During the minister’s prayer one Sunday, there was a loud whistle from one of the back row seats. Little Gary’s mother was horrified. She pinched him into silence and, after church, asked, "Gary, whatever made you do such a thing?"
Gary answered soberly, "I asked God to teach me to whistle, and He just then did!"
You have to admit the boy believed in prayer!
But I wonder sometimes if we believe in it as much as we say we do.
Today’s message is "Taking a Stand on Your Knees." The Incredible Power of Prayer and Fasting!" We’re in the series on the book of Esther, "Divine Destiny, How God is at Work in My Life," and today we’re going to see that Esther not only believed in prayer - she believed in prayer WITH FASTING.
God is indeed at work in my life, as we’ve been observing throughout Esther’s story, but His work is intensified and magnified when I pray AND FAST! Prayer with fasting is one of the most powerful but perhaps one of the least used spiritual success tools in the life of the average Christ follower.
Fasting is going without food voluntarily in order to give your self more attentively to God and to prayer. You can fast by skipping one meal and spending that time in prayer, or you can fast for an entire day, or, in some serious cases of need, several days. This is what Esther decided in response to Haman¡¦s plot to have all the Jews in the Persian Empire murdered. When she found out about the plot from her adoptive father Mordecai, he challenged her to speak to the king on behalf of her people.
15 Then Esther sent this answer to Mordecai: 16 "Go and get all the Jewish people in Susa together. For my sake, fast; do not eat or drink for three days, night and day. I and my servant girls will also fast. Then I will go to the king, even though it is against the law, and if I die, I die." 17 So Mordecai went away and did everything Esther had told him to do. Esther 4:15-17
Esther asks her fellow Jews to specifically go to God for her in prayer and fasting since she has decided to accept Mordecai¡¦s counsel to go before King Xerxes uninvited. She asks them to go beyond the ordinary types of fasting. She asked them to abstain from food AND DRINK. Normal fasting is just abstaining from food. She also requested 3 days. A normal fast for a Jew would have been from sundown one day until sundown the next. She was calling for an extraordinary fast for an especially difficult case.
Remember; the Persian king was an authoritarian ruler. If you came before him without an invitation and he didn’t hold out his royal scepter to you then you would automatically be executed. Esther decided to risk her life to plead for the lives of all her fellow Jews in Persia. But first she wanted a three-day-period of fasting and prayer to ensue.
What is it about fasting with prayer that the ancient Jews knew, and Christ followers today know, is so powerful? Why did Esther consider this the best possible preparation before taking a great step of faith?
Since the Super Bowl is next Sunday I remind you of a light-hearted story the Associated Press carried about Billy Graham several years ago. The Dallas Cowboys, honoring the distinguished life and ministry of Dr. Graham, presented him with a Cowboy jersey with the name "Graham" on the back and the number "#1" in large print on the front and back.
Graham responded to the gift in a way that demonstrated his unique sense of humor. He said, "It has my name on the back and I’m No. 1. I may show up at the next game and see where they put me."
Graham had about as much chance at getting into the game as Esther had of gaining an unscheduled audience before King Xerxes.
"From a human point of view, everything was against Esther and the success of her mission. The law was against her, because nobody was allowed to interrupt the king. The government was against her, for the decree said that she was to be slain. Her sex was against her, because the king’s attitude toward women was worse than chauvinistic. The officers were against her, because they did only those things that ingratiated themselves with Haman. In one sense, even the fast could be against her; for going three days without food and drink would not necessarily improve her appearance or physical strength.
"But ’if God be for us, who can be against us?’ Romans 8:31 (KJV) [Say that out loud with me!]
"The answer of faith is ’nobody!’" (Warren Wiersbe, The Bible Exposition Commentary, p. 727)
That is the power of prayer and fasting! That’s why Esther utilized it. Through prayer and fasting we position ourselves where God can most possibly bless us!
When you have a situation facing you - the solution of which seems to have no human answer - then prayer and fasting is a great resource for you!
Esther was about to take a stand before the king. BEFORE SHE TOOK A STAND BEFORE THE KING - SHE WAS GOING TO TAKE A STAND ON HER KNEES.
Last time we talked about the importance of taking a stand. We have to get involved. We’ve got to get in the game. God has SHAPED each one of us, "for such a time as this." He blessed us to be a blessing. God did not create us to be spectators when it came to ministry and mission! He’s not a spectator! God get’s involved in our lives! And He expects us to get involved in the lives of others!
How effective is prayer and fasting in helping us take our stand? Let’s look at what happened AFTER Esther and the Jews fasted for three days and BEFORE she went before the king uninvited.
Esther 5:1 - On the third day Esther put on her royal robes and stood in the inner courtyard of the king’s palace, facing the king’s hall. The king was sitting on his royal throne in the hall, facing the doorway. [Esther didn’t just appear before the king; she appeared boldly! She positioned herself directly in his line of sight!] 2 When the king saw Queen Esther standing in the courtyard, he was pleased. He held out to her the gold scepter that was in his hand, so Esther went forward and touched the end of it.
3 The king asked, "What is it, Queen Esther? What do you want to ask me? I will give you as much as half of my kingdom."
What a positive response to the prayer and fasting of Esther and her friends! Not only did the king hold out the golden scepter, sparing Esther’s life, but he offered as much as half of his kingdom to her! This response tells us that prayer with fasting - especially if you can get your friends to join you - is extremely powerful!
What is so great about prayer with fasting? What does it do for us? A lot of things - but we’re only going to emphasize two today.
1. PRAYER AND FASTING INCREASES INSIGHT.
During the three days of prayer and fasting God had been giving Esther a plan. God always has a plan but we don’t always get it. Prayer and fasting helps us understand God’s plan.
The king could see Esther’s confidence because she and others with her had been intensifying their efforts at knowing God’s will. So the king asks her what’s on her mind. Her stand has aroused his curiosity. What is so important to her that she has risked her life for it?
4 Esther answered, "My king, if it pleases you, come today with Haman to a banquet that I have prepared for you." (Circle that word, "prepared." That’s one of the things prayer and fasting does. It prepares us. God’s already prepared! God already wants to bless us! We don’t pray and fast to change God. We fast and pray to prepare our selves for the blessings that God is going to pour out!)
5 Then the king said, "Bring Haman quickly so we may do what Esther asks."
So the king and Haman went to the banquet Esther had prepared for them. 6 As they were drinking wine, the king said to Esther, "Now, what are you asking for? I will give it to you. What is it you want? I will give you as much as half of my kingdom." [Prayer with fasting is so powerful that the king is tripping over his royal robes to give Esther as much as half of his kingdom!]
7 Esther answered, "This is what I want and what I ask for. 8 My king, if you are pleased with me and if it pleases you, give me what I ask for and do what I want. Come with Haman tomorrow to the banquet I will prepare for you. Then I will answer your question about what I want." [I would say something here about how women try to manipulate men but not only would that get me in trouble, because, of course, men also try to manipulate women, but also because I don’t think this was manipulation on Esther’s part. I don’t think she’s being coy. I think she was employing that characteristic of TIMING that we talked about in earlier chapters. Mordecai counseled Esther that there was a time to refrain from telling the Persians that she was Jewish - and later there was a time to speak up and let her ethnic origin be know.]
9 Haman left the king’s palace that day happy and content. But when he saw Mordecai at the king’s gate and saw that Mordecai did not stand up or tremble with fear before him, Haman became very angry with Mordecai. 10 But he controlled his anger and went home. Then Haman called together his friends and his wife, Zeresh. 11 He told them how wealthy he was and how many sons he had. [What a braggart!] He also told them all the ways the king had honored him and how the king had placed him higher than his important men and his royal officers. 12 He also said, "I’m the only person Queen Esther invited to come with the king to the banquet she gave. And tomorrow also the queen has asked me to be her guest with the king. 13 But all this does not really make me happy when I see that Jew Mordecai sitting at the king’s gate."
14 Then Haman’s wife, Zeresh, and all his friends said, "Have a seventy-five foot platform built, and in the morning ask the king to have Mordecai hanged on it. Then go to the banquet with the king and be happy." Haman liked this suggestion, so he ordered the platform to be built.
Haman is this incredibly self-ingratiating, insecure, hate-filled, sardonic dude. He comes home crying like a spoiled brat that Mordecai still doesn’respect him. [You football fans that watched Anquan Boldin curse his coach in the Cardinals game-winning drive of the NFC Championship game know what I’m talking about.]
Pause for a moment to ask yourself, "Is there someone in my life who’s approval I seek to an unhealthy degree? Is there someone I want to notice how important I am and it just ticks me off that they don’t give me the attention I want?" We’re not talking about healthy attention here. We all need healthy affirmation. We’re talking about a co-worker, or a neighbor or perhaps someone who is friends with one of our friends.
Do you ever find yourself wanting to say, "You can’t be friends with her "’cause she’s my friend."
You can expect that kind of behavior out of junior high students. But it shouldn’t be normal for adults. And yet there are a lot of folks like Haman. Here’s a good piece of advice. QUIT BLAMING OTHERS FOR YOUR UNHAPPINESS.
Be honest with yourself about your insecurity, jealousy, envy or unhealthy competition for attention. You may have the same problem Haman had. I want to talk to you next week about "Spiritual Symptoms You Should Never Ignore," and this is one of them - so, more on how to defeat this next week.
You say, "Haman was an Agagite. He hated all Jews because of his background." That’s right. And this attitude was racist and it was wrong.
But Haman had a particular, a specific hatred, for Mordecai that transcended his disgust with all Jews. Mordecai was an important man in the capital city. He sat at the gate, which was a sign of influence and importance. Haman wanted to be "more important" than Mordecai. Be careful of wanting to be "more important" than everyone else.
His wife should have said, "Get over your self Haman." But she knew his insecurities better than any one and she had mothered him too long. Now she tells him just what he wants to hear. "Build a gallows so big that everyone will see it and hang Mordecai on it!"
Is that what you want your friends to do? When you whine and complain and carry on about how someone wouldn’t play your game do you want your family and friends to escalate matters by foolish suggestions? Do you want them to tell you what you want to hear? Remember we learned earlier in Esther that we need people who tell us what we need to hear not what we want to hear.
Why does the Bible give us these insights into the heart and mind and life of Haman? Because God wants us to see others insightfully. He wants us to have insights into our own thoughts and emotions. PRAYER WITH FASTING HELPS US OBTAIN SUCH INSIGHTS.
Prayer and fasting not only INCREASES INSIGHT. Prayer and fasting had provided a safe audience for Esther with the king. But now Haman’s plot against Esther’s adopted father Mordecai intensifies the stress for Esther - which highlights another great by-product of prayer and fasting.
2. PRAYER AND FASTING REDUCES STRESS.
Esther was living in a very stress-filled environment. And so are we.
"With today’s constant media barrage of bad news, people feel bad enough already and don’t want anything that makes them feel worse, says anthropologist-turned-brand-strategist Cheryl Swanson. With all the info coming at us 24/7, ’We are processing information at 400 times the rate of our Renaissance ancestors.’ This is a new human task that we haven’t had time to adapt to yet - physically or mentally. That’s why we’re getting tech-related health problems like carpal tunnel, and maybe even mental and neurological problems like attention-deficit disorder. Naturally our attention is fraying - we are whipsawed by stimuli!
"Moreover, with that 400 times more information did not come 400 more hours in a day. So, we steal that time from sleep, both deliberately (by working late into the night) and not (by being too wound up to drift off). Hence another big trend: The burgeoning sleep industry, with new pills, pillows, and in the big hotels, even "sleep concierges" all trying to help us get the ZZZ’s we need.
"Another byproduct of trying to pack too much into the day is the erosion of dinnertime. This, of course, is nothing new. ’In the ’60’s, dinner was (supposedly) 45 minutes long. By the 90’s, it had shrunk to 15 minutes.’ As Swanson’s investigators traveled the country, dropping in on real families, they found the sit-down dinner had evaporated almost entirely. ’It is now basically five minutes,’ says Swanson. ’And it’s not even sitting down.’
"Families (or chunks of them) eat standing up around the kitchen counter. When parents are not available, kids prepare themselves ’latchkey dinners.’" (Advertising Age 11/13/07, via Church Leaders Intelligence Report)
And there’s this brief article.
"Mark Earley recently observed: ’From Starbucks, to Red Bull, to No-Doz, Americans are showing signs of addiction to caffeine. Sixty percent of us drink a cup of coffee a day. On average we drink 52 gallons of soda a year. And Starbucks - they get a whopping $5.3 billion of our collective dough.
"Whether we are chemically stimulated because we do not get enough sleep, or whether the caffeine itself is depriving us of precious rest, we also are sleeping less than ever before. Americans get an average of six and a half hours of sleep a night, a 25% drop since the early 1990’s No wonder we are stressed.’" (Breakpoint, 1/17/08)
There are all kinds of suggestions floating about on how we can effectively handle our stress-filled lives. I read an article the other day, "Stress Management Tips," that recommended everything from switching to decaf to scheduling "worry time." I don’t think those are bad things but I do believe there is something even better - something that will not only help us manage our stress but help us to conquer it!
Prayer and fasting made Esther calm and even able to wait on the Lord¡¦s timing one more day. It turned out that one last day was when God was going to set the stage completely for His answer to the prayers of His people. In fact, prayer and fasting is a great habit when you have a big decision to make in life. Don¡¦t get in a hurry and go off half-cocked.
The Bible intentionally showcases Haman’s pride and anger (remember how we saw in chapter one that the two are entwined) beside Esther’s cool, calm and collected demeanor. Esther is walking closely with God so she is able to conquer stress, while Haman is unstable, unwise and on the brink of a foolish disaster.
Last week we saw that even Jesus said that we¡¦re going to have stress. It’s a given. Every life is going to have stress. Prayer and fasting is a great way to respond to and be prepared for it.
Prayer and fasting helps you walk more closely with God and you begin to see that stressful times may actually produce positive results.
"In Italy, for thirty years after the Borgias (often thought of as ’the first criminal family’ for their corruption and violence), they had warfare, terror, murder, bloodshed. They produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had...five hundred years of democracy and peace, and what did they produce? The cuckoo clock.’" (Orson Wells, quoted in "How to Change Your Church Without Killing It," p. 109)
We remain calm in conflict through prayer and fasting because as we walk with God we see how He is at work even in the midst of tough times! The Hamans of this world and all the conflict they stir up can’t dissuade us. Instead of anxiety, fear and worry we maintain an attitude of confidence, faith and optimism! We know that God is going to do something good even when times are hard!
PRAYER WITH FASTING INCREASES our INSIGHT and REDUCES our STRESS.
That’s only part of the incredible power of prayer and fasting!
