Our Lord Jesus Invites us to follow Him on the journey of Lent Our Lord Jesus Christ leads us to offer fasting to God

What is fasting?  It is a period of time where someone stops eating or drinking.  If you read the word break-fast, it does mean that it is the first meal we eat after fasting for a period of time. We break our fast  Why do we fast?

Why the lent is an important fasting in our church?  We fast the forty days that our Lord Jesus Christ fasted before he started his service.  It is followed by the holy week, we remember the passion of Christ and the salvation on the cross.  We fast before celebrating the resurrection  It is an important period,chance to get our spiritual need filled

How do we fast?  We usually abstain from eating or drinking for a period of time followed by eating vegetarian food  No meats or dairy products during the fasting time.  It is not only about food there is a meaning for every thing  Why do we eat vegetarian food?

Our Lord teaching about fasting  Matthew 6  Fasting to Be Seen Only by God  16 “Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. 17 But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly”.

Why do we fast?  In fasting we offer ourselves and our free will to God, so he can guide and control my life for the better.  Good Fasting should be accompanied by prayers and almsgiving  More time we spend with God we got to know him better and follow his commandments.  We grow spiritually so would be stronger in facing the temptations {the temptation on the mountain

What is the reward we will get  We grow closer to God, we grow more in faith  We trust in God and his promises as Jesus said in his prayer in the garden “Let it be your will”.  We experience the miracles of fasting and prayers……..remember some of the miracles happened in the church with fasting and prayer  Of the whole church.

St Peter Freed from Prison  Acts 12:3-17  “ he proceeded further to seize Peter also. Now it was during the Days of Unleavened Bread. 4 So when he had arrested him, he put him in prison, and delivered him to four squads of soldiers to keep him, intending to bring him before the people after Passover”.  He means Herod the king

Peter Freed from Prison  " 5 Peter was therefore kept in prison, but constant[a] prayer was offered to God for him by the church. 6 And when Herod was about to bring him out, that night Peter was sleeping, bound with two chains between two soldiers; and the guards before the door were keeping the prison. 7 Now behold, an angel of the Lord stood by him, and a light shone in the prison; and he struck Peter on the side and raised him up, saying, “ Arise quickly! ” And his chains fell off his hands. 8 Then the angel said to him, “ Gird yourself and tie on your sandals ” ; and so he did. And he said to him, “ Put on your garment and follow me. ” 9 So he went out and followed him, and did not know that what was done by the angel was real, but thought he was seeing a vision. 10 When they were past the first and the second guard posts, they came to the iron gate that leads to the city, which opened to them of its own accord; and they went out and went down one street, and immediately the angel departed from him. ” a

Peter Freed from Prison  11 And when Peter had come to himself, he said, “ Now I know for certain that the Lord has sent His angel, and has delivered me from the hand of Herod and from all the expectation of the Jewish people. ” 12 So, when he had considered this, he came to the house of Mary, the mother of John whose surname was Mark, where many were gathered together praying. 13 And as Peter knocked at the door of the gate, a girl named Rhoda came to answer. 14 When she recognized Peter ’ s voice, because of her gladness she did not open the gate, but ran in and announced that Peter stood before the gate. 15 But they said to her, “ You are beside yourself! ” Yet she kept insisting that it was so. So they said, “ It is his angel. ” 16 Now Peter continued knocking; and when they opened the door and saw him, they were astonished. 17 But motioning to them with his hand to keep silent, he declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. And he said, “ Go, tell these things to James and to the brethren. ” And he departed and went to another place ” Acts 12 :3-17

The miracle of moving the mountain  Matthew 17:20 So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. Matthew 17:20 Matthew 17:20

The miracle of moving the mountain  Pope Abram prayed and fasted and asked all the Christians to pray and fast for 3 days  At the end of the 3 days St. Mary appeared to him and told him that the Lord heard your prayers and he will deliver you and all the Christians. “The Lord will fight for you and you shall hold your peace”

The miracle of moving the mountain  You know that the Mokattam Mountain still exists in Egypt and there is a big church build there inside the Mountain  The Cathedral of St Mary and St Simon the Tanner

The main cathedral in the Mokattam mountain

Interior view of the cave inside the big cathedral

 Biblical carving on the wall of the Cathedral at the Monastery of St Mary and St Simon the tanner a

The contemporary miracles of fasting  On 1981 persecutions happened against the Christian in Egypt they burned one of the churches and killed the priest  The Pope standing by his people was found to be in default by the Governor and the president  He exiled the Pope and limited his duty.  The whole church fasted and prayed

Conclusion  Verse: “when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly “ Mat 6:17,18  When we fast we offer ourselves to God, we grow closer to him and we grow in our spirit, we experience the life of faith and Trust,  we also experience the miracles of the life of fasting and prayer [ the fraction prayer dring lent]