Fasting Prayer

I grew up in the church but had only heard whatever snippit the pastor chose to preach on that Sunday. Besides, I didn’t speak King James so the Bible was always hard to understand.When I was about 30 I decided to buy a Living Bible and read it through, Genesis to Revelation, even if it killed me; and I was pretty sure it might. After all, if I called myself a Christian, I better know what the book said.It was a real revelation to me when I got to the part that said, “And when you fast . . . ” not if. Me? Fast? As a kid, I never thought much about fasting. My Catholic friends talked about it some, but it was never part of my practice. I figured that was something monks did. I decided I’d give it a whirl.At that time I’d wanted to play the autoharp. I borrowed one from my friend. When I played it, it sounded akin to cats on the back fence in a fight. A friend at prayer group said if you fasted you needed to have a stated purpose for the fast. Maybe I could make this my purpose. I’d ask God to help me learn to play the autoharp.The first day of the fast was terrible. My stomach growled. I though about food all the time. On the second day, my stomach gave up and decided no food was on the horizon. As I prayed and practiced the autoharp, I began to see certain cords like C, F, and G seemed to work together pretty well.I broke my fast at the end of the third day. By then, I had figured out some of the other patterns. I could actually play a simple chorus; not as quickly as it should go, but at least I picked it out.My family bought me an autoharp for Christmas and I continued to learn to play. To this day I’m no accomplished musician, but I can play simple choruses.Over the years I’ve fasted for different purposes. God never fails to teach me more each time I take time apart with Him.I still haven’t figured out how fasting prayer works. I just know it does.