Lesson 13: Prayer and Fasting

The disciples wanted to know why they could not cast out this one particularly stubborn demon. Jesus' answer was plain: "Because of your unbelief." Surely the next thoughts that came to His students' minds were something like: "Well, we've done this before. What makes this one different? We do have a little bit of faith... oh, but you're saying we need more of it?" Andrew Murray turns the disciples' predicament toward us and invites us to consider whether some of the sin and suffering around us is our blame. "In the spiritual world," he states, "failure has but one cause, the want of faith... It is in prayer, in the exercise of the faith I have [already], in fellowship with the living God, that faith can increase... men of strong faith are men of much prayer... Faith needs prayer for its full growth. And prayer needs fasting for its full growth." Are we willing to go to THAT length - resolved to sacrifice anything if necessary - so that God can use us for His redemptive work in the world? If Jesus and His first disciples made use of fasting to strengthen and increase their faith, why shouldn't we?