Fasting--Day 1
Today is August 1.
Our church, our local ecclesia, enters into a season of fasting today. We are seeking the Lord and praying about the situation in our country.
Does my talk of fasting scare you? Some of you may be attracted to the idea of fasting but are scared of it at the same time. You may worry that going without any food for a length of time may harm your health. You may be convinced you don’t have the self-discipline to endure for the duration of the fast, and the possibility of failure is difficult to consider. You may think a fast equals going without any food and drinking only a few sips of water each day; you don’t know how you would function with your job or family in such an extreme situation. You may just not want to promise God you will fast when you get hungry twice an hour. Hey, your birthday or that of a family member may occur next week; you don’t want anyone feeling left out of the usual birthday celebration!
Quit thinking of reasons not to fast for a moment. Let’s focus on what the Bible says about fasting.
Jesus Himself indicated that He expected His followers to fast. Jesus stated in Luke 5:35 that after his death, fasting would be appropriate for his followers: "The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days". Fasting clearly has a place and a purpose for those who consider themselves followers of Jesus.
News flash: There is no specific Bible verse saying how exactly how a person is to fast. Jesus never said, “You must fast, or bad things will happen to you. You must fast X number of days in such and such a manner or God won’t listen to you.”
Most people talk about “a Daniel fast”, referring to the way Daniel [after his exile to Babylon] asked Ashpenaz, the chief of the Babylonian court officials, to allow him to eat for 10 days to prove that eating kosher food would not get Ashpenaz in trouble with King Nebuchadnezzar. Later, when Daniel fasted before God, the Scriptures does not specify what exactly he did eat. The Bible says Daniel fasted during the first year of Darius the son of Xerxes [Daniel 9:3] praying and petitioning God for the restoration of Israel. [Here the focus is not so much on Daniel’s fasting as it is on his humbling himself in sackcloth and ashes.] Later, in chapter 10, Daniel sought revelation concerning a vision through fasting.
2 At that time I, Daniel, mourned for three weeks. 3 I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips, and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over. [Daniel 10:2-3]
Here again Daniel focuses on humbling himself before God and seeking Go’s face. Daniel understood fasting as a “focal lens” for prayer, a way to “doubling down” in front of the throne of God.
The practice of Fasting is one of the tools God has provided His people to align ourselves with God’s purpose and to release His authority into the earth. Fasting if not so much about what you specifically eat or don’t eat; fasting involves denying your [my...our] own wants and putting aside our own plans and schedules to focus on God and listen to what God wants and what His desires are.
This is what God Himself says about fasting:
- He is not interested in our abstaining from food, drink, or entertainment just to try and manipulate God into giving us our own way.
For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways,
as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God.
They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them.
3 ‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?’
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.
4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.
- God wants us to fast so that we will humble ourselves and allow God permission to change us and lead us into all righteousness.
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? [Isaiah 56:6-7]
- God has promised that if we will fast in obedience to the call to fast [and with an attitude of humility and faith], that He will bless us and bless others through us.
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness[a] will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard.
9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I. “If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk,
10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
11 The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
2 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations; you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
God is looking for people to put aside their daily concerns, to put aside their own agendas, to humble themselves before God, and to pray that God’s will and purposes will be done. As individuals, as a nation, and even more as an ecclesia—let us listen and obey His voice so that we may see wonders and miracles released upon the earth.
Hey, our nation is in trouble. Our families are in turmoil; there are sick and weak within the Ecclesia. We need to pray, engage in spiritual warfare, and fast. We do not need to despair, but we do need to be wise and seek the Lord.
12 “Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”
13 Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. [Joel 2:12-13].
I am spending time with God over the next three weeks so that I will be transformed. I want to be fully prepared and able to do His will.
Please join me.
