There are so
many opinions about fasting and many have written books that have hundreds of
pages. It appears to me that man has
made fasting complicated when in fact, it is very basic in God’s Word. Fasting and prayer is the only way we can
cast out difficult and powerful demons, Mark
9:28-29 And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately,
“Why could we not cast it out?” So, He
said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”
When the
subject of prayer and fasting comes up, most start off with the subject of food
that they have to give up. This is hard
for me to grasp because fasting is not so much about food. Food dominates our lives and we plan
everything around food. Food is a
distraction and a hinderance to our fasting if we put food first. They
are separate. Fasting is obedience and a
commitment to God first and food is a sacrifice as we fast. Fasting
is a means of bringing the flesh into submission to the Lord so He can
strengthen us in our mastery over our own selves. Fasting in the flesh makes us
stronger to stand against the temptations of the flesh. Those temptations very
often deal with food. Satan has
perverted God’s fast by using food to torment us during our fasting.
Abstaining
from food is often God's way of showing that His desire for us is that we
regain mastery over all things associated with our flesh in order to subdue our
flesh and elevate our emphasis on spiritual matters as we pray and fast. God's
promise is to help us as we overcome the flesh and put all carnal temptations
into subjection. Everything we give up
in the flesh during fasting is an act of humility before God.
Also, people
are confused on the length of the fast.
Nowhere in the Bible does it tell us how long to fast. We have examples in the Bible on how long
they fast and by no means am I am saying not to use these examples. If you are
unsure how long to fast, ask the Holy Spirit and He will tell you how long to
fast.
The 58th
chapter of Isaiah begins almost immediately by describing some of God’s people. “…they seek Me daily, and delight to know
My ways, As a nation that did righteousness, and did not forsake the ordinance
of their God. They ask of Me the ordinances of justice: They take delight in
approaching God” Isaiah 58:2. From reading this brief description of God’s
people you would think that He was pleased with them, right? Wrong!
Isaiah
continues to prophesy God’s Word concerning His people – about their worship
and their fasting. “In the day of your
fast you find pleasure and exploit all of your laborers. Indeed, you fast for
strife (conflict) and debate. And to
strike with the fist of wickedness. You will not fast as you do this day, to
make your voice heard on high” Isaiah 58:3-4. Fasting is not about letting
everyone know you are fasting.
God’s
prophecy continues against His people:
“If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and
speaking wickedness, if you extend your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the
afflicted soul, Then, your light shall dawn in the darkness, ---“Isaiah
58:9-10.
Isaiah 58 shows us a picture of the religious
Jews and their lives. During this period both the northern and southern
kingdoms had experienced nearly 50 years of increasing prosperity and power. It
appears that increasing power had gone to their heads. The rich got richer and
the poor got poorer. And the religious community seemed to side with the
powerful and the wealthy at the expense of the poor. Does this sound familiar
in the times we are living in?
In Isaiah 58:3 the religious community is
asking God why He doesn’t reward them when they do all of their fasting. Hasn’t
God seen all of their good deeds, all of their worship observances, their
liturgies (rites)? They have worked hard and stayed away from evil places. They have worshiped God. They have family values. But, God’s people
point their fingers at all of the losers around them. All those lazy folks that mess up their
lives. They criticize other believers and non-believers. They think they are so much better than their
neighbors! They fast every week and let
everyone around them know how righteous they are when they fast. Was God
impressed with them?
After God
comes and tells His children why He isn’t pleased with their defective worship,
and their “look at me” fasts, He lovingly describes the kind of fast that will
please Him! “Is this not the fast that I
have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to
let the oppressed go free. And that you break every yoke? Is it not to share
your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor who are
cast out: when you see the naked, that you cover him. And not hide yourself
from your own flesh?” Isaiah 58:6-7. This
aligns with the anointing by God in Isaiah
61:1 “The Spirit of the Lord God is upon Me, Because the Lord has anointed Me
To preach good tidings to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted,
To proclaim liberty to the captives, And the opening of the prison to those who
are bound. Furthermore, we need
prayer and fasting to carry out the Great Commission for deliverance and healing,
Mark 16:17-18 And these signs will
follow those who believe: In My name they will cast out demons; they will speak
with new tongues; they will take up serpents; and if they drink anything
deadly, it will by no means hurt them; they will lay hands on the sick, and
they will recover.” God will be with
us as He was with Jesus Acts 10:38 how
God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power, who went
about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was
with Him.
Individual prayer, corporate prayer and fasting will enable
us to fight the spiritual battle in the heavenly where the most powerful forces
are at work (Ephesians 6:12 For we do
not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against
powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts
of wickedness in the heavenly places). The heavenly places where Gabriel
and Michael fought the kings of Persia, (Daniel
10:13 But the prince of the kingdom of Persia withstood me twenty-one days; and
behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left
alone there with the kings of Persia). And
the Helper will answer us and give power to defeat the wicked in the heavenly, Call to Me and I
will answer you and show you great and mighty things which you do not know
Jeremiah 33:3, But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, And of
justice and might, Micah 3:8.
.
God wants our whole life – not just lip
service and outward appearance. We find so many places in Scripture where He
tells us to reach out to the poor. The fast and life that please Him is the one
that tries to level the playing field for the less fortunate. In Isaiah 58:12 He calls the person who
lives and fasts this way the “Repairer
of the Breach,” and “the one who
raises up the foundations of many generations.” The verse calls God’s
people to follow His loving Ways and not their own. He urges them to join Him
in having compassion for the needy. He asks them to be His hands in “building up the old waste places.” And
then He tells them what will happen if they change from their old pattern of
fasting, the one that makes them feel so superior: and practice His new
unselfish fast.
Verses 8-11
promise, “Then your light shall break
forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily, and your
righteousness shall go before you. The glory of the Lord shall be your rear
guard. Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer, you shall cry and He will
say, ‘Here I am.’ ----The Lord will guide you continually, and satisfy your
soul in drought, and strengthen your bones: you shall be like a watered garden
and like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.”
God’s words
for His people so long ago can speak to us today too. We may have some of the
same temptations that the religious community had back then. It is still easy
for God’s people to stay busy going to church and doing religious things. Still
easy to choose to disregard the poor, the elderly, the sick, and forsaking the
Sabbath. Our pride and freedom are more important than trying to have compassion
on the desperate.
Isaiah 58:13 “If you turn away your
foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on My holy day, And call the
Sabbath a delight, The holy day of the Lord honorable, And shall honor Him, not
doing your own ways, Nor finding your own pleasure, Nor speaking your own words.
Not to be left out
in the context of what is pleasing to the Lord in Isaiah 58 is not turning away from the Sabbath (Forth Commandment),
which we all do. Why can’t we eliminate,
work, activities, parties, pleasures, phones, games, computers to honor the
Sabbath? What better day to pray and
fast?
The purpose
of fasting with prayer and supplication includes self-denial that opens one to
God and to the immaterial aspects of life. Inasmuch as food and drink typify
life in the flesh and all its demands and satisfactions, their absence or
rejection speaks to the reality of a higher dimension, one in which the things
of the spirit predominate. The theology of fasting, then, is a theology of
priorities in which believers are given the opportunity to express themselves
in an undivided and intensive devotion to the Lord and to the concerns of the spiritual
life.
In these
last days, prayer and fasting must be part of our lives individually and
corporately. Joel calls to “consecrate a
fast” Joel 1:14 Consecrate a fast, Call
a sacred assembly; Gather the elders And all the inhabitants of the land Into
the house of the Lord your God, And cry out to the Lord. Joel calls us to repentance Joel 2:12 “Now, therefore,” says the Lord,
“Turn to Me with all your heart, With fasting, with weeping, and with
mourning.” Joel calls us to gather
together as a church of corporate prayer warriors, Joel 2:15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred
assembly. We must call on the Helper
(Holy Spirit) in a time of trouble to help us as we pray and fast, (Psalm 50:15 Call upon Me in the day of
trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me).
God is
calling us to surrender ourselves in a fast that pleases Him. A fast
where God’s people are humble and generous and caring. A fast where God’s people reach out to the
poor, the sick, and those who are in captivity.
A fast that becomes our Godly lifestyle as we pray without ceasing (1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 Rejoice always,
pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks; for this is the will of God in
Christ Jesus for you). A fast where those who follow in it can be
called the “Repairer of the Breach.”
God wants
the Body of Christ constantly praying and fasting to overcome Satan and his
army who is trying to destroy God’s children as we wait for the second coming
of Jesus Christ.
But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, And
of justice and might, Micah 3:8 Blessing,
Tony Sanchez
5-10-18
No comments:
Post a Comment