Have you ever noticed how high on the list of priorities we put food? Some think that baseball is America’s favorite pastime, but I personally think it is eating. I could stand here and name every single fast-food place in the state of Oklahoma and I am sure that most, if not all of us, would have eaten there at one time or another.
How many times have you sat in church praying that your stomach doesn’t growl so loud that people notice? Have you ever sat in here and wished I would hurry and end my message so you could run out and grab something to eat?
Our stomachs seem to get hungry on cue, don’t they? We don’t eat because we are hungry; we eat so that we won’t get hungry. Surveys show that over 80% of Americans are unhealthy due to their diets. We don’t eat to live. We live to eat. Could we say that we worship our food?
What have we turned to when problems come into our lives? We should have turned to the Lord, but what we find is that many of us have turned to food. But that doesn’t make our problems go away, it just takes our minds off of them just long enough to eat something else.
For my last two sermons, I have talked about the elements needed to have proper revival in a church and in our lives. There are four of them, and I refer to these as strands. To review, these four elements (or strands) are:
a) Giving;
b) Praying;
c) Fasting; and
d) Communion.
These elements are similar to the strands that are woven together to make a rope strong. When the strands of revival are woven together properly, they become strong under pressure because they are pulled closer to one another. And, when Christians are pulled closer together in the Lord, they become much stronger, too. And it is in this strength that will see a much-needed revival occur within this church and the surrounding community.
I have talked about giving and praying. Today, I would like to talk to you about fasting. Certainly, we don’t hear much today about fasting, but even in recent times we see where fasting, in conjunction with prayer, has had very powerful results.
Fasting is a very powerful tool the Lord has given us, and it works, too. Here is a true story of how it worked in Minnesota in the 1870’s.
Grasshoppers plagued the state and most of the state’s crops had been destroyed. The next year came around and they were very worried it could happen again, so the governor asked for a day of prayer and fasting so that everybody could go before God and ask for His protection against it happening again.
That day in April came and there seemed to be a hush over the entire state, while people everywhere spent the day fasting and in prayer. The next day came and it was bright and warm. In fact, the summer-like temperatures lasted for three days. Everyone was sure that the new grasshoppers that were now coming to life would eat up all their crops again, but on the fourth day, there was a terrible sub-zero freeze that lasted for three more days.
Had the weather been normal, the larvae would have lived, and there were enough of them to create another scourge on the land. But God heard the prayers. During the three warm days, the larvae came to life, and during the ensuing three cold days, all of them died. What many thought would reoccur never happened, because God heard the earnest prayers from people who fasted and sacrificed. People had been willing to sacrifice something they needed (food) so they could go to the Lord with more focus, and God heard. Not only did God hear their prayers, God answered them!
Mankind is a funny creature. We always seem to like being at the extreme of something. Very few times will we find ourselves in the middle of the road on any issue. When it comes to the discipline of fasting, we again tend to jump to one extreme or the other. We either confuse what the Word says about it by adding our own rules on top of it, or we just ignore fasting altogether. We can be sure of one thing, though; if Satan can’t keep us from using it, he will try and get us to abuse it. Therefore it is imperative that our view of fasting be biblical.
1. WHAT IS FASTING?
It is a time of going without something we need, and that something is nourishment in the form of food and/or drink. We use fasting in conjunction with prayer. When we focus on God so much that we are willing to give up our life’s nutrients, we are drawn closer to Him and that enhances our personal relationship with Him.
In recent years, the American Christian has tended to forget about the need to get closer to God. Too many Christians have replaced worship with habit as their reason for going to church. These are the people who open their mouths, not to sing but to yawn. These people think about where they fit in at church rather than how Jesus fits in.
This has produced the church becoming too fluffy. We preach the niceties of God and ignore the necessities of God. If the church is not going to train and equip her congregation to do God’s work, nothing will get done for God. And if we aren’t going to give the full word of God, we are going to see parts of His word slide through the cracks. One such area the church has widely ignored in the last 50 years is teaching about fasting. When we mention the word ‘fast’, most people just think about going without food and getting really hungry.
However, when we fast and pray, we enter into the presence of the Lord like at no other time. When we fast and pray, the depth of our faith grows strong and steady. And it is this faith that can produce miracles in and around us. Jesus talks about how important faith is in -
In MATTHEW 17:20
‘ … I tell you the truth, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, “Move from here to there,” and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you.’
In summary, fasting is a way to show God just how important He is to us. It is doing that which tries to recapture our hunger for God. It says we are willing to forego anything in order to just be in His presence.
2. IS THERE MORE THAN ONE WAY TO FAST?
Yes. There were different types of fast observed throughout the Bible and all of them are still available to us today.
PARTIAL FAST
People who have a medical condition that precludes a total fast use a partial fast.
In this type of fast, you do without certain foods during your fast. For instance, if you normally eat bread with your meals, you do without bread for however long you are going to be fasting. Some give up meats or even skip one meal a day for the period of the fast. You can eliminate other things in addition to bread, too.
In DANIEL, chapter 1, we see that Daniel observed a partial fast for ten days. Elijah observed a partial fast on two occasions.
TOTAL FAST
An total fast is when nothing enters your mouth for the entire time you are fasting. No food and no liquids. Moses observed a total fast for 40 days.
Before anyone starts a total fast, it is highly suggested that they consult their doctor before starting.
NORMAL FAST
A normal fast is when you drink water and other nutritional liquids, but do not have any solid food for the period of the fast. In the book of JUDGES, we see where the Israelites observed a normal fast for one day. Paul observed one for three days after he was saved. There are many examples in the Bible about men doing a normal Fast for up to 40 days.
3. IS FASTING NECESSARY TODAY?
In every area of our walk with God, we look to the Bible. We see what the men and women of the Old and New Testaments did for God and we read the words of Jesus and the Apostles and use all these things as our standard of worship.
We should do the same thing when it comes to fasting. The list of important people who have fasted becomes a literal “Who’s Who” of the Bible. The Bible shows that many people, from Moses to David, and from Jesus to the disciples relied upon Fasting to gain a closer relationship with God Almighty.
God would never have let anything appear repeatedly in the Bible unless He wanted us to pay attention to it. In the New Testament, there are more teachings on fasting than there are on repentance and confession. Jesus taught more on fasting than He did on the Lord’s Supper.
And since God’s Word says so much about fasting, I think we need to understand what fasting is and how it is used for the glory of our Lord. Let’s start by going back into the Old Testament.
In LEVITICUS 16:29-31 we are told,
‘On the appointed day in early autumn, you must spend the day fasting and not do any work. This is a permanent law for you, and it applies to those who are
Israelites by birth, as well as to the foreigners living among you.
On this day, atonement will be made for you, and you will be cleansed from all your sins in the Lord’s presence. It will be a Sabbath day of total rest, and you
will spend the day in fasting. This is a permanent law for you’
We can see that fasting was not temporary, but permanent, and it was observed so that our souls could be cleansed from sin. Proper fasting has the power to actually affect our personal walk with God.
NUMBERS 29:7 – says,
‘Ten days later, you must call another holy assembly of all the people. On that day, the Day of Atonement, the people must go without food, and no
regular work may be done.’
In ACTS 27:9, the way Paul wrote about fasting shows that it was a normal occurrence in the Jewish culture.
‘Much time had been lost, and sailing had already become dangerous because by now, it was after the Fast.’
Fasting is done to get rid of the sins of the flesh so that we can grow spiritually and unhindered in the Lord. That was in the Old Testament. They had laws about when to fast. But we also find that people fasted without specific schedules. They fasted during times of conflict and troubles, too.
We are told in JUDGES 20:26, -
‘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.’
2 SAMUEL 15:16 reads,
‘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 night lying on the ground.’
Moses fasted for the sins of Israel. The Israelites fasted to celebrate events. So, is fasting necessary? In MATTHEW 6:16, Jesus said,
‘And when you fast...’
So, to answer the question as to whether or not fasting is necessary: Yes, it is.
4. PROPER FASTING
When we partake of the emblems of Communion, it is important that we do so with the right heart. To enter into Communion for any other reason than to seek the presence of Jesus from a holy heart, could actually bring God’s curse down upon us. To enter into Communion without examining our hearts is to enter into it with a flippant attitude. In 1 CORINTHIANS 11:27, we find just how serious entering into Communion with anything but a reverent and seeking heart will land you in trouble. It says,
‘Therefore, whoever eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy way will be guilty of sin against the body and blood of the Lord.’
Likewise, when we fast, it is imperative that we enter the fast with the right heart. We should never do what the Pharisees did; and that is to enter a fast with a legalistic heart. That heart knows all the rules, but doesn’t know the reason for the rules. When we do that, we negate the very reason for the fast in the first place.
In MATTHEW 6:16, Jesus warns us about spiritual pride. He says,
“whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance in order to be seen fasting by men.”
If a group of believers at church decide to fast, it is not difficult for us to fast with them so we, too, can look spiritual. The aim of receiving the praise of men will likely come about… but that is all you will get; God promises that you will get nothing more.
ISAIAH said,
“For day after day they seek me out. They seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them”.
Who was Isaiah talking about? He was walking about the same kinds of people we have in our churches today. The eager beavers. They’re attend all the services; they really want God in their lives; and they never stop doing for the church or other members.
I will tell you that these types of people seem to “be the best” don’t they? They even fast. And yet, there is something very wrong. What could it be? These people are living in both worlds. Let me explain.
In 1 JOHN 1:15, it gives us a stern warning.
‘Do not love the world or the things that belong to the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in him….’
Let me tie this in with what Isaiah was talking about. Our hearts are either in the world or it is in the kingdom. No matter how much we try, we cannot be in both places at the same time, just like I cannot stand here and in the back of the sanctuary at the same time. I either do for God, or I do for Satan. No gray area; no in-between; it’s either one or it’s the other.
We cannot act one way on Sundays when we go to church, and act another way during the week. A couple weeks ago you will remember me saying that it is imperative that our actions during the week reflect the songs that we sing on Sunday. In the same way, we must have the actions of a Christian during the week, especially when dealing with other people.
Isaiah was talking about how some of his people would act all Godly in church and just go all-out for God on Sundays, but hurt others during the week. We read about this in ISAIAH 58:3-4.
‘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.’
They were going to church on Sunday and lifting their hands toward God in holy ways, but going back to work on Monday and living in direct contradiction to what the Lord commands. In short, they were concerned only with what they wanted, not with what God wanted for them. That sounds like many people today, doesn’t it? We must all be trying to be singers, because we go around singing, ‘Me..Me..Me!’
Isaiah was talking to people of his time, but he could have very well been talking to people of our time. He was saying that their fasting; their devotion; and their worship was totally unacceptable to God, because it wasn’t honest. It was make believe; put on; and only on the surface. It was false because they only acted that way and did those things when in front of their church buddies. When they went into the world, they reverted to acting like it was all about them, and not about God or their fellow man.
That is what many of us do today, isn’t it? I said it two weeks ago. We do the same thing, because when we leave church on Sunday, we don’t take Jesus with us. We leave Him here, waiting for us to come back and be His next Sunday. It doesn’t work that way.
As the Victory Singers make their way back on stage, let me say that I began this sermon by asking you what fasting was. Let me answer it again, but this time I want to be more exact.
My definition of fasting is a time we purposely set apart to show God that we want His will in our lives so much, that we are willing to do without even the most needed of things (nutrients) to show Him how serious we are.
Fasting is a time when we devote ourselves to finding out what God wants for us, and a time when we devote to being Godly towards our neighbors. But fasting is also a time when we should covenant with God that even after the fast, we shall continue in the same mind set toward Him and others as we had during the fast.
How about you? How often have you felt really good while you worship in the House of the Lord, and then reverted to your old ways come Monday morning? How many of you have slipped off the solid rock on which God has placed you, just to slide down to the miry clay again?
How many of you are guilty in God’s eyes of sinning against the body and the blood of the Lord? God is giving you, even you, a chance right now to rectify yourself with the Son. Will you take advantage of His loving offer this morning?
INVITATION
