Prayer and A Developing Trust

The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe.
21 They preached the good news in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium and Antioch, 22 strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain true to the faith. "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom of God," they said. 23 Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust. 24 After going through Pisidia, they came into Pamphylia, 25 and when they had preached the word in Perga, they went down to Attalia.
26 From Attalia they sailed back to Antioch, where they had been committed to the grace of God for the work they had now completed. 27 On arriving there, they gathered the church together and reported all that God had done through them and how he had opened the door of faith to the Gentiles. 28 And they stayed there a long time with the disciples. Acts 14:20-28


St Paul and Barnabas, the encourager, were on the return leg of their first missionary journey to Asia Minor. They had been sent out from Antioch strengthened by prayer and fasting (Acts 13:1-3) and were now to return there after having encouraged the churches in Galatia planted on their outward journey. We are not told the details of the “good news” preached by the pair at Derbe but their efforts were clearly fruitful, empowered by the Holy Spirit. As they visited the various new churches on their return journey they clearly saw the need for leadership (what we would today call lay-leadership) and appointed elders in each church. This process, we are told, was accompanied by the same “prayer and fasting” into which the Holy Spirit spoke earlier and with which they had been strengthened throughout their journey.

But why prayer and fasting? Why was this “commitment” not accompanied by an intense training course or some other form of preparation? A clue to this practice might be found in this explanation from Dallas Willard in his book, The Spirit of the Disciplines: “Fasting confirms our utter dependence upon God by finding in Him a source of sustenance beyond food. Through it, we learn by experience that God’s word to us is a life substance, that it is not food (‘bread’) alone that gives life, but also the words that proceed from the mouth of God (Matt 4:4). We learn that we too have meat to eat that the world does not know about (John 4:32-34). Fasting unto our Lord is therefore feasting – feasting on Him and on doing His will….Actually fasting is one of the more important ways of practising that self-denial required of everyone who would follow Christ (Matt 16:24). In fasting, we learn how to suffer happily as we feast on God. And it is a good lesson, because in our lives we will suffer, no matter what else happens to us.”

In other words, through the prayer and fasting that was the form of committal of these elders they learned first hand through experience about the hardships that they would endure (vs 22) and the trust upon which they could rely (vs 23). This was not some abstract book learning for some future date but a practical on-the-job training in working together with the Holy Spirit which they would need from that day forward – just as Paul and Barnabas had.

As we learn about prayer and our relationship with God deepens so too will we need this practical understanding. We too will need the words of life that God has to give us. We too will find struggle and hardships and need the trust in the Lord that comes from prayer and fasting. We too will need the adjustments to our self-sufficient bent that accompanies a life given over to God in this way. As we move into a season of considering Stewardship and the role that God plays in the financial side of our lives, let us begin to pray that together our trust in one another and God’s relationship with us will build, that we will begin draw closer to Him and more closely embrace His purposes here at The Church Of The Cross.

Mike Clarkson