There is something we have not talked about this week regarding prayer and fasting.  For us as a church this has been a huge subject for a very long time  –  love from God and love for God.  In our current series on Ephesians we have seen how much God loves us.  He lavishes upon us all the riches in Christ we have been studying, not because we deserve it but because He IS love and wants to pour out His love upon us.

Prayer and fasting is a relationship.  Jesus, when teaching His disciples, said “Our Father in heaven, hallowed by Your name …”  Prayer is a relationship.  Abba wants to spend time with His sons and daughters.  Jesus loved it when Mary sat at His feet and listened.  Martha was so busy and bothered by so many things she had no time to do so.  Ouch! A bit too close to home.

Some of you know of the book about the Five Love Languages.  My wife the other day said “God’s love language is quality time!”   And so it probably is.  He wants to spend quality time with us.

As we embark on a 21 day adventure of fasting and prayer how wonderful it will be to just set aside more time than normal to sit at His feet and listen to Him, to just enjoy His Presence.  Perhaps we could say it this way:  “To touch God and be touched by God.”  Fasting eliminates things in our lives that compete with Him — in addition to fasting some kinds of food how about  TV, or facebook, or laptop, or newspapers, or those long phone calls, or …   just for love’s sake.