Daily Devotions

Acts 13:1-5 Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them.
3 And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
4 So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed unto Seleucia; and from thence they sailed to Cyprus.
5 And when they were at Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews: and they had also John to their minister.
KJV
Here we have Barnabas and Paul set apart by the Holy Spirit for service as missionaries. I want to point out how the church at Antioch knew God’s purpose in this. There were certainly spiritual leaders in that church as we see in verse one, trusted men who were given to the Word of God and the Spirit of God as well. But the way they received God’s mind is given to us in verse three, they fasted and prayed. Fasting and prayer have for the most part disappeared from the church today. Not so many will claim and prayer is a part of our lives, but what of the fasting? What of doing without so one can be given to the Holy Spirit and seek the mind of God, what of fasting? I don’t mean having special services where the church calls for fasting and prayer, but of the individual going to the Lord, doing without to seek the mind of God with no one else knowing about it, what of that? I listened to a pastor say one time that our “Churches have replaced fasting and prayer with feasting and fellowship”. While there is nothing wrong with feasting and fellowship we need to get back to fasting and prayer. Last Saturday evening we had special prayer at our church for our nation, something we will do on a regular basis from this point on. Our nation needs prayer. 15 people came out and while I know it was a Saturday night, our church is not in town, it was at 7:30PM, it also speaks of the temperature of God’s people for prayer and fasting. I am thankful for the 15 and greater things have begun with less, but what of prayer and fasting? God greatly blessed the ministry of Paul and Barnabas and it was because of the way it began, with prayer and fasting. Let us consider this week what takes place when God’s people are given to prayer and fasting in the Bible.

This entry was posted on Monday, April 4th, 2016 at 6:16 am and is filed under Daily Devotions. You can skip to the end and leave a response.