Fasting

There is a series of events leading up to the subject of Fasting that I need to share before we get started.  As you may remember, I started in the Healing Room ministry last year and a short time later I started taking Faith Bible Institute classes at Faith Bible Chapel.  The packet we received included a book by Jentezen Franklin on Fasting.  Cheryl Morrison was the teacher for the eight week class and she said that this Fasting book was the only book she has read twice.

I proceeded to read this book in a very short time and it allowed me to truly understand the meaning and benefits of fasting in the Bible.  A short time later I was on the patio listening to Hymns minding my own business when I was instructed to start fasting Sunday and Monday leading into the Healing Room.  My response was “Lord, you know how much I like food.”  The following weeks I learned how important it is to pray continuously these two days and to understand my relationship with God as it pertains to fasting and breakthrough in what I was praying for.

I came to understand that prayer alone was not enough for me as we ministered to people in the Healing Room or outside the Healing Room.  There are strongholds that require both prayer and fasting as it says in Matthew 17:21  However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.  Fasting, prayer, and the Holy Spirit give us the wisdom, knowledge, discernment, power, authority, etc. to overcome the dark kingdom.

Does fasting work?  Yes it does!  It is no coincidence that my relationship with my son has been restored during this time of fasting.  It is no coincidence that when I fasted for almost seven days early in December to prepare for a 21 day fast in January, that my daughter who had been extremely estranged from us went to the Healing Room and the team led her to the Lord.  This relationship has also been restored.  Thank you God!  Fasting has benefited me so much in my family the ministries that I have been involved in.

I would like to share with you and edited version in what Jenezen Franklin says in his Fasting Journal book.

There are different kinds of fasts.  There are private fasts that you do privately, and the Bible also describes “called fasts”-when unusual times and situations call for unusual measurements and supernatural responses from God.   At Jenezen Franklin’s church, he says that they have found that the greatest time to fast is at the beginning of the year.  If you give God time at the beginning of the year, He will do amazing things in your life.

There are three things you must ask yourself before you fast.  One, what are the motives behind the fast?  Losing weight cannot be your motive.  Second, what are the specific needs I am fasting for?  People fasted in the Bible for a specific need.  Sometimes they were in trouble, sometimes it was for finances, and other times they were fasting for their children or for help or for direction.  It is important to know the specific reasons for which you are fasting.  These reasons must be the focal point of you prayer and fasting.  Understand that the Holy Spirit may bring forth other things to pray for.  Third, are you determined to minister unto the Lord during your fast.  Acts 13:2 tells us that the prophets and teachers at the church in Antioch “ministered to the Lord and fasted.”  Fasting is a time we set aside for ministering to the Lord; it’s not about us getting what we can get from God all the time.  God will move when we fast, but it should be a time when our heart is crying out, “I want to minister to You; I want to love You; I want to know you; I want to draw closer to You; my heart cries out to you.”

The way you approach your fast is extremely important.  If you are not serious about it, then you won’t get real serious results.  The more serious you are about the fast, the more serious God will respond.  If you are frivolous or lighthearted about it-“Well I’ll fast, but I don’t really feel lie it”- that’s not going to work.  Your heart has to be in the fast, and when your heart is in it, there will come a fellowship with God Like you have never known before!

There is an amazing Scripture verse in Zechariah 7:5 “Say to all the people of the land, and to the priests: When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months during those seventy years, did you really fast for me?”  After fasting for this way for seventy years, God asked the question, “Are you fasting for me?”

Did you know that it’s possible to go on a fast and have so many personal motives and agendas that you’re not even fasting unto God-you are fasting for your own wants and desires?  God told the people of Zechariah’s day, “You have been doing this every year at the same time for seventy years, but I want to know if anybody is hungering for Me and My kingdom, for My agenda and purpose and plan in the earth.”

Every time I fast, I get closer to God.  Every time you fast, you will get closer to God.  There is no greater reward than Him.

Perhaps, as a church, we failed to emphasize the importance of prayer and fasting in the body.  The Bible is very clear on this matter.  Is it prudent to follow what the Bible says?  I encourage you to do a word search on fasting in www.biblegateway.com to understand what it says in the Bible and how important fasting is and can be in your life.

Moses fasted:  Exodus 34:28 So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments

Daniel fasted:  Daniel 10:2-3 In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks.   I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled

Jesus fasted:  Luke 4:2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry.

Anna fasted:  Luke 2:37 and this woman was a widow of about eighty-four years, who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.

Jesus addressed the question on fasting in:

Mark 2:18-20 The disciples of John and of the Pharisees were fasting. Then they came and said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?”  And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them they cannot fast.  But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days. 

 Folks, we are in the last days and we are to “fast in those days.”  I encourage you to make fasting a consistent part of your life and experience the breakthroughs and blessings God has for your life and the lives around you.

In Jesus Name,

Tony Sanchez

January 3, 2015