Today is the day to fast and pray for the Global Food Crisis. If you're reading this early enough, you may still have time to join the fast. If you've already had breakfast, it might be too late to start fasting, but it isn't too late to join in the prayer.
When I first saw this event, I felt compelled to join in the fasting and prayer. I started praying last night before sleeping. Praying for God to support me in the fast, as it can be difficult for those of us who are used to three square meals a day and more to actually go for a day without food. Difficult for us, though so many people in the world do it every day without a choice.
It was an unusual night of sleeping for me. I actually dreamed this whole day through last night, from beginning to end, to the point that the day was just coming to an end in my dreams while my son was waking me up. Of course, as is usual with my dreams, I can't remember the details of the day I dreamed. But I did wake several times throughout the night and felt called to pray more.
Have you ever felt so moved by God that you woke up in the middle of the night and felt that you just had to pray for something? Yeah, it was kind of like that.
My toughest task today, I think, will be to keep myself busy enough to keep my mind off of food. Seems like that might be kind of hard to do, forgetting about food and hunger so I can fast, when I'm supposed to be praying about hunger all day long. Right? But if it was an easy thing to do, it seems like it might lose some meaning.
So why do we pray and fast? Because Jesus taught us that certain kinds of demons are combated only through prayer and fasting. By fasting, we give up a worldly need -- food, in this case -- to bring our minds and our spirits more in tune with our prayers as we talk to God. By purging the body of the gluttony of our daily lives, we free our mind and spirit of some of the distraction that separates us from God. That's what it means to me, at least.
So for one day we fast and pray for a solution for the world's hungry. It almost seems insignificant, compared to the hundreds of millions of dollars that is spend on our current Presidential campaign. That could sure buy lots of food for the world's hungry. Thankfully, there is nothing at all insignificant about the power of prayer.
UPDATE:
So at 5:37 pm I broke the fast. I tried, and while I could probably try to make excuses, I'll admit that I just gave in to temptation. I don't know how they do it, sometimes going for days without any real food to eat. They will definitely remain in my prayers.
Joe
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment