Teach Me to Pray - Week #17: The Cure of Unbelief

"Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, 'Why could we not cast it out?' So Jesus said to them, 'Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed...nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.'" Matthew 17:19-21 (NKJV)

In this chapter Andrew Murray says that the cause of failure in the spiritual world is lack of faith or unbelief. Murray goes on to say that, according to Jesus' teaching, the cure for unbelief is two-fold: prayer and fasting.

"...He teaches two lessons of deep importance about prayer. First, faith needs a life of prayer in which to grow and remain strong. Second, prayer sometimes needs to be combined with fasting for its perfect development."

Faith only grows as it feeds on God Himself and prayer is the means by which we feed on the divine life. "It is the adoring worship of God, the waiting on Him and for Him, the deep silence of soul that yields to God to reveal himself, that the capacity for knowing and trusting God will be developed."

In western Christianity the idea of "much prayer" is foreign. With the increase of technology, the pace of life has accelerated with pressures on every side, and so we attempt to have a relationship with God without spending much time at it. Our model of feeding on His life is more like a drive-thru fast food eatery than a sit-down restaurant. "But what the Master says and what the experience of His people has confirmed is that people of strong faith are people of much prayer...Faith needs prayer for its full growth."

Secondly, "...prayer needs to be combined with fasting for its perfect development...Prayer is like one hand grasping the invisible; fasting is like the other letting go of the visible. In nothing is man more connected with the world of sense than in his need of food and his enjoyment of it. It was the fruit, good for food, with which man was tempted and fell in Paradise."

Fasting is a means of strengthening the "inner man" to be able to persevere in prayer and to empower one to "pray much." We don't naturally have strength to pray much, and much prayer is needed in order to see the will of the Father accomplished, especially in cases of the stubborn resistance of evil.

Murray finishes the chapter by reiterating that "prayer is reaching out after God and the unseen; fasting is letting go of all that is of the seen and temporal...Without such voluntary separation - even from what is lawful - no one will attain full power in prayer."

Fasting is a huge topic that deserves much more attention in the western Church; the Spirit of God is bringing it to the forefront in these days, and it will become common practice for all God's people as we near the end of the age. There are a couple of outstanding books on this topic that have helped me immensely in the subject of fasting: "The Key to Fasting" by Mark Nysewander, and "The Rewards of Fasting" by Mike Bickle.

May the Lord grant us the grace to fast and pray in increasing measure in these critical days of human history. God bless you this week!