Fasting and Sin.

Fasting While We Sin.

If our hearts are not given to God, fasting is an insult to Him. It means you want something from God and think you can earn it by fasting and prayer. This is what God has to say about that:

 "For day after day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?'

 "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.

 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for people to humble themselves? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the LORD?

 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?

 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?

 Then your light will break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. Then you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.

 "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing finger and malicious talk, and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. The LORD will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail. Isaiah 58:2-11

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...

Jesus at a Party.

Matthew gave a big dinner party for Jesus. Jesus went and when the church leaders saw it, they criticized him.

"Why do you eat and drink with tax collectors and sinners?" they asked Jesus.

Jesus said, "Those who are well don't need a doctor, but those who are sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

Matthew and his guests wanted to hear what Jesus said about salvation. They knew they needed help in their lives. They felt comfortable with Jesus.

The Pharisees didn't feel a need for Jesus. They believed they were already righteous. They also thought it was a sin to hang around with people who were obviously sinners. They thought they were better than them.

Next they attacked Jesus' disciples, "The disciples of John fast often and offer prayers and so do the disciples of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink."

Jesus told them there was no reason to fast right now. He was with his disciples, but when he was gone, then they would fast.

He then told them a parable of how when people drink aged wine they then do not like newly made wine. They say, "The old is good." He was telling them that they did not want to give up their old beliefs and accept the new things he was trying to teach them. Therefore, Jesus appealed to the young, they were more open to new ideas.

The Pharisees had a critical and judgemental way of looking at people. They actually found fault with God himself when he was here. This is the kind of attitude that keeps people out of churches today. We are not to judge and condemn people. That is God's work alone. We are not wise or good enough to do this. Let us love and accept people instead.