Prayer is one of the most important aspects of our faith in Messiah—and yet, it is often complicated and misunderstood. The same can be said for fasting, which is arguably the less popular spiritual discipline. If you have ever wondered how we should pray or why we fast, then you will definitely want to hear this episode of Our Hope podcast. We have invited back Fiona Sorbala, who serves God’s chosen people in the United Kingdom. Together, we discuss questions like:

·     How did prayer work in the Old Testament?

·     What does Judaism teach about prayer?

·     What did Jesus say about fasting?

·     What role does fasting play in Judaism?

(upbeat traditional music)

- Welcome to "Our Hope,"

a production of Chosen People Ministries.

On this podcast, you will hear inspiring testimonies,

learn about Messianic apologetics

and discover God's plan for Israel and you.

Wherever you're listening, we hope you lean in,

listen closely and be blessed.

(gentle music)

"Our Father who is in heaven, hallowed be Your name.

Your kingdom come.

Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.

Give us this day our daily bread.

And forgive us our debts,

as we also have forgiven our debtors.

And do not lead us into temptation,

but deliver us from evil.

For Yours is the kingdom and the power

and the glory forever.

Amen."

This famous prayer can be found in Matthew 6:9-13.

Yeshua gave us this example

during His "Sermon on the Mount,"

when He explained how to live for God and keep His Word.

Prayer is an important part of our journey with God,

and it began all the way back in the book of Genesis.

While it may not be as popular,

fasting is also a key spiritual discipline.

Both these practices, prayer and fasting,

are meant to be simple,

but they can be easily misrepresented or misunderstood.

In this episode, we are going to explore the Jewish origins

of prayer and fasting according to Scripture

and discuss how we can engage in these disciplines

with the right heart.

We have invited back one of our ministry partners

from the UK, Fiona Sorbala, to join us for this episode.

Fiona, welcome back to "Our Hope."

- Thank you so much for having me.

- I am so glad you're able to join us again.

I know last time, we asked you about your favorite food,

and I remember your story

about the cheesecake for Shavuot's.

And so (laughs),

today we want to ask you a different question.

What is the best piece of advice you've ever been given?

- Well, actually it was on a poster,

and it was a play on words, and it went something like this.

"Seven days without prayer makes one weak," spelled W-E-A-K.

- That is awesome.

- The reason being is that a prayerless life

is a powerless life.

And prayerlessness means that we are unable to access

the resources and equipping that is to be found in God.

- That is such a perfect quote for this episode.

We're actually going to jump right into this discussion

on prayer now.

Before we can start this conversation,

it's important to ask what is prayer?

Because it could be many different things

to many different people.

And why do we pray?

- I think at its simplest,

prayer is simply a conversation between you and God,

and it's foundational to relationship with God.

All relationships, they live and die

based on the quality of communication that exists.

And prayer is the breathing of our relationship.

When breathing stops, a person dies.

And when prayer stops, our relationship with God dies.

And Jewish prayer is designed to help an individual

express faith and belief in God

while reminding us of our dependency on God.

And I think that's really helpful

as a way of looking at what prayer is.

- I love how you frame it in terms of the relationship.

And we hear in Scripture about a few people

who had a very special relationship with God.

One of them was Abraham,

and we read back in Genesis that he spoke with God directly.

I'm thinking specifically of when he interceded for Lot,

when Sodom and Gomorrah and were about to be destroyed.

What does this conversation show us

about the nature of prayer?

- Well, if you go right back to Adam and Eve,

when they communicated with God, they conversed with Him,

they talked freely, they were uninhibited by sin or shame,

and their conversation was warm and intimate.

They talked as they walked in the cool of the evening.

The first time that we read elsewhere about prayer

is in Genesis 4, but that's all it says.

The people began to call on the name of the Lord.

(gentle music)

But when we look at Abraham,

we see that prayer begins with God.

And as Abraham speaks to God,

he begins to understand what prayer is and what it can be.

In Genesis 15, He questions God

on how God will fulfill the promises made to him

in Genesis 12,

namely that from Him would come a great nation,

but it's as they talk that his faith grows.

We can read that he believed,

and it was credited to him as righteousness.

In fact, I think in Scripture,

all prayers actually begin with God.

So when we get to the encounter in Genesis 18,

something really interesting has happened.

We read that God decided to reveal to Abraham

what He was going to do to Sodom and Gomorrah.

And we have what is now considered

to be the first real prayer.

And it's actually a prayer of intercession

as he pleads for the lives of the inhabitants,

not for all of the inhabitants,

but for those righteous inhabitants of the city.

His prayer is based on what he knows to be true about God

and the character of God.

And we can see that Abraham trusts Him enough

to be quite bold.

He's almost saying, "But, God, you surely can't do that.

You would really destroy a whole city,

including the righteous?"

And so he's challenging God,

but I think like Moses,

the boldness to challenge God

grows on out of their understanding

and their relationship with God.

Moses will actually say to God,

"Seriously, if You don't go with us,

how will the nations know that we're Your people?"

And when God gets frustrated with His people and says,

"Come on, Moses, I'll make a nation from you,"

Moses says, "You can't

because You made promises to Abraham."

In other words,

these prayers of intercession are prayers that are bold,

but they flow out of relationship.

And importantly, they're based on the understanding

of who God is and what His promises are.

- I love how you frame that

with God initiating the conversation with us.

I think we often think of prayer as just us talking to God

out of the blue or out of thin air.

But I think the Holy Spirit

does draw us into the conversation.

So when we look at prayer in the Old Testament,

does it work the same way as it does now

in the New Covenant era?

Were the Israelites always able to speak with God directly

the way we think of prayer?

Or was there something that had to happen

in the temple for them to pray?

- In both the tabernacle and the temple,

there were certain rituals.

We can actually see it in the Gospel of Luke in 1:10,

where we read,

"The whole multitude of the people were in prayer

outside at the hour of the incense offering."

So the high priest would make an offering for himself

at the brazen altar,

and he would seek pardon for his own sins,

before he goes into the holy place

to offer a sacrifice of incense at the golden altar,

which essentially was an altar of worship.

And as the high priest prayed, it was said,

at least by the rabbis, that as the incense,

the smoke goes up, it would carry the prayers

of those gathered in the outer courts to God.

The priest there was standing before God.

Now that was quite literally.

Because the altar of incense was placed

in front of the curtain behind which was the Holy of Holies,

where the ArK of the Covenant was,

and the presence of God was above the Mercy Seat.

So literally the high priest there

was standing before God on behalf of the people,

but something really interesting happened in number 16,

there's the rebellion of Korah and his followers,

and at the end of it, Moses, in 16:46, says,

"Take a censer, put fire on it from off the alter,

in lay incense upon it, carry it quickly to the congregation

and make atonement for them.

For the wrath has gone out from the Lord,

and the plague has begun."

So Aaron took it as Moses said

and ran into the midst of the assembly

and behold the plague,

which had already begun among the people,

and as he put the incense and made atonement,

and he stood between the dead and the living,

the plague was stopped.

The rabbis teach that the altar of incense

was a place for establishing peace

between the people of Israel and their Father in heaven.

We think of incense as sweet and fragrant,

but actually some of the herbs in it

were pungent and would smell quite bitter,

pointing to the fact

that it wasn't the incense that was fragrant.

It was the offering of the incense

that was fragrant and pleasing to the Lord.

And our prayers represent the offering of incense.

But as you read the Old Testament,

you find the people of God

clearly prayed not only in the tabernacle and the wilderness

or later in the temple,

but wherever the need arose.

Gideon, for example, talked with God

while hiding in the wine press.

Daniel with God in the exile in Babylon.

So it's not where you pray,

but it's the how and the why of prayer that actually counts.

- That is awesome.

And I love that we see some really powerful examples

of prayer in the Old Testament,

and it's amazing the way it worked with the tabernacle

and the incense being offered.

But also how, I guess you would say

the incense kind of covered everybody's prayers,

whether they were present at the tabernacle

or at the temple or not, would you say?

- Well, I think that's what the rabbis would say,

but I don't think that incense has ever been a requirement

for God to hear the prayers of his people.

It was part of the ritual life,

rituals in the life of Israel,

both in the tabernacle and the temple,

were designed to help the people lean into God

to have relationship with Him.

And without them, they would've done their own thing,

and most likely fallen away, as we often do.

- Yeah, prayer is definitely

how we lean into that relationship with God.

In light of how the Old Testament portrays prayer

and even the New Testament,

you mentioned the temple worship

during the Second Temple period.

What does modern Judaism teach about prayer?

- Actually, that's quite simple.

For them, prayer is known as tefillah,

and it's considered to be the service of the heart

that replaces the service within the life of the temple,

but to use the more contemporary terms,

it's the human heart ministering before God and to God.

And it combines both the ritual and the liturgical prayers

with personal devotion.

- So looking at prayer now, how do we pray?

Is there a specific format?

Is there a specific posture for prayer?

What is the way we should pray?

- Well, Jewish people traditionally pray standing up,

and it's based on a text in Leviticus 26:1

about not having idols and not setting yourselves

graven images or memorial pillars.

And then it says,

"You will not set up an image of stone in your land

in order to bow down to it, brand the Lord, your God."

Now in the ancient world, a stone was placed before the idol

and worshipers actually kneeled on it to pray.

So kneeling was considered to be pagan

and a pagan form of worship.

So the rabbis of old in the Talmud

prohibited Jewish people from kneeling during prayer

in order to distinguish the worship of God

from that of pagan idolatry.

But actually if prayer is simply your heart communicating

or conversing with God, it's not about whether you sit,

stand or life flat in your face.

And even though some people will find liturgical prayers

helpful in guiding their thoughts

or even helping them to express themselves to God,

we find that there are a number of written prayers

within the New Testament,

and the sounds themselves are incredible prayers,

expressing worship, hope, and truth.

Are there different kinds of prayers in Scripture?

Oh, yes.

I've given six. I should probably should have had seven.

But let's do six very briefly.

Different kinds of prayer.

Confession, acknowledging our sin

and asking for God's mercy and forgiveness.

Thanksgiving, that's thanking and praising God

for what He's done for us in Messiah

and for the things that He's given us.

Adoration, praising God for His greatness

and admitting our dependence on Him.

Worship, honoring Him for who He is

and reflecting back to Him

what you know to be true about Him.

Petition, asking God for something.

That might be healing.

It might be courage.

And hopefully we ask for a wisdom on a regular basis.

Then number six is intercession,

asking God as Abraham did in the example we gave,

to intervene.

And so intercession is when we ask God

for His divine intervention in the lives of others.

And I suppose to be super spiritual,

I could add seven in and have spiritual warfare.

(gentle music)

- We'll be right back.

(calm music)

- During these difficult times,

we know how hard it is to hold onto hope.

And we want you to know

that Chosen People Ministries is here for you.

If you have any prayer request,

our prayer team is standing by to receive them.

You can submit your request at chosenpeople.com/pray.

Again, that's chosenpeople.com/pray.

(upbeat music)

- Shalom.

We are so glad you're joining us

on this episode of "Our Hope."

We created this podcast as a resource

for followers of Yeshua,

where they can learn more about Israel,

the Bible and the Jewish community.

Together, we discuss messianic apologetics,

dive into Scripture

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- So, Fiona, how do we know if God hears our prayers?

- The testimony of Scripture shows us all the people

who prayed all of these kinds of prayers,

and the Lord heard them and responded to them.

But I only realized after I'd written this down,

but you're going to read the same text at the end.

We'd been invite by God to come to His throne of grace.

And it's there that we receive the mercy,

the grace that we need whenever we face a difficulty.

But this throne, who's on it?

God is on it.

Who's beside him?

Our own High Priest.

The One who's suffered in every way, like we have,

the One who's able to sympathize.

And so for me, prayer is that moment

where my feet might be on earth,

but my heart and my words are actually in heaven.

And prayer bridges heaven and earth.

It bridges my humanity and my frailty

with God's divine awesome power.

And I'm absolutely convinced

that He's a prayer-answering covenant-keeping God.

- Amen.

Yes.

I am so grateful that we have that high priest, Yeshua,

in heaven, interceding for us on our behalf.

Now we're going to talk about a key discipline in our walk

that may not be as popular with a lot of people.

I know it's not my favorite thing,

but there are times when I've done this,

and I saw the benefit of it, and this is fasting.

Now, Fiona, what exactly is fasting?

'Cause we hear about fasting

all the time today with our culture.

People talk about intermittent fasting in dieting,

but what is fasting in relationship to prayer

in our spiritual walk?

- Well, if fasting is the withholding of food and water,

particularly in Judaism,

it's a demonstration that the needs of the soul

outweigh the needs of the body.

It's a way of denying yourself so that you're saying

that I'm making more time and space

in my heart and in my life for God.

And I'm choosing, to use a very Christian expression,

to put the needs of the flesh to death.

And what I'm doing is I'm ignoring the needs of the body

in order are the needs of my heart and my soul.

It makes the time I would spend eating or cooking,

I can spend in prayer.

And that's about, for that period,

whether it's for 6 hours or 12 hours or 24 hours,

we're saying that I want to focus on God

and make more space in my heart and in my life for Him.

- Mm.

Well, when we think about fasting,

I know as part of this ministry,

I often think about Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement,

which is when the Jewish community

around the world is fasting.

Does fasting play a role in any other aspects of Judaism?

- Well,

there are actually six traditional fasts in Judaism,

and they are mainly, other than Yom Kippur,

they're mainly connected to sorrow for the dreadful things

that have happened to the Jewish people.

But it's a really interesting one,

fasting in the Old Testament,

because when we think of Yom Kippur and fasting,

the Scripture doesn't actually say fast.

Actually it says afflict your souls.

The modern versions say humble yourself.

But it's come to mean the fast from food and water,

but when you connect it to the call in Joel 2:12,

we read, "Even now declares the Lord,

return to me with all of your heart,

with fasting, with weeping and with mourning."

So fasting within Jewish thinking

has become connected to repentance.

And that's why, on Yom Kippur, we fast,

as the means of afflicting our souls, of denying ourselves.

- That makes a lot of sense.

Yeah, I have wondered about that.

Because it does say in the verse itself

to just afflict your soul.

And so I do wonder sometimes

about the bridge between that and fasting.

So thank you for explaining that.

In light of this,

what exactly does the Bible tell us about how to fast?

- Well, if fasting is considered as an offering to God,

Isaiah 58 provides us with God's perspective on fasting.

It tells us what fasting is, but also what fasting isn't.

But there's a little verse tucked in Isaiah 58:4

that we often miss.

And the second half of the verse reads this.

"Fasting like yours on this day

will not make your voice heard on high."

And God is making clear something

that echoes the Psalms of David,

and in Psalms 51:16, we read,

"For you do not delight in sacrifice or I would give it.

You're not pleased with burnt offerings.

The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit.

A broken and a contract heart of God, you will not despise."

And the meaning of what Isaiah 58 is getting at

is that the attitude of the person who fast is important.

If you come to your fast while arguing with others,

will your prayers be heard?

In short, no.

The verse also is teaching the importance

of coming with the right heart.

And it goes back to the Jewish idea

that prayer is the service of your heart.

Another thing that in Isaiah 58,

when you take alongside the teaching of Yeshua is,

it's not the volume of your prayers

or your skill in constructing your prayers

that ensures your prayers are heard and admired by others.

That's not what makes,

that will allow your prayers to be heard in heaven.

It's the attitude of the heart that counts.

And actually what God was saying in Isaiah 53 is,

it's actually more important to obey my commandments

than to fast.

And he says, the fast I is desire is the good things you do.

It's losing the chains of the oppressed.

It's feeding the poor.

It's caring for the widow.

It's about us reflecting God's heart

to those less fortunate than ourselves

and demonstrating God's care for them.

I grew up being taught, we are God's hands in the world.

It's with our hands that we raise somebody up.

It's with our arms that we embrace the lonely.

So the fast that God wants

is our hearts being extended to meet the needs of others.

- Mm.

I love that connection between,

fasting is more than just giving up food, right?

If our heart is, like you said,

if it's not in the right place,

it's not going to be effective,

but it also forces us or it makes us think about others

who may not have as much

or who may be lacking in some area.

And it makes us think about them as well

and how we can intercede and bless others.

So thank you for mentioning that.

What exactly does Yeshua tell us

about fasting in the New Testament?

- Oh, well He tells us something,

I think, that's quite important in Matthew 6,

and that is that in the ancient world,

they had got into the habit of covering themselves

with sack cloth and ashes

and demonstrating their spirituality and their humility.

But it is a very false humility.

And actually what Yeshua told them was this,

"Go and get washed.

Put on clean clothes and anoint yourself."

In other words, for me, it would be,

"Fiona, get dressed smartly.

Put on your makeup."

Present your usual face to the world

so that your fasting is an act that takes place in secret.

In other words, it's just between you and God.

And so that is the kind of fasting that Yeshua wants.

When we give things up for God, don't boast about it.

When you fast, don't tell others about it.

Just go on with it

and get on with making more space for God in your hearts.

- That reminds me of what Yeshua also says

about when we give to the poor,

or don't let your right hand know

what your left hand is doing,

or left hand know what your right hand is doing.

So in light of why and how to fast,

do we change any outcomes when we fast?

Does it?

'Cause I know we see, for example, in the Book of Esther,

she tells the Jewish people in Persia to fast

before she goes to the king.

And I read that passage, and I thought to myself,

does the fasting and prayer

affect what will happen to Esther?

Or is there another purpose for it?

So does fasting change any outcomes to our prayers?

- Yes and no.

Fasting is ultimately for our benefit.

When we fast, we're focusing on God.

In our very busy lives,

there's often very little space to God,

little space to give to God.

And fasting is about, as I've said before,

making room for God.

It's about offering more of ourselves,

taking the focus of our physical needs

or even our emotional needs.

Some have suggested that a modern fast might look like

fasting from our mobile phones or from social media.

In other words, or for me, it might be TV before bed.

In other words, the time we would normally spend on these,

we spend instead on prayer.

In other words, the act of fasting will no doubt mean

we will actually spend more time in prayer,

more time communicating with God,

more time listening to Him.

So it's not the fasting that changes the outcome.

It's that fasting changes our behavior.

And it's the change in our behavior

that helps us get our hearts right.

So that we are in a better position to hear from God

and respond to what God is saying.

There is a danger in saying

that fasting changes the outcome of prayer,

because it would make fasting

a way of guaranteeing the outcome

and would amount in perhaps even to spiritual manipulation.

I don't think there's a formula

to guarantee the outcome of your prayers,

because that would be tantamount

to bypassing God's sovereign will.

Yet some might say

that when Yeshua was speaking of deliverance

and said that some situations require prayer and fasting,

I think what He meant is that the prayer and the fasting

help us to align our hearts and our minds with God,

and in so doing, we're submitting to His lordship,

and we're leaning into Him for the resources we need.

If I'm faced with a situation,

and I just jump in willy-nilly,

am I doing it in my strength or in God's strength?

I think prayer and fasting changes the outcome of our prayer

only in as much as it changes us

so that we are in a place where God will answer us.

- Mm, that reminds me of something I read once.

Would you say that prayer in itself, even prayer on its own,

is more to align our hearts with God's heart?

- Absolutely.

But I think in doing that,

we mustn't leave that the word of God,

that when you look at all the list of forms of prayer,

how many of them contain God's word and require God's word

in order to actually be an effective form of prayer.

So when I pray God's word,

I know I'm inline with His will.

I know my heart is agreeing with what He says,

and it's not about what I want to happen.

And I think that's the benefit of prayer and fasting.

It's about changing our hearts

and bringing them inline with God's will and God's way.

- Mm, you just reminded me of the verse,

I don't remember where it is, you might remember.

Jesus says that when we ask anything according to His will,

He will do it.

And that's always been the caveat for me.

'Cause I recently went through a rough time with prayer

when I was getting a little bit just too concerned

with praying for God's will versus my own will.

And I just started attacking on, if it's your will,

to the end of every prayer request, because I was like,

"I just want to make sure. I want your will.

I don't want to look like I don't want your will."

But one thing I'm learning

is that if I'm spending time in the word,

then a lot of the things I'm asking for

will align with God's will, because, for example,

his will is that none should perish.

So if I'm praying for a loved one

to come to faith in Yeshua,

then I'm praying according to God's will.

So.

- Absolutely.

- So, Fiona, as we wrap up this episode,

we know that prayer and fasting

are practices which are embraced

by both the Christian and the Jewish communities.

So how can the conversation

surrounding both of these practices

open the door for sharing about the Messiah?

- Well, Jewish people understand prayer

primarily in terms of liturgy.

A religious Jewish person knows

that God hears him when he prays,

but he doesn't expect to hear God's voice

or be able to discern God's will through prayer.

Sharing our own experience of answered prayers

is eyeopening to them.

And in conversation,

being able to say that you fast and pray

with the whole Jewish community on Yom Kippur

is mind-blowing, because Jewish people assume

that Christians are fundamentally antisemitic.

So when they hear a Christian

who talks about standing with the Jewish people,

who loves the Jewish people, who's a supporter of Israel,

and even wants to align their own hearts

with Jewish tradition, that can be quite profound.

Although the religious Jewish people will find a Christian

who fast on Yom Kippur a little bit impertinent,

but you could always,

as a way of opening the door to a conversation,

give a very traditional Jewish greeting,

which is to wish them well on the fast.

And that will let them know that you have an understanding

of what they understand and what they do.

And it will be quite surprising to them.

- That is awesome, Fiona.

So one final question for you.

How has prayer and fasting impacted your life

as a Jewish believer in Jesus?

- Well, I grew up in the Brethren assemblies,

although I am a Jewish believer.

And so I don't remember being taught about fasting,

and our prayer was all extemporary.

There was no liturgy.

But as I've come into a more messianic Jewish lifestyle,

I've embraced liturgy, and I've embraced fasting.

And for all of the reasons above,

they have both helped me shape my spiritual life.

And I love the rhythm of the Jewish life cycle,

the way in which

it takes you through a life cycle in your faith.

And Jewish people, every Saturday,

are messianic congregation, pre prayers of repentance.

Repentance isn't limited to Yom Kippur,

the Day of Atonement, but fasting that day,

and the preparation of those 10 days of all

that lead up to it, in terms of,

I once nicknamed the Jewish new year, Rosh HaShanah,

as the day when we begin our spiritual MOT.

And we've got 10 days to kind of put ourselves through

with a little bit of spiritual rigor.

Some challenges about where we're really at with our lives.

Because I think sometimes we can get so busy,

particularly for those of us in ministry,

or for those of you who have family, who live busy lives,

we can get so busy with those things.

Fasting particularly on Yom Kippur is that 25 hour lens

through which I get to examine my heart and my life.

And that's only, at the end of the day, for my benefit.

God doesn't ask me to fast for his benefit.

He asks us to fast for our benefit.

- Fiona, thank you so much for joining us for this episode.

You've given us some really enlightening thoughts

on prayer and fasting.

And I know this episode is going to bless a lot of people.

So we really appreciate you just joining us

for this discussion and lending your insight.

- It's been my pleasure. Thank you so much for inviting me.

(gentle music)

"Therefore let us draw near with confidence

to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy

and find grace to help in time of need."

Hebrews 4:16.

As we approach our Father in heaven, let us remember

that we do not need to engage in spiritual disciplines

to earn His love.

Rather, we engage in prayer and fasting because we love Him

and desire to posture our hearts to draw close to Him,

just as Yeshua did when He was on Earth.

Yeshua was one with His Father,

and we can have this oneness too

as we humble ourselves through prayer,

acknowledging that we need His help in all things,

and through fasting,

posturing our hearts to forsake the comforts of this world

and allow only Him to satisfy us.

Thank you for listening

to this week's episode of "Our Hope,"

featuring Chosen People Ministries' staff member,

Fiona Sorbala.

This episode was co-written and co-produced

by Nicole Vacca and Grace Swee and edited by Grace Swee.

This episode was also made possible thanks to:

Dr. Mitch Glaser, Rachel Larsen,

Kieran Bautista and Jann Bautista.

I'm Nicole Vacca. Until next time.

(gentle music)

Thanks for listening to "Our Hope."

If you like our show and want to know more,

check out ourhopepodcast.com or chosenpeople.com.

You can also support our podcast by giving today

at ourhopepodcast.com/support.

See you next time.