Prayer and Fasting The dynamic Duo

1. There are two basic kinds of fasts.
   
   1. Religious observance
      

      Ceremonial law has been fulfilled in Jesus Christ while the moral law is our guide for life. Fasting and the Law --> Leviticus 16:29-31; 23:26-32; Numbers 29:7
      

      Imagine the whole nation of Israel fasting and prayer and confessing their sins to God. Wow! The day of atonement this year is Saturday October 8,2011
      

      1. The Day of Atonement was established by God.
         
      2. The priest is clothed in the simple cloths of a servant, showing humility (he normally wore fine cloths woven with gold and jewels.
         
      3. The people of Israel fasted and observed a Sabbath rest.
         
      4. The confession and sacrifice for sin with the laying on of hands, placing the sins of the people on the scapegoat.
         

      This is fulfilled for us in Jesus Christ. Mathew 5:17-18 "Think not that I am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill. For verily I say unto you, till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one title shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled."
      

   
    

   We are not antinomians (no-law) we have a law in Gods word.
   

   
    

   1. Pagan fasting – is done mostly for outward ritualism.
      
      1. Religious pride- considering themselves better than others for their religious works.
         
         1. Proverbs 8:13 the fear of the Lord is to hate evil: pride, and arrogancy, and the evil way, and the froward mouth do I hate.
            
      2. A masochist show to placate their conscience – somehow if they punish themselves they will earn favor with God.
         
         1. Romans 1 There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.
            
      3. Political fasting or hunger strike. Attempting to manipulate others through pity and public opinion.
         
         1. Gandhi fasted for welfare– and recently some liberals in America fasted to protest budget cut in education.
            
            1. Deuteronomy 28:48 therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies which the LORD shall send against thee, in hunger, and in thirst, and in nakedness, and in want of all [things]: and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he have destroyed thee.
               

   
    

   1. Self-purification and penance. That somehow we can earn forgiveness.
      
      1. 1 Samuel 15:22 And Samuel said, Hath the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.
         
      2. Hebrews 10:10 by the which will we are sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.
         

   
    

   We do not have a command from God to fast at certain times or events; so why fast?
   

   
    

   1. Fasting as a way of removing all pretenses and humbling yourself before God.
      

   
    

   1. War – Benjamites- Judges 20:26-28 "Then all the children of Israel, and all the people, went up, and came unto the house of God, and wept, and sat there before the Lord, and fasted that day until evening, and ... inquired of the Lord ... (whether to) go out to battle ... And the Lord said, Go up ..." Direction
   

   
    

   2. Fasting and prayer for Protection - Ezra 8:21 Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. 22 For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, "The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him." 23 So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty. Protection
   

   
    

   3. Repentance of sin – Ezra 10:6 While Ezra prayed and made confession, weeping and casting himself down before the house of God, a very great assembly of men, women, and children, gathered to him out of Israel, for the people wept bitterly. 2 And Shecaniah the son of Jehiel, of the sons of Elam, addressed Ezra: "We have broken faith with our God and have married foreign women from the peoples of the land, but even now there is hope for Israel in spite of this. 3 Therefore let us make a covenant with our God to put away all these wives and their children, according to the counsel of my lord1 and of those who tremble at the commandment of our God, and let it be done according to the Law. 4 Arise, for it is your task, and we are with you; be strong and do it." 5 Then Ezra arose and made the leading priests and Levites and all Israel take oath that they would do as had been said. So they took the oath.6 Then Ezra withdrew from before the house of God and went to the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib, where he spent the night, 2 neither eating bread nor drinking water, for he was mourning over the faithlessness of the exiles. Renewed relationship
   

   Fasting is a powerful tool given to us by God wherein the Holy Spirit works sanctification in our lives. With real brokenness and a heartfelt repentance our prayers are renewed and given urgency.
   

   
    

   2.
   Acceptable fast;
   

   1. If we turn fasting into a religious work it becomes our shame.
      
      1. Isaiah 1:13-14 13Stop bringing meaningless offerings!
         

         Your incense is detestable to me. New Moons, Sabbaths and convocations—I cannot bear your evil assemblies.14Your New Moon festivals and your appointed feasts my soul hates. They have become a burden to me; I am weary of bearing them.
         

         
          

      2. If it is made with our own hands; God hates it. Amos 5: 21"I hate, I despise your religious feasts; I cannot stand your assemblies. 22Even though you bring me burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Though you bring choice fellowship offerings, I will have no regard for them. 23Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. 24But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream! 25"Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings forty years in the desert, O house of Israel? 26You have lifted up the shrine of your king, the pedestal of your idols, the star of your god which you made for yourselves. 27Therefore I will send you into exile beyond Damascus," says the Lord, whose name is God Almighty.
         

         
          

      3. If we are preoccupied with the things of the flesh and this world God will not hear. Isaiah 58:3-5 3Why have we fasted, say they, and you see not? Why have we afflicted our soul, and you take no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and exact all your labors. 4Behold, you fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: you shall not fast as you 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? Will you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?
         

   
    

   2) God has called us to selfless service, justice and forgiveness.
   

   1. Fast secretly – Matthew 6:16-18 16"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. 17But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18so 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.
      
   2. Gods design – Isaiah 58:6- 14 6Is 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 you break every yoke?
      

   
    

   7Is it not to deal your bread to the hungry, and that you bring the poor that are cast out to your house? when you see the naked, that you cover him; and that you hide not yourself from your own flesh?
   

   
    

   8Then shall your light break forth as the morning, and your health shall spring forth speedily: and your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard.
   

   
    

   9Then shall you call, and the LORD shall answer; you shall cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If you take away from the middle of you the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;
   

   
    

   10And if you draw out your soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall your light rise in obscurity, and your darkness be as the noon day:
   

   
    

   11And the LORD shall guide you continually, and satisfy your soul in drought, and make fat your bones: and you shall be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
   

   
    

   12And they that shall be of you shall build the old waste places: you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; and you shall be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.
   

   
    

   13If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day; and call the Sabbath a delight, the holy of the LORD, honorable; and shall honor him, not doing your own ways, nor finding your own pleasure, nor speaking your own words:
   

   
    

   14Then shall you delight yourself in the LORD; and I will cause you to ride on the high places of the earth, and feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father: for the mouth of the LORD has spoken it.
   

       
   

   Fasting that God has chosen has to do with Justice in the land – compassion on the weak and serving your fellow man; in a word selflessness.
   

   
    

   Augustine says that "fasting loves not many words, deems wealth superfluous, scorns pride, commends humility, helps man to perceive what is frail and paltry."
   

   
    

   3. Spiritual fast; one led by the Holy Spirit.
   

A spiritual fast is one that is done for a momentous occasion or simply as a means of humility and sanctification. There are many examples in the bible and in history.

 

A. Corporate fasts- fasting as the body of Christ. Fasting as a means of on-anothering and bearing one-another's burdens.

 

1. Church direction Acts 13 1Now 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. 2While 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." 3Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
   

 

1. Church appointments – 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.
   
2. Judgment of God – Joel 1: Consecrate a fast, Call a sacred assembly; Gather the elders And wall the inhabitants of the land Into the house of the Lord your God, And cry out to the Lord
   

 

B. Individual fasting- exercising humility and openness to God. "Truth in the inward parts". Basically you have a need or feel some undue separation from God.

 

I. We are created in the image of God- Relational –Spiritual –Moral.

 

1. Relational –
   
   1. Genesis 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.
      
   2. Genesis 2:18 It is not good that man should be alone.
      
2. Spiritual –
   
   1. John 4:24 God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.
      
   2. Psalm 77:6 I call to remembrance my song in the night: I commune with my own heart: and my spirit made diligent search.
      
3. Moral –
   
   1. Isaiah 45:19 I have not spoken in secret, in a dark place of the earth: I said not to the seed of Jacob, Seek you me in vain: I the LORD speak righteousness, I declare things that are right.
      
   2. Romans 2:14-15 For when the Gentiles, which have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law to themselves: 15Which show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts the mean while accusing or else excusing one another;)
      

Fasting helps us to resist the things of the flesh and focus on the things of the spirit. (Relational Spiritual and Moral)

 

II. Practical Fasting is a mighty tool in the hand of the believer, submitting to God.

        Knife/pray ---- chainsaw/prayer & fasting

 

1. To chasten your soul – Psalm 69:10 When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting that was to my reproach.
   
2. To humble yourself – Psalm 35:13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into my own bosom.
   

   
    

Bill Bright from Campus crusade for Christ said" Fasting enables the Holy spirit to reveal your true spiritual condition; resulting in brokenness repentance and a transformed life".

 

III. Fasting for Passion

1. You can be stuck serving idols that hold on with a deaths grip. A piece of you must die to overcome them. The flesh wareth against the spirit.
   
   1. Philippians 3:19 whose end is destruction, whose God is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who mind earthly things.)
      
      1. The word for belly here is really Koilia = belly, womb, the inner man. The application here is that you are driven by your emotions or lust.
         

Emotions are like seasoning, a little is a great blessing from God, but they are not our meat.

1. That's why our culture can be so dangerous.
   
   1. It lulls you to sleep. Proverbs 6:-10-11 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest,
      

11 and poverty will come upon you like a robber,

and want like an armed man.

 

A big danger of an effeminized culture is they have lost their minds. No longer are decisions made by reason, logic, or law but by emotions. This affects us, we are not immune to sin, and it is very subtle.

 

We the people of God must always be vigilant, the watchmen never sleeps right men.

 

Fasting is about surrender, it's about submission and service.

    Have you ever sung that song "I surrender all"? That's it- you got it.

 

1. Fasting is about returning to your first Love. Revelation 2:4 nevertheless I have somewhat against you, because you have left your first love.
   
2. It's about hungering and thirsting for righteousness and nothing else will fill you! Matthew 5:6
   Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled
   
3. Fasting is about facing the truth of your own heart. Looking at improper appetites in serious mature warfare! Jeremiah 17:9 The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?
   
4. Fasting is about beating your body into submission. 1 Corinthians 9:27 but I buffet my body, and bring it into bondage: lest by any means, after that I have preached to others, I myself should be rejected.
   

 

The power of the living God to fulfill the great commission is available, not in a certificate – not in a conference or in an mp3! It is the person! The Holy Spirit of God. He fills the hearts and lives of every blood washed child of the King of kings.

    We are the called! As Christians we are to be servant leaders. Pouring ourselves out like a drink offering- when we are done we should have nothing left! Laying our life down for our husband The Prince of Glory.

 

    Bee-as-tace Har-pad-zo

Fired up by God to seize the prize in an open display of force. – hanging on with all our strength because there is no other name written in heaven by which men must be saved!

 

Fasting is a powerful tool given to us by God wherein the Holy Spirit works sanctification in our lives…… With real brokenness and a heartfelt repentance our prayers are renewed and given urgency…