Prayer And Fasting Bring Divine Interventions

21 Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions. 

22 For I was ashamed to request of the king an escort of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the road, because we had spoken to the king, saying, “The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrathare against all those who forsake Him.” 

23 So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer.

[Ezra 8:21-23]

Danger was lurking in the way for Ezra and the Jews who wanted to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the Temple and the walls of the city. The logical thing to do was to ask the king for military escort. You know Ezra would have gotten that and more, based on the favours he’d already received from the king by the grace of God. But Ezra couldn’t ask for that. He gives us the reason. He says he was ashamed to ask because he’d already boasted to the king about His God and His mighty power to save and to deliver. Asking for military assistance would simply demolish his testimony about his God.

Ezra therefore called for congregational fasting and prayers to ask for divine interventions from the Almighty.The good news is that God responded favourably to their call and delivered them from the hand of the enemy. When you brag about God, He’ll always show up anytime, any day.

May the Lord answer you when you call. May He intervene for you and deliver you from all troubles. May be fight those who have made themselves your enemy and give you perfect peace in the Name of Jesus.  Amen.

IMPORTANCE OF FASTING

21 Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions. 

22 For I was ashamed to request of the king an escort of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the road, because we had spoken to the king, saying, “The hand of our God isupon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrathare against all those who forsake Him.” 

23 So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer.

[Ezra 8:21-23]

From the Scripture above, we see that fasting does a lot of good to us including the following:

*Fasting humbles us before God. Sometimes, the flesh becomes arrogant and unyielding. Fasting helps break down its resistance and we yield to the will of God.

*Fasting also enables us to also know the will of God for our lives. When we want to take a major decision and we’re confused, fasting helps us know what God’s will for our lives is.

*Furthermore, fasting can change the mind of God when He sees our humility. That was the case of the people of Nineveh which we all know very well. Also, when Ahab  killedNaboth and took his vineyard, God sent Elijah to proclaim some harsh judgment against Ahab. But when Ahab put on sack cloth and humbled himself, God mitigated the sentence.

*Last but not least, fasting rejuvenates our physical bodies. Fat is burnt and our blood vessels are cleansed to enhance circulation of blood. Models and others abstain from food just to maintain particular body shapes. Let’s do it for spiritual reasons and we’ll get physical benefits as well.

May the Lord give us grace to fast and pray. And may He hear us and answer us speedily as we fast and pray in the Name of Jesus. Amen.

My testimony on prayer

4 Then the king said to me, What do you request?”

So I prayed to the God of heaven.

5 And I said to the king, “If it pleases the king, and if your servant has found favour in your sight, I ask that you send me to Judah, to the city of my fathers’tombs, that I may rebuild it.”

[Nehemiah 2:4-5]

We looked at the fact that we need to pray both long and short prayers. Jesus did and so did Nehemiah.

I have by the grace of God engaged in both long and short prayers.

I’m tempted to say it’s as if God answers the shorter prayers faster; but I know that’s not absolutely true. Long prayers develop our human spirit and bring our body and its cravings under the control of the Holy Spirit. Without it, we’ll keep struggling with the desires of the flesh. The reason God seems to answer short prayers faster is to correct our notion of who God is. God doesn’t answer us just because we prayed for long. But we need to note that God desires both quality prayers and also quantity. Otherwise, Jesus wouldn’t have engaged in long prayers. After all He’s God and knew exactly what the Father wanted Him to pray about. So let’s pray long and also quality prayers.

Let me quickly give you a testimony on short prayers.

During my secondary school days, there came a time I started feeling pains in my scrotum. I could no longer play football or even laugh aloud. There also developed a growth at my private part.

So I went to hospital and the doctor said it was hernia. He gave me medicine and said if after taking them I was still unwell, I should come for operation.Taking medicine is such a difficult task for me, so I started praying and fasting about it.

One evening after prep, I laid on my dormitory bed and prayed silently to God again for my healing. All of a sudden, I saw an angel fly down. He stood at the foot of my bed. He took out a knife, cut the growth and showed it to me. After that, he flew away.

To the glory of God, the growth was gone as well as the pain. I have since been well. The amazing thing is that the mark of the angel’s knife is still there up to today.

Friends, God truly answers prayers. Let’s pray both long and short prayers, as well as quality prayers.