Prayer and Fasting

Every so often, the Wesley Foundation at LA Tech does 24 hours of prayer and fasting. I have an amazing experience every time. I find that fasting, especially in evangelical churches, is not as common as it really should be. The Bible instructs us to fast. Jesus tells us to do so. Fasting is not something that our culture appreciates. We love to constantly treat ourselves instead of using self-denial as a way to draw closer to God. In Matthew 10 verse 38 it says “And calling the crowd to him with his disciples, he said to them, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.” It is very biblical to deny ourselves and very biblical to fast. That being said, a 24 hour fast is not very long. The thing is I always think that and am not prepared every time. Even not eating for a day takes a good bit of drive (at least for me).

Along with our fasting, we do hour long blocks in the chapel of prayer to God. In the chapel, there are guidelines of certain things to pray for, passages to pray through, and postures to use while praying. I always like to do one in the middle of the night. Even though I know it isn’t true, it feels like everyone else is asleep and it is just me and God.I know that it is always just me and God, but there is also something about taking time out of your sleeping just to pray, another way to deny yourself in order to grow closer to the Lord. I like being at the church when no one is there. There is no one to distract me, but there also isn’t all the things in my house that need to get done to distract me, just me and God. Also, because I have been fasting, I feel so close to God. I never feel closer to God than when fasting. I don’t know how to explain it. When my team members and I were preparing for our mission to Romania last year, we were short on fundraising by a lot of money. My teammates and I met it with prayer and fasting,faith, and excitement to ask God to provide and see him do it.

And He did.

We got more than enough money in a lump sum from an anonymous donor.

I was and still am very amazed at how God truly provided in that time, and it gives me faith that He will do it again in the future.

I appreciate doing this with my Family at the Wesley Foundation. I have the most amazing community here and I love that prayer and fasting is something that we do together. I believe that living out our faith is not something we can do alone, and I appreciate this being a communal experience, while also having personal time with God. I was not really raised in this kind of practice (I was a Christian, but we did not fast much), so it is always very exciting for me. I look forward to our next prayer and fasting event to observe the end of Lent.

About The Author:

Maegan Golenor is an active member of the Wesley Foundation. She brings laughter and joy to every room she enters. We are blessed to have her.