Calling a prayer army....29th June - 6th July

Last week in Penzance there was a 24/7 prayer room running.  (It is great, loads of different areas and creative activities set up to aide our prayer - certainly no time to get bored!) Anyway, it got me thinking about Imogen and how many of you have said you would like to pray and fast with us.
So......we are proposing a week of prayer and fasting specifically for Immi 29th June-6th July, culminating with a meeting at 5pm at Breathe to pray, worship and break the fast together.
Anyone who feels prompted to join us in prayer for Immi who wants to come is invited, but obviously only pray or fast in the way the Holy Spirit prompts you,  (we don't want anyone keeling over!)

So (for those of you who may not have much experience with fasting), why prayer and fasting?  Well, to be honest I have been on a long journey with this. Is it too unspiritual to say I didn't really see the point - surely God can hear us without us having to starve ourselves?! However, over a long period of time God has shifted me on this.

Firstly, three years ago we had an incident which changed me.  We were crabbing with friends and family in Penzance (for those of you know know Pz - by Abbey Slip), the tide was low and there was some sandy shingle that Immi and her cousin were playing on and then others of us were just mingling.  My sister (Katie) and I were leaning at the top, about 10 feet above the sea bed) at the railings.  We were just chatting and then suddenly Katie screamed "Immi!!!"  I turned and just saw Murray jumping into the foot of water at the sea bed and dragging Immi, who was seizing, out of the water. She had walked up the slip towards me and the railings, had reached the top but just before the railings started she had gone into a seizure and been thrown off the edge   I ran up to the top of Penzance and drove our car down to get her by which time she was out of the seizure and miraculously only had a little scratch on the back of her wrist and shoulder.  It was a total miracle she was not hurt more, she missed a rock by her head by a couple of centimetres.  The following week we were in Birmingham hospital for one of her EEGs and the girl in the bed next to her had fallen from a first storey window (about the same distance) and had cracked her skull and two vertebrae and had been in a coma for 6 days!
The spiritual result of this incidence for me however was that it catapulted me into the story in Mark 9.  The father in the story says "Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has a spirit that makes him mute. And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid....And it has often thrown him into the fire and into water to destroy him.  But if you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us." Mark 9: 17 &22 (ESV).  Jesus then goes onto to do what the disciples couldn't, and heal the boy.  Later the disciples questioned Jesus asking why they couldn't do it (they had recently witnessed healing of a blind man, feeding of at least 4000 people and the transfiguration and had felt confident at the time!) Jesus replies "This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer." And then some manuscripts also have the Greek word 'nesteia' both here in Mark and also in Matthew 17 which translates as fasting. 

So the first thing is that is if it is good enough for Jesus then it is good enough for me!

Secondly, I was reminded the other day that God sometimes wants a physical response from us.  There is story in Exodus where a battle between God's people, Israel and the Amelakites was cracking off.  Moses felt let led to stand on the top of the hill and hold his staff up in his hand.  What insued was a battle that, whenever Moses held up his arms God's people took the upper hand, but if he lowered his hands Amalek started to win.  This depended on his physical stance so much that Aaron and Hur ended up holding up Moses' arms to secure victory.  It made me start thinking that maybe God sometimes desires a physical, not just an internal, heart response from us. I guess all relationships need some physical response in some way; I can tell my kids I love them, but if I don't physically get food in the house and feed them then they aren't going to be convinced! 
Sometimes we are very British in our worship, but sometimes may be we just need to let it out and allow a physical response too - football fans don't seem to struggle, so Im not sure why we do...

So, lesson two - its ok and maybe helpful to show a physical response to something we feel strongly about (and I feel pretty strongly about Immi!)

The third thing that I now feel fasting does for me is disconnects me from the world and connects me more to God.   Daniel in Daniel 1:8 resolves that he won't eat the kings food or wine as he felt it would defile him.  The Hebrew word here 'yitgaal' can also be translated as pollute.  Daniel didn't want anything to pollute him.  The officials didn't really like this idea (as they were scared of the king) but they agreed a trial period.  At the end of the trial, Daniel and his friends had a meeting with the King and he found them to be ten times better than  all the magicians and enchanters in 'every matter of wisdom and understanding' that the king questioned them in. (Dan 1) So by sacrificing the rich food and separating himself Daniel gained something  - wisdom and understanding.  When I am praying, quite often these are the very things I am after, so maybe by fasting (sacrificing and separating from the normal routine) I can gain something.

lesson three: through sacrifice and separation (fasting) I may gain.

It appears in what Jesus says in Mark 9 and Matthew 17 that there is something spiritual that shifts when we fast, and it appears that when we take a physical stance and sacrifice - there is something in how God relates with us and change in us happens.  I'm not sure that I know much more than that.  I'm not sure that as humans we need to know much more than that! All we need from this point on is obedience!

Having said that there are a few practical things to say if you have never fasted before.
If you decide to do a complete fast (expect for water) and have never done it before, then please do not fast for long.  You may want to just do one meal to begin with and then build up.

However, complete fasting is not the only kind of fast you can do;
you could fast like Daniel and refrain from rich food, or meat and drinks other than water. Or you could fast from TV or Screens and put the time aside to pray.  We are not in any way prescribing the way you should fast (or even if you should), please decide that with God yourself. 

But whether you fast or not, we welcome you to join us in prayer over that week and if you are able to join us on the 6th July at 4pm at Breathe in the Wharfside Centre in Penzance to worship and pray.

Many blessings!
And if you have any questions please do get in touch.

K x