Spiritual Reflexes: Fast, Pray, Listen, Act, & Repeat
“While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.”
—Acts 13:2-3
Observation:
The Church at Antioch was worshiping the Lord and fasting, and they were fasting and praying. There seems to be an emphasis on the fact that the Church at Antioch was fasting while these other activities, worshiping the Lord and praying, were taking place. While the Church was fasting they received instruction from the Holy Spirit about what they were supposed to be doing and when they finished fasting they acted on the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Application:
Two things stand out in this verse that are very applicable to the Church today and immediately to my life as well. The first thing is the need to fast. The second thing is the need to swiftly act upon the guidance of the Holy Spirit.
Until very recently in my life I had placed very little importance on the issue of fasting. Many in my generation and I would venture to say many in the Western church have placed little importance on the issue of fasting. I realized a couple of things about fasting in the past month, as I completed a twenty-one day dusk to dawn fast. The first thing I learned is that I/we have a lot of desires and distractions that grasp for our attention. Second, when we create space in our lives by clearing away those desires and distractions and focus in on God a funny thing happens we begin to hear God/Holy Spirit speak to us. The last thing I realized over this past month is that far too often we fail to head what we hear from God/Holy Spirit and fail to implement the actions necessary to follow the Holy Spirit’s guidance.
When the Holy Spirit speaks we need to first listen and second act. Very simple, take the first step, take second step, repeat, and the next thing you know you are walking in the power of the Holy Spirit. One! Two! One! Two! Picture soldiers running drills over and over again, repetitiously ingraining the steps beyond just memorization, but into natural reflex. One! Two! Fast and Pray! Listen and Act! Fast and Pray! Listen and Act! Drilling it into us until it becomes our spiritual reflex.
Too often we beseech God for guidance in our lives and come away without hearing God’s voice. Is God not speaking? Is God remaining silent in our lives? God is not silent. “God is always speaking, your just not listening” as Carlos Licona an Evangelist from Miami recently told me. And even when we hear God speak into our lives we fail to act. When we fast and pray we are creating space to listen to God, but once we hear God we need to act. What if that was not God? Seemed to be the common doubt that ran through my head during my twenty-one day fast and after talking to others it was the common doubt they expressed as well. A friend of mine named Lanre reminded me “that God’s thoughts are higher than ours,” meaning that God usually calls us to things that we wouldn’t do or wouldn’t think of.
This year started out with a lot of excitement and expectancy for me. But I am at least functionally ADD and a little OCD as well. So that means that I have a hard time focusing on any one thing but when I do focus I become compulsive about getting it done. This year I have had a difficult time finding a rhythm. I have been praying that God would help me focus. Today at church Pastor Mark spoke about listening to God and at the end of the message he prayed and gave space for the Holy Spirit to speak. I heard the Holy Spirit say, “fast and pray for three days and I will guide you.” Remember that I just finished a twenty-one day fast two weeks ago, so fasting again so soon doesn’t exactly sound logical to me. Pastor Mark asked for us to share what God spoke to us, but I didn’t because I let my doubts about whether it was God or not keep me silent. But then the very first verse of today’s reading I read confirmed what God was saying to me. I need to make fasting and praying, and listening and acting a normative part of my walk. One! Two! One! Two!
Prayer:
Lord, Keep my ears perked, my heart open, and my feet ready to move for when you speak to me. In name of Jesus I pray Amen…
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