FASTING UNTO THE LORD!
National Day Of Fasting
In 1995 U.S. Senator Mark O. Hatfield presented a resolution designating Monday of Thanksgiving week as "National Day of Fasting." He and Stan Mooneyham, President of World Vision International called on all Americans to experience hunger willingly and to reevaluate their own life-styles and habits.
-Encyclopedia of 15,000 Illustrations
Lincoln Proclaims National Fast Day
Abraham Lincoln wrote an address to the nation during the Civil War that was at least as important as the Gettysburg Address.
It was his proclamation for a national fast-day, by which he did designate and set apart Thursday the 30th day of April 1863, as a day of national humiliation, fasting, and prayer.
Lincoln wrote: "It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God; to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow, yet with assured hope that genuine repentance will lead to mercy and pardon; and to recognize the sublime truth announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history, that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord.
"The awful calamity of civil war which now desolates the land may be but a punishment inflicted upon us for our presumptuous sins, to the needful end of our national reformation as a whole people.
"Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become too self-sufficient to feel the necessity, too proud to pray to the God that made us. "It behooves us, then, to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins, and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."
-The Bible Friend
-Encyclopedia of 15,000 Illustrations
I. The purpose of Fasting in a Christian’s life.
Isa 58:3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.
Isa 58:4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
Isa 58:5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?
A: This is the purpose of God’s fast!
Isa 58:6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?
Isa 58:7 Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?
Fasting On That Day. An officer in the Turkish War told his men that if they died in battle, they would sup with Christ in Paradise. The officer fled. When asked why he did not wish to sup with Christ, he said that he was fasting that day.
-Martin Luther "Table Talk"
B: Fasting will brings Blessing afterwards.
Isa 58:8 Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy reward.
Isa 58:9 Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;
Isa 58:10 And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday:
Isa 58:11 And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
Isa 58:12 And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
Isa 58:13 If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:
Isa 58:14 Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.
1. I have heard how that when some people fast they see visions, angels etc. However, when I fast I have visions of fried chicken, buffets and if I sleep I dream about it. However, I can truly say that afterwards, I seem to feel the closeness of the Lord. I know He is there all the time, but I seem to become more award of Him. Luke 9:23 And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me.
II. Fasting is a call to all people, with a special call to ministers
Joel 1:13 Gird yourselves, and lament, ye priests: howl, ye ministers of the altar: come, lie all night in sackcloth, ye ministers of my God: for the meat offering and the drink offering is withholden from the house of your God.
Joel 1:14 Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land into the house of the LORD your God, and cry unto the LORD,
A. Fasting prepares us for ordaining other ministers.
Acts 14:22 Confirming the souls of the disciples, and exhorting them to continue in the faith, and that we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God.
Acts 14:23 And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.
III. What are we to do with fasting?
A. Prayer goes hand in hand with fasting?
B. If we fast without prayer then is good for only losing weight.
Jer 36:6 Therefore go thou, and read in the roll, which thou hast written from my mouth, the words of the LORD in the ears of the people in the Lord’s house upon the fasting day: and also thou shalt read them in the ears of all Judah that come out of their cities.
IV. We need to call the people to a regular fasting day.
A. Even the Pharisee fasted twice a week.
Luke 18:12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.
V. Fasting does not give us power to heal the sick or cast out demons.
God’s Word does that. Fasting brings us in the place where we can believe
God’s Word. We are drawn closer to the Lord.
Matt 17:21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.
Matt 17:20 And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
VI. How should we look and carry on during a fasting time?
A. We should have a sweet and forgiving heart.
Matt 6:15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.
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. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
Matt 16:17 And Jesus answered and said unto him, Blessed art thou, Simon Barjona: for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but my Father which is in heaven.
Matt 6:18 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.
C. We do not go around and brag on what we are doing for the Lord.
VII. Fasting can bring special blessing from God.
Acts 10:30 And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing,
A. God remembers our fasting; it’s like laying up treasure
Acts 10:31 And said, Cornelius, thy prayer is heard, and thine alms are had in remembrance in the sight of God.
Give Me New England!
For three days Edwards had not eaten a mouthful of food: for three nights he had not closed his eyes in sleep. Over and over again, he had been saying to God, "Give me New England! Give me New England!" and when he arose from his knees, and made his way into the pulpit they say that he looked as if he had been gazing straight into the face of God. They say that before he opened his lips to speak, conviction fell upon his audience.
-J. Wilbur Chapman
VIII. There are many kinds of fasts.
A. Some one says I get headaches from fasting. It means you need to fast more.
B. Fasting will help you lose weight or it will help you gain weight. It cleans and corrects the body. Nature tells us to fast. A animal will fast when it is sick.
C. How long? It is like prayer or any thing else. We must practice. The Jews fasted from sundown to sundown. We have a hard time to go from sundown to sunrise.
D. There is the Daniel fast. No fats, no sugars. Not as easy today to do as you think. Good up to 21 days.
E. Fast always with lots of water. Jesus hungered after 40 days not thirst. Water cleanses the body.
Water Prolongs Fast
A man lying quietly in a cool room could live at most 12 days without water, but given water he could fast for more than two months.
-Encyclopedia of 15,000 Illustrations
F. Build your self up. Start with fasting only one meal. The journey begins with one step.
G. Remember as with everything new, be careful. If you have health problems check with your doctor. There are people who need to eat every couple of hours for their health. We must use wisdom.
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