David’s Blog

Fasting

A. Define fasting: What is fasting? Dictionary.com defines it as:

1. To abstain from food.
2. To eat very little or abstain from certain foods, especially as a religious discipline.

Fasting was used constantly throughout the bible for a number of different reasons. Why am I going through this with everyone? Let people know the different facets and uses for fasting. 

Reasons for fasting: 

• A time of mourning.
  • The whole nation of Israel went through mourning in Judges when the tribe of Benjamin nearly was wiped out. At this time it was done corporately and in conjunction with inquiring for the LORD Judges 20:23.
  • David mourned through fasting for the lives of Saul and Jonathan 1 Sam. 31:13; 2 Sam. 1:12; 1 Chr. 10:12.
  • Nehemiah mourned through fasting for the destruction of Jerusalem. Fasting is incorporated into his prayer as he begs God not to forget them. Nehemiah 1:4
  •  Hannah mourns through fasting because she is incapable of having a child, 1 Sam. 1:7. 
• Used in conjunction with repentance 
  • Samuel led Israel before fighting the Philistines in a corporate confession and fasted the day that they confessed. The LORD came to their rescue, 1 Sam. 7:6.
  •  David begged the LORD for mercy regarding his child born from his sin with Bathsheba. He thought that he could perhaps change the LORD’s mind, the LORD exact His price, and blessed David with Solomon. The point is not the fasting that gave David Solomon, but that he was repentant immediately, 2 Sam. 12.
  • Ahab also, as soon as he heard of the judgment coming to his house, tore his clothes, and fasted before the LORD, the LORD saw his act and delayed the judgment, 1 Kings 21:27.
  • After the exile and rebuilding Nehemiah leads all of Israel in corporate confession and fasting as a way of “starting anew”, Neh. 9.
  • Daniel did not lead Israel in corporate confession, but on the behalf of the whole nation of Israel, fasted and confessed on their behalf, Dan. 9.
  • When prophesying about the “Day of the LORD” (another whole sermon topic), he exhorts to fast and cry out to God so that God will be “reminded” of His lovingkindness Joel 2:12-17.
  • The people of Nineveh (much to Jonah’s horror), repented and fasted as soon as they heard the words of Jonah’s prophecy, as a result, God in turn spared the city (again to Jonah’s horror, another sermon, another day) Jonah 3.
• Used when looking for help, which is the fasting that we will be dealing with. 
  • Once Jehoshaphat was selected as the military leader by popular demand, he leads them on a fast. 2 Chr. 20:3-4, “Jehoshaphat was afraid and turned his attention to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. So Judah gathered together to seek help from the LORD; they even came from all the cities of Judah to seek the LORD.” After this event, Jehoshaphat lead them in a prayer, God answered them, and did indeed deliver them, in a miraculous way.
  • Ezra during the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the Temple, calls a fast asking God for a safe journey because he did not want to ask the king. Ezra 8:21-23, “Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God to seek from Him a safe journey for us, our little ones, and all our possessions. For I was ashamed to request from the king troops and horsemen to protect us from the enemy on the way, because we had said to the king, ‘The hand of our God is favorably disposed to all those who seek Him, but His power and His anger are against all those who forsake Him.’ So we fasted and sought our God concerning this matter, and He listened to our entreaty.”
  • Esther once her uncle Mordecai reveals to her the truth of what was going to happen to all the Jews, and begging her to do something. “Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, ‘Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and fast for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law; and if I perish, I perish.’ So Mordecai went away and did just as Esther had commanded him.” God did indeed grant her request, and used her to save the lives of the Jews of the land.
  • David in the Psalms, seems eager to point out to God how he has fasted and searched for fasting. Psalms 35:13, “But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth; I humbled my soul with fasting, And my prayer kept returning to my bosom.” Psalm 109:24, “My knees are weak from fasting, And my flesh ha grown lean, without fatness.”
  • Moses before he receives the Ten Commandments fasts for 40 days Ex. 24:28, Jesus also fasted for 40 days before he began His ministry and before He was tempted Matthew 4:2; Luke 4:2.
  • Before Paul and Barnabus were commissioned as missionaries, the elders or overseers had been fasting and praying. Acts 13:1-3, “Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. While they were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.” Then later on, interestingly enough, Paul and Barnabus appointed some elders in Acts 14:23, “When they had appointed elders for them in every church, having prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.”

Practical Application of Fasting: 

• Congregational fasting from the precedence set in the bible seems to come from within leadership asking the rest of the people to join in and entreat the Lord and ask for His favor.

  • Although fasting is not always a part of prayer, prayer is always a part of fasting. Scriptures nearly everytime talk of “prayer and fasting”. Prayer should always be deeply rooted in the act of fasting.

  • Fasting is a deep act of humility. In Lev. 16:29,31; 23:27; Num. 29:7, my sources tell me, I have never taken Hebrew, but the phrase, “humble your souls”, is a similar phrase used for fasting. David attaches his soul with act of fasting in Psalms 69:10, “When I wept in my soul with fasting, It became my reproach.” 

  • Be very aware of your hearts attitude when adopting the practice of fasting. God will not be manipulated He sees through our hearts, intentions, and motives. If our hearts are not prepared, and honest before God, we have a warning from Jeremiah. Jeremiah 14:10-12, “Thus says the LORD to this people, ‘Even so they have loved to wander; they have not kept their feet in check. Therefore the LORD does not accept them; now He will remember their iniquity and call their sins to account.’ So the LORD said to me, ‘Do not pray for the welfare of this people. When they fast, I am not going to listen to their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and grain offering, I am not going accept them. Rather I am going to make an end of them by the sword, famine and pestilence.’” We are warned further of our motives in our fasting, Zechariah 7:4-6, “Then the word of the LORD of hosts came to me, saying, ‘Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, ‘When you have fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months these seventy years, was it actually for Me that you fasted? When you eat and drink, do you not eat for yourselves and do you not drink for yourselves?’”

• Jesus gives us some warnings of being boastful during fasting, I believe because this is supposed to be an act of humility before God. Matthew 6:16-18, “Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you.” Again in Luke 18 in the parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, the Pharisee felt the need to point out to people how much he fasted, prayed, tithed, and how good that made him. Conversely the tax collector mourned and beat his breast saying, “God be merciful to me, the sinner!” Jesus points out that this tax collector went home more justified then the Pharisee because of his humility.

Conclusion 

• Incorporating fasting into decisions, prayer, in petition, is a biblical precedence.

• Our leadership team, our eldership team, is asking for you to join us, and our pastoral search team to actively pray and fast for our new pastor, and for wisdom in the search.

• This is an act of humbling ourselves before God. God throughout Scriptures is calling out for His people to humble themselves before them, and promises that when it happens, He will hear us.

• This is not a formula for automatically answered prayers. God sees to our hearts. He sees our motives, we are simply following in the footsteps of the saints who have gone on before us.

Date Posted: Friday, February 9th, 2007
Categories: Uncategorized
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