A Secret Discipline

I recently heard of someone who was seeing many miracles happen in Africa. Someone asked him his secret. He responded that it was simple. Just fasting and prayer.

One lady said the Lord called her to fast one day a week for her church. On Wednesdays she has only water, and, amazingly, by the end of her workday, she feels better than she does on the days she eats. The Lord has given her a picture in her mind of her church with flames coming out of the top of it, and she believes God wants to break out in revival in her church. Her hunger to know God's glory in their midst motivates her to fast.

During a personal crisis, Leta promised God that she would fast breakfast, her favorite meal, until He changed a situation. However, she often suffered stomach aches and headaches if she skipped breakfast. So on those days, she often gave up a tasty breakfast and ate only plain toast.

Fasting is a secret discipline. Jesus promised that those who engaged in secret fasting would be openly rewarded. (Matthew 6:18) Our fasting is to be totally to Him--for His pleasure and done out of a desire for more of Him.

Results will come, but they are not always immediate or predictable. God may not respond to our fasts in the way we anticipate, but He will keep His promise to openly reward us.

This secret discipline is an expression of our desire for Jesus and enlarges our capacity to receive more of Him.

Dear Lord, give me grace to respond to the desires You give to seek You.

""And when you fast, don't make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get" (Matthew 6:16 NLT).