JESUS PRAYS AND FASTS 40 DAYS IN THE WILDERNESS
BACKGROUND
The Bible has a great deal to say about both fasting and praying. Many of the Old Testament heroes and heroines of the faith, fasted and prayed. The followers of John the Baptist fasted and prayed. Jesus fasted and prayed. Jesus’ disciples fasted and prayed after the Resurrection. Prayer and fasting are combined in the Old Testament in times of mourning, repentance, and deep spiritual need.
David prayed and fasted over his sick child
2 Samuel 12:16.
Early on in the New Testament of the Gospel of Luke we see the Presentation of Our Lord in the temple. In Luke’s account, Jesus was welcomed in the temple by two elderly people, Simeon and the widow Anna. They embody Israel in their patient expectation; they acknowledge the infant Jesus as the long-awaited Messiah, Throughout the New Testament fasting and prayer are often mentioned together as with the widow, Anna, who worshiped day and night fasting and praying.”
PRESENTATION OF OUR LORD IN THE TEMPLE
When the days were completed for their purification* according to the law of Moses, they took him up to Jerusalem to present him to the Lord, just as it is written in the law of the Lord, “Every male that opens the womb shall be consecrated to the Lord,” Luke 2:22
There was a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was advanced in years, having lived seven years with her husband after her marriage, and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple, but worshiped night and day with fasting and prayer. And coming forward at that very time, she gave thanks to God and spoke about the child to all who were awaiting the redemption of Jerusalem. Luke 2:36-38
Prayer is essential with fasting. You may recall the disciples who were given power over demons came back to Jesus and admitted they could not cast out this one malicious stubborn demon which Jesus then did exorcise. They asked Jesus why they couldn’t do this. Jesus said this kind can only be cast out with prayer. Mark 9:9
Fasting, joined together with fervent prayer from the heart, demonstrates just how serious our prayer is. When a Christian practices the sacrifice of self-denial, he is joining himself to the sacrifice of the Cross, the power for good is unleashed and miracles are allowed to happen where half-hearted prayer alone could not succeed:
CONCLUSION
It was our appetite of the flesh that got us into mess we are in. “The woman saw that the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eyes, and the tree was desirable for gaining wisdom. So she took some of its fruit and ate it; and she also gave some to her husband, who was with her, and he ate it. Genesis 3:6
Denying my willfulness, to focus on God matters greatly because I was created by God to know, love, and serve Him in this world and be happy for all eternity with Him in the next.
God created us and has given each one of us a mission. Let’s not get in the way of that mission by putting our own desires and wants before God’s will.
Fasting, self-denial may include more than food and drink. There are many things we may deny ourselves from, for example, talking bad about someone, not watching your favorite TV shows, not gossiping on social media, not dwelling on my real or perceived wounds
Pray for the grace to fast. Pray that your fast will move mountains in your life and the lives of others. Pray in words of Scripture, pray from prayer books, pray in your own words pray before the Blessed Sacrament, pray the Sorrowful Mysteries of the rosary, PRAY!PRAY!PRAY!
Watch and pray that you may not undergo the test.
The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.
MATTHEW 26:41