John 4:31-33
"In the mean while his disciples prayed him, saying, Master, eat. But he said unto them, I have meat to eat that ye know not of. Therefore said the disciples one to another, Hath any man brought him ought to eat?" [KJV]
First thing you need to know, is that fasting is not starving yourself. Once this has sank in and you raise your operation frequency to this level you will never die of starvation from fasting. Fasting is not a hunger strike. A hunger strike is where you refuse to eat until your demands are met or to force the powers that be, to hear you or comply with your demands. Now, anybody that approaches fasting in this way, sadly, may end up dying of starvation, in the name of fasting.
God does not enjoy to see you in pain, therefore, it is not your refusal to eat that either makes Him so happy to the point of answering your prayer, or threatens Him so badly that you may die to the point that He is forced to answer your prayer! No, you do not make God happy by starving yourself weak or denying yourself food until you're sick. Fasting is a show of faith in that, "man does not live on bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God" (Deut 8:3, Luke 4:4, Matt 4:4). Anybody that does not approach fasting from this angle first and foremost, approaches fasting from all the wrong directions.
In Isaiah 58, the prophets quotes people who say, "We have afflicted ourselves and God does not notice!" These were people who were complaining to God, because they approached fasting as a way to afflict and inflict pain on themselves, hurt themselves, to force God into action, yet God seemed not to care. This is the same fate that awaits everybody that thinks if they hurt themselves, then, God will be forced to react; it always ends badly for them. You need to understand that God has no point to prove to anybody.
This is why no matter how much atheists scornfully ask God to prove that He exists, God may never answer them, but whoever seeks God humbly and dilligently will see Him revealed. The Pharisees and Saducees and the Scribes kept pressuring Jesus to prove that He indeed was the Messiah, but He never did! Yet, to the samaritan woman at the well and to Peter and to a few others, He undoubtedly opened up to be the Messiah. Whenever you pressure God or try to con Him into doing what you want, try to hoodwink God or trick God and twist His arm to do your bidding, the results you'll get will be evidence that that was a lone engagement with no God in it.
The first step to getting into a fast is to understand that it is a show of faith. That you believe you are not who you are or where you are, just because you do what everybody else does, but because you have a powerful God as a partner. Did you know that closing your business and dedicating time for church service is fasting? It is a declaration that, you are not successful in business, because you open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, but, because God commands success your way. Some will scorn you and say, "you are foolish, you'll lose customers! Etc" But if you approach it as a fast, by faith, the fewer hours than them, that your business will open will bring more and better results that all the hours that they remained open. Why do you think David says, "A day in your courts is better than a thousand elsewhere" (Ps 84:10)?
Sabbath was supposed or designed to be a fast! It was supposed to be a whole day of not depending or placing hope on your efforts and hard work, but on God alone. But many, even those who claim to practice Sabbath today, have never understood that. Moreso those who go to church on Sundays and other days! Nowadays we even have shorter services so that some come come in quickly and then rush out to open their businesses and catch the clients before they vanish! What does that tell you? What was meant to be a fast is defiled! People do not trust that God is capable of taking care of them even for one single day! They do not believe that spending time with God gives them an advantage over non-believers!
Elijah was left by Ahab in the presence of God, but Elijah reached Jezreel, before Ahab. Remember Ahab was on horses and a chariot and Elijah went there on foot (1 Kings 18:45-46). Fasting is a statement that time spent with God is not a waste! We do not fast to save food! Some people will not take you out when they are fasting! Others may even cook, but because they are fasting they will not prepare the best food! Others you visit them, but because they are fasting, you will also be forced to fast or skip the meal! That is not how it should be!
Jesus said, in Matthew 6, that when you're fasting it should be just a normal day like any other day. You should not walk around with a face that tells everybody, "I'm fasting!" If you get visitors, serve them the best! If a friend says, "I'm hungry", take them to lunch! The same you'd have behaved if you were not fasting is the same way if not more, that you should behave when you're fasting. Actually, nobody should note that you are fasting unless you tell them on a need to know basis.
Jesus continues to explain that, if you use fasting as eye service, if you display your fast SO THAT all should see, then, you have already received your reward. Please get me well, it is sometimes inevitable that people will know you are fasting, what defiles fasting is not people knowing that you were fasting, it is when you do it with the intention to show and do anything and everything possible to make sure they see and know, so that they may accord you a certain sense of righteousness or praise. Now, when that becomes the agenda, you've already defiled your sacrifice and any answer you were seeking, is reduced to that praise you receive. Imagine entering a fasting season with a clear intention to achieve something, but along the way, carnality tells you to show people and tell people how much you fast so that they praise you and they indeed congratulate you, use you an example and clap for you, then, in heaven, they say, "That's it! He or she has received their reward! Case closed!" You try saying, "But that is not what I was praying for!" They tell you, "But that is what you desired!"
You know, many people do not know or understand that God does not answer prayers in the sense of what you speak. God meets the desires of your heart (Ps 37:4). What you desire in your heart is a more powerful prayer than what you pronounce with your mouth or the incantations your mouth. Your mouth has the power to create, BUT, it can only create what desires you've embedded or built in your heart.
Think of it like this, you cannot create anything unless you've first created it in your mind. You must first have the ability to see the final product even before you start. Now, the declaration of the mouth only come to pass, if the one declaring them is able to see them before they even materialise or manifest in the flesh. Faith is a substance of things hoped for, an evidence of things not yet seen (Heb 11:1). No matter how fervently or emotionally you declare things, if that is not your truth, those are just but empty words.
Do not fast to show people you can fast or to challenge anybody or to prove a point; you will die of starvation. The bible says that God does not delight in the sacrifices of fools (Ecc 5:1&5). Even normal prayer, there are people who will do certain acts, for example kneeling, lifting hands, shaking, even postrate on the ground, even weep and cry, yet, all this is show and eye service! That, defiles everything they may do or say and makes it powerless, worthless, null and void.
This is why people will die of starvation, yet they said they were fasting! On this day that Jesus met the Samaritan woman, He was fasting! How do I know? His disciples went to look for food but He remained behind and even when they tried to give Him some food which they had carried back, He said, "I have food or I have eaten food that none of you know about". This tells you that fasting does not mean "not eating"! It only means that you are not eating conventional food, you are not eating normal food, you're not eating the food that people know. This means that YOU ARE EATING!
And Jesus says, "The food you eat during this season of fasting is "DOING THE WILL OF GOD"!" There are many who fast to seek the will of God on a matter, which is good and commendable. However, you should not be in fasting without doing the will of God. When Jesus went for a forty days fast, the will of God for those forty days was clearly and well set! In Matthew 4:1, it is recorded, that Jesus was led BY THE SPIRIT INTO THE WILDERNESS TO BE TEMPTED OF THE DEVIL. Believe it or not, the will of God for Jesus fasting for forty days, was so that He may be tempted of the devil. On this day that He met the Samaritan woman at the well, the will of God for His fast that day, was to win that city of Sychar in Samaria, which He did by winning the heart of that rejected woman! It is foolish, it will be a sacrifice of a fool, to start a fast, without knowing what the will of God is for you in that season. It means that you will be starving both your body and your spirit and you will die of starvation in the name of fasting!
Isaiah tells us the will of God for everyone in fasting and this should be a springboard for anyboard that may be struggling with, "How do I know what the will of God is when I'm fasting?" In Isaiah 58 verse 4, a) do not fast for strife and to smite with a fist of wickedness; do not fast as if to compete or for revenge. Verse 6 says that the will of God in a first is b) Reduce your wickedness c) undo heavy burdens you've placed on peeople d) Let the oppressed under you be free e) break yokes f) feed the hungry g) Bring in the poor that you cast out h) cover/dress the naked i) Reconcile with your family/loved ones. These are the nine things that you feed on when you are fasting. You don't have to do all of them, but you cannot claim to be fasting and you are doing none of them.
Fasting is not just denial of food and foodstuff. Every time you deny yourself anything for the sake of the kingdom or to fulfill or seek the will of God, YOU ARE FASTING! Night vigil meetings (We call them "kesha" in East Africa) are a fast! You are foregoing your sleep, to either do, fulfill or seek the will of God. Going to church for service, whether you do it on Sunday, or Saturday or Friday, is a fast! The time you spend there is a sacrifice; it is a time you'd be doing something else, right? But you set it aside to seek God and be with God or in the presence of God. You can deny yourself TV, sex, a certain particular meal, pleasures of live like partying, company of some people, etc. Even giving in church can be a fast, when you give what you'd have used for another need that brings comfort to the flesh. In short, fasting is denying the flesh comfort for the sake of the kingdom of God and your spiritual man.
Jesus said, "This kind does not go, except by prayer and fasting", yet, except for revelation extraporation like I have done with John 4:31-33, to deduce that Jesus was fasting, the only recorded time of His fast was the forty days fast at the start of His ministry! Does this mean that He only fasted that once?! Should we take it then, that, if you've fasted for forty days, that's it? You're done? Moses lived 120 years, he only fasted twice from records, each lasting 40 days! Is forty days the maximum?!
No! Because fasting is not just limited to "not eating or drinking". For example, Jesus spent most of his nights in the woods, in the bushes, in the forest in the mountains praying (Luke 6:12)! This was fasting! Daniel, Sadrach, Mishech and Abednego refused to eat the kings portion and opted to eat vegetables (Daniel 1:8)! That was fasting! This is why I said fasting is a show of faith that you are not the best because you are very careful or very wise but because your steps are directed by the LORD. Daniel was so confident, enough that he challenged the chief butler, to allow them abstain and then, after some time compare them with those who were eating the king's portion. At the end, Daniel and the three brothers were better than those who ate the kings portion! Why?! Because fasting is not starving yourself into weakness!! It is not denying yourself into disadvantage! Actually, fasting should put you above the rest!
Truth be told, when I'm fasting and you sometimes may find me doing some jobs that require muscles and energy! And I am sometimes asked, "Aren't you supposed to be resting to atleast save your energy?!" No! Fasting does not place me at a disadvantage or at a place of weakness! It actually makes me stand above the rest! I may even end up doing better than I would do with a full stomach! In January, during our first episode of Night of Soaking, I led worship for hours and even preached, for more than five hours, I was standing, moving vigorously and jumping around, yet, on that night, I was in my third day of fast. What am I saying? I'm saying you don't need to call in sick at your work place, to fast! You can fast and still go to work and may be even work better than the fully fed workers! Or perfom better than you would, if you were fully fed!
However, this is only achieveable if you approach fasting from the angles I've stipulated! As a declaration of faith. Knowing that it is not to mean that you're not eating, it means you're eating another kind of food; the will of God. Do not do it for show or to prove a point or to force God to do something. Know that fasting is not limited to just denying yourself food, but denying your flesh comfort to seek, perform or fulfill the will of God. Any other approach to fasting is voluntary starvation at best or hungerstrike at worst and may not avail much.
May God bless you and keep you and lift you higher than I am. Shalom and keep the faith.
Comments