Prayer & Fasting: Necessity, not Burden
by Amy McGinnis
In the not-so-distant past, I viewed spiritual disciplines as both a burden and a necessity. Spiritual disciplines were a burden because they were added activities to my already bursting-at-the-seams schedule. I noticed emotions of frustration and anxiety spring up when I thought about how to incorporate more time to pray or read the Bible. When I did not do these things, I began to feel guilty, as in I was doing something “wrong,” and God would eventually get tired of my lack of discipline. I also thought spiritual disciplines were a necessity; if I wanted to receive something from God I needed to put in the work. It almost seemed like God was a vending machine and the spiritual disciplines were the currency I used to purchase blessings. I had a belief that if I did not spend time on these practices God would withhold his love and favor from me.
Can you relate?
Through God’s gentle guidance and mercy, I have come to see how spiritual disciplines are not tasks to add to my to-do list, nor are they measurements God uses to evaluate our worthiness to receive his blessings. Instead, I discovered spiritual disciplines are the means in which I can deepen my relationship with God. It is through activities such as prayer and fasting that I can draw closer to the heart of God and root my life in Him. They become a tangible way that I can build my house on the rock of God instead of on the sands of my own strength and abilities.
One way I build my life on God is through prayer. Prayer allows me to refocus my eyes on the Creator who holds the entire world instead of the shifting sands of my circumstances. Prayer reminds me that I am the manager, not the owner of my life; God has called me to steward my resources, however, he is the one who is unarguably in control. In my prayer practice, I will sometimes pray through different Psalms, such as Psalm 27. Or sometimes my prayer involves an imaginal aspect where I imagine myself sitting alongside a river with Jesus sitting right next to me. The purpose of this type of prayer is to remind me of Jesus’ everlasting presence in my life.
Another way I build my life on God is through fasting. While prayer allows me to refocus on eyes on God and my relationship with Him, fasting can remind me that my ultimate strength and sustenance come from God alone. I have experimented with several types of fasting including fasts from food, technology, and hobbies. When I sense a need to fast, I ask for God to reveal to me something on which I have become overly reliant, or feel that I “can’t live without.” As I fast from these items, I focus on how God is the ultimate provider of my strength, and I can fully trust Him to meet my needs.
As you think about your upcoming day, how might you try prayer and fasting through the lens of deepening your trust and relationship in God? Could you fast from checking emails for an hour? Could you set aside 5 minutes to focus on the presence and strength of God through prayer? Small increments of these practices will become lifegiving instead of a burden because they help us to continually root our trust in the Solid Rock who holds us all.
