God's Call to Fast
By Eric Schumacher
Fasting has become, for the most part, a lost spiritual discipline in today's church. For many, the word 'fasting' conjures images of the Old Testament prophets but lacks any meaning for their personal journey of faith. It is truly a sad thing that millions of believers live each day without experiencing the power and personal revival fasting holds.
But because fasting has lost it's place as a spiritual discipline in today's church many Christians are hesitant to consider fasting. Often time, believers have serious questions they feel need to be answered before introducing fasting to their lives. This is commendable, it would be foolish to make such a change in our walk with the Lord without having assurance of it's scriptural validity. The Apostle Paul advises, "But examine everything carefully; hold fast to what is good; abstain from every form of evil" (2 Thessalonians. 5:21,22).
Is fasting Biblical? Why should we fast?
"If My people who are called by My name humble themselves and pray, and seek My face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, will forgive their sin, and will heal their land" (2 Chr. 7:14).
Throughout the Bible it is clear the Lord's desire is for us to humble and deny ourselves. Christ said, "Whoever exalts himself shall be humbled; and whoever humbles himself shall be exalted" (Matt. 23:12). Peter tells us to "humble ourselves...under the mighty hand of God..." (1 Peter 5:6). James wrote, "Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands.. .purify your hearts... Be miserable and mourn and weep; let your laughter be turned to mourning, and your joy to gloom. Humble yourself in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you"(James 4:8-10).
But humbling is not only an outward action, but inward as well. Dr. Bill Bright addresses humility with these words:
Humility is an attitude of the heart. The Scripture says, "A broken and a contrite heart -- these, 0 God, You will not despise" (Psalm 51:17, NKJ). God will hear us and respond to our cry when we come before Him in humility and brokenness --acknowledging and repenting of our sins, and asking Him to cleanse us by the blood of Jesus and to fill us with His Holy Spirit.[1]
Without personal sacrifice and denial, it is impossible for us to humble ourselves before God. Lee Bueno, an author and noted authority on fasting, writes on this topic:
Humility and self-denial are two sides of the same coin...Jesus' greatest calling [for us] to deny ourselves came when he stated: "If anyone desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me" (Matthew
16:24, NKJ).[2]
Fasting is a necessary means of humbling ourselves and making personal sacrifice before the Lord. It shows our true commitment to seeking satisfaction in God alone and not in our full bellies or content bodies. By demonstrating humility and denying our fleshly desires we are freed to allow God to take His righiful place as the Lord of our life.
David writes of the deep longing to seek the Lord when recalling "I wept in my soul with fasting" (Psalm 69:10). Isaiah agrees that fasting demonstrates humility and frees us: "Is it a fast like this which I choose, a day for a man to humble himself... Is this not the fast I chose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bonds of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and break every yoke?" (Isaiah 58:5-6).
David speaks of humbling himself when he writes "...1 humbled myself with fasting..." (Psalm 35:13). Clearly in passages such as this, scripture teaches that fasting is a means to humility, which is a commandment of all believers. If we wish to obey the command to humble ourselves, then what better way than to follow the footsteps of those such as David and, most importantly, Jesus who used fasting to both produce and demonstrate humility in their lives.
Paul agreed that there was a battle for the Lordship of our lives as he wrote to the Galatians: "For the flesh sets it's desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please" (Galatians 5:17)
Lee Bueno writes of fasting's ability to bring victory in the battle:
Fasting burns out our selfishness. In fasting we willingly submit to the cauldron of renunciation as we give up one of life's greatest pleasures. Fasting is the foundry in which we are purified. Its fires refine out faith; its flames separate the base impurities from our true character in Christ; its hot blasts purify out hearts.[3]
When did God use fasting? Does He still use it today?
For us to understand the true impact of fasting it is essential for one to have an adequate understanding of how the Lord has honored and used fasting in the past.
In the Old Testament fasting 'changed' the course of events quite radically at times. In the book of Jonah, we see how Nineveh was set on a course for destruction, literally. Jonah was sent to proclaim, "Yet forty days and Nineveh will be overthrown" (Jonah 3:4). And upon hearing this, "the people of Nineveh believed God; and the called a fast... And he (the king) issued a proclamation and it said, 'In Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles: Do not let man, beast, herd, or flock taste a thing. Do not let them eat or drink water... Who knows, God may turn and relent, and withdraw His burning anger so that we shall not perish?' When God saw their deeds, that they turned from their wicked way, then God relented concerning the calamity which He had declared He bring upon them. And He did not do it" (Jonah 3:5,7,9-10).
Nineveh was described by the Lord's Word as 'wickedness' and proclaimed he would 'pass judgement' on them (Jonah 1:2). Sodom and Gomorrah were described in the same way and were wiped from the faced of the Earth. These cities were filled with evils, such as homosexuality, idol worship, and were so unacceptable to the Lord He destroyed them. Do we not live in days of equal evil. We have taken God's Word from our schools and governments. We embrace a culture that disregards the holiness commanded for the temple of the Holy Spirit through homosexuality and abortion. We live for the joys of materialism, sex, and drug highs. How much longer will the Lord allow His anger to burn against our nation, communities, and campuses, before sending the fire of His wrath? How much longer will we sit idol and overlook this sin before we will repent for our land, humble ourselves in fasting, and seek the Lord in prayer?
In 2 Chronicles chapter 20 Jehoshaphat declared a fast when he heard that a great army had come to make war against them. After much fasting, worship, and prayer, they went out to look at the multitude that opposed them only to find "corpses lying on the ground, and no one had escaped." The Lord had seen their humility and dependence upon Him and defeated their foes without them lifting a sword.
In the New Testament, the two most essential ministries of all time began with fasting.
After Jesus was baptized His ministry began not by preaching to the crowds, teaching in the temples, or even calling His disciples. Instead, He was "led up by the Spirit into the wilderness... And after He had fasted forty days and forty nights, He then became hungry" (Matthew 4:1-2).
In the early church in Antioch while the prophets and teachers there "were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Set apart for Me Barnabas and Saul for the work which I have called them"' (Acts 13:2). But they did not simply then choose Saul and Barnabas to evangelize Europe and send them on their way. But "when they had fasted and prayed and laid their hands on them, they sent them away." From there virtually all of Europe was evangelized.
You see, not only did the leaders of the church recognize the necessity of fasting in choosing Barnabas and Saul, but they fasted again in sending them out. The results of this fast are amazing: not only did all of Europe hear the Gospel of Salvation, but the writing of Paul's letter as well. From which we now have most of our New Testament and foundational Christian teachings; including Paul's comment that he was "in fastings often" (2 Corinthians 11:27, NKJ).
Fasting was not only used in the 'Bible times', but has played a large role in 'recent' history as well.
Dr. Bill Bright records one of the many events as such:
In 1662, King Charles II of England threatened to take away the Massachusetts Charter if the colony refused to regulate or replace their ministers with Episcopal clergy. When the colony voted unanimously not to comply, the king flew into a rage and vowed to send Colonel Percy "Bloody" Kirk and five thousand troops to crush the opposition.
When Increase Mather, a leading minister, heard the news, he shut himself up in his study and spent the day on his knees fasting and praying about the colony's plight. Finally, Mather's heaviness lifted, replaced by a sense of peace and joy.
Word arrived two months later that Charles II had died of apoplexy. His brother, James II, had become king, and Kirk would not be coming. The death of Charles II was traced back to the day Mather spent in fasting and prayer.[4]
Being threatened by invasion of the French in 1756, the king of England declared a day of 'solemn prayer and fasting'. John Wesley later recorded that day in his journal: "The fast was a glorious day, such as London has scarce seen since the Restoration. Every church in the city was more than full, and a solemn seriousness sat on every face. Surely God heareth prayer, and there will yet be a lengthening of out tranquility."
He later added: "Humility was turned into national rejoicing for the threatened invasion by the French was averted."[5]
We can see clearly that fasting has played a key role throughout the history of our world, from the kingdom of Jehoshaphat to the ministry of Jesus to the sermons of John Wesley and Martin Luther. What a shame it would be for we twentieth century Christians to allow this vital part of the believer's life to slip out of our hearts, homes, and churches.
What did Jesus have to say about fasting?
Jesus, who set an example for us by fasting forty days and nights in the wilderness, never addressed fasting as an option. Jesus clearly spoke of fasting in a manner indicating he expected it to take an active role in the lives of His followers until the day he returned.
Jesus spoke of fasting in the same context as prayer and giving of alms. Speaking in these terms, Jesus stated, "When therefore you give alms,... When you pray,... Whenever you fast,..." (Matthew 6:2,5,16). No one in today's church questions giving to the needy or prayer in a Christian's life. And here Jesus speaks of them all in the same light. He then did not think it was a matter of if believers fast, but when believers fast.
Jesus response when questioned as to why His disciples did not fast was this, "The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days are coming when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast" (Matthew 9:15). Jesus is referring to Himself as the bridegroom and the guests are we, his believers. "Is taken away" refers to Jesus' crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension into heaven. Jesus then is pointing out that until the day of His return fasting would be one of the spiritual disciplines practiced by His disciples.
Is fasting a commandment?
Perhaps Bill Bright addresses this question the best when he writes:
This is a controversial issue. Theologians who believe in fasting differ. "Fasting," argued Thomas Cartwright, "is an abstinence commanded of the Lord, to make solemn profession of out repentance." John Brown, on the other hand, did not believe Christ commanded the practice "but proceeded on the principle that the children of the kingdom would perform [it]."[6]
After examining the laws of the Old Covenant and the teachings of the New Covenant, David R. Smith concludes:
"The Jews were commanded to fast in Old Testament times, in a prescribed manner, (but) there is no similar command to Christians."[7]
But he adds:
"Early law was but a type of that which was to be written on the hearts of believers, after they had experienced New Birth...although fasting is not commanded in the New Testament, it is a duty which Christians do perform."[8]
Other authoritative sources agree with this position. Not one argues against spiritual fasting for today. Rather, all encourage it as a grace God has provided for the revival of the individual and the Church.[9]
We Christians now live in desperate times. Our world is filled with violence, lust, sex, alcohol, and drugs, and it embraces abortion, the homosexual lifestyle, and the death of truth by the destruction of absolutes. How long will we sit back and watch our country destroy itself with the evils of sin? How long will we watch our campuses be taken under by rape, STD's, alcohol and drug abuse, and worldly philosophies. How long will we ignore God's promise that if we would only "humble ourselves and pray, and seek His face and turn from the wicked ways, then He will hear from heaven, will forgive the sin, and will heal our land" (2 Chr. 7:14)? How long will we look past and deny the power of God used through people when they denied and humbled themselves in fasts, from the days of King David to Paul's persecutions to the revival fires of Wales?
We as the church cannot afford to overlook this spiritual discipline which, when coupled with prayer and earnest worship, can bring about a revival by God's spirit that brings the masses to their knees in conviction, repentance, and a crying out for salvation.
The question then for we Christians is no longer Should I fast?, Or even Will I fast? The question is 'When will I humble and deny myself in a fast before God?' And be prepared, the results of following God's will in a fast will revive your spiritual life like nothing else will; and the ripples from the splash of your revival will rock the lives of those around you as well.
Now is one of the most crucial turning points in the history of the Christian church. With the sin, deception, and opposition facing the church, Christians cannot afford not to fast. We cannot afford to make fasting simply an option. Instead, it must be put on the same level as giving to the poor, worship, and prayer; fasting must become a regular, active, very real part of our individual Christians walks and of the collective body as well. We must challenge ourselves to walk in the footsteps of Jesus and the saints of old as we humble ourselves to seek His face.
Notes
1. Dr. Bill Bright, The Coming Revival (Orlando, FL; NewLife Publications, 1995), p. 93.
2. Lee Bueno, Fasting Your Way to Health: A Owde to Physical Healing and Spfritual Enrichment (Springdale, PA: Whitaker House, 1991), p. 199.
3. Bueno, p.201.
4. Bright, p. 105.
5. Richard J. Foster, Celebration of Discipline (San Francisco: Harper, 1988),
p.50.
6. David R. Smith, Fasting: A Neglected Discipilne (Fort Washington, PA: Christian Literature Crusade, 1969), p.21.
7. Smith, p.23.
8. Smith, p.24.
9. Bright, p. 113.
*Unless otherwise indicated, Scripture quotations are from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD, 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977 by the Lockman Foundation. Published by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville, Tennessee.
**Scripture quotations designated NKJ are from the NEW KING JAMES version, 1979, 1980, 1982 by Thomas Nelson Inc., Publishers, Nashville, Tennesse.
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