(I began by showing the video clip called “The Fast” from sermonspice.com it is a humorous look at how we should not fast)
Often I think of the early Church and wish it could be like that again. They experienced the hand of God in so many incredible ways. Then I remember that this did not come without great commitment and sacrifice on their part. Here in this short passage we see one of the disciplines of faith being exercised and the results that it brought. They sought God’s guidance through fasting and prayer and God responded with clear definite direction. If we can look and see this practiced by the early Church then why is it so neglected or overlooked in the Church of today? There are many reasons I could list, however; I will focus on the positives of why we should fast even today.
Why should we fast?
1. To seek God’s Presence – 2 Chronicles 20:3 - And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.
2. To ask God’s Protection - Esther 4:16 - Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is against the law; and if I perish, I perish!
3. To know God’s Path - Ezra 8:21 - Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions.
4. To experience God’s Provision – Matthew 4:2-4 - And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry. 3Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, "If You are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread." 4But He answered and said, "It is written, "Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God."’
5. To avoid God’s Punishment – Jonah 3:5 - So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.
6. To follow God’s Plan – Matthew 6:16 - Moreover, when you fast… & Mark 2:20 - But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast in those days.
This is by no means a comprehensive study on fasting but is the beginning of understanding the type of relationship that God has in store for us when we will truly humble ourselves and seek Him the way He has shown us to.
