IS FASTING IMPORTANT? Glory be to God saints…Welcome back to The Salt and Light Commission. If this is your first time reading one of my blogs, please feel free to read other post and leave a comment.
Fasting—its one of the most powerful things a Christian can do to draw closer to God. Coupled with prayer and you have an unstoppable weapon against the adversary. Sadly, lots of believers don’t practice fasting. Today we are going to talk about fasting, some different types of fasting, why we should fast, and how we should fast.
So, why don’t many believers fast today? Lots of them believe fasting is old fashion and it doesn’t hold any value for today. That couldn’t be more wrong. Fasting is very important. Satan is always on the hunt to devour Christians. Spiritual warfare is real, and it is tiring when you are constantly waging war with traps of this world. We are wrestling with living in a world were the culture is contrary to the word of God. Sometimes we need to do maintenance on our swords before we continue with the battle. And parable about fasting was told to me once and I’d like to repeat it here.
A while back there was a lumberjack contest. The point of the contest was to see who could cut down the most trees in a certain amount of time. There were two contestants, a young lumberjack and an older lumberjack. Anyway, the contest started the two men went chopping away. Every few trees or so the young lumberjack would see the older lumberjack sitting down, while he was chopping away.
At the end of the allotted time the cut trees were counted for each contestant. The younger lumberjack had a lot of trees cut, but the older lumberjack had double the cut trees. The older lumberjack won the contest. The young lumberjack asked the older one how he won when he was sitting down most of the time when he was chopping. The old one replied, “when I was sitting I was constantly sharpening my axe head. Over time the axe head gets dull and you need more chops to cut down the tree. With a sharp axe head, you need fewer swings to chop down the tree.”
We live in a fallen world and everyday we face the pressure to sin and to conform to this world. Every day we fight, slashing the enemy with our spiritual swords. And the sword gets dulls, the blade that use to stop the pressure of sin in its tracks, takes more swings to knock it down. We tire quicker than normal. When that happens it’s time to pause and sharpen our blade. Fasting is that spiritual sharpening of our sword.
When you push away from the table and pull the bible closer you sharpened the word of truth in your heart. You humble yourself and make a commitment to allow God to be your source of nourishment.
Fasting weakens the body and strengthens the spirit. The flesh wants to get get get…it’s all about what makes the flesh happy. The spirit wants to be closer to God. And fasting allows that to happen. During a fast you are feeding the spirit and starving the body. Whomever you feed the most will be the strongest. During a fast we want the body to be weak and the spirit to be strong. When the spirit is strong we tend to seek after the things of the spirit. Like the fruits of the Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit (those are blog topics all in themselves). But seeking the things of the Spirit helps you to store up treasures for yourself in heaven.
Fasting brings us closer to God. In Matthew 9:15-16 Jesus talks about this:
At that time, John’s disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Why is it that we and the Pharisees fast so often, but Your disciples do not fast?” Jesus replied, “How can the attendants of the bridegroom mourn while He is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast…”
The disciples didn’t have to fast to draw closer to God, because God was with them everyday in the flesh. But Jesus said that once He leaves they will fast.
This world is filled with distraction; School, careers, family obligation, extra-curricular activities and with the invent and the explosion of social media we are connected to those distraction more than ever. Fasting allows us to disconnect from the world and reconnect with God. These distractions rob us of our time with God and fasting helps us to get back closer with God.
Now let me be clear fasting has to be done with food but abstaining from social sites and secular entertainment is a plus that will help you disconnect with the world and reconnect with God.
The bible talks about a few types of fasts:
There is an absolute fast, where you don’t eat or drink anything. Mostly done for 3 days. Moses did this for 40 days, but this was a supernatural fast as he was literally being sustained by the presence of God on mount Horeb (Exodus 34:28-29).
There is a water fast, where you just drink water. It’s said that Jesus went on this for 40 days (Matthew 4:1-2).
There is a Partial Fast, sometimes referred to as the Daniel fast, where you only eat fruits and vegetables and only drink water for a designated time period (Daniel 10:2-3).
Corporate Fast – A church or group of people who feel God has called them to fast together for a certain period of time (Joel 1:14)
The length and the type of Fast you want to do is entirely between you and God. But do it as Jesus said:
“Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.” Matthew 6:16-18.
So, fasting is very important for believers and it must be incorporated with prayer. Otherwise it’s just a diet. When you draw closer to God seeking his will through fasting and prayer, He will present himself to you and who knows what He will do in your behave. Jesus said the father will reward you. In what way? Only God knows.
Fasting is important to connect closer to God and to release blessings in your life.
Now let me hear from you. What type of fasts have you done and for how long? Also let me hear from you if you have ever experienced a miracle after a fast.
If this post has been a blessing to you, do me a favor…like, comment, and share. And if you don’t know Jesus as the Lord of your life message me and I will pray with. Until then remember you are the salt and light of the world!
