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Lesson OneWhy Pray?4 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson TwoWhy Not Ask?4 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson ThreeWhen You Don’t Know What to Say4 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson FourObstacles to Prayer4 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson FivePraying for Others4 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson SixPraying with Others4 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson SevenPrayer and Fasting4 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson EightWhat about “Unanswered” Prayer?4 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson NinePersevering in Prayer4 Activities1 Assessment
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Lesson TenLiving a Prayer-Filled Life4 Activities1 Assessment
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Course Wrap-UpCourse Completion1 Activity1 Assessment
Participants 3
Discussion Questions
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As a group, see how many examples of fasting you can name from Scripture.
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13 Replies
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I found 27 Bible verses about the practice of fasting.
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There are different types of fasting in the Bible. There is limiting yourself to a specific kind of food (Daniel 1:8–14). There is fasting from food entirely (Daniel 10:2–3). There is fasting from food and water (Luke 4:2; Acts 9:9). There is also “fasting” from a certain activity, such as a husband and wife abstaining from sex for a predetermined period (Exodus 19:15; 1 Corinthians 7:5).
Moses fasted 40 days on behalf of Israel’s sin: Deuteronomy 9:9, 18, 25-29; 10:10.
David fasted and mourned the death of Saul: 2 Samuel 1:12.
David fasted and mourned the death of Abner: 2 Samuel 3:35.
David fasted and mourned the death of his child: 2 Samuel 12:16.
Elijah Fasted While Escaping Jezebel – 1 Kings 19:4-8
Esther Fasted for the Safety of the Jews – Esther 4:15-17
Jesus Fasted Before Temptation by Satan – Matthew 4:1-2The Bible has so many examples of fasting, the list above is not exhaustive.
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Looking it up I saw about 40 scriptures on fasting in the bible
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Matthew 6v16-18, Acts 13v1-3,, Nehemiah 1v23, Ezra 10v 6-17, 1st king 19-4-8 Deu 9v9-18,
2 Samuel 12 v 15-20, Esther 4v 15-17,
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There are many more examples of Fasting and praying we can find in Scriptures. Some ie.–Nehemiah 1:4 “So it was , when I heard these words, that I sat down and wept, and mourned for many days: I was fasting and praying before the God of heaven” In Ezra 8:23 “So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and he answered our prayer. Psalm 35:13 David said ,But as for me, “when they were sick I humbled myself with fasting: and my prayer would return to my own heart.
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How is fasting a way of telling God, “You matter more than anything else”?
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17 Replies
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Fasting is a way of humbling ourselves before God and telling Him, “You matter more than anything else.”
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Fasting is usually (not always) about food, which is very important in our daily needs. Going without it is one way of telling God that He matters a great deal to us, and is a higher priority for us than a daily need.
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Fasting is a way of telling God that He matters more than anything else – including food. It is not about what we are giving up, it is more about
what we are gaining from practicing this powerful spiritual discipline. -
By giving up something that is important to you to devote your time to only Him is saying you matter more to me than anything else in the world and that is one of the greatest gifts you can give Him
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You are willing to give up what is important to you and make God your 1sr priority.
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Why do you think Jesus indicated that we shouldn’t “broadcast” when we are fasting to others?
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16 Replies
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Fasting is for God, not for man. We must be careful with your motives. God will reward our fasting if we do it unto Him, not with our focus on getting attention from others.
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It is something to focus on God, not for us to self-promote how “holy” we are to the world.
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Jesus did not want us to “broadcast” to others when we are fasting, because fasting for the wrong reasons does not honor God.
Fasting is not meant to gain the attention of others – but to bring us closer to God. -
Because that is how the Pharisees fasted was to show others how religious they were and to get attention and Jesus said that is all they would get. We are to do it so no others see and to honor Him in private. We are to do it for Him and not others to see.
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Jesus wants you to stay focus on Him and if you broadcasting that you are fasting you will lose focus.