What's the Point Anyway?

Earlier this week I mentioned to you that our pastor has called our church into a period of prayer and fasting.  In addition, we'll be studying about prayer and fasting in our Sunday morning Bible study, and I've also been doing some reading and studying on that topic.

One question I've heard asked recently is why do we need to fast?  If we're already praying, why do we also need to fast?  It's a legitimate question.  What's the point anyway? 

In his book Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough, Dr. Elmer Towns writes, "Fasting is not an end in itself; it is a means by which we can worship the Lord and submit ourselves in humility to Him......One of the greatest benefits of fasting is becoming more attentive to God."

So that's one answer to the question.  Certainly fasting is not a way to blackmail God into giving us what we want.  It isn't some sort of gimmick.  Nor is it a way to make God love us more.  But it is a way to show we mean business with God.  It is a way to draw closer to Him, to worship Him, and to humble ourselves before Him.

And He has said, in the oft-quoted 2 Chronicles 7:14,  "if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways,  then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."  (emphasis mine)

There are numerous examples of fasting in the Bible, and also throughout history.  Consider this example.  Jonathan Edwards, who is often credited with beginning the First Great Awakening in the United States in the 1740s, fasted 22 hours before preaching his famous sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."

Some one hundred years later, during the Laymen's Prayer Revival of 1859, Christians fasted during their lunch hours and attended prayer meetings.  This led to a prayer revival across the northeastern United States.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if once again we could experience that kind of spiritual reawakening in our country?

"If my people will humble themselves and pray......"

That's the point.

Send a revival, O Christ, my Lord,
Let it go over the land and sea.
Send it according to Thy dear Word,
And let it begin in me.

(B. B. McKinney)