Would Jesus Pray and Fast with Rick Perry?

I think there’s a difference between personal fasting as spiritual discipline that Jesus is talking about, and corporate/national fasting, ala Nineveh in Jonah. If you want to coordinate a lot of people doing something together, it can’t be a secret.

I think this whole thing has been blown out of proportion by the media. I watched the video and it barely even mentions fasting. The overall message I got from it was that they wanted to have a meeting to petition God for his mercy and guidance on our nation.

Although Jesus was not big on public prayer, overthrowing the tables in the temple showed that he was not afraid to publicly show his displeasure with the establishment of the day. The mere fact that he was crucified shows that he was not afraid to stir the pot publicly and call people to God.

At the end of the day, it is also a question of motives. God only knows if the organizers and Governor Perry had a pure heart in planning the gathering.

I was reading this morning in Joel, where the locusts are coming to devour everything, and there were two distinct calls to national fasting in sackcloth and ashes were made in the first two chapters. So there is Biblical precedent for this kind of thing, and given the recent locusts of Wall Street it seems even more apropos.

Now if Mr. Perry is doing it because he thinks it’ll with votes from the Christian right, that is another thing.

I hesitate to agree with you on this. You have to remember that Joel is speaking to the people of Israel, who have a unique covenant with God. That being said, Jonah is a more perplexing example…

chris, did you attend the day of prayer? i was there and my impression of the fasting that was done was that it was completely optional and personal. i have no idea who did and did not fast.

what the day was all about was praying for our country. the day was not political, not denominational, but simply about praying and asking God’s forgiveness for the ways we have walked away from Him.

rick perry did talk briefly and he prayed. personally i am quite pleased to have the head of our state be someone who isn’t afraid to stand up and tell the world that Jesus is his Savior and then go on to read scripture and pray publicly. our country would be better off if more Christians would do the same.

to answer your questions, i think that Jesus would be perfectly fine with renting out an arena to gather people together to pray and fast. i also think that Jesus would commend rick perry for leading well….that being said i do completely agree w samuel and daniel that only gov. perry and God know his true motives and heart, therefore if his heart was not in the right place, he will answer to God for that.

great point about nineveh!

Maybe Jesus point isn’t that some of those things should never be done corporately, but that they should never be done to attract/receive attention/admiration from men, but for God. Doing them secretly ensures that God is the one you’re concerned about.

He didn’t mention singing, but if he had said, “When you sing, don’t sing in the crowd to show off how talented you are and receive the praise of men. . .” Would the same principle apply? DON’T sing corporately? Or would we be invoking a false negative. On the other hand, being genuine in private with God will trickle into genuineness in your corporate activities as well.

I still think corporate humiliation before God is a good thing. Maybe not a perfect thing, and those involved won’t all be on the same God-honoring page, probably, but yeah. . . . there were those Ninevites. There was a public day of fasting, humiliation and prayer at our nations start as well.

Type your reply…

Kara, I didn’t make it. Besides my general skepticism toward the heart behind the event, I am also very hesitant to join in on anything that smacks of mixing church and state. I do however, support anyone who wants to humble themselves before God. That is a good idea.