Читать книгу Greater Intimacy With Our Creator - Robert Sr. Eldredge Sr. - Страница 13

Voluntary fasting is another example of sacrificial love that is pleasing to God. And if you should happen to find yourself in an emergency situation, fasting can be especially helpful in moving the benevolent hand of God.

However, fasting is best done in secret, for God, “who sees what is done in secret,” will then reward you openly. If it is done only to impress others, then it will be done in vain!

“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do ..... But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.” (Matthew 6:16-18)

The following are a few examples of some people in the Bible who fasted and prayed for God to meet their various needs.

•David “humbled his soul with fasting” and prayed for his enemies when they were sick. (Psalm 35:13)

•Esther fasted and prayed three days for deliverance when her life and the lives of her people were in danger. (Esther 4:16)

•Saul, who was later called Paul, fasted and prayed three days for recovery of his sight after he was struck blind on the road to Damascus. (Acts 9:9)

•Daniel was the third ruler in the Persian Empire and wanted to know what to do about an impending war, so he fasted and prayed twenty-one days for revelation. (Daniel 10:2)

•Jesus fasted and prayed for forty days after being anointed by the Holy Spirit for public ministry because he knew he was going to be tempted by the devil. (Luke 4:2)