It’s the perfect time to pause and reflect on our journey to-date, now that we’ve gone through the spiritual disciplines of Fasting, Sabbath, Solitude, and Prayer. My strong encouragement is to keep going. You’re not going to easily adopt any of these Practices on the first-go.
In Week 4 of the Practice of Fasting we face the reality of our world in which there are far too many people who do not have enough food to survive. The average family of four in the US spends $1,500 a year on food that will be thrown away which represents 40% of our food.
In Week 3 of the Practice of Fasting we reviewed how Fasting amplifies our prayers. First, Fasting amplifies our ability to hear God (Acts 13: 1-13). Second, Fasting amplifies our voice to God (Jonah 3: 5, 10).
In Week 2 of the Practice of Fasting we unpacked another important reason to fast, to grow in holiness. Fasting helps to wean us off the “pleasure principle” – to be happy and content even when we don’t get what we want.
In Week 1 we start by realizing that the ancient practice of Fasting has been a part of the early Christian and pre-Jesus life, going back over 2,000 years. In fact, the Eastern traditions continue to practice fasting today and it’s more Western Christianity that has lost the prevalence in its traditions.
Over the past four weeks we reviewed four types of prayer, in progression: talking to God, talking with God, listening to God, and being with God. In talking to God (Week 1) we see how the Lord’s Prayer (from Luke 11: 2-4) is the way Jesus taught us to pray.
Contemplative Prayer is wordless prayer. When you imagine what Paul is talking about in 2 Corinthians 3:18, you can begin to appreciate how to behold the LORD’s glory. Beholding the LORD’s glory involves contemplating God’s beauty, goodness, and love pouring out toward you.
Followers of Jesus know his voice. As followers we know that the voice we hear from Jesus always aligns with scripture and grows our relationship with Jesus. When we pray to Jesus we deeply surrender to listen and obey rather than to just ask to give us whatever we desire.
Immediately following the Lord’s Prayer in Luke 11: 2-4 which is Jesus’ response to his disciples’ request to teach them to pray, Jesus draws attention through a rabbinic form of teaching called “how much more.”
Over these next four weeks of the Prayer Practice we will be unpacking “Prayer: the medium through which we communicate and commune with God” through four movements – talking to God, talking with God, listening to God, and being with God.