Why Fast?

For nearly a century and a half fasting has been out of vogue. The very idea of someone actually fasting seems strange to most Christians today. As a spiritual exercise it is confined, they would think, to believers who appear to be a little extreme or fanatical. There are others who look at fasting as starving and fear they will have harmful results.

 When our minds are conditioned by prejudice or paralyzed by traditional views, we may face a truth in scripture again and again without it ever touching us. The truth lies dormant within, mentally apprehended but not spiritually applied. This can be particularly true of fasting.

Reason #1

In New Testament times fasting was a channel of power. As spirituality waned and worldliness flourished in the churches, the power and gifts of the Spirit were withdrawn. The scripture, “...the form of religion but denying the power” — (2 Tim. 3:5)  was being fulfilled.                                     A way to rediscover one of the lost secrets of the early church is through the biblical practice of fasting unto God.

Reason #2

“When you give alms … when you pray … when you fast” — Matthew 6:2,5,16 .     Notice Jesus said when you fast, not if you fast. “When the bridegroom is taken from them … then they will fast” — Mathew 9:15

Reason #3

The first century church fasted.

“They ministered to the Lord, and fasted“ —  Acts 13:2    Fasting must be done unto God. Prevailing prayer begins with God; He places upon us a burden by the Spirit, and we respond to that burden. Prayer that originates with God always returns to God. So it is with fasting.

Reason #4

To be heard on High.

 “So we fasted and besought our God for this, and He listened to our entreaty” — Ezra 8:23

How often have we prayed but not heard from heaven? Could it have been that God might be saying to us, “When you seek me with all your heart, I will be found in you” Jeremiah 29:13,14.  This thought of fasting as being an expression of wholeheartedness is clear from Joel’s call to the nation: “Yet even now say’s the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, and with fasting …” Joel  2:12

Reason #6

To change God’s mind.

 “The people of Nineveh believe God; they proclaimed a fast … When God saw what they did … God repented of the evil which He had said He would do to them“ — Jonah 3:5,10

It is not God that really changes, but man. Man’s change of heart makes it possible for God to behave differently towards him.

Reason #6

To Free the Captives.

 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the thongs of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke?” — Isaiah 58:6

An increasingly large proportion of the younger generation are hopelessly bound by nicotine, alcohol, drugs, and sexual perversion. Others are deceived and entangled by satanically inspired cults and various forms of black magic, witchcraft and spiritism. Worse still, there are Christians bound by fear, pride, resentment, anger and jealousy, they are saved, but not delivered.

Reason #7

I, Daniel … turned my face to the Lord God, seeking Him by prayer and supplications with fasting … Gabriel … said to me, O Daniel, I have now come out to give you wisdom and understanding” — Daniel 9:2,3,21,22.

Though it is often assumed that visions, revelations and inspired dreams passed away with Bible times, scripture never asserted that this would be the case, and the church history supplies plenty of evidence to the contrary. The fact remains that God may now, as much as He did then, speak to men in unusual ways. The New Testament illustrates the same point. It was when Peter “became hungry and desired something to eat” (Acts 10:10) that God gave him the vision that led to the opening of the door of faith to the Gentiles.

_________________________

Types of Fasts

 The Normal Fast. — “He fasted forty days and forty nights and afterward He was hungry” — Matthew 4:2. It seems clear that Jesus abstained from all food, solid or liquid, but not water. We are told in Luke 4:2 that “He ate nothing”, but not that He drank nothing.  *The emphasis here is to  abstain from food.

 The Partial Fast. — “I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth“ — Daniel 10:3

*The emphasis here is upon restriction of diet rather than complete abstention.

The Absolute Fast —  “For three days he … neither ate nor drank” — Acts 9:9. Normally this fast was never more than three days, probably because any longer period might have proved to be physically injurious. The body can only go short times without water.

*The emphasis here is to abstain from food and water  — for a short period of time. 

Warning — If you are under the care of a physician, please seek their advice before choosing to do an extended fast.

I highly recommend for further study the book God’s Chosen Fast by Arthur Wallis.

Many excerpts from this publication have been taken from this book.