Fasting - The Whys and Wherefores.

There are a few special times I have fasted. I once fasted and prayed for my sister Liz who was in the Marines at the time. She was having trouble with the leader of her unit. He hated having women in the military and was harassing her. Most men were not like that at all. Anyway, there was no way to help her so for the first time I fasted as I prayed. She called back in a few days and told us the man had been sent somewhere else the day after she had called us. We were all so thankful to God for His deliverance.

That first time I fasted, I understood why fasting worked. When you have the urge to eat, you then remember you are fasting and you pray instead of eat. So, you are reminded constantly to pray all day long. 

I haven't fasted often, but when I have God swiftly works. I've only done it when a situation was dire. But, T.D. Jakes was preaching about fasting about our sins. I had never thought of fasting about that. He says we don't take our sins seriously enough to fast about them. It was a good sermon and impressed me enough to try it. I've only done it once so far, but it is a good thing. Sometimes I fast all morning or all evening. I've never done it 24 hours. I'm such a wimp!

So, with all this thinking about fasting, I thought I'd write about it in the next few posts.

Has God ever asked us to fast? Yes.

After speaking of judgments that were coming on Israel, God says, "Even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Rend your heart and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love, and he relents from sending calamity." Joel 2:12,13

Jesus said fasting would help when we are fighting against Satan:

"Then the disciples came to Jesus in private and asked, "Why couldn't we drive it out?" (a demon) He replied, "Because you have so little faith. Truly I tell you, if you have faith as small as a mustard seed, you can say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move. Nothing will be impossible for you. But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting." Matthew 17:19-21 

The Pharisees fasted two days a week and it irritated them that Jesus' disciples did not fast. But we are not to judge people about fasting.

Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. Some people came and asked Jesus, "How is it that John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees are fasting, but yours are not?" Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast. Mark 2:18-20

We are not to be public about fasting.

"When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you. Matthew 16:16-18

Ezra was concerned about safety for a long trip:

There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions.Ezra 8:21

To be continued...