Lesson 4

 


HOW TO HUMBLE OURSELVES - 
PART C

Turn to Him for all our needs in prayer and fasting

 

                                                                                            

 


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KEY SCRIPTURES:

Call to me and I will answer you and give you great and unsearchable things you do not know.
                                                                                          (Jeremiah 33:3)

A. How do we humble ourselves before God?

If we want to be humble before God, we must always possess these various attitudes:

Acknowledge with our lips our total dependence on God before man

Submit to his Word;

Turn to Him in praying and fasting;

Follow the leading of the Holy Spirit;

Give Him all the glory for all He has done.

B. Acknowledging with our lips our total dependence of God before man (Lesson 2)

C. Submission to the Word of God (Lesson 3)

D. Turn to God for all our needs in prayer and fasting

1. Pray to God for our needs

Having acknowledged our total dependence on Him, let us put it into practice by turning to Him in prayer for all that we need in life.

A person who does not turn to God is prayer is not humble, but is proud.
God wants us to ask Him for every thing that we need.
In fact, if we do not ask from God, we will not receive anything.

You do not have, because you do not ask God.
(James 4:2)

If a believer does not ask God to help him when he is in need, it means that:

either he is ignorant of the blessings of God through prayer;

or he feels he can make it on his own without the help of God; in other words, he is proud of his own ability to make it on his own.

If he were ignorant, then he needs to learn more about the power of prayer and access to the throne of God through prayer.

If he were proud, and did not turn to God, he might find an answer to his problems using his own strength, but God is not in the answer, and the need is not well met.
Sooner or later, his own strength will be insufficient to meet all his needs.
There will be many, many problems in our life that can never be solved unless we turn to God.

2. God commands us to turn to Him to meet our need

God's Word commands us to call to Him for help; in other words, God wants us to tell Him that we need Him.
To disobey is a sin.
To grumble and complain about our problems is sinful, useless, unproductive and disobedient to God's commands. He wants us to pray, not grumble.
We do this through petitionary prayer or prayer requests (Philippians 4:6; 1 Timothy 2:1).

CALL TO ME and I will answer you and give you great and unsearchable things you do not know.
(Jeremiah 33:3)

ASK and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who ASKS receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.
(Matthew 7:7-8)

I tell you the truth, my Father will give you whatever you ASK in my name.
(John 16:23)

God does not want us to keep silent or sulk when we are in need.
Neither does He wants us to turn to man first.
He wants us to turn to Him in faith and call out to Him for help, before calling on man.
He will always answer our cry and help us when we turn to Him (Hebrews 4:16).

Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
(Hebrews 4:16)

3. Acknowledge our dependence upon God to Him in prayer

When we turn to God in prayer, we must humble ourselves before Him by acknowledging that we are totally dependent on Him for all our needs (Use the Prayer and Proclamation in Lesson 1).

If with our tongue we tell God that we need Him absolutely in every area of our life, and that without Him we can do nothing, then He will come to our aid.

If with our tongue, we only declare our self-righteousness, that we are already self-sufficient, that we can be blessed without God, then God will not help us.

This was the cause with the prayer of the self-righteous Pharisee in Temple, as told by Jesus:

To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable:
Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector.
The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: "God, I thank you that I am not like all other men - robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get."
But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up a heaven, but beat his breast and said, "God have mercy on me, a sinner."
I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself with be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.
(Luke 18:9-14)

Thus we see that not all prayer is fruitful.
If you pray in pride and declare our self-righteousness and self-sufficiency before God, you will receive nothing from Him.
You have wasted your time and energy in prayer; it has just been a religious show.

If you want to receive from God in prayer, you must pray with humility and faith.
You must acknowledge your absolute dependence on Him.
And as you ask, begin to receive your answer by faith, according to the promise in His Word (Mark 11:24).

4. Prayer and fasting

Fasting is the physical way prescribed by God to show that we are humbling ourselves before Him (Ezra 8:21; Psalm 35:13; Isaiah 58:3).

I put on sackcloth,
     and humbled myself with fasting.
(Psalm 35:13)

However, since fasting has no vocal expression, it will serve no purpose if we only fast without prayer.
Fasting must be used as an aid to prayer if fasting is to be any help to us.

Fasting does not change God. It changes our attitude.
It is a physical reminder to us that we are totally dependent on God for everything.
Fasting adds weight and sincerity to our prayers to God that we truly need Him.

5. When to fast

We fast when we are directed by God to do so.
And when we fast or personal reasons, it must be done in private, so that we will not lose our reward (Matthew 6:16-18).

Our private fasting is not to be purposely made known to others, because it will end in boasting and pride. This defeats the very purpose of fasting, namely, to humble ourselves before God.
(When we talk about our fasting, we are in effect telling others, "See, how humble I am, I have been fasting for so many days.")

However, a fast for the whole church can be announced publicly by the pastor and leaders to seek the face of God corporately, as the Lord leads the leadership (Joel 1:14; 2:12, 15).

6. Motives for fasting and its benefits

Our fasting and prayer must arise from our desire to build up the kingdom of God.
If we fast with evil motives, God will not hear us (Isaiah 58:3-4).
However, if we fast and pray for the work of God, God will not only answer our prayers for others, but He will bless us personally also.

According to Isaiah 58, the Great Fasting Chapter in the Bible, we will receive God's anointing, healing, protection, answers to prayer, deliverance, divine guidance, provision, physical strength, refreshing, revival and restoration when we fast for others with the right motives in our heart (Isaiah 58:6-12).

7. Types and duration of fasts

Fasting can take any of the following forms:

  1. the fluid fast where only water or other fluids are taken;

  2. the complete fast where no food or water is taken (Deuteronomy 9:9-18; Esther 4:16).

  3. the partial fast where only certain meals are taken;

  4. the vegetable/fruit fast, where meat is not taken (Daniel 10:3)

A fast can last for one day to forty days or more (Deuteronomy 9:9-18; Daniel 10;2; Esther 4:16; Matthew 4:2).
Every fast must be directed by God as to its duration (how long?), nature (what type of fast?), timing (when?) and purpose (why?).

Be directed by the Holy Spirit in your personal fasts. Never impose your own experience on others as individuals.
Only in the case of the corporate fast should the direction come from the church leadership.

Your thought

PRAYER

PRAYER FOR FORGIVENESS OF PRIDE

Dear Father God, forgive us for our pride and self-sufficiency.
Forgive us for our grumbling, complaining and lack of faith in You.

We acknowledge that you are our everything.
Without You we will not be good, we will have nothing good, and we can do nothing good.

So help us, Lord, whenever we cry to You.
We thank you that whenever we call to You, You will answer us and give us great and unsearchable things we do not know of.

In Jesus' Name. Amen.

DECLARATION & PROCLAMATIONS

DECLARATIONS & PROCLAMATIONS

We call to the Lord in Jesus' Name and He will answer us and give us great and unsearchable things we do not know of.                                                                         (Jeremiah 33:3)

We approach the throne of grace with confidence in Jesus' Name, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.                                (Hebrews 4:16)

Study the following passage on Prayer and Fasting, focusing on the following: Persons involved in , purpose, type, duration, and outcome of fasting and prayer: (a) Exodus 24:9-18; 34:1-35; (b) Ezra 7:1-10; 8:21-23; (c) Book of Esther, especially Chapter 3:1 to 9:17; (d) Daniel Chapter 10:1 to 12:13; (e) Luke Chapter 3:21 to 4:14; (f) Acts 13:1-3; and the rest of Acts especially Acts 14:21-25.

                                                                                              



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