Fasting

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 Fasting is a time of refraining from an activity, most often eating, that you would normally partake.  You refrain from this activity as an offering to God.

 

There are two types of fast.  One type is a proclaimed fast.  This is the type of fast where I as your pastor would ask the entire congregation to fast together for some common goal.  The proclaimed fast is also used by the husband and/or wife when they agree to refrain from marital relations for a specific period in order to give themselves  to prayer and fasting (We will cover this in detail in our marriage classes).  An example of a proclaimed fast is found in 2 Chronicles 20:2-4 –

 

“Then there came some that told Jehoshaphat, saying, There cometh a great multitude against thee…3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.  4 And Judah gathered themselves together, to ask help of the Lord: even out of all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.”

 

The fast was used here to height there ability to hear from God.  A fast is most often accompanied by a time for praying.  The purpose for a proclaimed fast is to get and answer or result from God and the fast will put us in a position to receive divine direction and guidance.

 

The other type of fast is a personal fast.  This fast is not announced to anyone so prior planning needs to take place to consider other members of the household and that your fast does not interfere with their normal eating routine, even if you have to cook for them (God will give you the strength to do this!).  Let us look at the outline for fasting as Jesus described them Matt. 6:16-

 

“Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast…”

 

The bible calls those hypocrites who offer a fast to God but look for pity from man.  All you will get is a sympathetic gesture from man and no reward from God.  Matthew 6:17-18 –

 

“But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face:  18  that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.”

 

When we fast we should do everything as normal as possible except eating.  We must dress and act nice toward people.  The purpose for the fast is not to influence God to do something for us.  We deny our flesh food in order to shut out the influences of our flesh to put the ear of our heart closer to the Spirit of God inside of us so we can hear better.  Fasting won’t hurry God to supply an answer.  He already has the answer and it absolutely lines up with His Word and His will.  Fasting doesn’t move Him but it gets us in a better position to receive.

 

If we look at the 18th verse of Matthew 6 again we will see the rewards of fasting.  You should always expect to receive a reward for your fasting when you do it according to this outline because Jesus himself said we shall receive one.  Your reward will be whatever you decided and prayed for prior to the fast.  Fasting will open up revelation knowledge from God’s Word to get you a result.  If you fast for fellowship with God, then you will receive a closer fellowship as your reward.  Whatever you faithfully declare before your fast and believe God to accomplish will be your reward at the end of fasting.

 

In Isaiah 58:4-14 talks in detail about fasting and that we need to fast the Lord’s fast.  He would desire for us to give away the food we would have normally eaten when we fast to the hungry?  Why, so that we could witness to them.  The food would meet their natural needs and we could give them the Word to meet their spiritual needs.  The bible also mentions giving clothes, or fasting other than food.  When we do this make sure we give the good food and good clothes away because we are sowing unto God by giving to someone else.  We can expect to receive in return the same type of reward as the quality of what we sowed (Galatians 6:7).  Verses 9-14 continue to list some of the basic rewards for obeying God concerning His fast.

 

The fasting reference chart

 

  1. Decide the purpose of the fast before you begin.
  2. Proclaim the fast before the Lord.  This establishes your fast as a quality decision to honor God and it will not be broken.
  3. Believe before the fast that you receive the reward that Jesus promised.  You don’t receive because you fasted, you receive because you believed.
  4. Minister to God while you fast.  This is mainly through praise and worship, which we will cover in detail in the next module.  Don’t be afraid though, go ahead say Hallelujah, and Glory if you are lead by God to fast before you read that module.
  5. Do for others during and after the fast.  Remember giving of “good” foods and clothes.
  6. Expect assistance from angels.  Matthew 4:11 tells how angels ministered to Jesus after he fasted 40 days.  You can expect the same thing.
  7. Maintain your normal physical composure; don't look depressed or starving.

 

When we follow this formula we set ourselves up to be blessed and highly favored of God.