Latest / The Father's Business Podcast / Prayer Unfiltered: Does Fasting Make Your Prayers More Powerful? (Part 2)

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Prayer Unfiltered: Does Fasting Make Your Prayers More Powerful? (Part 2) · The Father's Business Podcast

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: God wants to have our hearts.
• 0:02
  SPEAKER_00: He wants me.
• 0:03
  SPEAKER_00: He wants Kimberly.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: He wants each of us at our core to bring all of who we are to all of who he is.
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: And if fasting is a way that helps us do that, and in some ways I think it does, because it reveals some areas of our heart that may need some tending, then I think fasting is a very useful tool.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm Elizabeth, and this is the Father's Business Podcast, born out of Sylvia Gunter's heart for people to know who God is and who they are in him.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_01: So wherever you're listening from today, we pray that you will sense his nearness and know that you are his beloved sons and daughters.
• 0:43
  SPEAKER_01: We're really glad you're here with us today.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Well, welcome back, everybody, to our podcast.
• 0:50
  SPEAKER_00: We're still in our prayer unfiltered honest questions about prayer series.
• 0:56
  SPEAKER_00: This is actually part two of a discussion on fasting.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: And in part one, we focus primarily on what fasting may do within us.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: We talked about how fasting can reveal what has been mastering us, like our phones or food or other things.
• 1:11
  SPEAKER_00: It can expose what we've been using for comfort or control, but it also creates space for us to become more attentive to God and hear his voice.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: We also made an important distinction that fasting does not make God more loving, more compassionate, or more willing to listen to us.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: It does not turn an unwilling God into a willing father who will come to the door when we knock in the middle of the night and finally answer our request.
• 1:38
  SPEAKER_00: Like we talked about a few weeks ago with the neighbor who kept knocking and asking for bread, and annoyingly he finally gets out of his bed to come help his neighbor.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: That's not who God is.
• 1:48
  SPEAKER_00: Fasting does not earn us God's attention.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: We already have his attention because we belong to him through Jesus.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: But that leads us to another set of honest questions that we're going to talk about in part two.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: If fasting does not force God's hand, why do we see it connected so many times with significant moments in scripture?
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: So, why do people fast when they're facing danger or spiritual opposition or difficult decisions or circumstances that seem to have no human solution?
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: So, why do people talk about fasting for spiritual breakthrough or using it as a spiritual weapon?
• 2:26
  SPEAKER_00: Or really the bottom question we're trying to get to there, Kimberly, is does fasting give our prayers more authority?
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: So we want to look through scripture and see what scripture actually says about fasting versus what we've been taught about fasting.
• 2:41
  SPEAKER_00: So, Kimberly, let's talk a little bit about that word breakthrough.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: I've heard that phrase before that we're fasting for spiritual breakthrough.
• 2:48
  SPEAKER_00: What do we mean when we even say that?
• 2:50
  SPEAKER_01: Usually when we are talking about a breakthrough, it means most likely that we are in a situation where we feel stuck, we feel closed, we feel confused, oppressed, we feel like we're receiving resistance to prayer and something begins to shift.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_01: That's when we'll call it a breakthrough.
• 3:06
  SPEAKER_01: So a breakthrough might look like receiving clear direction after a long period of confusion.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_01: I think it is important to define what we mean by that word.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_01: So it could be a relationship that's beginning to heal.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_01: It could mean freedom from a destructive habit, protection in a dangerous situation.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_01: It could mean a door opening that we have felt has been closed.
• 3:26
  SPEAKER_01: It could mean a family member turning back toward God or a spiritual burden finally lifting.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_01: So breakthrough sometimes means that God changes our circumstances in a way we could have never accomplished ourselves.
• 3:39
  SPEAKER_01: And scripture contains real stories of God doing exactly that.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_01: God delivers, God protects, God guides, God frees his people, he changes circumstances.
• 3:49
  SPEAKER_01: We know and we believe that God answers our prayer.
• 3:52
  SPEAKER_01: So we do not want to explain away those stories or become so cautious that we stop expecting God to act.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_01: And we also need to remember that a testimony of something is not the same thing as a formula.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_01: Just because God answered one person's fast in a particular way does not promise that every Christian who fasts will receive the same outcome.
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_01: And yet, a breakthrough still happens for people.
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_01: It can be external, like I said, it can be a door opening, it can be danger passing, it could be healing coming or direction being made clear.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes that breakthrough happens within us.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe fear begins to lose its grip on us, maybe our pride is exposed, maybe our confusion gives way to peace.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe we receive the courage to obey or we become much more willing to surrender the outcome.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes we don't recognize what God did until much later.
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_01: And sometimes we fast and we continue to wait.
• 4:50
  SPEAKER_01: So when we say that fasting may accompany breakthrough, we are not saying if you fast correctly, God will give you the answer you want.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_01: We are saying fasting is one way of bringing our whole selves before God as we ask him to do what only he can do.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_01: So Elizabeth, let's look at scripture and what scripture actually says when it mentions fasting.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I mean, depending on how many parallel accounts are repeated in different books of the Bible, because you know that happens sometimes that more than one person gives the account of the same thing.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: And the translation you're reading, you're looking at roughly 60 different passages of scripture or about 85 individual verses out of all of scripture that talk about fasting.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: And most of those passages describe people fasting in response to grief or repentance, danger.
• 5:49
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it's intercession and worship or a need for direction.
• 5:52
  SPEAKER_00: And there are only a small number of direct commands from God through one of his prophets that require them to fast.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: Israel was required to observe one annual fast on the Day of Atonement.
• 6:05
  SPEAKER_00: And the prophets sometimes called the nation to fast during a particular season of things going on with them.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: And there are other fasts that are proclaimed by leaders such as Esther or Ezra or Jehosaphat for specific circumstances.
• 6:19
  SPEAKER_00: And fasting does show up in the New Testament, but never is there a command from Jesus that says that we are to fast.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't give requirements.
• 6:30
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't tell us how often we should do it.
• 6:32
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't say what it should look like.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: There is no connection that it's a salvation issue, that in order to be saved, you must fast.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: But there are times where you hear Jesus say in scripture, when you fast.
• 6:46
  SPEAKER_00: So there's an assumption that fasting is happening, but it's not commanded.
• 6:52
  SPEAKER_00: And there's actually only eight verses that we were able to find, Kimberly, that use the phrase prayer and fasting together.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: And so we want to take a minute and we just want to kind of run through all eight of these and realize that none of these are a command to pray and fast.
• 7:10
  SPEAKER_00: It is a description that people were praying and fasting and what happened.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I find it interesting that there are some people out there that are teaching in such a way that fasting is a requirement and that uh things only happen if you fast and pray.
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: And we're gonna get into that and where that comes from as well.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: But it's assumed to be a part of Christian discipline, and yet it is not specifically commanded that we do it.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: So the first time I think we really see this example of prayer and fasting.
• 7:41
  SPEAKER_00: Now, there are other places in scripture where it talks about people fasted or that they prayed, but the concept of prayer and fasting going together is found in Ezra.
• 7:51
  SPEAKER_00: And that was a time when there was a group of people preparing for a dangerous journey.
• 7:56
  SPEAKER_00: They knew that their enemies were along the road and they could not guarantee their safety.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: So Ezra proclaimed a corporate fast.
• 8:05
  SPEAKER_00: And Ezra 8, 21 to 23 says, And there by the Ahava Canal I proclaimed a fast so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children with all of our possessions.
• 8:17
  SPEAKER_00: For I was ashamed to ask the king for an escort of soldiers and horsemen to protect us from our enemies on the road, since we had told him, the hand of our God is gracious to all who seek him, but his great anger is against all who forsake him.
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: So we fasted and petitioned our God about this.
• 8:34
  SPEAKER_00: Other versions say, so we fasted and prayed to our God about this, and he granted our request.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: Can't believe as I look at that, I think one, yes, it says they are fasting and praying, but there's a lot of other things they did as well.
• 8:49
  SPEAKER_00: They humbled themselves, they called upon God, then he's he declared a fast, and they prayed and fasted before God, and God granted their request.
• 8:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I have heard people quote this verse.
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: So we fasted and prayed to our God about this, and he granted our request as what you were just saying.
• 9:07
  SPEAKER_00: Here's a testimony of what God did for Ezra and his people, and yet people have taken that one verse and turned it into a formula or a teaching or a doctrine that if you fast and pray, God will always answer your request.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_01: I think it's definitely helpful, Elizabeth, to recognize that a lot of scripture is given to us so that we can learn from it, grow from it.
• 9:30
  SPEAKER_01: There are many reasons that we have the story of Ezra.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_01: And yet we do want to distinguish it is not a formula.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_01: It is clear in scripture that it is not God saying, You as a believer must go and do this, and I will give you an outcome.
• 9:46
  SPEAKER_01: That that's not what's there.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_01: We also see in scripture that it's not always where people are asking for something that we see fasting.
• 9:54
  SPEAKER_01: Three of those eight verses actually have to do with grief.
• 9:58
  SPEAKER_01: In Nehemiah 1, verses 3 and 4, it says, They said to me, Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_01: The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_01: When I heard these words, I sat down and I wept.
• 10:14
  SPEAKER_01: I mourned for days, fasting and praying before the God of heaven.
• 10:19
  SPEAKER_01: In Psalm 35, verse 13, we read this one last week, David says, Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth, I humbled myself with fasting, but my prayers return unanswered.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_01: And in Daniel 9, verses 2 and 3, it says, 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.
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_01: So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_01: So we see from those three passages that fasting was directly correlated with how people were grieving and positioning themselves before the Lord.
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: Yes, Kimberly.
• 11:03
  SPEAKER_00: So that has a lot more to do with an inward heart motivation and times that you are in grief.
• 11:09
  SPEAKER_00: One, fasting gets real easy because you don't feel like eating, but that desperation of just bringing my body is broken as I am struggling with the emotions that I'm dealing with.
• 11:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I I find it very interesting that there's only eight references to prayer and fasting in scripture, and three of them have to do with grief.
• 11:28
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 11:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then another one is found in Luke 2, 36 to 38, and that one has nothing to do with a request.
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: And in some ways, she was also in grief.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: It's the story of Anna, and she was a prophetess, and she was, as they say, well along in years.
• 11:46
  SPEAKER_00: I've come to find out she's 84 years old, which some people I know are older than that, and they would be offended that you said they were well along in years.
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: But anyway, she's she was married for seven years and then became a widow.
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: And she remained a widow until this age of 84, and she never left the temple.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it says, but she worshiped night and day, fasting and praying.
• 12:06
  SPEAKER_00: Coming forward at that moment, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: This is when they're bringing Jesus to the temple, and she's realizing that the answer to what she has been worshiping and praying and fasting about for most of her adult life, since becoming a widow after only being married for seven years, has come.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: But her heart was a heart of worship and intimacy and waiting for God to move, not necessarily praying about a specific outcome.
• 12:37
  SPEAKER_00: So not every fast in scripture is to immediate emergency.
• 12:41
  SPEAKER_00: Her life was marked by worship and fasting and prayer for many years, and she didn't know that that was even going to come in her lifetime.
• 12:49
  SPEAKER_00: And it wasn't an attempt to fix a problem or get discernment.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: It was just woven into her life as a part of one of the Christian disciplines that she enjoyed.
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that is kind of the heartbeat of what we're trying to get to when we talk about fasting is removing this feeling of it's a requirement if you want God to move and move it more into it's a gift, it's a tool, it's something we get to choose to do to deepen our intimacy with him.
• 13:16
  SPEAKER_01: One of the other places in scripture where we see prayer and fasting together is in Luke 5.33, where the Pharisees were talking to Jesus, and the Pharisees had fasting as a part of their regular practice.
• 13:30
  SPEAKER_01: John the Baptist had disciples, they had fasting as a regular part of their practice.
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_01: So the Pharisees come to Jesus and they say, Hey, John's disciples and those of us of the Pharisees, they we frequently fast and pray, but your disciples keep on eating and drinking.
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_01: So they're questioning, what's going on with you there?
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_01: And Jesus said to them, Can you make wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is still with them?
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_01: The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_01: So that is a scripture in Luke where we see Jesus is saying that we will fast, his disciples, his people will fast.
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_01: So the assumption is there, as we said last week, that fasting will be part of our discipline.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_01: It will be part of our spiritual practice.
• 14:13
  SPEAKER_01: But again, it's not a command from Jesus to do it in a particular way, to do a particular type of fast for a particular period of time or to receive a particular outcome.
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_01: And yet it's still important.
• 14:26
  SPEAKER_01: The last two passages of scripture out of these eight verses where we see prayer and fasting together are in scripture, creating space to hear from God for direction.
• 14:36
  SPEAKER_01: So one of those verses is Acts 13, 3, and it says, While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_01: And after they had fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on them and sent them off.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_01: So in this passage, they were not asking God to just bless the plan they had already made.
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: Okay?
• 14:56
  SPEAKER_01: They were making themselves available to receive the direction of the Holy Spirit.
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_01: And then in Acts 14, 23, we see Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church, praying and fasting as they entrusted them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_01: Fasting did not manufacture the Holy Spirit's voice.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_01: It helped create a posture of worship, of listening, of consecration, and of availability to the Lord.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_01: So this passage can give ministry leaders some important questions to ask.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_01: Are we truly asking God to direct the ministry, or are we merely asking God to approve the plans we have already decided upon?
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_01: As two people who have been in ministry, it's way easier sometimes to just say, okay, Lord, here's my plans.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_01: Bless them.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 15:37
  unknown: Yeah.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_01: Have we created any quiet space to actually listen to the Lord?
• 15:41
  SPEAKER_01: As a ministry leader, are we willing for the Holy Spirit to interrupt our schedule or our plans?
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_01: Would we obey if his direction were different from our plans or our preferences?
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_01: Kimberly, you're getting a little too personal here.
• 15:55
  SPEAKER_01: I know, I know.
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_01: Trust me, I feel it too.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_01: Would we release people God is calling elsewhere, even if we would rather keep them?
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-uh.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_01: We've said it over and over.
• 16:05
  SPEAKER_01: Fasting does not guarantee that every leadership team, that every ministry team, that every pastor, that every leader, that every minister, that every shepherd, that every person will hear a flawless, unmistakable answer.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_01: But it can help us slow down, worship, listen, and become more willing to obey.
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_01: Fasting, as we said last week, it shows us what is demanding our attention.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
• 16:33
  SPEAKER_01: And it allows us to lay that down and refocus.
• 16:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, and can't believe I love in the that first passage you read in Acts, they weren't trying to get an answer to anything.
• 16:42
  SPEAKER_00: They were enjoying God, and God showed up in the middle of it and said, Hi, I got a plan.
• 16:47
  SPEAKER_00: Here's what you need to do.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: That is the gift of fasting, just what you just said, that it makes room for God to show up and speak to his people.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: So there is actually one more verse that we do need to talk about.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: And as we look at all these, I want to remind us, we said this a little bit earlier, but the eight verses we just walked through, none of them were commands telling people to fast and pray.
• 17:10
  SPEAKER_00: They were examples.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: And at one point, the phrase prayer and fasting was used by the Pharisees to mock Jesus.
• 17:18
  SPEAKER_00: Like, so there is nowhere in Scripture where it says, to be a mature Christian, you must fast and pray.
• 17:25
  SPEAKER_00: But there is one verse that gets brought up.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I know some organizations and ministries that build an entire doctrine around this verse, and it's found in some versions in Matthew 17, 21, and it's found in Mark 9.29.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: And it's this phrase, you may have heard before, this kind can only come out by prayer and fasting.
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: So we wanted to kind of separate that one from the list of the eight other places where the phrase prayer and fasting is used because there's a bit of a translation issue that goes along with this verse, and we want to kind of walk you through that.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: It what's happening is it's right after Jesus delivered a boy from an unclean spirit, and the disciples ask why they had not been able to drive it out.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: There are many modern translations like the ESV and the NIV that omit Matthew 17, 21 entirely, based on some of the earliest Greek manuscripts, did not contain that verse.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: And there's many modern translations of Mark 9.29 that omit the phrase and fasting.
• 18:29
  SPEAKER_00: So stating only that the demon came out by prayer.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: Some translations will say, after Jesus had gone into the house, his disciples asked him privately, why couldn't we drive it out?
• 18:39
  SPEAKER_00: And Jesus answered, This cannot come out except by prayer.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the only versions that I know of that keep it in are the King James and the New King James version that say in verse 21, however, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I think, Kimberly, we've got to acknowledge that there are differences in the translations and that we should not build an entire understanding of fasting, the power of fasting and even our deliverance ministries based on one phrase.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: And I really think the safest takeaway is that Jesus was calling his disciples away from relying on their own ability and their own expertise and calling them back to dependence upon God.
• 19:24
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, do you think that's fair?
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, absolutely.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_01: There are numerous volumes of books written on translations and on what to do with translations and how manuscripts line up and don't line up.
• 19:34
  SPEAKER_01: Even though fasting is or is not mentioned in the particular translation you may be reading in these verses, fasting is mentioned many other places in scripture as we've already established.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_01: So what we want to say is that we need to be careful that we do not base a doctrine on the phrase, this kind can only come out by prayer and fasting, because there are concerns around that textually.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_01: So I think that's worth paying attention to, and I think it's worth being careful of.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_01: So fasting is us being able to express, Jesus, this matters deeply to me.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus, I want to be dependent upon you.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_01: Sometimes fasting is saying, God, I can't fix this, but I need to surrender to you.
• 20:13
  SPEAKER_01: And here's one way I can do that.
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_01: Jesus, I need your wisdom, I need your protection, I want to become more available to hear you, to obey you.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_01: But fasting, it does not give God some information that he doesn't already have.
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_01: God sees the person we're praying for, he understands the danger around us that we may need protection from, he knows the diagnosis, he knows every part of your family situation, your family system.
• 20:34
  SPEAKER_01: He does not need us to prove that the need is serious enough to deserve his attention.
• 20:40
  SPEAKER_01: Fasting may intensify our focus and our participation in prayer.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_01: It's about looking to him, it's about humbling ourselves.
• 20:47
  SPEAKER_01: The power ultimately belongs to God.
• 20:50
  SPEAKER_01: So, Elizabeth, along that line, does fasting automatically produce spiritual power?
• 20:55
  SPEAKER_00: I I think some people would teach that.
• 20:57
  SPEAKER_00: I think they would say that it's like a turbo boost to your prayer life if you will fast and pray over things.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: And some of that goes back to quoting that reference in Matthew and Mark that says some things only come out by prayer and fasting.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: But I think we need to look at the life of Jesus.
• 21:12
  SPEAKER_00: And there is a record in Scripture that's very well known of when he fasted.
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: So Jesus was in the wilderness for 40 days, and some will teach that doing a 40-day fast will produce some automatic spiritual power or somehow increase your life.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: But I think we need to look at the full context of what that passage says very carefully.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: Luke 4 is where this begins.
• 21:36
  SPEAKER_00: And in one and two, it says, Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, where for 40 days he was tempted by the devil.
• 21:47
  SPEAKER_00: He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, he was hungry.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: So Jesus entered the wilderness full of the Holy Spirit and led by the Spirit.
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: The Spirit led him there.
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus did not choose.
• 22:00
  SPEAKER_00: An extreme fast to gain power.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: He did not choose an extreme fast of 40 days to attract attention to himself because he went off into the wilderness by himself to do it.
• 22:09
  SPEAKER_00: It wasn't the fasting that gave him the power.
• 22:13
  SPEAKER_00: The fasting happened within those 40 days, but I'm sure there were many conversations with his father during that time.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: And it was all within the context of relationship and identity and obedience.
• 22:25
  SPEAKER_00: We talked about this last week on the podcast, that it wasn't that Jesus went into the wilderness and fasted for 40 days, and then God said, This is my son in whom I'm well pleased.
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: The order is God came and said, This is my son in whom I'm well pleased.
• 22:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then he was led into the wilderness.
• 22:43
  SPEAKER_00: So fasting did not grant him favor with God.
• 22:46
  SPEAKER_00: He had favor with God.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: And from that place of power, led by the Holy Spirit, he went into the wilderness and fasted.
• 22:54
  SPEAKER_00: It then goes on to say in Luke 4, 13 and 14, when the devil had finished every temptation, because remember that the devil comes and tempts him in three different ways and he does not falter, the devil left him until an opportune time.
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: Jesus returned to Galilee in the power of the Spirit, and the news about him spread throughout the surrounding region.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: So Luke tells us in Luke 4 that Jesus entered into the wilderness full of the Spirit, and he returned in the power of the Spirit.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: So his time in the wilderness included fasting.
• 23:24
  SPEAKER_00: It included being tempted by the devil.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: It included resistance.
• 23:28
  SPEAKER_00: It included obedience.
• 23:30
  SPEAKER_00: It included dependence upon the word of God because every time he quoted scripture back to the enemy.
• 23:36
  SPEAKER_00: And we don't know what else happened in those 40 days.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm assuming a lot of sweet intimacy with his father during that time.
• 23:44
  SPEAKER_00: So we shouldn't turn Jesus' 40-day fast into a mechanical formula if you fast for 40 days and pray about things, you will automatically receive greater spiritual power because Jesus' fast was not the reason that he came in power.
• 24:01
  SPEAKER_00: It was because he was empowered by the Spirit.
• 24:03
  SPEAKER_00: That is in no way to downplay anyone who chooses to do 40-day fast.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I know a lot of people who do them.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: And quite honestly, I mean, we sell this little pamphlet, which is a calendar seeking the heart of God with prayer and fasting for 40 days.
• 24:18
  SPEAKER_00: So obviously, we believe in this type of thing.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um, it's a great tool that kind of gives you 40 days of topics to focus on as you choose to pray or pray in fast and seek the Father's heart.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: So, yes, there are many people that do a 40-day fast because there's more than once in scripture that a fast was done for 40 days, but in no way do we want anyone to hear that this somehow is a way to turbo boost your prayer life or to move God's hand in a way that He would not be willing to move if you chose not to fast.
• 24:51
  SPEAKER_00: That's not the heart of a father who thinks if you perform enough, then I'll give you what you want.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think more than anything, more than even giving us the answer to all the prayers that we've prayed, God wants to have our hearts.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: He wants me.
• 25:05
  SPEAKER_00: He wants Kimberly, He wants each of us at our core to bring all of who we are to all of who He is.
• 25:11
  SPEAKER_00: And if fasting is a way that helps us do that, and in some ways I think it does, because it reveals some areas of our heart that may need some tending, then I think fasting is a very useful tool.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I would say that if you've done a 40-day fast or if you're doing a 40-day fast, and at the end of that you have clarity about something, I think the communication and the way we talk about that's important because it's not that our fast turbo boosted God's answer.
• 25:39
  SPEAKER_01: It's that we got quiet enough, still enough, we got we let go of our distractions and we focused and we paid attention enough to hear the Lord.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 25:48
  SPEAKER_01: I I just want to be careful that we don't in in our own passion and in our own zeal, that we don't miscommunicate because I think sometimes sincere people may communicate that without intending to, that God answered their prayer because of the fast.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_01: What I think is true is that we heard God's answer because of our fast.
• 26:11
  SPEAKER_01: And there's a distinction there because God's not withholding it because I'm not fasting.
• 26:16
  SPEAKER_01: I I'm just not hearing it, or maybe the time is not ready.
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_01: We don't know the hand of God.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_01: But if we do get clarity in that 40-day fast, it's not because of the fast itself that God chose to answer.
• 26:27
  SPEAKER_01: It's because we heard him.
• 26:29
  SPEAKER_01: Does that make sense?
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: I think so often I wonder, um, not that this is going to happen when we get to heaven, please don't hear that.
• 26:37
  SPEAKER_00: But I wonder if if when my life is over, I can look back and I could see how many times was God trying to say something to me, but I was moving so quickly through my own life, or I was trying to fix the problem on my own, or I was so wrapped up in my own fear, I missed it.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: Because I do believe God is speaking.
• 26:58
  SPEAKER_00: I do believe through his word, through taking the time to slow it down, to not run to other people, to not run to other things.
• 27:06
  SPEAKER_00: There are times that I can hear that still small voice, but sometimes I've got to get still inside, not physically outside, but inside before I can hear it.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: And that for me is what fasting helps do.
• 27:20
  SPEAKER_00: And as we talked about last week, Kimberly, we're not talking just about food, although most fasts in the Bible are.
• 27:25
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes I could need to put my phone down and let the noise of the world stop so I can hear what God's perspective is on what's going on, versus anytime something comes up, what do we do?
• 27:36
  SPEAKER_00: We Google it, right?
• 27:37
  SPEAKER_00: We we run to an expert online to help us figure out our problem versus sitting with him and allowing his spirit to speak to our spirit in a way that our souls and our bodies can understand and hear from him.
• 27:50
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that kind of leads into kind of the other question that we get about this is well, isn't fasting a spiritual weapon?
• 27:56
  SPEAKER_00: Again, this whole idea of, you know, I'll be stronger in prayer or I will be able to fight battles easier or harder or better because I am fasting.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I think fasting can be a part of a toolkit, but I want us to be real careful to understand that fasting can marry well with spiritual warfare or when we're praying against something or praying for something, but it's because it humbles us, it teaches us to resist things that want to control us.
• 28:26
  SPEAKER_00: It turns us away from sin at times, it focuses our attention upon God, it helps us focus and persevere in prayer.
• 28:35
  SPEAKER_00: And so it may help bring to light some hidden agreements or habits or things that God needs to deal with in our own lives for our own hearts to be made pure.
• 28:46
  SPEAKER_00: And I think it can help us focus more on what God is saying, but I don't think it's the magical force, as we've been saying, and we'll just keep saying it different ways.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't give us greater authority.
• 28:58
  SPEAKER_00: It doesn't overpower the enemy in a way that God and God alone cannot, because we believe that we are covenant sons and daughters of God most high.
• 29:08
  SPEAKER_00: We have the full authority that has been given to us through him.
• 29:12
  SPEAKER_00: Therefore, we don't have to add to that to have that full authority, but we get to participate in it with him through worship, through prayer, through fasting, through the word of God.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: And so fasting just becomes one of many tools that are used to focus us in on who God is and who we are in him, but the power is not located in the fasting.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_01: Elizabeth, I think throughout this conversation, two themes that continue to emerge are fasting in particular does not hold the power.
• 29:44
  SPEAKER_01: And no matter what type of fast we do or don't do, we still have to obey and trust God with the outcome.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_01: Right.
• 29:51
  SPEAKER_01: But what if we do not still receive a clear answer when we do fast?
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: And I mean, that happens.
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: We've already referenced the verse in Psalms where David said that he fasted and his prayers went unanswered.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: And I when I read that, I'm kind of like, well, wow, you were called the man after God's own heart and one of his favorite people, and he didn't answer you.
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, great.
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: We're all in trouble now.
• 30:17
  SPEAKER_00: But I also think of 2 Chronicles 20 and the story of King Jehoshaphat.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: And I actually have a part of a scripture from this story stuck to my computer.
• 30:27
  SPEAKER_00: And the part that I have stuck on my computer is we don't know what to do, but our eyes are fixed on you.
• 30:32
  SPEAKER_00: But the greater story around that is King Jehoshaphat faced a massive invading army from three sides, actually.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: He was terrified and he chose to seek God because there was no human way out of his situation.
• 30:46
  SPEAKER_00: And so he proclaimed a nationwide fast across Judah and gathered the people together in Jerusalem and they prayed publicly at the temple for deliverance and guidance.
• 30:55
  SPEAKER_00: And in that story, Jehoshaphat received a very specific word.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: He was told where the army would be, what the people should do, and that God would fight the battle for them.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: Now, that would be so nice if every time I came to God with prayer that that was the result, right?
• 31:12
  SPEAKER_00: But not everyone who fast receives that kind of detailed direction.
• 31:16
  SPEAKER_00: I would love for God to tell me exactly what's going to happen, when it will happen, what decision I need to make when it happens, and that he's got to take care of it for me.
• 31:25
  SPEAKER_00: But I've had that verse stuck on the side of my computer for years now, as I have lived through circumstances in my own life and in my own family where I don't know what to do, but all I can do is keep my eyes on you.
• 31:39
  SPEAKER_00: And he has sometimes given clarity, but most of the time what he has said to me is trust me.
• 31:46
  SPEAKER_00: So if you go through a time of prayer and fasting for a particular situation, you're asking for wise counsel or you're you've got a decision that gets to be made.
• 31:56
  SPEAKER_00: Sometimes God can just show up and speak, kind of that still small voice that nowhere in your know-er knows this is the decision I'm supposed to make.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: Other times I think God speaks through his word, through wise counsel, through circumstances.
• 32:09
  SPEAKER_00: I I had one a couple of weeks ago where I didn't even pray about it.
• 32:13
  SPEAKER_00: I just woke up one Monday morning.
• 32:15
  SPEAKER_00: I was supposed to have a meeting that I thought was unnecessary and I didn't want to be a part of.
• 32:19
  SPEAKER_00: And I just said out loud, I don't want to do this.
• 32:22
  SPEAKER_00: I I didn't even think to pray.
• 32:24
  SPEAKER_00: God, will you intervene?
• 32:26
  SPEAKER_00: I was not fasting about it.
• 32:28
  SPEAKER_00: And 15 minutes later, the phone call came and they said, we've decided to cancel the meeting.
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: Great.
• 32:33
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't even know to ask that.
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: So there's times when God moves, and then there's times when we are faithful to fast and pray and do everything that we can, and the answer still does not come.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: And there's one other story I want to point out where someone fasted and prayed, and the answer was no.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: And again, it's David.
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: Again, I'm like one of your favorites.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: Now he wasn't perfect.
• 32:55
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, we'll get it and we can get it the whole Bathsheba thing and killing her husband.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: So he was he was in no way perfect, but he was a man who passionately followed God.
• 33:04
  SPEAKER_00: But there's an account in Samuel 12, and I just want to read verses 16 to 23 because it's easier to read it than try to explain the story to you.
• 33:13
  SPEAKER_00: It says, David pleaded with God for the boy, his son.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: He fasted and went into his house and spent the night lying in sackcloths on the ground.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: The elders of his household stood beside him to help him up from the ground, but he was unwilling and would not eat anything with them.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: So he was praying and fasting.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: On the seventh day, the child died.
• 33:34
  SPEAKER_00: But David's servants were afraid to tell him the child was dead, for they said, Look, while the child was alive, we spoke to him and he would not listen to us.
• 33:43
  SPEAKER_00: So how can we tell him the child is dead?
• 33:45
  SPEAKER_00: He may even harm himself.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: So they're concerned that David's going to do something to himself in deep grief because he's lost a child, which I can't even imagine how deep that grief is.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: When David saw that his servants were whispering to one another, he perceived that the child was dead, so he asked his servants, Is the child dead?
• 34:03
  SPEAKER_00: They replied that he is.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: Then David got up off the ground, washed and anointed himself, changed his clothes, went into the house of the Lord, and worshipped.
• 34:11
  SPEAKER_00: Then he went to his own house, and at his request they set food before him and he ate.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: What is this that you have done?
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: his servants asked.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: While the child was alive, you fasted and wept, and when he died, you got up and ate.
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: And David answered, While the child was alive, I fasted and wept, for I said, Who knows?
• 34:28
  SPEAKER_00: The Lord may be gracious to me and let him live.
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: But now that he is dead, why should I keep fasting?
• 34:33
  SPEAKER_00: Can I bring him back again?
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_00: I will go to him, but he will not return to me.
• 34:38
  SPEAKER_00: So I believe David's prayer and fasting was sincere and intense, and his grief was real.
• 34:44
  SPEAKER_00: And he did all of those things seven days before the Lord, and the child still died.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: Scripture doesn't say that David fasted wrong.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't say that he stopped too soon.
• 34:54
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, David was still praying and fasting when they came to tell him the child was dead.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not that he gave up and so he should have prayed and fasted more.
• 35:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I don't think it's that David lacked faith or he didn't believe enough.
• 35:06
  SPEAKER_00: Because David says, who knows, the Lord may be gracious.
• 35:09
  SPEAKER_00: That was his mentality while he was praying and fasting.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: So he asked and he hoped and he fasted, but he didn't believe that, as we've been saying, Kimberly, that that automatically meant God was going to answer, but he had faith that he could.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: And when the outcome became clear, David ended the fast.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: He got up, he washed, he worshiped, he ate.
• 35:30
  SPEAKER_00: And he didn't keep punishing his body in an attempt to reverse what happened.
• 35:34
  SPEAKER_00: And I think that's what's so important is sometimes the next fateful step that we can do after we've been praying and fasting, whether it's for one of our children or a situation or a relationship, we've talked about this before.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: There comes a time when God may say to you, your assignment is over, whether you have seen the outcome of that assignment that you want or not.
• 35:54
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes the next fateful step when we hear no is to get up and to worship and to move forward and say, God, I trust you.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: And go back to what Jehoshaphat said.
• 36:05
  SPEAKER_00: We don't know what to do, or God, I don't know what you're doing, but my eyes are going to be fixed on you.
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: And that does not in any way, Kimberly, take away from the pain and the grief of unanswered prayers.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: We've both lived through them, we both will live through them again in our lifetime of times where we plead for something that is good, we pray for healing, we pray for change, and we don't see it happen.
• 36:30
  SPEAKER_01: So for those of you who have fasted and the healing didn't come, the answer didn't come, the answer didn't come in the way you wanted to come, the prayers were not answered in the way you thought they were going to be answered.
• 36:41
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you fasted for a marriage and it ended.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you fasted for a child and they continued making choices that were harmful.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you fasted for a pregnancy and it was lost, or it didn't work out like you thought.
• 36:52
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you fasted for a ministry opportunity and that door was closed.
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you fasted for a job that didn't materialize, or you fasted for a person who wasn't healed, or they they died.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_01: Maybe you fasted for a relationship and it was not restored.
• 37:05
  SPEAKER_01: Here's what we want you to hear.
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_01: Your fast was not a failure.
• 37:08
  SPEAKER_01: God did not ignore you.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_01: Your grief is not evidence of a weak faith.
• 37:12
  SPEAKER_01: Faith does not require you pretending that it didn't happen.
• 37:16
  SPEAKER_01: Grief is real.
• 37:17
  SPEAKER_01: We even saw earlier that grief and fasting went together.
• 37:21
  SPEAKER_01: It's okay to hurt, it's okay to cry, it's okay to be angry, it's okay to be disappointed, it's okay to have all those emotions.
• 37:28
  SPEAKER_01: And like David, you're allowed to eat, you're allowed to rest, and you are allowed to grieve.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_01: You can receive care for yourself.
• 37:35
  SPEAKER_01: God remains near to you even when the answer is not the one you hoped for.
• 37:40
  SPEAKER_01: And those are hard, hard places to be.
• 37:43
  SPEAKER_01: And yet, but God He will meet you, He will be there.
• 37:48
  SPEAKER_01: And it may take some time and it may look different than you hoped for, but we want you to know that you are not the problem.
• 37:54
  SPEAKER_00: Kimberly, as we wrap up this two weeks on fasting, I think the question I want to kind of throw at you and for both of us to answer is so what?
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, this has been a great biblical conversation about fasting and what it is and what it's not, and that it is something that can help us in our relationship with God.
• 38:12
  SPEAKER_00: But as we think about fasting in our modern culture, what what is our takeaway?
• 38:18
  SPEAKER_00: What do we want to be encouraged to do when it comes to the idea of fasting?
• 38:21
  SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I've been thinking through some other things right now, and I'm thinking about how they might intersect with fasting.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_01: And one of those things is how anxious as a generation we are.
• 38:31
  SPEAKER_01: And I don't mean just this up and coming generation, but anxious as a culture we are.
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_01: And I do think that that is directly correlated with technology, in particular social media and our devices.
• 38:43
  SPEAKER_01: And so last week we mentioned that maybe a digital fast is helpful these days.
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_01: I've been contemplating that a little bit and thinking through okay, if the average person spends five to seven hours a day alone on their phone, just on their phone, then the natural question comes to me as we're having this conversation of then how do I ever have time to hear from the Lord?
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: Uh-huh.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_01: More so, how am I ever choosing to quiet myself before the Lord?
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_01: So I think a practical step for us today in our culture may be a technological fast of some kind.
• 39:19
  SPEAKER_01: And I think the one area of tech that is really eating a lot of people's lunch these days is social media.
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_01: Because it is geared to keep us in.
• 39:30
  SPEAKER_01: It's a manipulative tool to keep us addicted.
• 39:33
  SPEAKER_01: The algorithms know you.
• 39:34
  SPEAKER_01: They're paying attention to what's happening as you scroll, as you swipe.
• 39:38
  SPEAKER_01: I think that one in particular is something that maybe you need to remove social media from your phone.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_01: I think there are things like for me, I need my phone on at certain times for other things that are going on in my life and for business purposes or whatever.
• 39:53
  SPEAKER_01: But if social media wasn't on my phone, I would be less inclined to just go there.
• 39:58
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 39:59
  SPEAKER_01: And so I think that's something that's very relevant to today.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_01: Food definitely intrigues us.
• 40:04
  SPEAKER_01: Food definitely is always going to be a source of something that we run to for comfort for many people.
• 40:10
  SPEAKER_01: But I do think that today, a digital fast of some kind may be what the Lord could be calling a lot of us to practically.
• 40:19
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense to me because as you're talking about, not only is it addicting and and I can open up Instagram or any of the social media platforms.
• 40:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not trying to point one out as worse than the others, but of a sudden you look up and it's 45 minutes later.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_00: Like there there is a there's a time suck to it, but also even just being able to look up anything.
• 40:41
  SPEAKER_00: Like I am short circuiting my brain in some ways to not want to wait.
• 40:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think we all are.
• 40:48
  SPEAKER_00: I'll but I'll talk about me.
• 40:49
  SPEAKER_00: I won't I won't pre- I won't preach everybody else.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: I know for myself.
• 40:53
  SPEAKER_00: I often think back to when we were growing up, even pre-2007, which is in my adult lifetime.
• 40:59
  SPEAKER_00: If I didn't know the answer to a question, I couldn't just Google it and in 10 seconds have the answer to it.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: I would either have to sit and wonder with it or go find my uh World Book encyclopedia and try to find out the answer to it, go to a library.
• 41:14
  SPEAKER_00: There was research or effort that was needed.
• 41:17
  SPEAKER_00: And so my brain knew how to sit with an unanswered question.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: And my brain knew how to wonder better.
• 41:25
  SPEAKER_00: My brain knew how to be at peace when I don't have all the answers yet.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: I even think about driving because I said something in the last podcast that my phone had to be worked on for eight hours, and so I didn't have it.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, how did I ever get anywhere before I had a phone that told me exactly the fastest route of how to get to where I want to go?
• 41:43
  SPEAKER_00: Like we used to just get lost, and sometimes you'd have to pull over and ask someone at a gas station how to get where you needed to go.
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_00: We've lost a lot of that part in practical areas of your life.
• 41:55
  SPEAKER_00: But as as you've been talking about some of the stuff with me this week, Kimberly, I've also thought, okay, so how is that impacting our relationship with God?
• 42:02
  SPEAKER_00: How is it also translating over to the fact that even when I sit down and say, speak, Lord, your servant is listening?
• 42:08
  SPEAKER_00: If I don't hear something in about 30 seconds, I'm like, well, I guess he just didn't want to talk today.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_00: Because we're so used to the automatic answer being there.
• 42:16
  SPEAKER_00: And as we've talked about this fasting thing, I've wondered, what if Jesus' ministry came when there were smartphones?
• 42:24
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, one, oh my gosh, would he have not gone viral?
• 42:26
  SPEAKER_00: But would he have talked more about that?
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_00: He talked a lot about food and used a lot of parables around farming and agriculture and food because that's what they knew.
• 42:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I think for the time the Bible was written in, food was not always guaranteed.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_00: It was valuable, it could be scarce.
• 42:44
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, there's times when Jesus fed the 5,000 because they were all there and they were hungry.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_00: And what are we going to do with all these people?
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_00: So there's times that God used food to speak, even manna in the Old Testament.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_00: Like God has used food a lot to speak to his people about who he is for them.
• 43:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so that kind of makes the connection more easily for me about why fasting from food was so much a part of what is written in scripture.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: But it does make me kind of wonder if Jesus came down to earth today, what would he have to say about technology and how much time we're spending on it?
• 43:18
  SPEAKER_00: So I think our bigger question we're trying to ask is kind of where we landed our podcast last week, which is how do I make more room in my life where I can enjoy more intimacy with God and I can hear from him more clearly?
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 43:32
  SPEAKER_01: You know, Elizabeth, when I was in student ministry, we would often talk about how the times that students would come to youth group or would come to a retreat or whatever was really important because they weren't having spiritual conversations elsewhere.
• 43:45
  SPEAKER_01: And that's where we were trying to challenge parents to have spiritual conversations with their kids too.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not suggesting church or youth groups the answer.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just suggesting that was we would often say your kid is not having spiritual conversations naturally in a lot of other hours of the day.
• 44:00
  SPEAKER_01: So if they're only participating in a church event or a family conversation about God four to five hours a week at max, how spiritual are they?
• 44:10
  SPEAKER_01: How connected to Jesus are they?
• 44:12
  SPEAKER_01: And so I'm I'm making that point to suggest statistics are showing that our people in America and in European countries, especially Western Europe, Australia, other places, are testing as if we are growing dumb.
• 44:30
  SPEAKER_01: Truly.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_01: I'm not giving an insult here.
• 44:32
  SPEAKER_01: I'm just saying the statistics are there to show we are not becoming more intelligent because we are relying upon Google, because we are relying upon what you were saying, a fast answer.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_01: So if in our earthly realm, in our uh traditional academic spaces, we are becoming more dumb, how much more so are we becoming uh more dumb in spiritual matters?
• 44:56
  SPEAKER_01: Uh-huh.
• 44:57
  SPEAKER_01: It's just a question I have.
• 44:59
  SPEAKER_01: Are we becoming uh greater disciples of Jesus and of Scripture, or are we becoming greater disciples of uh our culture and technology and things that we're focused on and we care about that matter to us?
• 45:12
  SPEAKER_01: And I think that's where we have to say who is discipling us, who is training us.
• 45:19
  SPEAKER_01: And if we don't carve out time and make space for the great discipler, for the one who said, follow me, we're going to be shaped by something.
• 45:29
  SPEAKER_01: So we would encourage you, as much as we're encouraging ourselves, that fasting and prayer go together to help us grow deeper in our relationship with God.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_01: And that's the the greatest heartbeat in all of this is really, like you said, what are we making room for?
• 45:45
  SPEAKER_01: What are we creating space for?
• 45:47
  SPEAKER_01: And how is that going to shape us?
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_01: Because it is shaping us.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_01: So we encourage you today to ask God, what does it look like for me?
• 45:54
  SPEAKER_01: What's it look like for us to create space for more of Him?
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_00: This podcast is made possible through donations by people like you.
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_00: To donate, go to www.thefathersbusiness.com.
• 46:08
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