A Prayer and Fasting Devotional

24 Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in Christ's afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church, 25 of which I became a minister according to the stewardship from God that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known, 26 the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now revealed to his saints. 27 To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. 28 Him we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom, that we may present everyone mature in Christ. 29 For this I toil, struggling with all his energy that he powerfully works within me.

2:1 For I want you to know how great a struggle I have for you and for those at Laodicea and for all who have not seen me face to face, 2 that their hearts may be encouraged, being knit together in love, to reach all the riches of full assurance of understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, which is Christ, 3 in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. 4 I say this in order that no one may delude you with plausible arguments. 5 For though I am absent in body, yet I am with you in spirit, rejoicing to see your good order and the firmness of your faith in Christ.  - Colossians 1:24-2:5

Located on an important trade route in what today is modern Turkey, the ancient city of Colossae became home to a congregation of new believers who were facing the challenge of learning how the distinctive doctrines of Christian teaching differed from the pagan religious philosophies that surrounded them. Receiving news of the troubling teaching infiltrating

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A Prayer and Fasting Devotional 

6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  - Philippians 4:6-7

Here in Philippians we see a remarkably simple contrast: do not be anxious! But pray! With little to no explanation on Paul's end, we are left wondering what prayer has to do with anxiety, and the answer may surprise us. We can find our clue in the type of prayer that Paul commands. He instructs us to make requests. Petition God. Ask Him for things.

An anxious life is focused on the uncertain. We worry about our bank account precisely because its nature is perilous. When we put our hope in money, or our family, or our positive disposition, we have placed our security in what is fundamentally insecure. Real security eludes

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Knowing and Experiencing Jesus Christ 

7 But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ... - Philippians 3:7-8

According to one scholar, Philippians 3:7-8 is one of the "surpassing moments in the Pauline corpus."¹ Paul just finished listing his sociological, biographical, achievement and performance-oriented credentials, a "resume of all resumes" in verses 4-6. By referencing his inherited ranks and privileges along with his compelling achievements and credentials, he shows that he possessed everything, pre-eminently so, about which early religious Jews could boast. Clearly his heritage and accomplishments with regard to Jewish identity were impeccable and second to none -- Paul need fear no competition. Prestige, power, rank, wealth, influence, comfort, authority, recognition, fame, pleasure, security, luxury, popularity, national identity, and retirement goals and dreams (!) were all his to be had.

Why is this important? Because it sets the stage for an unbelievable, almost incomprehensible value exchange

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This talk is from Harvard’s leadership lecture series. The speaker is Nick Nowalk. (1:30:04)

A Prayer and Fasting Devotional

Notice how our story starts. 1 Chronicles 21:1-2 says: “Satan stood up against Israel and incited David to count [the people of] Israel. So David said to Joab and the commanders of the troops, ‘Go and count Israel from Beer-sheba to Dan and bring [a report] to me so I can know their number.'” After God has caused David to become successful in the eyes of both his enemies as well as the nation of Israel, Satan then comes and tempts David to take ownership of something that is not rightfully his. In other words, just as Satan tempted Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, he also successfully tempts David to distrust God by putting down the mantle of stewardship and putting on the mantle of ownership of the nation of Israel via a census and thereby denying the provision of God.

Nevertheless, notice God’s mercy through Joab, despite David’s sin

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A Prayer and Fasting Devotional

We don't know for sure King Hezekiah's age when the prophet Isaiah announced to him that he would not recover from his illness, and that he should therefore put his affairs in order. He probably was about 39 years old because he died at age 54, and had no heir at the time. The King of Judah had not been perfect, yet had generally been a good king, but took the news hard. The Scriptures record that he lay on his bed, turned toward the wall, prayed and wept bitterly.

There are three accounts of this episode in the Scriptures (2 Kings 20:1-11, Isaiah 38: 1-22, 2 Chronicles 32:24-26), but none explain in detail why Hezekiah reacted the way he did. Perhaps it was indeed because he was relatively young and had many dreams he desired to see fulfilled. Perhaps he saw the word as a sign of God's disapproval on his life, and he wanted another chance

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A Prayer and Fasting Devotional

Fasting is part of the heartbeat of a seeking-God lifestyle. As we are all well aware, we rest on the promise that God will draw near to us as we draw near to Him (James 4:8). Thus, as we seek God through humility and fasting, we eagerly expect that the Lord will speak to us and that we will commune with Him in sweet and powerful ways. Seeking the Lord for His power and presence is wonderful. But, we talk about another promise less often, even though it is embedded in the same text. It's not as if we deny this promise, but it is not as much a part of our everyday vocabulary. This promise has become dearer to me as I continue to minister here with Christian Union. James encourages his audience, "Resist the devil and he will flee from you" (James 4:7). What a good promise from a gracious God.

Thus, as we fast, may we seek the Lord for fruitfulness in our individual ministries, our families, and the nation at large. May we seek direction for how the Lord is directing us to fulfill our calling on each of our livelihoods. May we seek blessing for ourselves, our friends, our families, our coworkers, and those whom we serve. But may we also ask the Spirit of truth to reveal to us the devil's schemes

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A Prayer and Fasting Devotional

Shortly after the LORD defeated the 450 prophets of Baal in a remarkable display of His power (1 Kings 18), Elijah fled the scene in order to escape the murderous threats of Jezebel, King Ahab's wife. Elijah was literally running for his life and after a day's journey into the wilderness near Beersheba, he collapsed beneath a broom tree in such a state of despair that he asked that his life might be taken, praying: "It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life, for I am no better than my fathers" (1 Kings 19:5). Elijah laid his head down to sleep, hoping that his eyes might never open again.
Rather than grant his dying wish, the LORD, in his providential hospitality, sent an angel to attend Elijah and twice provided him with freshly baked food and water. This nourishment sustained Elijah for forty days and forty nights.

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This talk was given at Harvard’s leadership lecture series by Teal McGarvey. Here she explores Romans 8 and Matthew 30:13-17. (38:01)

A Prayer and Fasting Devotional

Let's consider again what we're doing with this fasting business, and the role of hunger within it.

Fasting or not, we all constantly operate from within a state of multi-plexed hunger. We're hungry for food, for air-conditioned comfort, for sleep, and so on. As such, it can often feel like our lives consist of little more than the habitual oscillation between hunger > satisfaction > hunger > satisfaction, etc., on these various fronts. The problem is that being in a state of hunger so constantly has the effect of skewing our perspective:

Undue Significance a starving man attaches
To Food—
Far off—He sighs—and therefore—Hopeless—
And therefore—Good—

Partaken—it relieves—indeed—
But proves us
That Spices fly
In the Receipt—It was Distance—
Was Savory—

(Emily Dickinson)

Dickinson is here reminding us of a fact that our own repeated experience would certainly verify:

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A Prayer and Fasting Devotional 

Fasting, among other things, is a way of stepping away from this world, a world we are engrossed and often enthralled with, in order to re-focus on the true order of things. We too easily live in a fantasy world where we as individuals are the practical center of our daily universe, a selfish bubble that in turn is floating in a society which views all sorts of inappropriate objects as worthy of adoration. Yet when I get very hungry, or very sick, or very desperate, the true nature of things becomes more clear: The Lord has created us, and sustains us moment by moment.

He is at the center of the universe, and it moves according to His plan. We are fragile, small, and totally dependent upon Him. I know this in my head, but my heart wanders pretty easily over the fence to the ludicrous position that perhaps I'm better off siding with the world on certain issues. God seems to be both outgunned and out of touch with the sophisticated modern world. My hope is that during this fast the Lord will

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A Prayer and Fasting Devotional

In times of struggle, we long for the intervention of God. Our prayers to Him become heartfelt cries for rescue, and work to express our need for someone greater than ourselves to change our difficult circumstance. Pouring out our hearts with an honest representation of our plight is an important part of the prayer process, but misses the fuller picture if we end there.

The prayers of the Psalmist offer a helpful, more complete conversation model for what it looks like to hope in God in the midst of struggle. In many of the Psalmist's prayers, a pattern emerges in the way he speaks to the Lord about what has gone wrong. While honestly communicating the hardship, he also calls to mind the hope he has in God. The source of his hope is linked to the "steadfast love of the LORD." The phrase "steadfast love" is found in the Psalms 120 times. By infusing his prayers with this truth, the Psalmist is able to both accurately express the weightiness of his struggle and to give an opportunity for the remembrance of the steadfast love of God. The reflection on this hope reforms his thought process and offers change to his perspective

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The following audio files were recorded in Princeton, New Jersey. 

Michael Goheen: Talk About the Kingdom (46:06)



A Promise of the Spirit (36:43)



A Mission for God's People (38:23)

A Prayer and Fasting Devotional

Zechariah 8:20-23

20 "Thus says the Lord of hosts: Peoples shall yet come, even the inhabitants of many cities.
21 The inhabitants of one city shall go to another, saying, 'Let us go at once to entreat the favor of the Lord and to seek the Lord of hosts; I myself am going.'
22 Many peoples and strong nations shall come to seek the Lord of hosts in Jerusalem and to entreat the favor of the Lord.
23 Thus says the Lord of hosts: In those days ten men from the nations of every tongue shall take hold of the robe of a Jew, saying, 'Let us go with you, for we have heard that God is with you.' "

Jonathan Edwards identifies Zechariah's prophecy as the most descriptive in the Scriptures of revival. Many peoples shall seek God diligently in order to gain His favor, urgently pleading with others to do the same. They know that God is a faithful God who loves to hear the prayers of His people and loves to respond to them because of the relationship provided for us in Jesus Christ. They know that God has granted them permission to draw near to Him with a holy boldness, and that He will indeed hear their cry. The natural effect of this seeking is the same as always when people energetically seek God: outpourings of the Spirit of God bringing revival

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A Prayer and Fasting Devotional

Fasting often produces contemplation. When we fast for a period of time, we relinquish our body's need for food and seek to embrace our greater need to rest and find satisfaction in the presence of God. While we fast, we are humbled as our body aches with hunger. One way we satisfy that hunger is through repentance.

Repentance is both the acknowledging and turning away from sin. This requires us to reach deep down into our heart of hearts and uproot any destructive remains of sin, confess them, and rely on God to dispose of the roots no matter how long they are. This can be frightening, embarrassing, and threaten our own self-centeredness. One thing we need to be encouraged by is that God desires our repentance. In fact, the God of the Bible is a relenting God, who desires

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A Prayer and Fasting Devotional

And there was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived with her husband seven years from when she was a virgin, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day. And coming up at that very hour she began to give thanks to God and to speak of Him to all who were waiting for the redemption of Jerusalem. - Luke 2:36-38

We are busy. We have lives that we fill with lots of things to get done. Most seem very important to us and many of those things probably are important to do. I think we might look at Anna and all of her "worshiping with fasting and prayer" as not a good use of her time. So many years of fasting, worshiping, praying, seeking God. Couldn't she have done something more important with her life?

And yet, she is an integral part of God's mission

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This talk is from Harvard’s leadership lecture series. The speaker is Nick Nowalk and he explores Hebrews 5:11-6:12. (43:56)

A Prayer and Fasting Devotional

After this He (Jesus) went out and saw a tax collector named Levi, sitting at the tax booth. And He said to him, "Follow Me." And leaving everything, he rose and followed Him. And Levi made Him a great feast in his house, and there was a large company of tax collectors and others reclining at table with them. And the Pharisees and their scribes grumbled at His disciples, saying, "Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" And Jesus answered them, "Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." - Luke 5:27-32

He entered Jericho and was passing through. And behold, there was a man named Zacchaeus. He was a chief tax collector and was rich. And he was seeking to see who Jesus was, but on account of the crowd he could not, because he was small in stature. So he ran on ahead and climbed up into a sycamore tree to see Him, for He was about to pass that way. And when Jesus came to the place, He looked up and said to him, "Zacchaeus, hurry and come down, for I must (it is necessary) stay at your house today." So he hurried and came down and received Him joyfully. And when they saw it, they all grumbled, "He has gone in to be the guest of a man who is a sinner." And Zacchaeus stood and said to the Lord, "Behold, Lord, the half of my goods I give to the poor. And if I have defrauded anyone of anything, I restore it fourfold." And Jesus said to him, "Today salvation has come to this house, since he also is a son of Abraham. For the Son of Man came to seek and to save the lost." - Luke 19:1-10

And when the hour came, He (Jesus) reclined at table, and the apostles with Him. And He said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer." - Luke 22:14-15

The Gospel of Luke has a steady theme of what could be called "Table Hospitality." Table hospitality identifies two groups

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A Prayer and Fasting Devotional

Mention the word idol to someone and they are likely to think of the shrines of old or temples in far countries that still house representations of gods to be worshiped. Yet in our own culture the propensity for idols is no less prevalent, though perhaps far more nuanced.

In his book Desiring the Kingdom, Jamie Smith overlays seemingly arcane language of the shrine on a typical American pastime with striking ease. He describes a "site throbbing with pilgrims every day of the week" entered through "one of several grandiose entrees...[that] channels the ritual observance of the pilgrims." As the faithful "wander the labyrinth in contemplation," iconography consistent with other temples draws pilgrims into "chapels devoted to various saints." Here we are greeted by "acolytes" who guide us through the selection of "holy objects" and eventually to an altar where a priest "presides over the consummating transaction." As you've probably guessed by now, the experience of shopping at our local mall described in this way "unveil[s] the character of what presents itself as benign" (pp. 19-23).

Our forefather Abraham required a reorientation

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A Prayer and Fasting Devotional

"They tested God in their heart by demanding the food they craved. They spoke against God, saying, 'Can God spread a table in the wilderness? He struck the rock so that water gushed out and streams overflowed. Can he also give bread or provide meat for His people?'" Psalm 78:18-20

We are a wilderness people. If the story of Israel is any indication, we, the new Israel, can be assured that, following on the heels of God's salvific action, we become campers. Wilderness dwellers. In the pages of Scripture, the wilderness is not only a thick, mossy forest with towering trees or a sandy desert with oppressively hot days followed by frigid, windy nights. It is also a controlling metaphor for a barren, in-between place of trial. Thankfully, the wilderness is also an ideal setting for God's presence and provision

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