Welcome to the In Touch podcast with Charles Stanley for Friday, October 17th. Stay with us to

conclude the series learning to pray the Bible way with an explanation of what scripture has to say

about the place of fasting in prayer. On one occasion when Jesus was preaching in John chapter 6, those who heard him said,

Who can even listen to this?

That is, when he began to talk about true discipleship, they didn't ask the question who can do this.

They said, who can even listen to this?

And by the end of the chapter, so many of his congregation had left, Jesus turned to his

apostles and said, are you going to? I wonder what your level of commitment is. Is your love and

devotion to Jesus Christ beyond the level of convenience. Well, it was very difficult for

them to hear what Jesus had to say about discipleship, and it may be a little difficult for some

of you to hear what I want to say today, because I want to talk about a subject that most folks

haven't talked about, and a lot of folks don't want to talk about.

So I want you to turn, if you will, to Matthew chapter 6, the Sermon on the Mount.

And in this particular section of the Sermon of the Mount, Jesus has been giving instruction about giving to the poor and about prayer.

And now he comes to a third word of instruction. And the title of

this message is the place of fasting in prayer. And beginning in verse 16, he says, and whenever you fast,

do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance in order to be seen

fasting by men. Truly, I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you fast,

anoint your head and wash your face so that you may not be seen fasting by men, but by your father who is in secret

and your father who sees in secret will repay you. Now by fasting, I simply mean the abstinence of food.

Now, it can be abstinence of sleep or it can be abstinence of the relationship, the intimacy of a husband and wife.

But primarily it is a fasting of food, and that is, setting aside, abstaining from, refusing to eat in order to give ourselves to a time of prayer and fellowship with the Lord Jesus Christ.

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