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Good Morning and happy New Year, writing this I realized I haven’t said it at all in the past two weeks. Shame on me right? LOL If you are listening to the podcast then I want you to know that in the blog I’ve added an LOL in case I didn’t make the intonations proper so that you understand I’m joking and having fun with you all. We are in week 3 of 2023 and I’m certain someone listening to this or reading this needs a laugh by now.
Today we are continuing on our series about prayer and fasting. Last week we covered what our purpose for a fast should be. How it is meant to be a discipline where we give up the desires of our sinful flesh which keep us from spending time with God in fellowship. That was the basics of last week and I highly encourage you to read or listen to it if you haven’t done so yet but today we are getting into the fun stuff. Today we are talking about some of the spiritual benefits from a fast.
If any of you who read this do intermittent fasting and know all of the physical studies on the topic then you know that there have been a lot of reported benefits to going a few days without eating. The one we will be hearing a lot about at this time of year is removing sugar from our diets. This is not a health podcast but I will tell you there has been a lot of research on the effects that come from eating refined sugars and having a disproportionate amount of carbohydrates in our body.
Now going back to our main topic the Spiritual Effects of a fast. In scripture we find a lot of people undergoing fasts for they know that they have an effect. Thankfully for this episode I don’t have much homework to do since my pastor, without knowing so, did part of the scripture research for me. It was a Wednesday night service and he was actually covering this same topic of why do we fast and once again I was thankful to have my handy-dandy spiral notebook with me to write down the scriptures. So without further adieu I present the Spiritual Effects of a Proper Fast.
It Brings our Hearts closer to God.
I said this last week but I’m repeating it again here because of how important it is to be understood. Fasting when we do so for the purpose of drawing closer to God will result in Him answering our request. James chapter 4 verse 8 holds one of the most famous verses for telling us this. Here is what the full verse says “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and purify your hearts, you double minded.” (James 4:8 NKJV) Reading this verse I want you to look at how James, the half-brother of Jesus, links drawing near to God with the cleansing of our being. Showing how when we draw closer to God we realize the need for our redemption and each person who truly seeks him will come to the point of understanding their need; it just looks different for each person. Some people are like me, I grew up in Church and understood at a young age the need for salvation. I was four years old a few months from turning five when I said the prayer to be a Christian beneath the window in my room. But for other people it will be a long road of struggling with things in their life. And sometimes people will come to the point of realizing that they need to give some things up in their life and refuse. We can’t change it but God has the power to protect them as they go through worse things so that they can have one more chance to accept Him. Which leads me to the second thing.
God moves to bring about change.
My pastor explained this aspect of fasting by stating that God is the sovereign king who decides what is to happen. But when we as Christians pray in faith that He will hear us and will move to answer our prayers the heart of God is touched. He is touched because we have become like little children that come to Him boldly asking our father to do something for us. Sometimes the answer will be “no” because he has decided what is to be done and will not change His mind. In those times God is our comforter growing our trust in Him that He has a purpose for the actions taken. 2nd Samuel 12:22-23 records that David fasted when the son who had been conceived from his affair with Bathsheba got sick. But when the child died David accepted the Lord’s chastisement on his sin and was heartbroken. I don’t fully understand it at times. I know that God is just in His decisions even when we don’t understand how. I don’t want to seem like I am detached because it’s easy to give a theological answer that makes people feel like you are someone who doesn’t care. Theologically, we know that the child went to heaven because he was still an infant and so there is hope in that. David understood this and that’s why he wasn’t angry with the Lord but rather sorrowful at what had happened as a result of his actions. However sometimes the answer from God is “yes” like it was for the city of Nineveh when God sent Jonah to warn them. They prayed and fasted the entire city. Not even a single animal in the city was allowed to do work and they begged for mercy from the God of Israel. A plea that was heard and granted by God as they turned away from their sin for a time.
We are empowered to bring about change.
This can easily be seen as a subcategory of the previous entry but I find it important to address as its own thing. There are going to be times where we simply pray and fast for a while trusting that God will move for us but other times it’s for the purposes of strengthening us to make the move in faith that He will answer in accordance to His power. I have some examples to share; one from the Old Testament and two from the New Testament.
Esther was the queen of Persia, the wife of King Ahasuerus (yeah his name is hard to say I probably tried saying it right several times before and during the podcast recording) who had ordered for the Jewish people to be killed. Under the laws of the day none could approach the king without being called forth by him and live unless he extended his golden scepter for them. When Esther heard from her uncle Mordecai that the King under the influence of Hamen had declared such an act she told her uncle to gather together all of her people in the city and their province to fast for three days while she and her handmaidens did the same. Then she was to approach the king. In Esther chapter 4 verse 16 is where she issues this command for them to pray on her behalf but she also says in this place “If I perish, I perish.” It shows her trust that God will see and answer her plea and the pleas of those who were praying on Esther’s behalf before she approached the king. Through her faith, the trust she had that God would answer her faithfulness in seeking him the request for the King’s favor was granted and her people were authorized to defend themselves against any who would attempt to kill them.
In the New Testament we see it recorded that the disciples of Jesus were unable to cast a demon out of a boy and so the boy’s father went to Jesus directly saying that they couldn’t cast it out. Jesus delivers the boy and then in private the disciples ask Him why they were unable to cast it out like they had so many other demons in the past. Jesus then revealed to them that this one was of a type that could only be cast out through prayer and fasting. (Mark 9:29) Some of our problems are strongholds that can only be conquered through dedicated prayer bringing it before the Lord continually. The second example is when the Holy Spirit was empowered in them on the day of Pentecost. Reading chapter 1 of the book of Acts we see that they were told to remain in Jerusalem until they received power from the Holy Spirit which he gave them as he ascended to heaven. Then in chapter 2 we see that they were gathered together and it can easily be inferred that they gathered together on a regular basis to seek God and praise Him, eagerly waiting for the promised empowerment.
There is an acronym that I want to share: PUSH or Pray Until Something Happens. It’s a principle that we see demonstrated in the entirety of the Bible. If you read any of the new testament letters that are written by Paul he often says at some point either at the start of his letter or in his final greetings and commands to pray for him to have his mouth opened to speak the words of God. When we read Ephesians chapter 6 verse 18 we see that prayer is provided as an essential part in spiritual warfare. How as a result of drawing near to God we become empowered to resist the temptations which come from the desires of our sinful flesh and withstand the direct attacks of the enemy. The PUSH principle applies to all principles of fasting but it relies on our faith.
God’s guidance is received.
I am willing to bet that this is one of the most prolific reasons for people to fast. It’s one of the early teachings which people receive about fasting in the church. If there is something that they don’t understand then go to God and seek His guidance. In 2nd Chronicles chapter 20 verses 3 and 4 we see that King Jehosaphat of Judah is facing an invasion from Moab, Ammon, and many others. But in his despair he pursues the will of God and guidance. Gathering all of Judah with him in the temple before the Lord. And in verse 15 the Lord through a Levite provides guidance after Jehosaphat expressed with sincerity his need.
It was November 2021 and I was starting to approach a crossroads with a few choices; stay where I was trusting God would take care of me, move out of state to be on my own, go into a program for ministerial training or continue writing on my blog. My family ended up getting the plague in late December right around Christmas and I was forced to stay home from work. I had decided to leave my employer since their policies were getting more coercive in making it harder for people who didn’t want to take the jab. But I was still uneasy in my spirit if that was the right decision. So I spent that time in prayer asking for guidance.
He answered me through a dream showing me trampling serpents and scorpions. Walking through spiderwebs unhindered as I moved forward. A reminder of the verse in Luke chapter 10 verse 19 when the seventy whom Jesus sent out have returned from doing their work. Telling them that He would provide them protection as they carried out His work for them. Jesus, through the dream, was telling me that he would be with me as I was acting in accordance to His will.
Final Thoughts and words
I have covered just 4 things that can come about from Fasting and Prayer when we do it with the proper mindset of coming closer to God in a genuine fashion. But it doesn’t exhaust the many things that can be done. There is supernatural provision, healing of the sick, the receiving of prophecy, receiving power to raise a person from the dead as we’ve seen done in scripture, and I am certain that there are many more things that I haven’t even thought of. Writing this, I feel led to finish with a warning using the account of Simon the Sorcerer in the book of Acts chapter 8 verses 9 through 24. In Samaria lived a man named Simon who had been a Sorcerer doing great things through demonic powers but he had converted to Christianity after seeing Philip preach and do miracles. When Peter and John went down to lay hands on others that they may receive the Holy Spirit Simon thought to buy this power from them. Peter rebuked the man for his heart was in the wrong place and warned him of what would happen if he didn’t correct his issues.
When you fast don’t let your focus change from pursuing God to a deeper level than you are now to seeing miracles be done and receiving from Him power.
Until next time, take courage and God Bless