Fasting

This has always been a hard thing for me to understand. "Fasting and prayer". We pray for things. And many times when we REALLLY want something, then we pray and fast for it. Only-why? Is prayer not enough? What about when many people choose to pray or pray and fast for the same purpose...is that prayer & fasting any stronger than the prayer and fasting offered by just one person (Especially if the one person is the main person to whom it applies, and that person is both righteous and faithful?) It makes it sound like God will surely answer that prayer if only we prove that it is something that many people also want. It makes it sound like we are scrambling to fill a petition with enough signitures to allow our voice to be heard. Of course this is ridiculous, but I still find myself confused about how fasting makes any sort of difference.

When my testimony on a certain principle is lacking, I try to rely on that of others, the most important. Do I have a testimony of the Prophet and the apostles, that they communicate with God and are messengers for us? Yes. Absolutely. And do they have a testimony of this principle? Yes.

Thankfully I am not the only one confused, and so tonight my roommate and I spent a lot of time studying the words of the Prophets, searching on lds.org in the gospel library for some help, some explanations on the scriptures we read that talk about these things:

• praying for healings
• fasting with a purpose
• God's will and our desires

We found some really good information, that I may want to look back on and read so I will post them here so I can find them later, and maybe they will be useful to someone else.

1. The Law of the Fast By Elder L. Tom Perry. "The law of the fast has three great purposes. First, it provides assistance to the needy through the contribution of fast offerings, consisting of the value of meals from which we abstain. Second, a fast is beneficial to us physically." (these two I can comprehend) "Third, it is to increase humility and spirituality on the part of each individual." This article helped to explain the third purpose, and most interestingly, the word choice leads me to think that fasting does not directly impact the answer to the prayer, or strengthen the prayer. Instead fasting provides the person with a spiritual strength; sometimes the spirit of prophecy, being blessed with the power of the spirit, giving humility, allowing you to hear/feel an answer to your prayer, etc
2. The Blessings of a Proper Fast Elder Carl B Pratt (This reminds me of a certain Pratt friend I know ;-) I love what he defines as a "proper fast", notice when he mentions fasing with others the blessing is usually not an answer to a prayer, but a blessing of bringing the group closer together, humbling all, etc. "The purpose of our fast may be a very personal one. Fasting can help us overcome personal flaws and sins. It can help us overcome our weaknesses—help them become strengths. Fasting can help us become more humble, less prideful, less selfish, and more concerned about the needs of others. It can help us see more clearly our own mistakes and weaknesses and help us be less prone to criticize others. Or our fast may have a focus on a family challenge. A family fast might help increase love and appreciation among family members and reduce the amount of contention in the family, or we might fast as a couple to strengthen our marriage bonds. A purpose of our fast as priesthood holders might be to seek the Lord's guidance in our callings, as President Hinckley has demonstrated, or we might fast with our home teaching companion to know how to help one of our families."
3. Tragedy or Destiny-The best answer we could ask for as to When does God intervene in the events in our lives? "When there is faith, and when it is not one's time."