Fasting Prayer:                                 
On the notice board of many churches you will find the schedule or the programs or announcements for the next week. Sometime during the week, it will be mentioned ‘Fasting Prayer: 10.00A.M – 2:00 P.M.’ So most of the members will have their breakfast, join the prayer group and after 2:00P.M. , go home and have a late lunch. Sometimes prayers are followed by some snacks. Does going without food for 4 hours constitute fasting? I don’t think so.
In Matt.17:14-21 we read of a time when the disciples of Messiah could not heal a lunatic child. The father was in despair. He had probably heard that Messiah’s disciples were able to heal the sick people and since Messiah was not with them, he expected the disciples to heal the child. But they could not. The disciples could not understand it, they had forsaken all and followed Messiah, they had received the power to heal the sick (Matt.10:1), they had healed the sick (Mark.9:6), but they could not heal the lunatic. When Messiah came down from the mountain where he had gone with John, James and Peter, the father brought the child to Him. Then Messiah rebuked the devil and the devil departed from the boy and he was cured immediately. When the disciples asked Messiah why they could not drive out the devil themselves, He answered and told them it was due to their unbelief. Some versions of the Bible have the correct word ‘little faith’ here instead of ‘unbelief’. Matt.17:20-21, ‘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. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.’
Here we find Messiah telling the disciples two keys to perform miracles. The first is faith. This is often compared to a grain of mustard. A mustard seed is very small. So you may wonder how faith so small can move mountains. However, if you read this verse along with Matt.13:31-32, you will begin to get the meaning. ‘Another parable put he forth unto them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like to a grain of mustard seed, which a man took, and sowed in his field: Which indeed is the least of all seeds: but when it is grown, it is the greatest among herbs, and becometh a tree, so that the birds of the air come and lodge in the branches thereof.’ As your faith grows bigger, you begin to do bigger miracles! In 1 Cor.13:2 Paul says, ‘and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains…’. He is telling us that he could move mountains with all faith, a full grown faith, not with a seed faith. Our faith should grow day by day as Paul said in Rom.1:17, ‘For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith:’
                                                                                                                                     
The second key to miracles is fasting and praying. I believe that there is great power in the principles of prayer with fasting. But so many people either ignore fasting or misunderstand what fasting is all about. How many of you have the NIV? You’ll notice that verse 21 is missing. The text jumps straight from verse 20 to verse 22! (That’s just another reason why you should get yourself the King James Version.) The translators decided to translate from a Greek manuscript that didn’t have that line in it. The majority of the old Greek manuscripts, however, DO have it in. I believe that it is a serious omission. What’s more, if you look at the same story recounted in Mark’s gospel chapter 9, verse 29 confirms what Jesus said: “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” This time the NIV includes the verse, but drops the words “and fasting”. I think satan will do anything to keep Christians from fasting!
Before He started His ministry, Messiah was led by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness where He fasted for forty days and forty nights. In Luke.4:14 we read that he returned ‘in the power of the Spirit’. Godly prayer with fasting releases mighty power of the Holy Spirit. Messiah had developed a lifestyle of fasting and prayer. We can safely assume that He had been fasting before driving out the devil from the boy.

‘I humbled my soul with fasting’ (Psa.35:13). ‘When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach’ (Psa.69:10).
When we fast and pray, we come to Elohim with a feeling of helplessness. We realize that we are dependent on Elohim for everything. When we fast, we are saying that seeking Elohim is more important to us than finding our daily food. We humble ourselves before Elohim who has answers to all our problems. Unfortunately fasting seems to have lost its’ real purpose and meaning today. People try to evade this by saying that fasting is not commanded in the New Testament.

There are many instances in the New Testament where the disciples and early Church fasted. The brethren at Antioch (Acts.13:1-3) fasted and prayed when they sent out Paul and Barnabas on their missionary journey. The churches in Galatia (Acts.14:21-23) fasted when appointing elders to watch over the flock. Paul listed fasting among those things which proved him as a minister of Messiah (2Co 11:23-28).

When we fast, let us remember these few things:

Whether fasting as individuals or with others, it is important that we not do it for "show" (Matt.6:16-18).

It should not be as a ritual but it should be done only when the occasion calls for it (Matt.9:14-17).

All the praying, all the fasting, is of no avail if not accompanied with penitent obedience and true repentance (Isa.58:3-9).

Fast only when the occasion is a serious one in which you desperately desire Elohim’s help. Fast when you have time to spend in prayerful meditation. Remember the purpose of fasting is to humble oneself in Elohim’s sight and to seek favorable answer to prayer for some important plea.