People who take prayer seriously will know
how powerful fasting is.
But what is it about missing meals that makes prayer
so potent?
Is it a form of hunger
strike?
Blackmailing God like a spoiled
child holding his breath
till he’s blue
until he gets what he wants?
Obviously not.
So what is it about fasting
that touches the
heart of God?
Yeshua gave us some important guidelines about
not boasting about fasting,
but there seemed no doubt in his mind that
those he was talking to did indeed fast from time to
time.
The people of Israel
were no strangers to fasting; there are several mentions of it in the
Hebrew Scriptures.
HEBREW WORDS FOR FASTING
When thinking of fasting, most Jewish people today will automatically think of Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement. This is the first vague reference to fasting in the Bible. I say vague, because it doesn’t actually say
“fast”.
The Law required the people of Israel
to “afflict”
themselves (ענה – תענו) as they sought a clean slate
for anew year (Leviticus 16:29).
One easy way to obey that command is to go without food and water
for a while,
and so that is what happens each year to this day.
God is close
to the broken and lowly in spirit
(Isaiah 66:2)
and fasting demonstrates a
humble heart of repentance and
submission to God.
But the first time that the actual word for fast (צום) appears is in the
book of Judges 20:19-28 in a time of
severe crisis.
The mess begins in chapter 17, when a man
lies and steals from his mother,
who then blesses him instead of
correcting him.
Things rapidly go from bad to worse, and sin wildly spins out of control,
escalating into the most awful story of gang rape in the Bible.
These events led to bitter fighting between the tribes, and an
entire tribe is
almost wiped out as a result.
It is in this context that the
people of Israel
added fasting to their supplications,
sensing
that a major upgrade in prayer power
was needed.
It worked
WHAT IS HAPPENING SPIRITUALLY WHEN WE FAST?
As Paul describes so well in Romans 7, there is a perpetual battle between the flesh and the spirit, and our
mind moderates by making decisions about which call to obey.
As human beings,
we are mind, body and spirit, but spiritually dead without God.
We tend to be pushed around by our fleshly desires. Our flesh is all about our relationship with ourselves and our natural physical cravings, which can become selfish and even destructive when left unchecked.
Our mind can overrule our body, and give us the
capacity
to meaningfully relate to others and
the world,
while our spirit
communes
directly with God.
As we fast, we deliberately weaken the powerful bond with our flesh
and strengthen our relationship
with God, spirit to Spirit.
But it is an exchange. There is less of us and more of Him.
That is always going to be a good deal.
Fasting is like turning the volume knob down on our flesh, and
turning it up in the spirit.
We gain authority, clarity, and closeness with God.
It’s a bit like moving all the furniture to the edges of the room to
give the Holy Spirit room to
dance
and freely move, or like
limiting yourself
on the main course to leave more room for dessert!
Like Cake.
Less of us, more of Him.
As someone once told Dwight L. Moody, changing his life from then onwards: “The world has yet to see what God will do with a man fully consecrated to Him.” When we agree to
wholeheartedly follow Yeshua and
give him permission
to change us and use us, we will find that he starts killing us off!
This process of stripping down, killing off and
purifying is familiar to the saints of God,
but it is necessary if we want to see his power at work
in and through us.
Fasting is a way of willingly taking part in this process
by our own free choice,
giving the Spirit more liberty in our lives.
DIFFERENT KINDS OF FAST
Daniel and his friends fasted from meat, fine foods, and wine, and
later Daniel specifically fasted
in order to usher in God’s promises to Israel.
And boy, did he get some answers!
You can easily find out more information about how to do
a “Daniel fast” on the internet.
Esther led the whole Jewish community to
fast from all food and water completely for three days,
which led to a miraculous
turnaround from disaster.
Rescued from the brink of annihilation,
the Jewish people gained freedom and favor instead, and many gentiles joined them, seeing the goodness and power of God.
However, fasting from both food and water is
extreme and should
only be done for a maximum of three days.
With water and juices, it is possible to go for up to
forty days without food.
There are several examples of this in the Bible,
but it is not advisable to dive right into the deep end at
first.
It is better to start by skipping a meal or abstaining from food for one day a week. On Yom Kippur, Jewish people fast from sundown to sundown, which some prefer to do instead of fasting from morning to night.
Each fast is different but God honours each one.
DOES IT HAVE TO BE FOOD?
Today we often hear of people fasting from Facebook and social media,
from chocolate or sugar, or from television. Is there merit in these
forms of self-sacrifice?
Food is an obvious choice because we need food and abstaining from it hurts!
It brings us to that necessary point of desperation and dependence,
affliction and submission. But we can also grow dependent on sugar, social media, and other things, to the degree that abstaining from them is very hard. We develop addictions without even realising it, and get in the
habit of turning to these things for comfort instead of God.
On February 9, 1958, Pastor David
Wilkerson made the transformational decision to sell his television. He only used to watch it for a couple of hours at the end of each day to wind down, but felt God was asking him to give that time to him instead.
Wilkerson put the TV up for sale, saying the deal was off if it didn’t sell within the first half hour, but at minute 29, it was sold!
Slowly,
the pastor learned how to spend that length of time in prayer.
It didn’t come easily, and at first he would often
find himself stuck after quite a short while.
But gradually he became more and more acclimatized to his
special nightly times with the Lord.
He grew more attuned to
God’s voice.
It was during that precious season of self-sacrifice that God put
it on his heart to go to serve among the gangs of New York –
a task not for the faint-hearted back in the 1950s!
As a result, hundreds of gang members, addicts, and prostitutes
came to know the Lord through his ministry, and
“Teen Challenge” was born, helping many more thousands all
across the world to find freedom in the Messiah.
You can read the whole story in
his amazing book,
The Cross and the Switchblade.
He established a church in Times Square, New York, which
planted a daughter church here in Israel, along with a branch
of Teen Challenge called “Beit Nitzachon”, or the
“House of Victory”
Many Israelis such as Avi have come to faith in Yeshua in that place
(watch his testimony here). And all because
a country pastor
sold his television
in order
to spend more
time in prayer!
Spiritual leaders like Keith Green and Richard Wurmbrand also believed that there was power in praying through the watches of the night.
Wilkerson’s times with the Lord were in the dead of night, and also Green and Wurmbrand believed that there was great value in praying when our bodies want to sleep. This is another form of fighting against the flesh, or fasting.
In the Garden of Gethsemene
we see the struggle as Yeshua is in earnest prayer, but the disciples do not have the same mastery over themselves. The spirit was willing, but the flesh was weak.
Fasting from our physical needs does not come naturally to any of us (even the apostles), but it is something that we can all grow in.
DO’S AND DON’TS OF FASTING
As Yeshua warned, it is useless to fast if we then cancel out all of our self-sacrifice by inflating our egos and boasting about it. Similarly, in Isaiah 58 we see that a self-justifying denial of food is counterproductive if we then selfishly refuse to take care of the poor. We need to check before we fast, asking,
is my heart right before God?
It’s good to take a little time in repentance and confession, asking God to
shine his light
on any sin before we begin.
Later in that chapter, Isaiah proceeds to talk about Shabbat in the context of fasting – this is another opportunity to deny our fleshly indulgence and self-gratification in favor of concentrating on God, and making room for him. God challenges us to live a fasted lifestyle; a laid-down, self-sacrificial life instead of just doing whatever we please. Am I willing to give my time to God’s pleasure rather than my own?
We should not fast under compulsion or when driven by guilt. Our free will and our desire to fast is critical. However, it’s also wise to take note of the errors of King Saul’s disastrous fast in which he was just pushing for his own human agenda and trying to force his desired outcome without being submitted to God’s will (1 Samuel 14:24-45).
Do I really want God’s will,
even when it
might contradict my own?
Fasting is pointless when lacking humility and a repentant spirit.
We see
this in the story that Yeshua told of the “righteous” man and the sinner
(Luke 18:9-14).
Fasting doesn’t necessarily help, we must have the right attitude,
or it’s just a diet. This goes for other kinds of flesh-killing and abstinence.
Can I humbly admit
that my righteousness comes from Yeshua’s sacrifice,
not any sacrifice of my own?
A fast can be very helpful if you’re feeling
spiritually out of whack,
if you want to seek better connection with God, if you are
seeking God’s mind on a matter,
or if you’re in trouble and need a breakthrough.
Often the fear of fasting is worse than the fast itself, so
don’t let the enemy stop you by making you afraid.
Don’t be intimidated by other people’s systems – just
choose a fast that is right for you and
get going at your own pace.
Set your objective
and make your commitment,
prepare your heart and devise your own plan.
Results might not come immediately, but don’t give up!
It is not easy,
but just remember the disciples in Gethsemane, and David Wilkerson floundering after only a few minutes of prayer –
a fasted lifestyle takes time and practice.
God is gracious, and He will help you
grow in this journey
to say with your whole life:
"Less of me and more of You, Lord!”
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