"My prayer is not that you take them out of the world but that you protect them from the evil one." (John 17:15)
Are you equipped? Jesus was! He had a ministry to dirty, filthy sinners like you and me (Matthew 9:10)! He would clean us up and makes us into saints! He calls us to imitate him and reach out to others who need a bit of healing and cleansing (1 Corinthians 11:1)!
But we can't do it without a bit of equipping! Jesus spent time teaching the disciples. Sometimes he would use words and other times he'd use actions! A look will be taken at one of those actions! He would pray and fast for 40 days and nights (Matthew 4:2). He seek the Father's face in prayer and fasting for His earth shaking ministry! It was what he was called to do. He was completely obedient and sinless! This was what he did right after being baptized. He left us a stunning example.
But so often we want to follow Jesus on our terms. We even go as far as being worldly or even sinning to win sinners. Imagine we used that same time, energy and effort to sin and put into praying and fasting? Some do and others don't! I never heard any testimony saying, "Hi! I came to Christ through that Christian who would fornicate with me. Or, I really thank God for that Christian who would get drunk and high with me. I'm so glad they did that!" Actually, I've heard just the opposite like, "How can you tell me about Jesus? I saw you naked! You took my virginity!" and "Oh, did you see 'Joe Christian' there? He got completely smashed drunk on Saturday night! You should have heard all the crap coming out of his mouth. Man those Christians are such hypocrites. I want nothing to do with there God!"
But Jesus left us a stunning example. His dead raising, life transforming ministry came about through prayer and fasting for forty days and forty nights. It was worth the pain, sacrifice, effort, time and energy that it required!
So why don't we imitate him? Maybe we aren't able to do that kind of fast at first but we can make our way up to it! There are other things we can do to help equip us for such a ministry. This is just one of the things Jesus did!
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