The Importance of Prayer And Fasting in Sustaining the Healing Power of God

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I have been teaching on divine healing, emphasizing that God continues to heal the sick today. In a previous article,  I wrote about how Jesus Christ sovereignly gave to His earliest 12 apostles power and authority to heal the sick. The apostles received the healing anointing without praying and fasting for it. It was a gift freely given to them.

The Lord continues to give His healing power and authority to believers. However, it must be pointed out that prayer and fasting play an important role in the operations of the healing anointing. This article, therefore, focuses on the importance of prayer and fasting in sustaining the gift of healing power and authority in the lives of believers.

We know that “For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable” (Romans 11:29). This means callings and gifts people receive from God are permanent. God does not revoke them or He does not change His mind about what He has called someone to do or the gifts He has given to him.

However, we must understand that it is one thing receiving divine calling and gifts. It is completely another thing maintaining or sustaining them. It is God’s duty to give gifts to men; it is men’s duty to ensure that the gifts remain functional on their lives.

In announcing Jesus Christ to the people of Israel, John the Baptist said: “I saw the Spirit descend from heaven like a dove, and it remained on him” (John 1:32). With his prophetic eyes of faith, John saw that the Lord Jesus received the Holy Spirit from the Father, and He sustained Him.

Yes, it is our duty to ensure that God’s gifts remain potently operational in our lives. We need to appreciate the fact that the power to function in God’s healing gift and others can weaken when we fail to regard other commands of God. For example, regular prayers and fasting, living holy and righteous life and living by faith through love.

As already indicated, this article considers the importance of prayer and fasting in sustaining the healing power of God. There is no doubt that prayer and fasting help maintain or activate the healing power of God in the life of believers who already have the gift.

We read in Luke’s gospel that “And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country” (Luke 4:14).

Remember that Jesus received the anointing of the Holy Spirit when the Spirit descended and remained on Him as witnessed by John the Baptist (John 1:32). John did not say the Holy Spirit dwelled in Jesus but on Him. Receiving the Holy Spirit on you is an act of empowerment for ministry.

However, before the Lord began His public ministry, He fasted and prayed for 40 days (Matthew 4:2). Afterwards, He “returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and a report about him went out through all the surrounding country” (Luke 4:14).

Moreover, throughout His ministry, Jesus often went to solitary places alone to pray after He had ministered healing and teachings to many people (Matthew 15:29). He needed to keep the anointing of the Holy Spirit alive in His life. Remember that Jesus said power left Him when the woman with the issue of blood touched His garment to receive healing (Luke 8:46).

Nine times the Lord Jesus went to be alone with the Father in prayer. Prayer renews and deepens one’s relationship with God. A minister who maintains a good relationship with God through prayer, fasting and Scripture reading cannot lack the power and authority of God to heal the sick by divine will.

One time, Jesus revealed that some diseases and sicknesses caused by strong demonic forces can only be overcome by prayer and fasting (Matthew 17:21). Jesus gave this revelation when His disciples failed to cure a young man afflicted with lunacy, an extreme mental illness.

Now, remember that Jesus had given the apostles power and authority over all demons and to cure diseases. Why then could they not cure the young man of his affliction? Because at that time they failed to sustain the healing anointing they received from the Lord by fasting and prayer.

However, after Christ Jesus ascended to heaven, the apostles who had learnt from Jesus devoted themselves to prayer and fasting, enabling the Spirit of God to minister healing to the sick through them. For instance, in Acts 13:1-3, the apostles fasted and prayed, activating the ministry of the Holy Spirit among them.

In our generation, the late Evangelist A.A. Allen wrote about how he received the healing anointing through intense prayers with fasting in his closet. I believe he had the gift of healing from God upon his life, and that the prayers and fasting he offered only activated its operation.

Clearly, we can see a correlation between prayer and fasting, and the demonstration of the healing power of God. Living holy and righteous lives as well as living by faith through love are also very important in sustaining the healing power of God in the lives of believers.

By James Quansah