Local Leader Message
Living the Law of the Fast
Through faith, fasting, and prayer, we experienced our miracle.
In 2020, my husband and I were looking for money to bring our two sons, Aaron and Moses, back home. They had just completed their studies in Bangalore (India), but our efforts to raise money to bring them home proved to be unsuccessful. So, we decided to leave this matter in the hands of our Lord.
In the course of that very year, the COVID-19 pandemic was rampant in Bangalore, with an increasing rate of infection. We were very worried about our two sons.
On a certain Wednesday evening, after saying my prayer, I felt impressed to hold a fast. I asked my two sons to abide in prayer while I was fasting. I said to them, “My sons, tonight we are going to ask for a miracle that will put the adversary to shame, just as Pharaoh was put to shame as he watched the Israelites go through the Red Sea on dry ground. At midnight, we will wake up, buckle-up, and start praying.” I simply told my husband to wake me up at 11 p.m. under the pretext that I had some work to do. That very night, I read the scriptures, poured my soul in much prayer, and reflected upon our Heavenly Father’s wonders. On the following day, the Lord attended to our request by sending someone to purchase our plot of land. We had been looking for a buyer for the past twelve months to raise funds for the transportation for our sons. Our miracle had happened!
Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin (1917-2008) taught: “Without prayer, fasting is not complete fasting; it’s simply going hungry. If we want our fasting to be more than just going without eating, we must lift our hearts, our minds, and our voices in communion with our Heavenly Father. Fasting, coupled with mighty prayer, is powerful. It can fill our minds with the revelations of the Spirit. It can strengthen us against times of temptation.”1
The mission of the sons of Mosiah was a success because they had given themselves to much prayer and fasting (See Alma 17:3).
Isaiah tells us today how we should fast, “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?” (Isaiah 58:6)
The Lord Jesus Christ counsels us to not appear unto men to fast (See Matthew 6:18). He also told the Nephites to “be not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their faces that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward” (3 Nephi 13:16).
I know that Jesus Christ lives. He is our Redeemer and Savior. He is leading His Church today through a living prophet, Russell M. Nelson, who promised that “As [we] choose to let God prevail in [our] lives, [we] will experience for [ourselves] that our God is a ‘God of miracles.’”2
Sister Delphine Marie Beatrice Mawang-Luko Muzama was born in Kikwit (Bandundu, Democratic Republic of the Congo). She and her husband are parents to four children and she was called as an area organization advisor in July 2021.