Chico Alliance Church
"The Fragrance of Fasting"
INTRODUCTION
Many would love perform like some exceptional athlete or some famous musician.
Most any ability does not come without practice and training.
There is natural talent, but even natural talent must be cultivated and trained.
Mostly we only see the end product of many long hours of tedious practice and strenuous labor.
As followers of Christ, we long to be like Him.
We want to live His kind of life.
We long for the power to do the things He did, live the way He lived, love the way He loved, know His wisdom, have His insight.
Yet we seem to forget the disciplines in His life that made Him what He was.
We want a vital relationship with God but can't seem to find the time to talk and listen to Him.
We want the wisdom to know how to live but can't seem to find the time to study and meditate on His Word.
We want the miraculous power and resources but won't let loose of our self centered focus so that He can use us.
There is one discipline practiced by saints throughout all history as well as by our Lord that gets very little positive press in this age of "enlightened" Christians.
What comes to our thoughts when someone mentions the word "fasting?" Perhaps we think "fanatic, monks, legalists, hunger strikes, old fashioned."
When Nehemiah heard about the desperate condition of God's special people and God's special place, he wept and mourned for days and prayed with FASTING.
What is this "weird" practice?
What are the occasions that call me to fasting?
What profit is there in the practice?
How can fasting actually be detrimental?
What do I do on a fast?
This morning we hope to answer these questions regarding this oft proclaimed by seldom practiced discipline.
When approaching a teaching that through the years has been so misunderstood, we should try for a time to set aside what we have been taught and examine the Scriptures with an open heart in order to bring about a new balance to our understanding of an old truth.
When our minds are conditioned by prejudice or paralyzed by traditional views, we may face a truth in Scripture again and again without its ever touching us. Our spiritual inhibition concerning that truth or even our felt familiarity with that truth permits us to see, but not to perceive. The truth lies dormant within, mentally apprehended but not spiritually applied. This is particularly true in relation to fasting.
I. THE PRINCIPLE OF FASTING
"When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. Matthew 6:16
Then John's disciples came and asked him, "How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?" Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; THEN they will fast. Matt 9:15
The practice and discipline of fasting was assumed. The issue wasn't IF you fast, but WHEN you fast, do it with the right motives. Jesus prophesied that His disciples would continue the practice once He had departed.
The record of Acts bears this out where we observe the disciples fasting.
Fasting refers to the practice of denying a basic natural drive for the purpose of developing and demonstrating our full devotion to God. Fasting most often relates to abstinence of food but may include other things as well.
A. The Normal Fast -- Water but no food
The normal fast is abstinence from all food and liquids except plain water that may last anywhere from 1-40 days.
Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the desert, where for forty days he was tempted by the devil. He ate nothing during those days, and at the end of them he was hungry. Luke 4:2
B. The Absolute Fast -- no food or water
Then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God and went to the room of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. While he was there, he ate no food and drank no water, because he continued to mourn over the unfaithfulness of the exiles. Ezra 10:6
"Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish." Esther 4:16
For three days Paul was blind, and did not eat or drink anything. Acts 9:9
When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord had made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water. Deuteronomy 9:9
C. The Partial Fast
The partial fast centers on abstinence of a particular item.
I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over. Daniel 7:15
John wore clothing made of camel's hair, with a leather belt around his waist, and he ate locusts and wild honey. Mark 1:6
Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. 1Corinthians 7:5
II. THE PURPOSE OF FASTING
A. Demonstrating Humility and Repentance
Remember how the Lord your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord. Deuteronomy 8:3
The Lord, the Lord Almighty, called you on that day to weep and to wail, to tear out your hair and put on sackcloth. But see, there is joy and revelry, slaughtering of cattle and killing of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine! "Let us eat and drink," you say, "for tomorrow we die!" The Lord Almighty has revealed this in my hearing: "Till your dying day this sin will not be atoned for," says the Lord, the Lord Almighty. Isaiah 22:12-14
"`Now this was the sin of your sister Sodom: She and her daughters were arrogant, overfed and unconcerned; they did not help the poor and needy. They were haughty and did detestable things before me. Therefore I did away with them as you have seen. Ezekiel 16:49-50
When I fed them, they were satisfied; when they were satisfied, they became proud; then they forgot me. Hosea 13:6
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. So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer. Ezra 8:21,23
So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. Daniel 9:3
Then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God and went to the room of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. While he was there, he ate no food and drank no water, because he continued to mourn over the unfaithfulness of the exiles. Ezra 10:6
"Even now," declares the Lord, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning." Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity. Joel 2:12-13
When Ahab heard these words, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and fasted. He lay in sackcloth and went around meekly. Then the word of the Lord came to Elijah the Tishbite: "Have you noticed how Ahab has humbled himself before me? Because he has humbled himself, I will not bring this disaster in his day, but I will bring it on his house in the days of his son." 1Kings 21:27-29
The Ninevites believed God. They declared a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth. Jonah 3:5
Fasting demonstrates our seriousness about sin.
Fasting also brings about a greater sensitivity to sin.
B. Fasting prepares us to hear and heed God's direction
Then the Israelites, all the people, went up to Bethel, and there they sat weeping before the Lord. They fasted that day until evening and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the Lord. And the Israelites inquired of the Lord. Judges 20:26-27
Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. 2Chronicles 20:3
in the first year of his reign, I, Daniel, understood from the Scriptures, according to the word of the Lord given to Jeremiah the prophet, that the desolation of Jerusalem would last seventy years. Daniel 9:2 While I was speaking and praying, confessing my sin and the sin of my people Israel and making my request to the Lord my God for his holy hill - while I was still in prayer, Gabriel, the man I had seen in the earlier vision, came to me in swift flight about the time of the evening sacrifice. He instructed me and said to me, "Daniel, I have now come to give you insight and understanding. Daniel 9:21-22
and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Isaiah 58:10-11
While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off. Acts 13:2-3
Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust. Acts 14:23
C. Fasting for deliverance and protection in warfare
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. So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer. Ezra 8:21,23 On the twelfth day of the first month we set out from the Ahava Canal to go to Jerusalem. The hand of our God was on us, and he protected us from enemies and bandits along the way. Ezra 8:31
"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? Isaiah 58:6
The temptations of Jesus were met with a period of fasting in the wilderness.
D. Fasting to develop and demonstrate self-control
"Everything is permissible for me" - but not everything is beneficial. "Everything is permissible for me" - but I will not be mastered by anything. "Food for the stomach and the stomach for food" - but God will destroy them both. The body is not meant for sexual immorality, but for the Lord, and the Lord for the body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. 1Corinthians 6:12-13,19-20
They promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity - for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. 2Peter 2:19
The way to a man's heart is his stomach.
Satan knows that the way to a person's soul is their appetites.
It seems that many of the people in the Bible who found themselves in difficulty related to food or drink.
Adam and Eve, Noah, Lot, Esau, Israel, Sodom and Gomorrah.
It is important to bring the body into subjection of the Spirit. The fruit of the Spirit is "self-control."
Everyone who competes in the games goes into strict training. They do it to get a crown that will not last; but we do it to get a crown that will last forever. Therefore I do not run like a man running aimlessly; I do not fight like a man beating the air. No, I beat my body and make it my slave so that after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified for the prize. 1Corinthians 9:25-27
Philippians spoke of those whose "god" was their appetite.
E. Fasting demonstrates the depth of our sorrow
Then they took Saul's and Jonathan's bones and buried them under a tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted seven days. 1Samuel 31:13
Then David and all the men with him took hold of their clothes and tore them. They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the army of the Lord and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword. 2Samuel 1:11-12
Then the king (Darius)returned to his palace and spent the night without eating and without any entertainment being brought to him. And he could not sleep. Daniel 6:18
F. Fasting as and expression of worship and service
There was also a prophetess, Anna, the daughter of Phanuel, of the tribe of Asher. She was very old; she had lived with her husband seven years after her marriage, and then was a widow until she was eighty-four. She never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying. Luk 2:36-37
While they were serving the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." Acts 13:2
On the twenty-fourth day of the same month, the Israelites gathered together, fasting and wearing sackcloth and having dust on their heads. Nehemiah 9:1
"Ask all the people of the land and the priests, `When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? Zechariah 7:5
G. Fasting for Healing
Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth and humbled myself with fasting. When my prayers returned to me unanswered, I went about mourning as though for my friend or brother. I bowed my head in grief as though weeping for my mother. Psalms 35:14
After Nathan had gone home, the Lord struck the child that Uriah's wife had borne to David, and he became ill. David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and went into his house and spent the nights lying on the ground. He answered, "While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, `Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.' But now that he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me." 2Samuel 12:15-16,22-23
Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. Isaiah 58:8
H. Fasting to feed the hungry
Is it (fasting) 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? Isa58:7
III. THE PROFIT OF FASTING
A. Physical Benefits
There are many benefits of fasting that have been documented over the years.
The Edwin Smith papyrus, estimated to be 3,700 years old, quotes and Ancient Egyptian doctor as saying:
"Man eats too much. Thus he lives on only a quarter of what he consumes. the doctors, however, live on the remaining three-quarters."
"There are multitudes of diseases which have their origin in fulness, and might have the end in fasting." Without a doubt there are ills that could be cured, or better still prevented, and a better state of general health enjoyed if fasting coupled with reformed eating habits were practiced. Oblivious of this, man still continues to dig his grave with his knife and fork!
The cleansing process usually produces, after a prolonged fast, a brightness of the eye, pure breath, clear skin and a sense of physical well-being. the digestive system should become like new. The sense faculties of the body, especially tasting and smelling, tend to be quickened and sharpened, while one's mental powers become remarkably clear and active. The pores of the skin, the mouth, the lungs, the kidneys, the liver and of course the bowels are all involved in this physical spring-cleaning. (Wallis)
B. Mental Benefits
The mind seems to be clearer after the initial distractions of craving and caffeine withdrawal subside.
C. Spiritual Benefits
"...Your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you." Matthew 6:18
God promises a spiritual benefit from the discipline of fasting.
During the fast there seems to be a spiritual sensitivity and openness that is not otherwise present.
IV. THE PERVERSIONS FASTING
A. Spiritual Pride
But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matthew 6:18
To some who were confident of their own righteousness and looked down on everybody else, Jesus told this parable: "Two men went up to the temple to pray, one a Pharisee and the other a tax collector. The Pharisee stood up and prayed about himself: `God, I thank you that I am not like other men - robbers, evildoers, adulterers - or even like this tax collector. I fast twice a week and give a tenth of all I get.'-- "But the tax collector stood at a distance. He would not even look up to heaven, but beat his breast and said, `God, have mercy on me, a sinner.' "I tell you that this man, rather than the other, went home justified before God. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted." Luke 18:9-14
B. Bribing God
"Let us beware of fancying we merit anything of God by our fasting. We cannot be too often warned of this; in as much as a desire to establish our own righteousness, to get salvation by debt and not of grace is so deeply rooted in all our hearts. Fasting is only a way which God hath ordained, wherein we wait for His unmerited mercy, and wherein without desert of ours, He hath promised freely to give us His blessing.
When David fasted for the baby, he proclaimed his motivation.He answered,
"While the child was still alive, I fasted and wept. I thought, `Who knows? The Lord may be gracious to me and let the child live.' 2Samuel 12:22
Fasting is not a hunger strike to twist God's arm for personal benefit.
Fasting is for preparing my heart to hear and heed God's direction.
Fasting is not to coerce God's hand but to condition our heart.
C. Legalism
We must not fast out of obligation but adoration.
Our practice of fasting must come out of a sense of full acceptance not from a drive to gain acceptance.
Fasting is a discipline I practice because of its devotional value for me.
I do it because I want God to know my gratitude and devotion to Him.
D. Short-cut to obedience
This is what the Lord says about this people: "They greatly love to wander; they do not restrain their feet. So the Lord does not accept them; he will now remember their wickedness and punish them for their sins." Then the Lord said to me, "Do not pray for the well-being of this people. Although they fast, I will not listen to their cry; though they offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will destroy them with the sword, famine and plague." Jeremiah 14:10-12
Somehow we think that God will be impressed with come ceremony or devotion I practice when it come out of a rebellious heart and selfish motives.
He can care less about how long and often I fast, how much I give, how beautifully I pray if I am not demonstrating my love for Him by obedience to His ways.
E. Personal Gain
"Ask all the people of the land and the priests, `When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? Zechariah 7:5
`Why have we fasted,' they say, `and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?' "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high. Isaiah 58:4
Our fasting is to be directed to the Lord and on behalf of others as much as pray. James said,"you have not because you ask with wrong motives in order that you may spend it on your own pleasures." Fasting falls under the same principle.
V. THE PRACTICE OF FASTING
A. Call to Fast
1. Public Direct Proclamation
So you go to the house of the Lord on a day of fasting and read to the people from the scroll the words of the Lord that you wrote as I dictated. Read them to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns. Jeremiah 36:6
This is what the Lord Almighty says: "The fasts of the fourth, fifth, seventh and tenth months will become joyful and glad occasions and happy festivals for Judah. Therefore love truth and peace." Zechariah 8:19
Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly. Joel 2:15
2. Private Divine Prompting
B. Procedure
1. Discuss with a physician
2. Determine kind -- Partial, Normal, Absolute
3. Determine Duration
We can initially set a time. Much depends on the purpose.
As in the case of David, when the baby died, he ended his fast.
WE must be sensitive to God's direction to end or extend the fast.
4. Determine a time and place
5. Determine a plan
Suggested Activities for a One Day Fast
Get up early and read in the Psalms
Perhaps pick one to memorize
Spend time praying back some of the Psalms to God
Read through one of the Gospels
Write down one or two things you would like to study further.
Take time to rest.
As you go to take a nap, meditate on a thought of Scripture you have read.
Read through Some proverbs searching for God's way of solving the problems on your heart.
Read or sing through some of the hymns in a hymnbook.
Read all the way through one of the New Testament books.
Write down a particular passage you would like to study further.
Go back and do more study on the Gospel passages you marked down.
Study further the other passages you marked to study more deeply.
Talk to God all through the process.
Listen much. Allow God to speak through His word.
Intercede in prayer for others.
Let God expose your blind spots by His word.
These are only some of the suggestions.
For a longer fast you can must spend more time on these same activities.
Perhaps read a book to stimulate your thinking.
Keeping in the word is probably more beneficial.
THEY FASTED -- Unknown Author
On Sinai's mount, with radiant face, to intercede for heaven's grace upon a stubborn wayward race. HE FASTED.
Once lifted from the miry clay, when opposition came his way this soldier-king would often pray WITH FASTING.
A seer, possessed of vision keen, who told the troubled king his dream. Had light on God's prophetic scheme THROUGH FASTING.
The prophetess in temple court beheld the Babe the two had brought; for Him she long had prayed and sought, WITH FASTING.
He came to break the yoke of sin, but ere His mission could begin He met the foe and conquered him WHILE FASTING.
"Set these apart", the Spirit bade. A spring, that soon vast rivers made, broke ope by men who as they prayed WERE FASTING.
So shall they fast when I am gone; was this no word to act upon? As countless saints who fought and won WITH FASTING.
When we shall stand on that great day and give account, what shall we say, if He should ask us, "Did you pray WITH FASTING?"
Do you need direction?
Do you or someone you love need deliverance from the enemy? Does your body rule you?
Do you feel the pain of sorrow and loss?
Do you want a tangible way to show God how you love Him?
Do you need healing?
Are you concerned with the poor and hungry?
If your answer is yes to any of these things, you might want to try fasting.
If you do, be sure to keep your motives in check and go over the possible perversions of the practice in the notes.
