In our weakest moments of faith, we wonder why God chooses to do what He does. We question why He doesn’t give us what we want. When our faith is weak, Christ calls us to a life of prayer and fasting. It our prayer and fasting that gives us stronger faith.
My brothers and sisters, in this morning’s gospel, if we have ears to hear, there’s a very important lesson about faith. About our faith in God, about what we ask from God. In our daily prayers, in times of struggle, in times of distress, in times of torment, and yes, even in times of tragedy, we turn to God and we ask all sorts of things from him. God, do this for us. God do that for us. God save us. God heal us. God, please give my loved ones extra time, don’t let them die. All of these things, we pray to God. And there are times we simply do not receive from God what we want. And in those moments, we are tempted to question God. Why didn’t you give to us what we wanted? Christ says, “Ask and you shall receive,” and yet we do not receive. This was what was going through the apostles’ minds, and they come to Christ after he had healed the boy.
He says, “How come we couldn’t heal him? How come we could not cast out the demon?” And after challenging them, he said, “This kind can only come out through prayer and fasting.” My brothers and sisters, prayer and fasting is more powerful than any doctor visit, it is more powerful than any scientific remedy, it is the most powerful tool that we have in our relationship with each other and with God, our prayer and our fasting. But it isn’t a guarantee to get what we want. It is to help us understand what God wants for us. You see, my brothers and sisters, when we don’t get what we want, then we have to ask ourselves why, Lord? And he always knows better than we do.
We have to trust that God always knows better than we know. And so, when we don’t receive what we’re asking, instead of challenging God, why didn’t you give this to me? Why don’t you love me, God? Instead, increase our prayer. Increase our fasting so we can learn to understand God’s will for us. Prayer and fasting, my brothers and sisters, it’s not just a checkbox that we mark off, it is a way of life that tunes our hearts to understand God’s will. And so, if we’re not understanding God and why he does what he does, don’t challenge him. Ask him to enlighten your heart through additional prayer. Lord, help me understand your will for me, through fasting. Lord, I am going to control what I eat because I love you more than I love myself.
Think about those words. How do we learn to love God more than we love ourselves, but to control ourselves? We live in an individualistic society. We live in a society, the supreme ultimate individual, and yet Christ says, we just heard it last week, “Deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me.” Well, if we’re going to learn how to deny ourself, if we’re going to learn how to follow Christ, if we’re going to learn how to understand God’s will, then the best way to do that is through prayer and fasting, not as a rule box, but as a discipline and as an offering to God. And so, as we prepare now for the final couple of weeks of the great lent, as I shared with many of you on social media the other day, as we prepare now for these final two weeks, keep coming to church, increase your prayers, increase your fasting, not for the check mark, but to help understand God’s love.
And then, when we pray, instead of giving him a list of demands, we’re going to ask him for his mercy. We’re going to ask him for his understanding so that we can begin looking at the world as he looks at the world, through God’s eyes. But it is impossible focusing on ourselves. It is impossible looking at the world merely as fallen human beings to understand God’s love. The only way to do it is to have him change our hearts, and to change our minds, and to change our life for his glory. And the most basic way to get there is through prayer and fasting. And then suddenly the demons will begin running away from us. The demons will stop tormenting us. The demons will stop playing around with us, when our hearts are constantly tuned to God, because he is that powerful. And without him, we can do nothing. Glory to God for all things.
