The Fasting Key

Matthew 6:16 ESV

“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.

Matthew 6:17 ESV

But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,

Matthew 8:18 ESV

Now when Jesus saw a crowd around him, he gave orders to go over to the other side.

THE ABSENCE OF BIBLICAL FASTING

COVID

· Culture of ???

o Food (Glottony)

o Instant everything (Impatience)

o

FASTING IS NECESSARY IN OUR DAY BECAUSE OF THE EXCESS OF EVERYTHING

WHAT IS FASTING: FASTING IS

WHAT PROMPTS FASTING?

WHAT IS THE

I. FASTING IS PROMPTED BY A HUNGER FOR GOD (HIS GLORY AND KINGDOM)

Matthew 9:14 ESV

Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?”

Matthew 9:15 ESV

And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.

Matthew 9:16 ESV

No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made.

Matthew 9:17 ESV

Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.”

WHAT DOES HUNGER LOOK LIKE

Psalm 63:1 ESV

O God, you are my God; earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you, as in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

Psalm 63:2 ESV

So I have looked upon you in the sanctuary, beholding your power and glory.

WE ARE NOT HUNGRY FOR THE LORD BECAUSE WE ARE NOT HATING SIN

II. FASTING IS A WEAPON AGAINST PREVAILING PASSIONS

Fasting is a means of afflicting and restricting your passions such that your life is lived, in the fulness, to the honor and glory of God. While fasting is not simply about self control, fasting is a means of curbing the sinful inclinations of the heart such that what emerges is not that which dishonors the Lord but, rather, that which is a devotion to the Lord

Colossians 3:5 ESV

Put to death therefore what is earthly in you: sexual immorality, impurity, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry.

Psalm 35:13 ESV

But I, when they were sick— I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest.

Psalm 69:10 ESV

When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.

1 Corinthians 9:24 ESV

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it.

1 Corinthians 9:25 ESV

Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable.

1 Corinthians 9:26 ESV

So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air.

1 Corinthians 9:27 ESV

But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

III. FASTING IS THE MEANS FOR SUPERNATURAL BREAKTHROUGH

BOY WITH UNCLEAN SPIRIT

Mark 9:29 ESV

And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”

CONCLUSION

Isaiah 58:6 ESV

“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?

Isaiah 58:7 ESV

Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?