The Power of the Fast

Week 30, Friday

Liz Traylor

So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” Mark 9:29 (nkjv)

“I give up, God. I’ve prayed. I’ve struggled to overcome these overwhelming feelings of anger. She hurt me badly, but doesn’t even know it. Why can’t I get over it? I just want to forget and move on, but it won’t go away. Why, God?”

As soon as I prayed that prayer, I thought of Jesus’ disciples. They attempted to cast an unclean spirit out of a child, but couldn’t (see Mark 9:18). When they asked the Master why they failed, He said they had not prayed and fasted. They lacked power.

I lacked power.

God made it clear to me that a fast was in order for the express purpose of deliverance from my attitudinal stronghold. He showed me when and what to fast, and for how long. I wasn’t crazy about the idea, but I was obedient.

With distractions removed, I began to see my failings quite clearly. In a weird way, I had enjoyed the mental rants over the perceived injustice. I had rationalized my feelings as righteous indignation. As God revealed more and more that day about my part in the whole mess, I was shocked. I had an ugly, bitter heart. I was strangling my own spirit.

But by the end of the day, I had victory . . . and peace.

In Isaiah 58:6, God asks, “Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?” (nkjv).

As a believer in God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit, I am not meant to live in bondage to sin. But sometimes I am not willing to pay the price. Power to be free often comes only from the disciplines of prayer and fasting. Never again will I forsake the freedom available to me through temporary self-denial.

Father, make me ready to fast when You ask in order to find power for overcoming sin in my life. Amen.