Prayer, Meditation, and Fasting, Part 1
1. Biblical Truth Saves
Take heed to yourself and to your doctrine, hold to that, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers (1 Timothy 4:16 rsv).
2. Biblical Truth Frees from Satan
And you will know the truth and the truth will make you free (John 8:32).
3. Biblical Truth Imparts Grace and Peace
May grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and Savior, Jesus Christ (2 Peter 1:2).
4. Biblical Truth Sanctifies
Sanctify them in the truth; Your Word is truth (John 17:17).
5. Biblical Truth Serves Love
"It is my prayer that your love may abound more and more, with knowledge and all discernment" (Philippians 1:9 rsv).
6. Biblical Truth Protects from Error
Attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the son of God...so that we may no longer be...carried to and fro by every wind of doctrine (Ephesians 4:13-14 rsv).
7. Biblical Truth Is the Hope of Heaven
Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood (1 Corinthians 13:12)
8. Biblical Truth Will be Resisted by Some
The time is coming when people will not endure sound teaching, but having itching ears they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own likings (2 Timothy 4:3 rsv).
9. Biblical Truth, Rightly Handled, Is Approved by God
Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a workman who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth (2 Timothy 2:15 rsv).
10. Biblical Truth: Continue to Grow in It!
Grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ (2 Peter 3:18).
...If you don't read the Word and memorize the Word and meditate on the Word daily and delight in the Word and savor it and have your mind and emotions shaped by the Word, you will be a weak Christian at best. You will be fragile and easily deceived and easily paralyzed by trouble and stuck in many mediocre ruts. But if you read the Word and memorize important parts of it and meditate on it and savor it and steep your mind in it, then you will be like a strong tree planted by streams of water that brings forth fruit. Your leaf won't wither in the drought and you will be productive in your life for Christ (see Psalm 1).
Christian living means living on the written Word of God, the Bible. In true Christian living, our relation to the Word is intentional, not haphazard. It's active not passive. We pursue it and don't just wait for it to happen. The Christian life is a joyful project that calls for energy and aim and resolve and determination. It is not coasting or drifting or something that just happens to you like the weather. The Word of God, soaked in prayer, is the substance (in the sense of "the material" or "the fuel") of that joyful project. Our delight is in the Word of the Lord, and on this word we meditate day and night (see Psalm 1:3).
I said that the Word of God, soaked in prayer, is the substance of the joyful project of Christian living. One of the reasons I say "soaked in prayer," is that so much of the Word of God is prayer. Psalm 77 is prayer. If you are going to read it authentically, you read it as prayer. You pray it. I think this is the way all Scripture should be read. We read it in the presence of God. We read it as read before God and to God. We read it as praise to him or confessions to him or questions to him or to please him. God is always listening to his own Word in our mouths or in our minds and watching what we do with it. He cares what we do with it. (emphasis added) So we should be aware that he is listening to our reading and should acknowledge to him that he is there and that we want him involved in the reading; helping us understand and helping us believe and receiving praise and thanks and petitions and complaints and cries and question. The Word that we live on should always be prayer-soaked. It should be Godward reading.
Six Aims for Fasting
1. For Jesus to Come Back - Matthew 9:14-15
2. For Help in a New Venture in Ministry - Matthew 4:1-2, Acts 13:3
3. To Avert Some Danger or Threat - Ezra 8:21, 2 Samuel 12:16
4. To Express Sorrow and Loss - 2 Samuel 1:12, 1 Chronicles 10:12
5. To Express Repentance and Grief for Sin - Joel 2:12-13
6. Not for the Praise of Men - Matthew 6:16-18
By John Piper. copyright Desiring God. Website: desiringgod.org
Piper writes what I think is very biblical-based material. I hope all who read this will visit his site and access more helpful, enriching material......God bless everyone and continue to keep us until that day...
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