Is Fasting For Me?

Last week we were challenged by our brother, Firman, on the topic of fasting and prayer.

Firman began talking to me quite a while ago about the burden for prayer and fasting that God was laying on his heart

Since then We have spent hours together talking about how Firman has seen God’s hand moving in his life as he has committed to prayer and fasting.

I told last Sunday that Firman’s heart and my heart beat the same on this subject.

Because as Firman has been sharing his testimony with me, I have felt my heart stirred.

I have felt a hunger awaken in me for what God might want to do in me and through me if I would commit to fasting and prayer

And I also felt convicted that this is something that I have not been serious about

I believe that it we have something in our hands that we (or at least I) have not used effectively.

We’ve asked the question, what is in your hands.

We’ve talked about physical things like our church building, our our talents and abilities.

But are there spiritual tools that are in our hands that we have not used effectively?

I think so. I think that fasting could be one of those tools

As you know, we did some fasting this past year. We asked for people to commit to fasting and prayer on the first Monday of every month.

I don’t know how many of you participated, and I’m not going to ask for a show of hands.

But I gained a strengthened conviction that God would be honored if we, His people, were to practice this more.

So, bouncing off of what Firman shared, I would like to take the next couple of Sundays and explore this topic a little more.

I also said that Firman’s understanding and experience with this is greater than mine, so I admit to feeling like a fish out of water here.

And my notes might be a bit jumbled, but I pray that God will challenge me and teach us more about this.

So here are some observations about fasting

There is surprisingly little instruction on fasting in the Bible

There doesn’t seem to be very many places where God commands His people to fast as a regular practice

Now, there is one place in Joel where God commands His people to fast and cry out to God for mercy.

Joel 1:13-14 “13 Put on sackcloth and lament, O priests; wail, O ministers of the altar. Go in, pass the night in sackcloth, O ministers of my God! Because grain offering and drink offering are withheld from the house of your God. 14 Consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.”

There is another place in which God commands the people to “afflict their souls.” It’s found in Lev. 16 where God is ordaining the Day of Atonement. Leviticus 16:31 “31 It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict yourselves; it is a statute forever.”

Some translations read, “You shall fast”.

That could have been what they did, but the Hebrew word translated as “fast” is not used in this passage.

So there are places where God says to fast, but it’s not laid out as a regular practice, except for the Day of Atonement

Now, on the other hand there is no question that it was not uncommon at all for people to fast for various occasions

and there is no question that God was honored and worked mightily when people humbled themselves and fasted and prayed

Jesus, Himself, in preparation for ministry fasted for 40 days in the wilderness

Since God did not command fasting (at least that we read), But He honored people when they did fast, this is why I presented fasting as a spiritual tool that is rarely used.

or at least probably not used as much as it could be

And maybe we should consider using it more!

What is Fasting?

Dr. Tony Evans: · The deliberate abstinence from physical gratification for a greater spiritual goal.

Most times, when we think of fasting, we think of abstaining from food.

And indeed, the Hebrew word does lend itself to that.

The Hebrew word for fasting is ṣûm (tsoom) Comes from an ancient word that literally means “to cover the mouth”

And in our biblical examples that we read, when people fasted, they didn’t eat.

sometimes they didn’t even drink.

Moses on Mt. Sinai, when he was receiving the second set of tablets from God, it says that he neither ate bread nor drank water for 40 days and 40 nights!

That’s divine intervention there!

and Jesus in the wilderness fasted without food for 40 days. We know this because the Scripture says that afterward, “He was HUNGRY”! (Yes, without a doubt!)

So in our biblical examples, when people fasted, they did go without food

But I still have some questions

If God didn’t command fasting, and if He didn’t set out guidelines for fasting, as he did with the feasts, does fasting have to be centered around food?

Does fasting have to mean that I go without food

Some of us are diabetic, or perhaps have conditions which make it dangerous to go without food for a long period of time.

For others of us, maybe food really doesn’t present that big of a temptation.

For me, food is often on my mind and it really does tempt me.

Dr. Tony Evan’s definition “The deliberate abstinence from physical gratification for a greater spiritual goal”

The focus seems to be on giving up something which I use to gratify my flesh

Then maybe we can ask is there something else which I use to gratify my flesh that I could deliberately abstain from in order to achieve a greater spiritual goal?

maybe I’m not tempted by food, but maybe I tend to sleep more than I should

For some of us, maybe it’s technology. It’s having a phone or a device in our hands. It gratifies us. We like videos, movies, games. It’s been clinically proven that technology (gaming, etc) is physically addicting

In 1 Cor. 7, Paul suggests another possible fast. In talking about the physical relationship between a husband and wife, he says, 1 Cor. 7:5 “5 Do not deprive one another, except perhaps by agreement for a limited time, that you may devote yourselves to prayer; but then come together again, so that Satan may not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”

I don’t know what it is for you.

maybe it’s the need to feel busy all the time

One thing seems to be pretty clear. When it comes to fasting, it should be something that is hard to give up.

It should be sacrifice. It should be a battle.

It should be something that makes us say, “Lord, I don’t know how I’m going to do this.”

I would like to suggest to us that if that we are convicted that God is asking us to fast before Him, that we ask Him, “Lord, how do you want me to fast?

What is it that you want me to give up? It may be food. It may be something else

The Purpose of fasting: (Dr. Tony Evans)

To humble yourself before God so that there might be a breaking of the outer so that the inner emerges.

To humble yourself before God so that there might be a breaking of the Outer: That’s the flesh

Fasting in the true biblical sense is a humiliating thing. Why? Because true fasting is a recognition of how weak you are and how needy you are.

Fasting is a declaration to God that I want Him more than anything else.

and when you are fasting, you realize how much power the flesh really does exert on you, and it’s a humbling experience

But we fast so that there might be a breaking of the outer. That’s the flesh

That includes all that the flesh wants and desires:

the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, the pride of life

You know, the Bible is very clear that life, true life, abundant life, only comes after death

Jesus said that unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground, it abides alone. It’s just a grain of wheat. Not bad to look at. But useless.

But IF it dies, it bears much fruit.

We know this verse well. We know that we have to die to ourselves: to our desires and our will. We say “I must make Him Lord of my life”

And this is true. But maybe we aren’t entirely sure how this looks practically.

I would suggest that fasting is a practical way that we can say to God, “I meant it when I said that you are Lord of my life.”

With your help and your grace and strength, I want to start to break the power of the flesh so that my spirit can be renewed and revived.

Do you ever wonder why when I’m sitting in church on Sunday, or I sit under a powerful and convicting sermon, my will seems so strong to break those addictions or “bad habits”

But then I hit real life on Monday, and all of that will power seems to have evaporated.

Jesus seems just as far away as He did on Saturday

I fall victim to the same sin, the same attitudes, the same feeling of helplessness that I had on Saturday

did you ever wonder why that is? I have. I’ve experienced it more times that I care to count

could it be that this is because I spend A LOT of time feeding my flesh and very little time feeding my spirit.

I feed my flesh day in and day out with things that please me and maybe a fraction of my day feeding my spirit.

Meanwhile my flesh is becoming a giant

And my spirit, that which God wants to nourish, is wasting away.

Oh, my spirit is there, and he might be feisty, but compared to my flesh, he is a shrimp.

Is it possible that fasting is a way to start to reverse this.

To say “With God’s help, I’m going to start starving the flesh”.

My fleshly giant is going to start shrinking down, getting weaker.

and While I’m busy starving my flesh, I’m going to concentrate on feeding my spirit.

I’m going to take the time that I would have spent on feeding my flesh, and I’m going to feed my spirit instead

I’m going to meditate on Scripture. Think on the things that are true, honorable, just, pure, lovely, commendable, the things that are excellent and worthy of praise

I’m going to spend time before the Lord in prayer.

Or whenever that fleshly urge hits, i’m going to turn it back to Jesus

I’m going to let those fleshly urges remind me of how week my spirit is, and how mighty He is, and how desperate I am for him

and that is the purpose of fasting: To break the power of the outer so that the inner can be renewed, strengthened and begin to emerge victorious

The Practice of Fasting (just briefly. We will talk about this more next week)

Turn with me to Psalm 69. For time’s sake We are going to start reading in verse 10, but I would encourage you read the first 9 verses when you have time

Psalm 69:10-13 “10 When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach. 11 When I made sackcloth my clothing, I became a byword to them. 12 I am the talk of those who sit in the gate, and the drunkards make songs about me. 13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.”

Do you sense the absolute desperation of David here?

This is what is noteworthy about the practice of fasting:

It is not a weight loss program

It’s not a self-improvement, or habit-breaking exercise

It, as we said before, a humbling of myself before God and even before others.

It might be humiliating to be invited to someone’s place for lunch, or out to eat, and say, “I’m sorry, I’m fasting

I don’t know if you will experience what David experienced and have drunk people making up songs about you.

And maybe no one will know that you are fasting

Jesus said, don’t be like the religious leaders who make a big show of it,

But fasting is a humbling of myself before God and possibly before others.

David was in sackcloth and ashes and was weeping before God, and people made fun of him for it.

Whatever my experience, fasting should be a humbling experience

True biblical fasting is always accompanied by prayer

and not just your typical “run of the mill” prayers (if there is such a thing)

It is the prayer of a desperate man who has no where to turn except to God

It is the prayer of a man who needs God more than anything else.

Psalm 69:13 “13 But as for me, my prayer is to you, O Lord. At an acceptable time, O God, in the abundance of your steadfast love answer me in your saving faithfulness.”

We are out of time and there is more to say about this, so we will have to come back to it.

But my question to think about

Is fasting a spiritual discipline, or spiritual tool that has lain idle on your workbench?

Is it something that you have made use of in the past?

If so, how have you seen God work through it?

If not, what would be stopping you from stepping out and trying it?

For me it would be fear

Fear that I can’t do it “right”

Fear that God really won’t show up and things won’t change

Fasting for repentance

1 Samuel 7:3-6 “3 And Samuel said to all the house of Israel, “If you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, then put away the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your heart to the Lord and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.” 4 So the people of Israel put away the Baals and the Ashtaroth, and they served the Lord only. 5 Then Samuel said, “Gather all Israel at Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.” 6 So they gathered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the Lord and fasted on that day and said there, “We have sinned against the Lord.” And Samuel judged the people of Israel at Mizpah.”

Fasting for God’s revelation

Fasting for victory

Fasting for deliverance

Esther

Fasting for grief

Fasting for personal requests