs in front of others. When you pray putting your brother's needs before yours is praying God's way. Putting others before self... servanthood at it's most basic form. God's been impressing this in my heart lately. It's certainly not easy to do, but after I pray that way, my heart is lightened and I feel more at peace with the situation.

Fasting

Up until this week, I have never thought about fasting. I thought it was for people who were religiously pious and for Christians who wanted to experience a heightened perception of God. But in the past few months and weeks, God has given me examples of Christians whom I know and respect who have fasted. But it really didn't come to mind until I read Gerald's post about fasting. In it he wrote:

Fasting in Scripture is typically associated with great need. We fast because we have a desperate desire to hear from God in this matter, at this time. It is the natural expression of our soul-hunger for God. We fast because our circumstances, whether personal or corporate, have grown beyond us. We fast because we need the grace of God to shower upon us in fresh new ways.

I reread the whole thing again, because this is what I going through. I didn't want to call upon God to answer my prayers and go about the rest of my day like every other day. Rather, I wanted God to supply me with everything my body would need for that day. I wanted to rely on God's strength, not my own.

I honestly cannot say that God worked through my fasting any more than if I had not fasted, but I did feel more at peace with my situation. It felt good to know that all of my problems of the day were now up to God. It felt good to know that if God could get me through the day physically. It reminded me that if God is in control of my physical well being, then how much more is he in control of any other problem or situation in my life. It felt like God was sharing my yoke of burdens that much more with me.

So, do I still think fasting is bad? Absolutely not. But I do think it needs to be practiced with caution and humility. For me, it was hard for me to not boast to others that I was fasting. The temptation is to make it look like I am more "Christian" than you, and I think that is what I always thought of before trying it myself. I also found myself thinking about all the physical benefits of fasting. Knowing that one can lose a few pounds here and there if fasting occurs on a regular basis takes away from what fasting is all about. Fasting needs to be approached just as seriously as any other form of communication with God.