Our Scripture reading for today is Matthew 4:1-4 which reads: “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

Allow me to share with you some important points regarding this verse from Matthew Henry’s Commentary:

We notice from this passage the temptations themselves. That which Satan aimed at, in all his temptations, was, to bring him to sin against God, and so to render him for ever incapable of being a Sacrifice for the sins of others. Now, whatever the colours were, that which he aimed at was, to bring him, To despair of his Father’s goodness. To presume upon his Father’s power. To alienate his Father’s honour, by giving it to Satan. In the two former, that which he tempted him to, seemed innocent, and therein appeared the subtlety of the tempter; in the last, that which he tempted him with, seemed desirable. The two former are artful temptations, which there was need of great wisdom to discern; the last was a strong temptation, which there was need of great resolution to resist; yet he was baffled in them all. He tempted him to despair of his Father’s goodness, and to distrust his Father’s care concerning him.

We will continue discussing this verse in our next broadcast.

Our fasting quote of encouragement today is from John Piper. He said: “Christian fasting, at its root, is the hunger of a homesickness for God.”

Our fasting devotional today is part 1 of a new series titled “FASTING IN THE BIBLE” from Richard J. Foster in his book “Celebration of Discipline”.

Throughout Scripture fasting refers to abstaining from food for spiritual purposes. It stands in distinction to the hunger strike, the purpose of which is to gain political power or attract attention to a good cause. It is also distinct from health dieting which stresses abstinence from food for physical, not spiritual, purposes. Because of the secularization of modern society, “fasting” (if it is done at all) is usually motivated either by vanity or by the desire for power. That is not to say that these forms of “fasting” are wrong necessarily, but their objective is different from the fasting described in Scripture. Biblical fasting always centers on spiritual purposes.

In Scripture the normal means of fasting involves abstaining from all food, solid or liquid, but not from water. In the 40-day fast of Jesus, we are told that “he ate nothing” and that toward the end of the fast “he was hungry” and Satan tempted him to eat, indicating that the abstaining was from food but not from water. From a physical standpoint, this is what is usually involved in a fast.

Now, let’s take this moment to break up the fallow ground in our lives. Hosea 10:12 states, “Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.”

The great evangelist Charles G. Finney preached a message titled “Breaking Up the Fallow Ground – An Outline for Repentance”. In this sermon, he listed 26 sins that we as Christians should confess and repent of. The third sin he lists is: a Neglect of the Bible. He urges us to confess this sin in our lives by saying: “Put down the cases where for perhaps weeks or longer, God’s Word was not a pleasure to you. Some people, indeed, read over whole chapters in such a way that afterwards they could not tell you what they had been reading. If that is so with you, no wonder your life has no direction, and your relationship with God is in such a miserable state.”

Let’s go to the Lord in prayer right now and confess this sin and others before God.

Our Scripture reading for today is Matthew 4:1-4 which reads: “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

Allow me to share with you some important points regarding this verse from Matthew Henry’s Commentary:

Christ needed not to fast for mortification (he had no corrupt desires to be subdued); yet he fasted. We notice: That herein he might humble himself, and might seem as one abandoned, whom no man seeketh after. That he might give Satan both occasion and advantage against him; and so make his victory over him the more illustrious. That he might sanctify and recommend fasting to us, when God in his providence calls to it, or when we are reduced to straits, and are destitute of daily food, or when it is requisite for the keeping under of the body, or the quickening of prayer, those excellent preparatives for temptation. If good people are brought low, if they want friends and succours, this may comfort them, that their Master himself was in like manner exercised. A man may want bread, and yet be a favourite of heaven, and under the conduct of the Spirit. The reference which the Papists make of their lent-fast to this fasting of Christ forty days, is a piece of foppery and superstition which the law of our land witnesses against. When he fasted forty days he was never hungry; converse with heaven was instead of meat and drink to him, but he was afterwards an hungred, to show that he was really and truly Man; and he took upon him our natural infirmities, that he might atone for us. Man fell by eating, and that way we often sin, and therefore Christ was an hungred.

We will continue discussing this verse in our next broadcast.

Our fasting quote of encouragement today is from Elizabeth Elliot. She said: “One way to begin to see how vastly indulgent we usually are is to fast. It is a long day that is not broken by the usual three meals. One finds out what an astonishing amount of time is spent in the planning, purchasing, preparing, eating, and cleaning up of meals.”

Our fasting devotional today is part 2 of our series titled “THE DISCIPLINE OF FASTING” from Richard J. Foster in his book “Celebration of Discipline”.

Scripture has so much to say about fasting that we would do well to look once again at this ancient Discipline. The list of biblical personages who fasted reads like a “Who’s Who” of Scripture: Moses the lawgiver, David the king, Elijah the prophet, Esther the Queen, Daniel the seer, Anna the prophetess, Paul the Apostle, and Jesus Christ the incarnate Son. Many of the great Christians throughout church history fasted and witnessed to its value; among them were Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, John Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, David Brainerd, Charles Finney, and Pastor Hsi of China.

Fasting, of course, is not an exclusively Christian Discipline; all the major religions of the world recognize its merit. Zoroaster practiced fasting as did Confucius and the Yogis of India. Plato, Socrates, and Aristotle all fasted. Even Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, believed in fasting. Now the fact that all these persons, in and out of Scripture, held fasting in high regard does not make it right or even desirable, but it should make us pause long enough to be willing to reevaluate the popular assumptions of our day concerning the Discipline of fasting.

Now, let’s take this moment to break up the fallow ground in our lives. Hosea 10:12 states, “Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.”

The great evangelist Charles G. Finney preached a message titled “Breaking Up the Fallow Ground – An Outline for Repentance”. In this sermon, he listed 26 sins that we as Christians should confess and repent of. The second sin he lists is: a Lack of Love for God. He urges us to confess this sin in our lives by saying: “Think how grieved and alarmed you’d be, if you suddenly realized a great lack of affection for you in your wife, husband, or children – if you saw that someone else had captured their hearts, thoughts, and time. Perhaps in such a case you would almost die with a just and holy jealousy. Now, God calls Himself a jealous God. Have you not given your heart to other loves and infinitely offended Him?”

Let’s go to the Lord in prayer right now and confess this sin and others before God.

Our prayer motivator verse from the Word of God today is Luke 6:12 which reads: “And it came to pass in those days, that he [Jesus] went out into a mountain to pray, and continued all night in prayer to God.”

Allow me to share with you some important points regarding this verse from Matthew Henry’s Commentary:

Jesus was long alone with God: He continued all night in prayer. We think one half hour a great deal to spend in the duties of the closet; but Christ continued a whole night in meditation and secret prayer. We have a great deal of business at the throne of grace, and we should take a great delight in communion with God, and by both these we may be kept sometimes long at prayer. In his family we have him nominating his immediate attendants, that should be the constant auditors of his doctrine and eye-witnesses of his miracles, that hereafter they might be sent forth as apostles, his messengers to the world, to preach his gospel to it, and plant his church in it. After he had continued all night in prayer, one would have thought that, when it was day, he should have reposed himself, and got some sleep. No, as soon as any body was stirring, he called unto him his disciples. In serving God, our great care should be, not to lose time, but to make the end of one good duty the beginning of another. Ministers are to be ordained with prayer more than ordinarily solemn.

My personal encouragement to you today is that prayer invites God’s power into our lives, our families, our communities, our churches, and our countries like nothing else can. When we pray, we are openly acknowledging that God can do the things that He says He can do, and we are opening the door for Him to accomplish those things.

Our prayer motivator quote today is from C.H. Spurgeon. He said: “A prayerless church member is a hindrance. He is in the body like a rotting bone or a decayed tooth. Before long, since he does not contribute to the benefit of his brethren, he will become a danger and a sorrow to them. Neglect of private prayer is the locust which devours the strength of the church.”

Our prayer motivator devotional today is part 12 of our series titled “PRAYING THROUGH” from Dr. John R. Rice.

THE BIBLE GIVES EXAMPLES OF PEOPLE WHO WERE SAVED INSTANTLY WITHOUT “PRAYING THROUGH”

The woman at the well of Sychar in Samaria was saved as Jesus talked to her. When Jesus led the woman to be convicted of her sins and said unto her, when she mentioned the Messiah in John 4:26, “I that speak unto thee am he”, the woman at once left her waterpot and ran away to win others to Christ and to bring the men out of the city to see Him! There was certainly not any mourner’s bench, any wailing and pleading and begging before she was saved!

We are told that many of the Samaritans of the city were saved even before they could get out to see Jesus. And others, just as soon as they got out to the well and heard Him, were saved and told the woman so!

In Luke 18:13-14, Jesus tells about the conversion of the publican in the Temple in the following brief words: “And the publican, standing afar off, would not lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven, but smote upon his breast, saying, God be merciful to me a sinner. I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather than the other: for every one that exalteth himself shall be abased; and he that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”

A prayer of seven words, and the poor sinner went home already saved! Certainly there was no so-called “praying through” there.

+ Plus, listen to Stephen Curtis Chapman singing “Let Us Pray”Avalon singing “If My People Pray”

Welcome to the Special Fasting Edition of the Prayer Motivator Devotional Broadcast #2

This is Daniel Whyte III, president of Gospel Light Society International. On yesterday, we commenced 165 days of prayer and fasting for America and the world. We want to thank all of you who joined us for the one day fast and we praise the Lord for all of you who will be continuing on in various and sundry ways throughout the next 165 days.

Our Scripture reading for today is Matthew 4:1-4 which reads: “Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred. And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread. But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”

Allow me to share with you some important points regarding this verse from Matthew Henry’s Commentary:

In the temptation of Christ it appears, that our enemy is subtle, spiteful, and very daring in his temptations; but it appears withal, that he is not invincible. Though he is a strong man armed, yet the Captain of our salvation is stronger than he. It is some comfort to us to think that Christ suffered, being tempted; for thus it appears that temptations, if not yielded to, are not sins, they are afflictions only, and such as may be pleased. And we have a High Priest who knows, by experience, what it is to be tempted, and who therefore is the more tenderly touched with the feelings of our infirmities in an hour of temptation. But it is much more a comfort to think that Christ conquered, being tempted, and conquered for us; not only that the enemy we grapple with is a conquered, baffled, disarmed enemy, but that we are interested in Christ’s victory over him, and through him are more than conquerors. He was dieted for the combat, as wrestlers, who are temperate in all things; but Christ beyond any other, for he fasted forty days and forty nights, in compliance with the type and example of Moses the great lawgiver, and of Elias, the great reformer, of the Old Testament. John Baptist came as Elias, in those things that were moral, but not in such things as were miraculous; that honour was reserved for Christ.

We will continue discussing this verse in our next broadcast.

Our fasting quote of encouragement today is from David Brainerd. He said: “When I return home, and give myself to meditation, prayer, and fasting, a new scene opens, and my soul longs for mortification, self-denial, humility, and divorcement from all the things of the world. I have nothing to do with earth, but only labor in it honestly for God. I do not desire to live one minute for anything which earth can afford.”

Our fasting devotional today is part 1 of a new series titled “THE DISCIPLINE OF FASTING” from Richard J. Foster in his book “Celebration of Discipline”.

In a culture where the landscape is dotted with shrines to the Golden Arches and an assortment of Pizza Temples, fasting seems out of place, out of step with the times. In fact, fasting has been in general disrepute both in and outside the Church for many years. For example, in my research I could not find a single book published on the subject of Christian fasting from 1861 to 1954, a period of nearly 100 years. More recently a renewed interest in fasting has developed, but we have far to go to recover a biblical balance.

What would account for this almost total disregard of a subject so frequently mentioned in Scripture and so ardently practiced by Christians through the centuries? Two things. First, fasting has developed a bad reputation as a result of the excessive ascetic practices of the Middle Ages. With the decline of the inward reality of the Christian faith, an increasing tendency to stress the only thing left, the outward form, developed. And whenever there is a form devoid of spiritual power, law will take over because law always carries with it a sense of security and manipulative power. Hence, fasting was subjected to the most rigid regulations and practiced with extreme self-mortification and flagellation. Modern culture reacts strongly to these excesses and tends to confuse fasting with mortification.

Second, the constant propaganda fed us today convinces us that if we do not have three large meals each day, with several snacks in between, we are on the verge of starvation. This, coupled with the popular belief that it is positive virtue to satisfy every human appetite, has made fasting seem obsolete. Anyone who seriously attempts to fast is bombarded with objections. “I understand that fasting is injurious to your health.” “It will sap your strength so you can’t work.” “Won’t it destroy healthy body tissue?” All of this, of course, is utter nonsense based upon prejudice. While the human body can survive only a short time without air or water, it can go for many days before starvation begins. Without needing to subscribe to the inflated claims of some groups, it is not an exaggeration to say that, when done correctly, fasting can have beneficial physical effects.

Now, let’s take this moment to break up the fallow ground in our lives. Hosea 10:12 states, “Sow to yourselves in righteousness, reap in mercy; break up your fallow ground: for it is time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.”

The great evangelist Charles G. Finney preached a message titled “Breaking Up the Fallow Ground – An Outline for Repentance”. In this sermon, he listed 26 sins that we as Christians should confess and repent of. The first sin he lists is: Ingratitude (Unthankfulness). He urges us to confess this sin in our lives by saying: “Take this sin, for example, and write down under this heading all the times you can remember where you have received great blessings and favors from God for which you have never given thanks. How many cases can you remember? Some remarkable protection where your life was spared, some wonderful turn of events that saved you from ruin. Write down the instances of God’s goodness to you when you were still in sin, before your conversion, for which you have never been half-thankful enough – and the uncountable mercies you have received since. How long the list of times where your ingratitude has been so bad that you are forced to hide your face in shame! Get on your knees and confess them one by one to God, and ask Him to forgive you. As you’re confessing these, they will immediately remind you of others . . . write them down too. Go over them three or four times in this way, and see what an incredible number of times God has given you mercy for which you have never thanked Him!

Let’s go to the Lord in prayer right now and confess this sin and others before God.

GENERAL PRAYER

Dear friend, if you are listening to this broadcast and you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, John 3:16 states, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.” The Bible also says in Romans 10:9 and 13: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved…. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Dear friend, if you are willing to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, please pray with me this simple prayer: Heavenly Father, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I now believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today and forever. Amen.

Congratulations on doing the most important thing in life and that is accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour! We’re here to help you, feel free to contact us at GospelLightSociety.com

Until next time, continue to fast and pray. God Bless You!

Our prayer motivator verse from the Word of God today is Jeremiah 33:3 which reads: “Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and show thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not.”

Allow me to share with you some important points regarding this verse from Matthew Henry’s Commentary:

When the heavens and the earth were finished, then, and not till then, the creator is called Jehovah. How this comfort must be obtained and fetched in—by prayer: “Call upon me, and I will answer them.” The prophet, Jeremiah, having received some intimations of this kind, must be humbly earnest with God for further discoveries of his kind intentions. He had prayed, but he must pray again. Note, those that expect to receive comforts from God must continue instant in prayer. We must call upon him, and then he will answer us. Christ himself must ask, and it shall be given him. I will show thee great and mighty things (give thee a clear and full prospect of them), hidden things, which, though in part discovered already, yet thou knowest not, thou canst not understand or give credit to. Or this may refer not only to the prediction of these things which Jeremiah, if he desire it, shall be favoured with, but to the performance of the things themselves which the people of God, encouraged by this prediction, must pray for. Promises are given, not to supersede, but to quicken and encourage prayer.

My personal encouragement to you today is that it is a crime for a head of household to leave their house without first praying with their family.

Our prayer motivator quote today is from J.C. Ryle. He said: “And here it is, I say it with sorrow, here it is that men fall short so miserably. Few indeed are to be found who pray: there are many who go down on their knees, and say a form perhaps, but few who pray; few who cry out to God, few who call on the Lord, few who seek as if they wanted to find, few who knock as if they hungered and thirsted, few who wrestle, few who strive with God earnestly for an answer, few who give Him no rest, few who continue in prayer, few who pray always without ceasing and do not grow weak. Yes: few pray! It is just one of the things assumed as a matter of course, but seldom practiced; a thing which is everybody’s business, but in fact hardly anybody performs.”

Our prayer motivator devotional today is part 11 of our series titled “PRAYING THROUGH” from Dr. John R. Rice.

THE BIBLE GIVES EXAMPLES OF PEOPLE WHO WERE SAVED INSTANTLY WITHOUT “PRAYING THROUGH”

The second way to prove that a sinner need not pray through in order to be saved is by Bible examples. And Bible examples, just as surely as Bible precepts and promises, show that when a sinner is saved, he is saved instantly, without a long period of mourning or pleading trying to touch the heart of an indifferent God or trying to work up his own soul to the proper state so God can save him.

How delightfully simple are the cases of salvation described in the Bible! Note in John 1:40-42 how Simon Peter was saved:

“One of the two which heard John speak, and followed him, was Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother. He first findeth his own brother Simon, and saith unto him, We have found the Messias, which is, being interpreted, the Christ. And he brought him to Jesus. And when Jesus beheld him, he said, Thou art Simon the son of Jona: thou shalt be called Cephas, which is by interpretation, A stone.”

When Peter got to Jesus, he was saved because he got to Jesus in the heart as well as in the body.

Philip was saved, evidently, when in John 1:43 Jesus said, “findeth Philip, and saith unto him, Follow me.”

Then we learn of the salvation of Nathanael. The new convert Philip went and got Nathanael and brought him to Jesus. One question to Jesus and all his doubts were removed and Nathanael was saved according to John 1:45-49. In those cases there was certainly not any time of mourning, wailing, weeping, and begging to get saved.

+ Plus, listen to Avalon singing “If My People Pray”

This is Daniel Whyte III, president of Gospel Light Society International. Today, I had the priviledge of calling for a global day of prayer and fasting for America and the world. This call commenced today and will continue on for 165 days until November 6, 2012 when America goes to the polls to vote. This is indeed a time where much prayer and fasting is needed to give God an opportunity to do His cleansing, healing, and restoration in the earth. During these 165 days, I will be providing encouragement and tips on fasting via audio for you to listen to and to help you as you fast with us. Also, please feel free to visit GospelLightSociety.com to find out more about this worldwide fast.

Today I want to take this moment to give you some encouragement from Scripture and from other well-known Christians of yesteryear who fasted and found great benefit and renewal through fasting.

The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, “For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: (For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds;) Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God…”

In his book, “With Christ in the School of Prayer”, Andrew Murray, a pray-er revivalist, says:

Prayer needs fasting for its full growth. Prayer is the one hand with which we grasp the invisble; fasting, the other with which we let loose and cast away the visible. In nothing is man more closely connected with the world of sense than in his need of food, and his enjoyment of it. It was the fruit, good for food, with which man was tempted and fell in Paradise. It was with bread to be made of stones that Jesus, when a hungered, was tempted in the wilderness, and in fasting that He triumphed. The body has been redeemed to be a temple of the Holy Spirit. It is in body as well as spirit, it is very specially, Scripture says, in eating and drinking, we are to glorify God. It is to be feared that there are many Christians to whom this eating to the glory of God has not yet become a spiritual reality. And the first thought suggested by Jesus’ words in regard to fasting and prayer, is, that it is only in a life of moderation and temperance and self-denial that there will be the heart or the strength to pray much.

But then there is also its more literal meaning. Sorrow and anxiety cannot eat: joy celebrates its feasts with eating and drinking. There may come times of intense desire, when it is strongly felt how the body, with its appetites, lawful though they be, still hinder the spirit in its battle with the powers of darkness, and the need is felt of keeping it under. We are creatures of the senses: our mind is helped by what comes to us embodied in concrete form. Fasting helps to express, to deepen, and to confirm the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything, to sacrifice ourselves, to attain what we seek for the kingdom of God. And He who accepted the fasting and sacrifice of the Son, knows to value and accept and reward with spiritual power the soul that is thus ready to give up all for Christ and His kingdom.

Murray further states: Learn from these men (those at the church at Antioch — Acts 13) that the work which the Holy Ghost commands must call us to new fasting and prayer, to new separation from the spirit and the pleasures of the world, to new consecration to God and to His fellowship. Those men gave themselves up to fasting and prayer, and if in all our ordinary Christian work there were more prayer, there would be more blessing in our own inner life.

David Brainerd, a missionary, told of his experiences as well. He said:

When I return home, and give myself to meditation, prayer, and fasting, a new scene opens, and my soul longs for mortification, self-denial, humility, and divorcement from all the things of the world. I have nothing to do with earth, but only labor in it honestly for God. I do not desire to live one minute for anything which earth can afford.

Brainerd’s diary is full and monotonous with the record of his sessions of fasting, meditation, and retirement. As he sought God’s personal help, he wrote:

Feeling somewhat of the sweetness of communion with God and the constraining force of his love, and how admirably it captivates the soul and makes all the desires and affections to center in God, I set apart this day for secret fasting and prayer, to entreat God to direct and bless me with regard to the great work which I have in view of preaching the gospel, and that the Lord would return to me and show me the light of his countenance. I had little life and power in the forenoon. Near the middle of the afternoon God enabled me to wrestle ardently in intercession for my absent friends, but just at night the Lord visited me marvelously in prayer. I think my soul was never in such agony before. I felt no restraint, for the treasures of divine grace were opened to me. I wrestled for absent friends, for the ingathering of souls, for multitudes of poor souls, and for many that I thought were the children of God, personally, in many distant places. I was in such agony from sun half an hour high till near dark that I was all over wet with sweat, but yet it seemed to me I had done nothing. O, my dear Saviour did sweat blood for poor souls! I longed for more compassion toward them. I felt still in a sweet frame, under a sense of divine love and grace, and went to bed in such a frame, with my heart set on God.

Dear friend, by the grace of God, I have fasted for 40 days and 40 nights seven times in my over 32 years of ministry. I have also fasted for shorter periods of time many times throughout my ministry ranging from a 1 day fast to a 28 day fast. By fasting and praying, I have seen God do many wonderful and miraculous things in my worldwide ministry and life. I know that you will have similar results.

Dear friend, if you are listening to this broadcast and you do not know the Lord Jesus Christ as your Saviour, John 3:16 states, “For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have everlasting life.”

The Bible also says in Romans 10:9 and 13: “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved…. For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

Dear friend, if you are willing to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ for salvation, please pray with me this simple prayer: Heavenly Father, I realize that I am a sinner and that I have done some bad things in my life. For Jesus Christ sake, please forgive me of my sins. I now believe with all of my heart that Jesus Christ died for me, was buried, and rose again. Lord Jesus, please come into my heart and save my soul and change my life today. Amen.

Congratulations on doing the most important thing in life and that is accepting Jesus Christ as your Lord and Saviour!

Until next time, Watch, Fast, and Pray. God Bless You!

Our prayer motivator verse from the Word of God today is James 5:17 which reads: “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.”

Allow me to share with you some important points regarding this verse from Matthew Henry’s Commentary:

This instance with Elijah of the extraordinary efficacy of prayer is recorded for encouragement even to ordinary Christians to be instant and earnest in prayer. God never says to any of the seed of Jacob, Seek my face in vain. If Elijah by prayer could do such great and wonderful things, surely the prayers of no righteous man shall return void. Where there may not be so much of a miracle in God’s answering our prayers, yet there may be as much of grace.

Our prayer motivator quote today is from John MacNaughtan. He said: “[Prayer] is generally neglected; just as if the clear statements of Scripture regarding the potency, the almost miraculous efficacy of prayer, were designed as a pillow on which the church might slumber, rather than as a mighty stimulus to rouse to heroic achievements and urge on to glorious efforts in the cause of the Redeemer.”

Our prayer motivator devotional today is part 11 of our series titled “PRAYING THROUGH” from Dr. John R. Rice.

Years ago at Marquette Manor Baptist Church in Chicago, a young man came forward wanting to be saved. He was from Tennessee where they were accustomed to the mourners’ bench and to long waiting on God and begging God for salvation. His mother had shouted when she was saved; he, too, felt he must shout or he would not know he was saved. I told him that he only had to trust Christ. Then I asked dear Mr. Frank Sheriff of the Christian Business Men’s Committee to take the Bible and show the young man how to be saved.

They went to the inquiry room and spent a good long while together. After the services this young man came back with Mr. Sheriff. The Bible had done its blessed work. He shook my hand and said, “Brother Rice, I don’t feel like I wanted to feel, but the Bible says I am saved!”

You may be sure he was saved. When he trusted in Christ, he got everlasting life. If he went on to serve the Lord and win souls, and grow in grace, he had all the joy and blessed emotion that he needed. But the emotional crisis is not the sure proof of salvation. Simple trusting in Christ’s Word, in His blood, in His love, in His atonement, is the one sure way to be saved.

+ Plus, listen to CeCe Winans singing “Anybody Wanna Pray”

Our prayer motivator verse from the Word of God today is James 5:17 which reads: “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.”

Allow me to share with you some important points regarding this verse from Matthew Henry’s Commentary:

The power of prayer is here proved from the success of Elijah. This may be encouraging to us even in common cases, if we consider that Elijah was a man of like passions with us. He was a zealous good man and a very great man, but he had his infirmities, and was subject to disorder in his passions as well as others. In prayer we must not look to the merit of man, but to the grace of God. Only in this we should copy after Elijah, that he prayed earnestly, or, as it is in the original, in prayer he prayed. It is not enough to say a prayer, but we must pray in prayer. Our thoughts must be fixed, our desires firm and ardent, and our graces in exercise; and, when we thus pray in prayer, we shall speed in prayer. Elijah prayed that it might not rain; and God heard him in his pleading against an idolatrous persecuting country, “so that it rained not on the earth for the space of three years and six months. Again he prayed, and the heaven gave rain.” Thus you see prayer is the key which opens and shuts heaven.

We will discuss this verse further in the next broadcast.

Our prayer motivator quote today is from D.A. Carson. He said: “What is both surprising and depressing is the sheer prayerlessness that characterizes so much of the Western church. It is surprising, because it is out of step with the Bible that portrays what Christian living should be; it is depressing, because it frequently coexists with abounding Christian activity that somehow seems hollow, frivolous and superficial.”

Our prayer motivator devotional today is part 10 of our series titled “PRAYING THROUGH” from Dr. John R. Rice.

So we see that the Bible promises never picture salvation as a long, drawn-out process of those who plead long enough, who mourn long enough, who persist until they touch the heart of a careless and indifferent God. By all the promises of the Bible, the sinner who turns in his heart to trust Christ is instantly saved. So praying through for a lost sinner is never necessary to his salvation.

Do not misunderstand me. I did not say that those who wait long before God and pray much never get saved. I am sure that they often do. But they never get saved until they trust. And if they had put the trusting at the first end of their pleading instead of at the last end, they would have been saved at once, and would have saved all that delay, that sinful rejection of Christ while they pleaded.

The one sure and blessed way to be saved is to take God’s Word for it that when you in your heart turn from sin to trust in Christ Jesus, you already have everlasting life.

+ Plus, listen to Jessy Dixon singing “I Know What Prayer Can Do”

Our prayer motivator verse from the Word of God today is James 5:17 which reads: “Elias was a man subject to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly that it might not rain: and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six months.”

Allow me to share with you some important points regarding this verse from Matthew Henry’s Commentary:

The great advantage and efficacy of prayer are declared and proved: “The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much,” whether he pray for himself or for others: witness the example of Elias. He who prays must be a righteous man; not righteous in an absolute sense (for this Elias was not, who is here made a pattern to us), but righteous in a gospel sense; not loving nor approving of any iniquity. “If I regard iniquity in my heart, the Lord will not hear my prayer.” Further, the prayer itself must be a fervent, in-wrought, well-wrought prayer. It must be a pouring out of the heart to God; and it must proceed from a faith unfeigned. Such prayer avails much. It is of great advantage to ourselves, it may be very beneficial to our friends, and we are assured of its being acceptable to God. It is good having those for friends whose prayers are available in the sight of God.

We will discuss this verse further in the next broadcast.

Our prayer motivator quote today is from The Kneeling Christian. He said: “The great Heavenly Banker will not cash checks for us if our motives are not right. Is not this why so many fail in prayer? Christ’s name is the revelation of His character. To pray “in His name” is to pray in His character, as His representative sent by Him: it is to pray by His Spirit and according to His will; to have His approval in our asking, to seek what He seeks, to ask help to do what He Himself would wish to be done, and to desire to do it not for our own glorification, but for His glory alone. To pray “in His name” we must have identity of interests and purpose. Self and its aims and desires must be entirely controlled by God’s Holy Spirit, so that our wills are in complete harmony with Christ’s will.”

Our prayer motivator devotional today is part 9 of our series titled “PRAYING THROUGH” from Dr. John R. Rice.

In Romans 10:13 we are told, “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”

But to call, in the sense of that verse, simply means to call once. It is not a prolonged begging and pleading. Nothing like that is taught in that verse or any other Bible verse. The soul that asks Jesus for mercy gets it. The very asking is simple evidence of the faith in the heart, a willingness to receive what God has long been offering the sinner. It is not that any certain outward calling is necessary to salvation, for it is not. Rather, one who calls on the Lord shows, proves he has trusted. In the following verse, Romans 10:14 explains, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?”

One who calls on Christ has already trusted Him, and the calling is simply the evidence and proof of the faith that instantly saves. The one who calls has already trusted.

Again, a similar thought is involved in the words of Jesus in Matthew 10:32, “Whosoever therefore shall confess me before men, him will I confess also before my Father which is in heaven.”

One who claims Christ is saved. Certainly, it does not take long to own or claim Christ. Again, it is not the confession that saves. Joseph of Arimathaea was a disciple of Christ, and was saved, though he was a secret disciple and had never openly confessed Christ. Confession does not save. Rather, it is the proof that one has trusted Christ in the heart. As little time as it takes a poor sinner to claim Christ as Saviour, in less time than that he has looked to the Saviour, trusted Him in the heart, and has been saved.

+ Plus, listen to Daniel White Jr. singing “Prayer”

Our prayer motivator verse for today is 1 Samuel 1:10 and 15 which reads: “And [Hannah] was in bitterness of soul, and prayed unto the LORD, and wept sore…And Hannah answered [Eli] and said, No, my lord, I am a woman of a sorrowful spirit: I have drunk neither wine nor strong drink, but have poured out my soul before the LORD.”

Allow me to share with you some important points regarding this verse from Matthew Henry’s Commentary:

Hannah mingled tears with her prayers; she considered the mercy of our God, who knows the troubled soul. God gives us leave, in prayer, not only to ask good things in general, but to mention that special good thing we most need and desire…Hannah went away with satisfaction of mind. She had herself by prayer committed her case to God, and Eli had prayed for her. Prayer is heart’s ease to a gracious soul. Prayer will smooth the countenance; it should do so. None will long remain miserable, who use aright the privilege of going to the mercy-seat of a reconciled God in Christ Jesus.

Our prayer motivator quote today is from an John Stott. He said: “Because [prayer for the church] is secret and therefore unrewarded by men, we shall only undertake it if we long for their spiritual welfare more than for their thanks.”

Our prayer motivator devotional today is part 8 of our series titled “PRAYING THROUGH” from Dr. John R. Rice.

Many other Scriptures which deal with the plan of salvation make it clear that it is instantaneous.

For instance, John 6:37 says, “All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out.”

That coming is by faith, of course, a believing act of the heart. It is another way of saying the same thing. But it does not say, “Him that cometh and keeps on coming and keeps on coming unto me, I will in no wise cast out.” No! There is no time element in that coming. The instant a sinner in his heart comes to God, he has salvation.

Just so in John 1:12, which says, “As many as received him”, were saved. And the receiving is simply to say “yes” to Jesus and let Him come into the heart. It could not possibly require any prolonged process. When the door is unlocked, the Saviour comes in. When the heart says “yes”, the Saviour does what He has longed to do and has been begging to be allowed to do.

+ Plus, listen to Daitrick Haddon singing “Prayer Changes Things”