Is Fasting Required?
By Annagail Lynes
What is fasting? Is it necessary for every Believer to fast and pray?
I once had a temporary job at a collection agency. When I
started, I met a girl who claimed to be a Christian. She fasted
every Friday and topped my list as the most grouchy person I had
ever met. She made Oscar the Grouch look happy. There are many
people in the Bible who fasted.
The one that springs immediately to mind is Daniel. The king
insisted Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego eat the king's
rich delicacies and wine. In response, Daniel asked the man in
charge, the king's chief of staff, to allow them to eat only
vegetables and water for a span of ten days. The chief of staff
allowed them to do so. In that time, they became healthier and
stronger than their counterparts that ate the king's food and
wine. Now we called eating only vegetables and water the Daniel
fast.
Another person in the Bible who fasted was Esther. She became
the queen of Persia just as an evil man, Haman, plotted to kill
the Jews. Esther, although Jewish herself, had not revealed her
heritage to her husband. Haman tricked the king into signing a
decree to kill all the Jews on a certain day.
Mordecai, Esther's cousin, who raised her as his own, urged her
to go to the king about the matter. To add insult to injury, if
she went to see the king without being summoned, she could be
killed if he didn't raise his scepter. If she went to the king,
and he didn't hold out his scepter, or if she didn't do anything
at all, she and her people would die.
She and her maid servants fasted for three days and prayed for
God to intervene on their behalf. God did come through for her
and her people. Once Esther revealed the plot to the king, he
hanged Haman on the same gallows Haman made for Mordecai.
Fasting during a crisis brings results. It doesn't move God.
Instead it changes you. When you fast during a crisis, your
focus on God becomes clearer. You hear God better. Yes, but
those examples are in the Old Testament, you might say. Jesus'
disciples brought a demon-possessed man to Him. The disciples
couldn't cast out the demons, but Jesus could and did. Why was
Jesus able to cast out the demons when His disciples could not?
Jesus said those kind come out by prayer and fasting. That's a
New Testament example.
I knew a preacher who went on a forty-day fast and ended up in
the hospital. Therefore the first thing you must do when
considering a fast is to consult God. If He wants you to fast,
He will give you a time and a period for which to fast. Don't
fast unless God directs. Don't do it just because everyone else
is doing it or because you feel obligated.
Next you need to talk to Him about what kind of fast He wants
you to do. When most people think of fasting, they think of
abstaining from food. However, fasting is not always food.
According to the Webster's Dictionary, it is defined as
abstinence from food. For our purposes, though, it is better
defined as abstaining from something that is hindering your walk
with the Lord. Maybe you are focusing a lot of your time on
television, movies or music and spending little time with God.
Therefore, you would abstain from those activities for a period
of time.
In the food fast category alone, there are several fasts. The
Daniel fast, for example, consists only of vegetables and water
whereas another fast consists of no foods and only water. There
is the juice fast, which consists of--yes, you guessed
it!--juices.
Then there is a total fast, which means you fast all your meals.
Most people find it more acceptable to fast one meal a day
rather than every meal. However you cannot fast meals and then
go out and play racquetball or golf. You must spend time with
God when you would have otherwise been eating, or doing whatever
activity you are fasting. You must replace the activity with
building up your relationship with your Heavenly Father through
prayer or sitting in His presence.
Why should you fast at all? As I said before, only fast when God
tells you. A fast can have spiritual as well as physical
benefits. A spiritual benefit is becoming closer to God. Not
only does it cause you to strengthen your relationship with God,
but it also breaks the strongholds that have been holding you
back. It builds you up spiritually. A physical benefit of fasting
is that the toxins are removed from your body. It is like having
a massage or detoxifying your body. All the impurities flush
out.
The point is to crucify the flesh, to put it under submission to
the will and purposes of God. When you obey God when He tells
you to fast, He rewards you for your time and effort. In every
area of your life, not just in the area of fasting, you need to
crucify your flesh. What does that mean? It means that you need
to refuse to do things that are contrary to God's plans and
purposes.
For example: let's say your friends want to go to a party, where
you will be tempted to do drugs. Now if you give into the flesh,
you will go to the party and do those drugs. When you crucify
the flesh, though, you will stay away from the party altogether
because you know you will be tempted.br />
YYou also need to crucify your flesh when you are married and
are developing feelings for someone else. Before anything
happens, you should rearrange your life so you will not be
tempted by this person any more. Your feelings are not an
accurate judge of what is going on in your life. Following your
feelings will always lead you into trouble. When you fast, you
must have God's approval on it. You need to nail down the
details with Him about length, type and the starting date of the
fast. Fasting, God's way, will bring you spiritual benefits if
you replace the activity with spending time with God. Fasting,
if done right, will have tremendous results in your life when
you keep your eyes focused on Jesus and Him alone.
Annagail Lynes, ordained minister, is spreading the Gospel
through writing for various online and offline publications. You
can read her inspirational blog for your daily dose of wisdom at
http://www.annagaillynes.net
