Ever strain at opening a jar but the lid just won’t budge? Sooner or later you stop kidding yourself and you look for something that will help, like gripping it with a dish towel, hitting it with the back end of a butter knife or you ask someone stronger to help you.
Ever strain at solving a problem in life but it just won’t budge? There is something about fasting that gets the attention of God better than praying alone. Certainly, it helps us to focus on what it is we’d like the Lord to do for us but somehow it helps Him focus on it too. Often, we pray for things so casually that when the Lord does respond we don’t even pause to thank Him. With fasting we have “some skin (or fat as the case may be) in the game”. We become more vested in the need that must be addressed. When the mountain finally moves it is a great relief to us mentally, spiritually and physically.
Paul taught us that when we are weak, He is strong. The weaker we become through fasting, the more He asserts His strength into the situation. We don’t manipulate God, we invite Him into our struggles, laying aside our might in preference to His.
-Pastor Joel Everhart