Fasting And Praying

How serious are we, the people which call ourselves,  Christians,  about the things that we say?  Do we actually mean it to the point of acting upon our words, when we say  we should pray for God to heal this nation?  Understanding,  from the reading of God’s Written Word THE Bible,  that God has said this world is reserved for a fiery destruction,  should we pray that this nation be healed?  Well we know where the answers are written, don’t we?
(II Peter 3: 10-12 KJV)…10 But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in the which the heavens shall pass away with a great noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat , the earth also and the works that are therein shall be burned up . 11 Seeing then that all these things shall be dissolved , what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godliness, 12 Looking for and hasting unto the coming of the day of God, wherein the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved , and the elements shall melt with fervent heat?
There are signs adorning many lawns of  people, quoting,  (II Chronicles 7:14)….If my people, which are called by MY NAME, shall, ~ humble themselves, and pray,~  and seek  MY face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.  BUT do we ever ~READ~,  as,  Paul Harvey  always said,  “The Rest of The Story”?  (v’s. 15-20).. Reads: --  Now MINE Eyes shall be open , and MINE Ears attent unto the prayer that is made in this place.  For now have I chosen and sanctified ~this house,~ that MY NAME may be there for ever: and  MINE Eyes and MINE Heart shall be there perpetually.  And as for thee, *IF* thou ~wilt~ walk before ME, as David thy father walked , and do according to all that I have commanded thee, and ~shalt observe~  MY Statutes and MY  Judgments;  Then will I stablish the throne of thy kingdom, according as I have covenanted with David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel.  ** But *IF*  ye turn away , and ~forsake MY statutes and MY commandments~, which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and worship them;  20- Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified for MY NAME, will I cast out of  MY sight, and will make it to be a proverb and a byword among ~~all nations~~.
(Ezra 8: 21)   Ezra unsure of what step to take next:  proclaimed a fast  to  seek the right way
    before God,  for  our little ones and our substance…
So  as I read throughout the Bible of fasting and praying  I find that it is a humble  audition  before the LORD  to beg  HIS will and His guidance  in our lives…To ask  HIS Spirit  to  help us in our afflictions,  to show our willingness to  do HIS Will and  to  focus  entirely upon the  Word.. NOT the world… As the followers of Christ were so interested in what He was teaching that His Words became more important to them than food for the body…  That is to sincerely seek God’s Will and Way…  To fast and pray..  But as Jesus showed compassion to these people,  and gave them food,  we are not to afflict ourselves with fasting unto our harm.  Neither are we to make a spectacle of ourselves in our fasting and praying before God..
(Matthew 6:18 KJV)…That thou appear not unto men to fast , but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly .
(Matthew 17: 20b - 21 KJV) …(the disciples asked Jesus.)  Why could not we cast him out? 20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove ; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. 21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
In our hasty praying and then skipping out to a fattened meal and a movie or some sort of entertainment that the world has to offer, does this action erase our momentary thought of prayer to God,  on behalf of  someone’s pain and suffering,  sickness, casting out demons, and yes. The world IS full of the devil and his demons going about to consume all that can be misled into eternal destruction,  let us NOT help them, but rather fight against them in the ~Good Fight~ of  teaching the Truth of God’s Kingdom, while there is time to teach …  Just think what this nation could be like IF,  just the ones who claim Christianity fasted and prayed as The Bible tells us we should do….
09-11-2014