The prayer
Written prayerHeavenly father, you see through every pretense of religious hypocrisy. You search the heart and know the true motives behind each person's behavior. You discern the false from the true and the proud from the humble. Fasting is a discipline of the righteous and should be done in private. It is to humble myself before God and pray for the breaking of demonic strongholds to set people free. It is abstinence from indulging my flesh and strengthening my spirit. It is not to make a show of how spiritual I am. That is the arrogant pride of the hypocrites that want to draw attention to how righteous and pious they are. Jesus warned against wearing the mask of false pride that fains humility. Those who are unkempt and disheveled, so they look like they are in deep mourning, want the admiration of men for their false appearance of holiness. Fasting should never be about me, it should always be about a sincere concern for others that need freedom and healing. I will sacrifice my fleshly desires to empower my prayers for the deliverance of others, even as Christ denied himself to deliver me from my wandering nature. In Jesus name, amen.
