F
ASTING?Beloved,
The Islamic holy month of "Ramadan" has begun wherein they "fast" everyday between morning till evening. I would like to encourage you to set aside time throughout this month to "fast and pray" for them to come to Jesus for salvation!
Did you know that Jesus said that His disciples were to fast? (Mark 2:18-
20 "But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.") "Fasting" seems to be a lost art among many Christians today along with "Praying." Could this be part of the reason why we don't see the power of God in operation through us like we read about in the New Testament? God is no respecter of persons, if He was able to flow through them, He is able to flow through us!Why should we Fast?
Fasting brings "
discipline" to a disciple!*Fasting is good because it loosens the bands of wickedness:
(Isaiah 58:6 "Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?")
*Not only among those around you…
(Matthew 17:21 "Howbeit this kind (of devils) goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.")
But it loosens the grip of the world, of the flesh and of the
devil in your own life!*Fasting buffets the body and allows you to bring it under subjection to the will of God in your life:
(1 Corinthians 9:24-27 "Know ye not that they which run in a race run all, but one receiveth the prize? So run, that ye may obtain. And every man that striveth for the mastery is temperate in all things (
*Fasting helps you to abstain fleshly lusts that war against your soul (1 Peter 2:11)
*Fasting tunes you in with God. (Acts 27:14 -
21- 27; Daniel 10:12)*Fasting involves but doesn't have to be just food and drink, but anything your flesh loves to indulge in: TV, Video Games, Computers, Sports, Cherry Coke, etc. Even your spouse, "Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency."
The Fast that pleases God!
Isa 58:1-14
1 Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.
2 Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.
3 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.
4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.
5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?
6
Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?7
Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?8
Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the LORD shall be thy rereward.9
Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;10
And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday:11
And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.12
And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.13
If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words:14
Then shalt thou delight thyself in the LORD; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the LORD hath spoken it.Is it about time we Fast?
