Fasting

Matthew 5:6—Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be filled.

“Have you ever responded to a spiritual challenge by fasting? Why do you think so many people in the Bible regularly engaged in fasting? What can we learn spiritually from our hunger and thirst? How might fasting promote true contrition and repentance? If you’ve never fasted, consider skipping one or two meals, and devote to prayer the time that you’d normally spend preparing the food, eating, and cleaning up afterwards.” (ref: Deuteronomy 9:18)

--The Spiritual Formation Bible: Growing in Intimacy with God through Scripture, NIV

The Greek word for fasting, in the verb form, is nesteuo, which means to abstain from eating, physical nourishment. The noun form is nestia which means to privately fast. Fasting is a private discipline that brings public reward for a spiritual purpose, and should become a lifestyle of the believer.

Good or bad, what’s in you will come out only when you fast and pray.

So, what do you think fasting is?

When Should You Fast?:

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Growing dry spiritually

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Unable to sense the anointing

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To unlock Heaven’s doors in your life and shut the gates of Hell

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Fresh encounter with God

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Miraculous provision

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Favor

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Tender touch of God upon your life

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To hear His calling for your life (Saul on His road to Damascus)

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Reveal assignments over your life

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To break the power of the delayer  (Daniel fast)

What Fasting Is Not:

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Merely going without food for a period of time

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Dieting

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Only for fanatics

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Limited to ministers and special occasions

Benefits of Fasting:

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Your spirit becomes uncluttered by the things of this world and amazingly sensitive to the things of God

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Gives your system a break

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Medical Benefits

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Relieves nervousness and tension

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Lowers blood pressure and cholesterol

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Rids the body of toxins that cause illness, disease, fatigue, and many other aliments

Practical Tips for Fasting:

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If it doesn’t mean anything to you, it won’t mean anything to God!

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Without prayer and the Word, fasting is little more than dieting.

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Fasting itself is a continual prayer before God

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Drink purified or distilled water: Flushes toxins and also makes you feel fuller than tap water.

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On day one, possibly up to three of fasting, you may get a headache but it’s because your body is trying to rid itself of toxins that built up over a period of time.

Types of Fasts:

Absolute Fast: You take in NOTHING—no food, no water

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However, the human body can only go three days this way, unless you are supernaturally nourished such as Elijah and Jesus were

Normal Fast: You typically go without food of any kind for a certain number of days, but drink plenty of water

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Depending upon the length of your fast, clear broth and juice can also be coupled into your fast to maintain strength.

Partial Fast: Can be interpreted many ways; usually involves giving up particular foods and drinks for an extended period of time

How can you eat yourself out of your blessing?:

Ezekiel 16:49-50 AMP—Behold, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: pride, overabundance of food, prosperous ease, and idleness were hers and her daughters’; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abominable offenses before Me; therefore I removed them when I saw it and I saw fit.

Normally when we hear about Sodom and Gomorra, we tend to hear about the homosexual acts that plagued these cities,however the Bible makes it clear that those weren’t their only offenses. Sodom is also guilty of overabundance of food aka gluttony.

Genesis 25:34 AMP—Then Jacob gave Esau bread and stew lentils, and he ate and drank and rose up and went his way. Thus, Esau scorned his birthright as beneath his notice.

In this passage of scripture, Esau literally ate himself out of his blessing, out of his position because he was the first born son.We know he regretted his decision because in Hebrews 12:16-17 the Bible reads:

“That no one may become guilty of sexual vice, or become a profane (godless or sacrilegious) person as Esau did, who sold his own birthright for a single meal. For you understand that later on, when he wanted [to regain title to] his inheritance of the blessing, he was rejected (disqualified and set aside), for he could find no opportunity to repair by repentance [what he had done, no chance to recall the choice he had made], although he sought for it with [bitter] tears.”

Numbers 11:4-7, 18-20, 33-34 AMP—And the mixed multitude among then [the rabble who followed Israel from Egypt] began to lust greatly [for familiar and dainty food], and the Israelites wept again and said, Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish we ate freely in Egypt and without cost, the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. But now our soul (our strength) is dried up; there is nothing at all [in the way of food] to be seen but this manna. The manna was like coriander seed and its appearance was like that of bdellium [perhaps a precious stone].

And say to the people, Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt. Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. You shall not eat one day, or two, or five, or ten, or twenty days, but a whole month—until [you are satiated and vomit it up violently and] it comes out of your nostrils and is disgusting to you—because you have rejected and despised the Lord Who is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, Why did we come out of Egypt?

While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord smote them with a very great plague. That placewas called Kibrothhattaavah [the graves of sensuous desires], because there they buried the people who lusted, who physical appetite caused them to sin.

How can you be blessed without eating yourself out of your blessing?:

Exodus 34:28-29 AMP—And the Lord said to Moses, Write these words, for after the purpose and character of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. Moses was there with the Lord forty day and forty nights; he ate no bread and drank no water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

Esther 4-7 AMP (Haman had plotted to have the Jews exterminated, so Esther called for all of her people to do a fast and for God to have favor on them in the midst of this situation. In doing so, Haman’s plans were exposed and the very gallows that he was going to us to hang Mordecai, were the same gallows in which he hung from)

1 Samuel 1:6-7, 20 AMP—[This embarrassed and grieved Hannah] and her rival provoked her greatly to vex her, because the Lord had left her childless. So it was year after year; whenever Hannah went up to the Lord’s house, Peninnahprovoked her, so she wept and did not eat.

Hannah become pregnant and in due time bore a son and named him Samuel [heard of God], Because, she said, I have asked him of the Lord.

So, if we want new, we have to be willing to go to new heights in God:

Mark 2:22 AMP—And no one puts new wine into old wineskins; if he does, the wine will burst the skins, and the wine is lost and the bottles destroyed; but new wine is to be put in new (fresh) wineskins.

Like a snake, they continually grow throughout their lives. However, their skin does not grow with them. Therefore, they must shed off the old skin in order to grow. In turn, we too ought to grow closer and deeper in our walk with Christ. When we fast, we are preparing ourselves shed off that season, disease, confusion, etc from our lives to walk into the next level of God’s will for our future.