How to make your prayer life more effective

Can you have an effective prayer life without fasting? Can you fast without a prayer life?

Before I begin, it's essential to define prayer and fasting in their proper context or definition.

Prayer refers to people's communication or conversation with God. Prayer enables us to hear and know the mind of God. It's also important to note that prayer is multifaceted and different elements or spiritual tools are available to make it more effective, especially in certain seasons of your life. (Hendrickson Publishers 407)

You may have a season that you are calling on the name of the Lord for healing. You may need to use an additional weapon, such as fasting, or maybe draw closer to God because you've been distracted.

Additional reasons to fast:

• Repentance

• Asking for strength

• Seeking God's guidance and help

Whatever the reasoning, prayer and fasting are mighty spiritual weapons so that we can engage in spiritual warfare. (Baxter 319)

Fasting gives us entry into the resources of God's power to carry out His will. Fasting is abstaining from food for a limited time to provide additional time and attention to prayer and spiritual concerns.

To answer the original question, you can pray without fasting. God commands us to pray; if we follow God, we should pray.

1 Chronicles 16:11 Seek the Lord and His strength; Seek His face continually {longing to be in His presence].

Psalms 105:4 Seek and deeply long for the Lord and His strength [His power, His might]; Seek and deeply long for His face and His presence continually.

For prayer to be effective, we must be sincere in our faith that God hears our prayers; we need to always pray in Jesus' name, pray the will of God and be found guilty of living in the will of God, and be persistent in praying.

I'll go back to the beginning of Genesis, where Abraham was effective in prayer when he intercedes for Sodom. You do not see mention of him fasting, yet he was effective because he knew God and was praying in the will of God. Genesis 18:16-33

Prayer and fasting are our spiritual weapons and armor.

Since we understand that fasting is an additional resource and spiritual weapon, it's important to note that you need both prayer and fasting to be effective against Satan's attacks, especially since we have the foreknowledge that it works. Mark 9:29

Moses is the first person recorded in scripture who fasted and prayed when he went up to meet with God for 40 days and 40 nights while the Lord downloaded what to write on the tablets. Moses drew close to God and accomplished something that no man besides him has ever done to provide God's written law to the people straight from heaven's throne. Exodus 34:28

As I grow as an intercessor, I will have to continue strengthening my spiritual muscle to marry prayer and fasting to be effective because life makes us dull and ineffective to war in the spirit. We must be willing to train ourselves to a lifestyle of prayer and fasting if we want to be effective. (Smith 26)

I will close with this truth, you can pray without fasting, but you can't fast without praying. It's important to note that in today's culture, people use intermittent fasting without prayer to lose weight.

I believe that our prayer life reaches its full effectiveness when we combine it with fasting because it forces us to rely on God for strength, provision, and wisdom.

Works Cited

Baxter, Mary K. A Divine Revelation of Satan's Deceptions & Spiritual Warfare. Whitaker House, 2021.

Hendrickson Publishers, editor. Fire Bible-ESV-Student. HENDRICKSON PUBL, 2015.

Smith, Joshua. The Intercessors' Basic Training Manual & Workbook: Volume 1: the Ministry of Intercession. Edited by Tenita Johnson, So It Is Written, 2021.