Why Did they Fast and Pray?

Saints, 

Why did they fast and pray?

The Christ followers at Antioch gathered together and fasted and prayed.

Acts 13:1-4 (NIV)
¹ In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch) and Saul.
² While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."
³ So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.
⁴ The two of them, sent on their way by the Holy Spirit, went down to Seleucia and sailed from there to Cyprus.

What causes a faith-family to fast and pray? What led to this? Was there a problem in their fellowship? Why would they all come together in worship and choose to pray and fast?

This reminds me of Daniel. You have to admit, Daniel was a man of prayer. Even with the threat of losing his life—he chose prayer. Doesn’t this surprise you? Do we, like Daniel think that prayer is that real or important or life-changing to choose it over our next breath?

Something caused Daniel to pray for 21 days.

Daniel 10:2-3 (NIV)
² At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks.
³ I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.

“Why would Daniel fast, mourn, and pray for 21 days?” If you are like me, you may be wondering at this point, “Is there anything that would cause me to fast and pray? Is there anything in this world that would drive me to fast and pray for 21 days?” I hope as we look at these two passages and ask these pointed questions that God would reveal to you and me how our faith practice might be different from the early believers in Antioch and from Daniel.

Please don’t misunderstand me—I am not saying that we have to copy or seek to re-live every activity of the first century church. But, we should demonstrate the dependence on Christ and the Holy Spirit that the first century church demonstrated through corporate prayer. As an “any-century” church—we absolutely must have the heart of Jesus Christ.

The point I am trying to make is that I believe as a whole, the desperation of the church at Antioch and the desperation of one of my heroes—Daniel has grown cold in the church today. Simply put, we don’t fast and pray today because we don’t believe that we need to fast and pray. Why do we need to?

As for Daniel, I can imagine his heart during those 21 days crying out to God, “He may have said, “God, You must hear me!” or “I am undone.” I can imagine the heart of the Antioch church in their praying and fasting as they looked at an unreached world and so desperately wanted and needed God to empower them to make a difference—to reach their world somehow.

Is our situation any different? Brother’s and sister’s if our heart was more like Jesus’ heart. If we embraced the purpose of the church as God gave it to us—to be God’s witnesses, to make disciples, to spread the gospel locally and globally. Then, we would be driven to pray and fast like Daniel and like the church at Antioch—how could we not?

I realize that these words are tough today, trust me; these thoughts are hard on me, too. Even so, I submit to you that as a whole, we the 2011 Christian church has lost something. Yes, we do church, but we do it as comfortably as we can, with as little sacrifice as possible.

This is not Jesus' plan. Remember how Jesus pointed out the widow as she gave her mite to the treasury.

Luke 21:1-3 (NIV)
¹ As he looked up, Jesus saw the rich putting their gifts into the temple treasury.
² He also saw a poor widow put in two very small copper coins.
³ "I tell you the truth," he said, "this poor widow has put in more than all the others.

This is more than a simple commentary by Jesus on finances. We should be giving like the widow gave. She gave all.

Daniel gave all. The Antioch church was waiting on God—there was reason to wait on God. They had no other choice. Somehow we seem to have come up with another choice. We seem to try to serve God in a different way, a less God-dependent way.

Brothers and sisters—may God teach us to rely on Him as the church at Antioch did. May God teach us to cry out to him in prayer like Daniel. May our service and sacrifice move from marginalized and limited to all-encompassing.

Yes, there is a battle raging all around us. It is unseen. May the Father open our eyes to the spiritual battle and how He desires to use us, even spend our lives on His purposes.

To help describe our point today, let’s look at what one seminary professor described as two possible life-positions —I believe that Daniel and the Church at Antioch both fall into the second category. The question is, “Which category are we in?”

1) “The enemy of our soul has convinced me that I am the king of life. The result of this is the pursuit of visible illusions which will wither and die.”

2) “Jesus came to proclaim Himself as King of life. If I embrace Him as my King, I will give my life to the pursuit of invisible reality which is growing and eternal.”

Father, please forgive us for our apathy which is demonstrated by prayerlessness and even our lack of fasting. Father, we truly are desperate for You like the Antioch church. If we are honest we would admit that we should be praying and fasting like they did—waiting on you. Please. Holy Spirit, convict and cause us to repent. Please God revive, awaken your church. Please make us like Daniel. Please teach us to pray—to be in you, that we will live in You. Please use us to reach a world for Christ. In Jesus Name and with His heart, we pray, amen.      

Compelled to pray and desperate for God, Steve