During the summer we�ve been going through the book of Acts. Do yourself a favor and read the book of Acts this summer to remind yourself about the power and work of the Holy Spirit. When the Spirit moves, things never remain the same, people are never the same, churches are never the same. The Spirit hasn�t changed but often our reliance upon the Spirit, and following the Spirit into uncharted territory does. We need to raise our vision for what God can do in the life of the church. That the Spirit would use us and work in our lives to save the lost, heal the broken, free the captive. Last week we focused on how, when the early Christians prayed together, the power of the Holy Spirit was evident, things changed because God�s people prayed together. Yet, there is another aspect of prayer, a partner to prayer, which we often overlook because it doesn�t sound very fun�fasting.
If you�re like I was, you read right past passages on fasting without even giving it a second thought. I used to argue, �Fasting just doesn�t make any sense. Why would God want us to starve ourselves? Isn�t food a gift from God that should be appreciated and enjoyed? Isn�t it unhealthy to fast? Don�t we hear of how bad these starvation diets are for our bodies?� Yet even with all my arguments I couldn�t get around the fact that Jesus prayed AND fasted, his disciples prayed AND fasted, the early Christians prayed AND fasted. In fact in our passage this morning it is mentioned twice, the Christians in Antioch were worshipping AND fasting when the Holy Spirit spoke, and they continued to pray AND fast before sending off Barnabas and Saul to the mission work the Spirit called them to do. We read later while Barnabas and Saul were on their mission trip they likewise prayed and fasted when they were selecting the leadership in the churches they started. Even with all my arguments, like �it was just some sort of old fashioned practice,� or �It may have been good for people in the Bible but not for me.� Yet, I couldn�t get around the results of fasting and praying either. And I wondered, by ignoring fasting along with my praying am I limiting the work of God�s Spirit in my life and the church?
Then I came to find out that John Wesley, the founder of the Methodists, urged Methodists to fast and pray every Wednesday and Friday (the traditional days for fasting even in Jesus� day), and he wouldn�t ordain a Methodist pastor unless he agreed to fast and pray on these days. During his life time the Methodist movement helped bring revival to Great Britain and then to America. Again I can�t help but wondering if we are missing something when we ignore fasting as a spiritual discipline. Even recently I have been hearing from pastors at Cornerstone UMC in Grand Rapids and Gary Step at Indian River who have been sharing their rediscovery of the spiritual practice of fasting, and how God has been blessing them as a result.
Why fasting?
Fasting is a voluntary reducing or eliminating your intake of food for a specific amount of time. Perhaps you are wondering like I did, why would God want us to starve ourselves? It�s not that God wants you to starve, and quite honestly I doubt you�ll be worse for the wear if you do fast (if you know what I mean, that is unless you have some medical condition like diabetes). But fasting has long been a spiritual practice first by Jews then by many Christians because it forces us to forgo the physical so we can focus on the spiritual. By fasting we are passing on a physical nourishment to rely on spiritual nourishment from God and not on the things of this world. When we fast we are humbling ourselves before him and we are depending upon God for our strength. If you think this sounds crazy, consider Jesus� words to the devil when the devil tempted him with food after he had fasted in the desert/wilderness for 40 days, Jesus replied to the devil, �man does not live on bread alone but on every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.� On another occasion Jesus hadn�t eaten anything for quite a while and his disciples tried to get him to eat, but Jesus� response was, �I have food to eat that you know nothing about.� �My food� is to do the will of him who sent me and to finish his work (John 4:32, 34).�
Fasting does not have to just be abstaining from food though. It could be abstaining from anything worldly, things of this earth, so we can focus on the things of the Spirit. It could be abstaining from watching television, eating certain kinds of food (i.e. comfort foods like snacks, desserts, ice cream or chocolate or chips), or withdrawing from certain actions like gossip, complaining, being cynical, . The spiritual benefits are directly related to the type of fast. Whatever kind of fast God might call us to do we should use the time we would have spent doing that activity with God. Just because you aren�t eating doesn�t make it any more spiritual. For example, you might fast from food when you go in for surgery but that doesn�t make it a means of grace, when we spend that time focusing on God in prayer or reading Scripture is when it is spiritual and God multiplies his grace.
Fasting is a very tangible way to teach our minds and our bodies that we do not have to gratify the urges of our bodies. We CAN say �No� when our body calls for food. And when we do this, we demonstrate to God that we are his, and we are more needful of his righteousness, of his power, of his wisdom, of His direction, than we are of physical nourishment.
Fasting is a way for us to discipline our bodies for the spiritual battles God needs us to fight
In the Bible people fasting anywhere from one meal, one day, three days, seven days, even up to forty days (Moses, Jesus). Personally the longest fast I have done was three days, typically when I do fast it is for one meal or one day. You have to ask God what period he wants you to fast, and be careful not to allow the flesh to interfere.
Types of fasting
Why might you start a fast?
1. Spiritual Discernment.
You are trying to figure out what God wants you (us) to do. You�re seeking his will. You are in a dilemma about which way to go, you�re at the fork in the road and don�t know which way to go (job offer or possible transfer, dating/marriage, ministry, college/education] . If you haven�t sensed an answer have you tried prayer AND fasting.
Notice it was while the Christians in Antioch were worshipping and fasting that the Holy Spirit spoke and gave direction to them, �set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.� In other words the Spirit had already told them what they were going to do, now was the time to act. We don�t know how the Holy Spirit spoke, it could have been through a prophet, a common sense among the group. Fasting was commonly done by people in the Bible as a means of spiritually discerning God�s plan, what he wanted them to do.
In the OT the southern kingdom of Judah (southern Israel) was being threatened by a coalition of three nations, and King Jehoshaphat declared a fast throughout the entire kingdom of Judah to inquire of the Lord (2 Chr. 20:3). NRS 2 Chronicles 20:3 Jehoshaphat was afraid; he set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
2. Seeking an Answer to Prayer (Ez. 8:21-23)
Ez 8:21 There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions. 23 So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.
Perhaps you are praying for someone and want to demonstrate to God the depth of your desire for God to answer. Fasting and praying demonstrates we are serious enough about our prayers that we are willing to pay a personal price. This doesn�t mean we are going to twist God�s arm into answer, it simply demonstrates to God the deep desire of our heart.
Humbling ourselves by fasting with our prayer we are demonstrating to God , we are willing to make a sacrifice . Too often are prayers cost us nothing except perhaps a little time, and our hearts may truly not be in it.
3. Spiritual Warfare (for oneself or for others)
The Bible reminds us we are in a battle, Satan is trying to knock us off, make us a casualty of war. He�s also trying to keep people from trusting in the Lord. Perhaps you are facing an unusual amount of temptation or what you sense is spiritual attacks and prayer alone doesn�t seem to be changing anything. Fasting is a means of spiritual breakthrough for deliverance from the enemy, from evil.
NIV Mark 9:29 He replied, "This kind [of demon] can come out only by prayer (some manuscripts have �prayer and fasting� KJV)."
Perhaps God may have us fast for someone we know going through a spiritual battle. It may be a person that has not come to faith in Christ yet. Or perhaps we are the one being attacked.
I ran across an article a few months back in Discipleship Journal called �Confessions of a Reluctant Faster.� The author mentioned how God impressed upon her the need to pray and fast for a woman in her small group deeply involved in New Age. She didn�t like the idea of fasting, and she admits to not really liking this woman either because she was pushy, bitter, involved in her small group for social, not spiritual reasons. But God showed her she was in a spiritual battle, which required spiritual weapons. So she found one other person in her group (for accountability) and began fasting and praying one lunch period a week. She writes of her fasting experience:
�When I feel the pangs of hunger, I remember her loneliness and her spiritual hunger. When I long for a Twinkie, I realize why she fills her life with false-god junk � emptiness cries out to be filled with something, anything. When I don�t join others around the lunch table, I consider Sherri�s great isolation from God and people. None of this depth existed until I began fasting.�
Fasting didn�t just change the situation, it changes us and our view of others. God did begin making some breakthroughs in the woman�s life as a result.
4. Gives us Compassion for the Marginalized in Society
NIV Isaiah 58:6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
The problem with people addressed here in Isaiah�s time was their fasting was for show, to demonstrate how religious they were. They really didn�t care about what God cares about. What God cares about are the marginalized in society; the poor, the oppressed, those under chains of injustice, the spiritually oppressed, those under the yoke of slavery. What God wants is for us to care for them. Fasting can enhance our compassion and concern for the poor by putting ourselves in their place, if only for a short time. When we fast we identify with the hungry and starving around the world. When our belly begins to complain it reminds us of what they are feeling all the time. In turn it allows us to be sympathetic toward them, we will desire to help them to fulfill God�s work.
In seminary we had what was called a �solidarity meal� during our mission week. At this meal we would eat only simple foods (usually rice and beans) that people commonly eat around the world every day, day after day. By eating this meal we actually tried to understand, if only for a moment, what it was like to walk in their shoes so to speak. The money we would have spent on lunch we donated to feed those who wouldn�t normally eat a meal that day. So it wasn�t a strict fast, we didn�t go without food entirely, but we did identify with the poor. By cutting back we can also gave that food or money to feed those who do not have.
This really isn�t a difficult concept, parents do it all the time, denying things you would like to have so your children can have. God wants us to apply this also to those who are often overlooked in society (the oppressed, the poor, the hungry, the naked, ).
5. As a sign of grief (over our sin or over a loss)
It is a pouring out of ones heart through the fast. People in the Bible fasted when they were grieving the death of someone. People (including David and his men) fasted in grief after the death of King Saul and his son Jonathan (1 Sam. 31:13; 2 Sam. 1:12). They also fasted as a sign of humility to demonstrate repentance from sin (and to intercede for others who need to repent). (Jonah 3:5-10, Daniel 9, Nehemiah 1). In other words they were showing God how truly sorry they were for their sinfulness.
Fasting is rarely mentioned alone, but with something else. Prayer AND fasting, worship AND fasting. Fasting isn�t the end in itself, it is a means to an end. When we fast, it allows us to schedule more time to pray and to worship God when we would normally eating. Fasting without other things
Considerations before fasting:
If you take medications which require food, or otherwise it upsets your stomach, you may have to consider a partial fast. Or if you have diabetes or a blood sugar problem you may have to consider. Consult your doctor.
Are you willing to give fasting a try to see the power of God at work in your life?
