I am sitting in the Qantas club in Brisbane airport waiting to catch a flight down to Sydney where I am teaching at Church Planters School. Not the best place to be when you are fasting as there is free food here everywhere!! Mmmm crumpets.
I just read in John 18:25-27 the account of Peter's denial of Jesus.
25 Meanwhile, as Simon Peter was standing by the fire warming himself, they asked him again, “You’re not one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it, saying, “No, I am not.” 26 But one of the household slaves of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Didn’t I see you out there in the olive grove with Jesus?” 27 Again Peter denied it. And immediately a rooster crowed.
After all Peter had previously promised to Jesus about how he would never turn away, that he would be with him till the end and here he is at his first test of this declaration and a little like us he fails miserably. This is where the fasting test enters.
When you fast you are denying yourself a pleasure that your flesh is craving. You are buffeting or disciplining your body. You are training your body and mind that your hunger for God is more than this momentary pleasure of eating, TV, coffee or whatever yours is. Now here is the deal. The temptation to yield to that pleasure is no different to Peters temptation to deny Jesus! If we cant say NO to the pleasure are we confident that we will stand strong in our faith and in our convictions when it really matters most? Prayer and fasting strengthens us today for what may come tomorrow.
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