Today’s 333 Devotional: “Our Two Greatest Spiritual Weapons”

Prayer and fasting are the two greatest spiritual weapons we possess, and they are the first two conditions in our prayer for God to heal the land.

“If My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land.” (2 Chronicles 7:14)

What many people miss is that this is a conditional prayer and promise. It is one of those “If/Then” promises. The condition is that if we want God to forgive our sins and heal our land then we must first humble ourselves, pray, seek God’s face and turn from our wicked ways.

The first two, and the key to the rest is what I see as our need to fast and pray. And the reason I say this is because the idea of being humble is attached to fasting and seeking God.

Fasting humbles us before God, making us completely and totally dependent upon God for His guidance and protection. We see this in Ezra’s prayer prior to setting out for Jerusalem with the temple implements.

“Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions.” (Ezra 8:21)

Further, fasting is attached to repentance and a turning away from our sins. It was such a fast the king of Nineveh called upon to spare their city from God’s judgment.

“The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth … When God saw what they did and how they turned from their evil ways, he had compassion and did not bring upon them the destruction he had threatened.” (Jonah 3:5, 10)

Prayer and fasting are the two greatest spiritual weapons we possess.