The Eve of Fasting: Preparing our Hearts

It is getting late, and I realize not even our committed prayer warriors will read this before morning, but regardless, I hope it can serve as a way to prepare for our day ahead.

We have come together for a day of united prayer and fasting for Dwight Matsuda, as we pray for his healing following his cardiac arrest earlier this month. Let's begin with an attitude of worship. (And again, what follows is adapted or taken directly from my father Doug's post from last year as we began to pray and fast for my cousin Adam.)

Worship. Acknowledge God's greatness. Praise him for who he is. I invite you to worship to this song.



God is bigger, greater, stronger and wiser than we can imagine.

Confess and repent. Acknowledge how broken you are. Admit the sin in your life, those things that keep you from God's excellent standard. Ask God to help you turn from your ways and turn toward him.

When we come to God with a bigger view of who he is (through worship) and a more accurate view of who we are (not God!), then we are much better prepared for the spiritual battle we are about to fight.

The only way for Dwight to truly recover is through a miraculous healing by God. That's where we come in. We cannot heal Dwight, but together, we can "loudly" petition God to heal Dwight. Corporately (formed into a unified body of individuals), we will lift our voices to God. We have chosen to fast so that we would have more time for prayer and be more sensitive to the presence of the Holy Spirit.

For some of us, we might not know exactly what to pray for tomorrow. Don't worry about it. If you open your heart to the Holy Spirit, you will be able to converse with God without searching for words to say. You can also check in for new posts to this blog for some suggestions.

Study and follow examples of faith. Remember that God, through His son, Jesus Christ performed many supernatural healings. In closing, I refer you the The Faith of the Centurion, which is documented in Matthew 8:5-13.

5When Jesus had entered Capernaum, a centurion came to him, asking for help. 6"Lord," he said, "my servant lies at home paralyzed and in terrible suffering."

7Jesus said to him, "I will go and heal him."

8The centurion replied, "Lord, I do not deserve to have you come under my roof. But just say the word, and my servant will be healed. 9For I myself am a man under authority, with soldiers under me. I tell this one, 'Go,' and he goes; and that one, 'Come,' and he comes. I say to my servant, 'Do this,' and he does it."

10When Jesus heard this, he was astonished and said to those following him, "I tell you the truth, I have not found anyone in Israel with such great faith. 11I say to you that many will come from the east and the west, and will take their places at the feast with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven. 12But the subjects of the kingdom will be thrown outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth."

13Then Jesus said to the centurion, "Go! It will be done just as you believed it would." And his servant was healed at that very hour.

Let's pray with the faith of the centurion!

We'll meet again at breakfast time.