book review   

The Hidden Power of Prayer and Fasting, Mahesh Chavda.

Book Review by Carol Kim

If you have never been motivated to fast, this book will change your mind.

Ask any praying Christian and you will likely find that the vast majority of them have not had many, if any, "power experiences" via fasting. According to Mahesh Chavda, anointed author of The Hidden Power of Prayer and Fasting, fasting and the sheer power it imparts has been largely overlooked, intentionally or unintentionally, by Christians and the Church as a whole. And if we are to walk in the full power that God has intended for us, we must not neglect it any longer as a major power tool in our fight against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms (Ephesians 6:12).

Mr. Chavda's book is more than inspiring. It convicts. It is written authoritatively and humbly by one who has endured over 29 separate 40-day fasts at the time the book was written in about 1998, averaging 2 40-day fasts per year. The book is packed with Biblical explanations and examples of fasting and the power that follows in the ministry life of the faster, awesome personal testimonies – some of witnessing God's miracles, and some of hilarious anecdotes of struggles encountered during his "adventures in fasting". It also provides insightful answers to some of the most common questions about fasting such as "Why do we fast?" and "What if I break my fast?". The main message of the book is this: Christians, as soldiers for Christ, must go beyond receiving the Holy Spirit; if we are to loose in heaven what we seek to loose here on earth, we must go beyond to walk in the power of the Holy Spirit. Fasting is the key to harnessing this power. And if you thought that fasting is optional, it is not. It is a spiritual imperative: Matthew 6:16

Mr. Chavda also helps to dispel many misconceptions about fasting. For example, the power of fasting does not necessarily come as some kind of gift that we earn by our offering of sacrifice to God, but more accurately, it rids our bodies and our spirits of the junk that impedes the free-flow of our prayers to God and conversely, His response to our prayers. Chavda's analogy is illustrative: "If prayer is the capsule containing our gifts and requests to God, then fasting is the booster rocket that lifts our prayers beyond the boundaries of earth and into the heavenlies." Now, imagine what corporate prayer and fasting can do: "Everytime God's people have dared to lay aside their differences long enough to seek God in prayer and fasting together in one mind and one accord, terrible things have happened to satan's (sic) dark kingdom, while wonderful and miraculous things have happened to mankind." The book also goes on to outline the many purposes and benefits of fasting, most gleaned from Isaiah 58, and some from his own personal revelations. But of course, there is a cost to all this power. Fasting is not for the faint-hearted. True, it opens up the channels of our communion and intimacy with God; but it might also be said that the requirement of sacrifice – physical sacrifice – befittingly parallels Jesus' painful sacrifice for us on the Cross in order to open up the channels between us and God the father. If we are to do for others as Jesus did for us, it is fitting that we are to identify with his pains, even if in comparatively minuscule measure.

As soldiers for Christ, we are called to bear fruit (Matthew 7:17). I, for one, would like to see MORE FRUIT in my life! God has been faithful in answering prayer, but I want more! More of his power, more of his miracles, more of His love. I want to proclaim freedom for the captives and release from darkness for the prisoners (Isaiah 61:1) And if there is a power tool that I have in my spiritual arsenal that I have underutilized, I praise God that its power has been revealed to me. Now, I pray for the grace to use it. I pray that we all do, so that just as the Great Wall of China is the only structure that can be seen on earth by weather satellites, God, when He looks down, will see a great wall of prayer that stretches around the world (Chavda, p. 137).

Not only has this book changed my mind, it has changed my heart. And now, with the power of the Holy Spirit, I pray that its message will change my life – all of our lives - and hopefully, the lives of the lost.