by Dee Sheveland – Prayer First Steering Team
The recent earthquake in Haiti makes us aware of our basic needs for sustenance. As human beings, our bodies survive on food, water, and shelter.
But we also have deeper spiritual needs, which can be exposed through the practice of fasting and prayer.
Jesus said to the woman seeking water at the well, “Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water that I give will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:13-14).
Jesus had a revealing divine appointment with this woman. Her infidelity was exposed as well as her need for a Savior. Jesus also revealed himself as the Messiah to her, which compelled her to go back to Samaria and spread the good news.
Here we see a woman seeking physical water for survival, and Jesus offers her a spring of water welling up inside of her spirit. He offers her a place to lay down all of her facades, a place to be seen and completely known, a place to face her deep spiritual need that far exceeds her desire for water, that is, for Jesus himself.
Afterward, the disciples beg Jesus to eat something. He must not have eaten for some time for the disciples to urge him so. After his redemptive encounter with this woman, Jesus responded to them, “My food is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work” (John 4:34).
Jesus is acknowledging his deepest need as well, which is accomplishing the Father’s will. His appetite for his Father’s will was stimulated by this meaningful interaction. His sense of purpose was clarified, to satisfy the thirst of God’s creation with living water that cleanses, purifies, and renews.
Benefits of True Fasting
Times of fasting and prayer have the potential to expose who we really are and what we really need. As we see in Isaiah 58, true fasting has many positive benefits.
- It exposes inconsistencies between our values and our lifestyles.
- It humbles us.
- It unifies us under our shared emptiness apart from our God.
- It releases power to set captives free, and to break strongholds of oppression.
- It crystallizes our sense of call and vision for God’s Kingdom to come on earth.
- It heals us, guides us, satisfies us, and strengthens us.
- And it calls us to practice a Sabbath rest, a place of peaceful submission and surrender.
When I was in Kiev, Ukraine I visited St. Sophia Cathedral and the ancient catacombs. Mark shared in “Primal” about his visit to the Church of San Clemente in Rome. He set the premise of the book on top of the visceral experience of traversing down into the ancient space created by our spiritual ancestors. He writes,
Brad Lomenick, director of the Atlanta-based Catalyst movement for young leaders, shares five key leadership lessons he learned in his 20s. These lessons apply to young church leaders and, really, any young leader in any capacity:
one who doesn’t believe evil is real in our world. We don’t always know how to talk about it. Sometimes we don’t even know how to process it.
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