fasting is for everyone (Pt. One)

Scripture: Isaiah 58

If you’re like me, you need REASONS why you should fast. I can’t handle the ho-hum “It draws you closer to God.” In my brain, I want to go HOW?! Tell me HOW it draws me, how it renews me, how it transforms me. Hopefully, as we continue our talks about fasting, it’ll become clear to you as to why YOU should fast. My reasons will differ from yours, but the intent is the same – we empty ourselves to expand our vessels and capacity for the Spirit of the Most High.

Why do we fast?

-To sharpen the spiritual axe
-Relief from enemies
-Loosing wickedness/bondage from our life
-Healing/Deliverance
-Manifest the Glory of God
-Guidance
-Divine Strategy
-Repair breaches and paths
-To minister to God

What is fasting?
“The abstinence of a specific physical gratification for a period of time to activate or achieve greater spiritual goals.”

Jesus made it clear in the New Testament that fasting was just as important as prayer. He never said “IF” we were to fast–it was always implied that fasting was more of a “WHEN.” And it should happen often! 

Christians, I’ve noticed, can get caught up in “Fake Fasting,” which is more a religious diet than a supernatural experience. The people in Isaiah 58 were inquiring of the Lord why He had not moved in Heaven to answer their prayers. He answers with clarity (and in detail) that heart stance was a factor in His withholding.

When we hunger physically, we are to pray for that hunger to a holy hunger for the Lord. The congregation in Isaiah 58 had all the right components, but the Lord said that His eyes had missed several things:

-there was no covering of nakedness
-the poor were not being fed
-the homeless were not being given shelter

BOTTOM LINE – He couldn’t trust them, because there was no humility to be found. He couldn’t trust them with GREATER, because there was a misuse of the STANDARD. There was a selfishness and pride that He was addressing in their fasting–that’s what He still addresses in us.

The spiritual must TRUMP the physical. Your body, as you sacrifice it daily, MUST declare that you want Heaven more than anything here on earth. When you are bound to the physical, you limit your heavenly resources.

It says in Psalm 66:18 that if you regard iniquity in your heart, that the Lord will not hear you. Selfishness, pride, and spiritual abandonment of His statutes are ways the heart can regard iniquity… you can regard iniquity (by keeping it in a lofty place in your thinking) in not telling God the whole story, and by keeping back the parts that indict you.
You cannot mask sin with religiosity.

He can’t fix things when He’s not invited to take part.
He makes us face our sins so that He can be the ultimate solution.

Question:
What has been the most helpful thing to you about fasting recently?