Day of Fasting This Friday
Dear friends and family,
Some of us will participate in a day of fasting and prayer for Julie on Friday, July 16th. If you would like to join, we welcome you.
Some of you might be wondering why anyone would fast or how this could be helpful. Fasting and prayer are important Christian practices and commands of our Lord (Matt 6:16) that we find numerous times throughout the Bible. Fasting in the Bible always aids prayer. Many might think that Christian prayer is just vain words lost in the air, yet, the Bible teaches that all who lay hold of Jesus Christ by faith are made children of God who loves to bless His own (Luke 11). Prayer is not a magical practice that bends God's will to ours. Rather, prayer conforms our will to God's— loving what he loves, hating what he hates, and seeking His glory in all things. And, at the same time, God uses the prayers of his saints in mighty ways. Prayer aided by fasting helps us order our life priorities rightly. In Julie's situation, it reminds us that every one of us has a deathday as sure as we have a birthday. Julie will die on the day God appoints, not the day the doctors appoint; the same is true for every one of us. Because God holds all things in His hands, we seek His face in every affliction.
Fasting aids our prayer. Fasting expresses our sorrow, expresses our inherent weakness as humans, and expresses our utter need for the God that gives and takes away. Few acts like fasting will teach us how dependent we are upon the God who supplies us all that we have! It also reminds us to pray; every ache of the belly reminds us of our aching souls.
In the Bible, we find national fasts (Jonah 3), communal fasts (Acts 14), and private fasts following our savior's example (Matt 4). In this fast, we will seek God's face as a corporate covenantal community brought together as blood-washed saints of the Lord; this is why our first prayer is thanksgiving to God for His saving work in the life of Julie. A Christian is to feel the pain of others in their corporate covenantal community like they feel the pain in their own body. For this reason, we fast for July. Her affliction is ours in Jesus Christ. Please join us in humbling ourselves before the God who is worthy to be praised.
We will be fasting for one day on Friday July 16th. If you choose to participate, you can arrange the day according to your schedule. Here are a few basic guidelines: (1) Fasting is the act of denying oneself food for a time (not social media, video games, surfing, or coffee, but food). Biblical fasting is always for seeking God in prayer, asking that he might have mercy on us. However, fast wisely. If you are older or have little constitution, have a smoothy mid-day. Make sure to drink water. It can be helpful to add salt and lemon juice to your water to maintain proper electrolyte levels. However you choose to fast, don't risk your own health in the process. (2) Pray in large gulps and small sips; we recommend spending a few half-hour periods in prayer and countless short five-second prayers throughout the day. Find a prayer partner to help you through this labor of supplication. (3) Have focused prayers. We will be praying in the morning, midday, and evening using the below topics as an outline:
1. Praise God for Julie's faith in the resurrected Lord
2. Pray for Julie's spirit throughout the process
3. Pray for bodily healing through the Great Physician's work in the various treatments or miraculous healing
4. Pray for the spiritual well being of the family
5. Pray that God will use this affliction to bring sinners to the savior
6. However this year unfolds, pray that Christ will receive all the glory
May God bless us all as we draw near to the Father, Son and Holy Spirit
Eli Hirtzel (Julie’s son) and Marisa (Julie’s daughter)
