FASTING

Food is a nutritious substance designed by God for maintaining life and growth. Food gives us strength
and satisfaction. In 1 Corinthians 8:8, Apostle Paul mentioned that “…food does not bring us near to
God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.” It does not bring us closer to God nor
does it brings us further from God. Food is a good thing. But there are some people in the bible who lost
their blessing like Esau, Adam and Eve because of food. Jesus was also tempted with it. Thus, we as
Christians must learn how to manage it and develop not just a once in while fasting when we are having
problems but a lifestyle of fasting.

We practice tithing in our area of finance. Fasting should also be practiced just like tithing. We do not
tithe once a year but we tithe once a month. Fasting should not just be when the church agrees to fast
at the start of the year but fasting should be developed as a personal routine for every Christian. You
grow yourself when you fast but you stretch yourself when you go further than what is agreed upon in
the church. For example, when you tithe, you grow financially but when you take a further step, you are
now doing a sacrifice. You tithe every month but there are times when you give beyond your tithes. That
is the exact same thing that is happening in the area of fasting.

For many of us, fasting seems to be a bad word bring chills inside your bones as if you are to be tortured
or afflicted. But it has to be as natural just like giving and praying. Fasting unlocks God’s blessings in our
life in a very unprecedented way.

In a study, fasting for three days regenerates your body and immune system. A fasting diet was
condemned by nutritionist by being unhealthy but new research suggests that starving your body
kickstarts stem cells into producing new white blood cells which helps fight infections. A mouse study in
2003 headed by Mark P. Mattson, Chief of the Laboratory of Neurosciences at the National Institute on
Aging Intramural Research Program National Institute on Aging concluded that mice who fast regularly
were healthier than the mice that didn’t fast. They found that the mice who fast have lower level of
insulin and glucose in their blood signifying increased sensitivity to insulin and reduced risk of diabetes.
They did a study on different animals where they found out that animals who take periodic time of
complete withdrawal from food actually restarts your system contradictory to the fear that fasting
would kill you. God gave us the habit of fasting for spiritual reasons but it also gives us a physical effect
of our health being renewed. Moses who fasted for 40 days supernaturally without water at the age of
120 have “his eyesight clear, and he was as strong as ever.” (Deut 34:7). God wants us to live a life of
health, of spiritual strength and a life where our soul is being sanctified. For that to happen he instituted
this discipline called fasting. Fasting actually has been a part of everyone’s lives already. We call our
morning meal ‘breakfast’ which means we are cutting our fasting by default for almost 8-12 hours since
we slept. We must understand that fasting isn’t foreign to us anymore and we should consciously give
time to fast regularly for our spiritual life to grow with God. (Pregnant woman or those having illnesses
that prevents them to fast are encouraged to do partial fast or Daniel’s fast.)

In Leviticus 16:29-31 a feast called Yom Kippur, a day of atonement instituted God for Israel, speaks of
“you shall afflict your souls.” Every theologian agrees that what afflicting your soul means here is fasting.
Thus, fasting is the affliction of your soul. It does not just afflict your body, but it primary afflicts your
soul (which constitutes for mind, will and emotion) making you cranky, moody, easily angered and
sometimes could make you depressed. Fasting is just revealing your inner problem with these things. In
the original Hebrew language, ‘to afflict’ has a very bad meaning. It is what a man does to a woman
during rape. It forces the woman into subjection. It is humiliation, a breaking down process, practicing
the control over your body and soul. Worldly people, people who do not know Christ, who do not have
the Holy Spirit live a fleshly life, meaning their bodies rule and control their decisions. A lot of religious
people were soulish people. A soulish person is the one who is stubborn (their will is not broken),
emotional and easily offended (emotions are not submitted to God) and a person always confused.
Fasting is designed by God wherein God takes the soul through a breaking (sanctification period)
because your mind goes crazy, your emotions go raging even your will slowly gets broken and you
graduate from being a soulish person into a spiritual person because your spirit gets quickened and
awakened. God wants you to be a spiritual person. Many of us think that being spiritual means being
righteous, being holier that thou, walking in a calm manner but being a spiritual person is someone who
has their body and soul under control and who lets their spirit lead their soul not the other way around.
True fasting is being facilitated by the Holy Spirit making your body and soul subjected to your spirit and
your spirit being subjected to the will of the Holy Spirit. Fasting is important because if you do not fast,
you can be in danger of being an emotional drama queen or an emotional roller coaster being stubborn
where you can lose your job, your friends even your marriage. If you are confused in the head, you will
miss out good opportunities and miss out the very plan of God in your life. Your soul needs to be
sanctified and one of the ways is through fasting. Fasting is not starvation. Starvation is involuntarily
while fasting is a voluntary act of giving up things and spending your time with the Lord.

WHY DO WE NEED TO FAST?

1. PREVENTS CALAMITIES OF LIFE

-Ezra was a cupbearer, he asked the king for money to rebuild the temple
-the king gave him money, wealthy jewish people also give
-Ezra was carrying 25 tons of silver, 7,500 pounds of gold, loaded with wealth and blessings for
jewish people
-Ezra is not going back to Israel with an army and he doesn’t have protection
-instead of telling the king of giving him security, he told those who are with him to do a 3 day
fast to implore God of heaven to give them protection
-when they fasted, God prevented the calamity
When you fast, the challenges you are to face that you cannot change on your own (against your
health, family, education and work)

Biblical definition of humility is fasting. David says “I humbled myself through fasting.” (Ps
35:13,69:10) Grace is being given not to them who need it but to those who humble themselves.
When you fast, you open your life to God’s supernatural intervention.

2. CONNECTING WITH GOD

-tv connection
-with times our hearts get corroded, our passion for the Lord dines, our passion for Netflix,
kdrama, anime, mobile legend awakens
 -with times our love for God grows cold and is sometimes reflected on how we often go to
church or serve in the ministry
-it is not to judge you, it is all by default. We all by default get complacent in our relationship
with God
-when you fast, your passion for the Lord, your hunger for the Lord awakens
-Disciples of Jesus are not fasting, they are condemned by the Pharisees, Jesus said this ‘when I
am gone, they will fast.’ (Mk 2:20). It just meant that when you feel Jesus’ Presence is
withdrawn, you must start fasting
-to always be close with Him, you got to continue fasting
-when you fast, you become more sensitive to Him, you begin to feel the heartbeat of his heart
and you begin to have a clear reception of His voice
-fasting should not just be done when you have a problem, fasting should be done regularly to
deepen our connection with God. Fasting is an invitation to a deeper level of intimacy with God.

3. UNLOCKS OUR CALLING

-Jesus did not fast because He has problems but because He has His purpose
-in OT many fasts because of problems (The city of Nineveh fasted because of the wrath of God,
Ahab fasted because God said He will destroy his descendants, Israelites fasted, Esther fasted
because they have these problems)
-in NT many fasted not because they have problems but because of a purpose of God in the life
of the church (in the book of acts people fasted to please God and God send the missionaries,
Cornelius fasted not because of problems but because he wants more and the angel of the Lord
comes, Anna staying in the temple fasting and God send Jesus to the temple)
-Jesus is also fasting because of His ministry

God doesn’t want to send you troubles to keep you on your knees and to stay close with Him,
God wants to whisper to you in your pleasures but seldomly He is heard. Sometimes He will
scream in our trouble but He doesn’t want to scream. He wants to develop a loving relationship
with you where He can whisper to you and you can hear Him. God wants us to mature that we
will not just come to Him during problematic times but during times that we have everything.
Pray, fast and seek His face. Learn to be passionate when you’re comfortable in life.

Jentezen Franklin started fasting when he was still young. When they are starting to evangelize,
he and his brother would fast. When he is about to preach, his brother will fast, and when his
brother will preach, he will fast. He developed this lifestyle until he had his first 21 day fasting
where he received his first 1m dollar gift then his church grows from a small unknown church to
a 10k member church. Then other churches sprang out in California and throughout America.
Now he is the advisor for the evangelicals for Donald Trump. Now he is being used by God in an
extraordinary way. What started small blew up into something very big but till this day if you are
going to watch his ministry, he is still fasting.

4. CONQUER THE DEVIL

-the Benjamins fasted and they conquer Judah
-Jesus told the disciples when they couldn’t cast out the devil on the boy having epilepsy and
 told them ‘this kind does not goes not but by prayer and fasting’
-Is 58:6, True fasting loses bonds of wickedness, the oppressed are being freed and yokes are
being broken

PRACTICAL:
1. Make fasting a habit (have 3day fast every month)
2. Take it slow (do not throw yourself into something 7 day fast without any experience)
3. Drink water (do not drink other drinks for it will just wake your stomach)
4. Feed your spirit (listen to sermons, spend time with God, listen to teaching of fasting)
5. Try different fasts (Daniel, one meal etc.)
6. How you enter and end matters