THE CHOSEN FAST

THE CHOSEN FAST

Restoration Fellowship; January 13, 2019

At the beginning of a year it is good to take inventory of where we are with the Lord. This is true personally and cooperatively. God gives us a method and a pattern for for this project.

TEXTS Joel 1:14 (NLT) Announce a time of fasting; call the people together for a solemn meeting. Bring the leaders and all the people of the land into the Temple of the Lord your God, and cry out to him there.

Joel 2:12 (NLT) That is why the Lord says, “Turn to me now, while there is time. Give me your hearts. Come with fasting, weeping, and mourning.”

Joel 2:15 (NLT) Blow the ram’s horn in Jerusalem! Announce a time of fasting; call the people together for a solemn meeting.

Three years ago, in January 3, 2016, I presented a talk called: “The Skinny on Fasting”. It contains a lot of information about fasting. It is available on our blog on that date, but I have reposted it today to make it easier for you to find. I’ll mention some the details again today as we go along.

I pray that today is not just information. I hope that it is inspiration and revelation. Most of that falls on me. But to get a revelation, you have to desire it. A mentor of mine once said, “Information plus desperation yields revelation!” Are you hungry? Do you want to see God move in your life? Jesus said those that hunger and thirsts will be filled! No hunger, no thirst, no fill!

We were beginning the same regimen we are beginning this evening: a three day fast followed by a service on Wednesday for healing and deliverance.

Let’s ask some questions about fasting and try to answer them this morning.

What is fasting?

Voluntarily abstaining from foods and drinks for a period of time.

Is fasting mandatory?

No, but it is normative in the Bible. Fasting is practiced in both the Old Testament and the New Testament. Moses, the Israelites, Samuel, David, Elijah, the Ninevites, Nehemiah, Darius, Daniel, Anna, Jesus, John the Baptist and his disciples, the Pharisees, the early Christians, the Apostles, Paul all fasted!

What kinds of fasts do we see in the Bible?

1. One day fasts: Psalms, Ezra
2. Three day fasts: Esther
3. Seven day fasts: Jabesh Giliad
4. Ten day fasts: Daniel and others
5. 21 day fasts: Daniel
6. 40 days fasts: Jesus, Moses, Elijah
7. 390 days: Ezekiel
8. 40 year fasts: Israel ate manna in the wilderness

Jesus said this: Luke 5:33–35 (NKJV) Then they said to Him, “Why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?” And He said to them, “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them; then they will fast in those days.”

What are the different kinds of fasts?

1. Total fasts, nothing to eat or drink, or water only
2. Liquid fasts
3.  Partial fasts  a. Daniel fast  b. Ezekiel fast  c. Daytime fasts  d. Certain food fasts  e. Certain meal fasts
4. Sabbath fasts (restaurants)
5. Separation fasts (including marital intimacy)
6. Media fasts

How long should I fast?

Fast when God directs.

Fast as God directs: day, week, month…

Why should I fast?

1.              Desperation

2.              Direction

3.              Deliverance

4.              Disease

5.              Desire

What are some benefits of fasting?

1.         Fasting shows your body who is boss!

1 Corinthians 9:27 (NLT) I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

2.         Fasting shows us what is really important.

Matthew 4:4 (NLT) But Jesus told him, “No! The Scriptures say, ‘People do not live by bread alone, but by every (rhema) word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

3.         Fasting brings spiritual victories.

Mark 9:28–29 (NKJV) And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.”

How does fasting lead to answered prayer?

1.         Fasting increases our faith.

Matthew 17:20–21 (NKJV) So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

Now, our faith increases by hearing the rhema words of God.

Romans 10:17 (NKJV) So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the (rhema) word of God.

2.         Fasting makes us sensitive to God’s voice.

John 3:27–30 (NKJV) John answered and said, “A man can receive nothing unless it has been given to him from heaven. You yourselves bear me witness, that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but, ‘I have been sent before Him.’ He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom’s voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. He must increase, but I must decrease.”

We must understand that God only answers the prayers that He initiates.

John 14:14 (NKJV) If you ask anything in My name, I will do it.

John 15:7 (NKJV) If you abide in Me, and My (rhema) words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you.

1 John 5:14–15 (NKJV) Now this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us. And if we know that He hears us, whatever we ask, we know that we have the petitions that we have asked of Him.

3.         Fasting gives us a sword to defeat the enemy.

Ephesians 6:17 (NKJV) And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the (rhema) word of God;

How do I go about fasting?

Listen to what Jesus said to do…

Matthew 6:16–18 (NLT) And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get. But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face. Then no one will notice that you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in private. And your Father, who sees everything, will reward you.

Some practical suggestions

1.              Drink plenty of water.

2.              Use mouthwash or breath mints.

3.              Take a nap.

4.              Use meal times as quiet times in the Word and prayer.

5.              Cut off the TV and other media.

6.              Make a specific list of what you want God to do.

7.              Keep a journal of what God says and does.

8.              Mix fasting with practical ministry.

FOUR THINGS TO PRAY FOR

1.              Your personal burdens.

2.              One lost person you know.

3.              Paying off all church debt.

4.              Church on right path in 2019.

ACTION STEPS

Isaiah 58:1–14 (MSG)

Your Prayers Won’t Get Off the Ground

1 "Shout! A full-throated shout! Hold nothing back—a trumpet-blast shout! Tell my people what’s wrong with their lives, face my family Jacob with their sins! 2 They’re busy, busy, busy at worship, and love studying all about me. To all appearances they’re a nation of right-living people— law-abiding, God-honoring. They ask me, ‘What’s the right thing to do?’ and love having me on their side.

3 But they also complain, ‘Why do we fast and you don’t look our way? Why do we humble ourselves and you don’t even notice?’ “Well, here’s why: ”The bottom line on your ‘fast days’ is profit. You drive your employees much too hard. 4 You fast, but at the same time you bicker and fight. You fast, but you swing a mean fist. The kind of fasting you do won’t get your prayers off the ground. 5 Do you think this is the kind of fast day I’m after: a day to show off humility? To put on a pious long face and parade around solemnly in black? Do you call that fasting, a fast day that I, God, would like?

6 "This is the kind of fast day I’m after: to break the chains of injustice, get rid of exploitation in the workplace, free the oppressed, cancel debts. 7 What I’m interested in seeing you do is: sharing your food with the hungry, inviting the homeless poor into your homes, putting clothes on the shivering ill-clad, being available to your own families 8 Do this and the lights will turn on, and your lives will turn around at once. Your righteousness will pave your way. The God of glory will secure your passage.

A Full Life in the Emptiest of Places

9 Then when you pray, God will answer. You’ll call out for help and I’ll say, ‘Here I am.’ "If you get rid of unfair practices, quit blaming victims, quit gossiping about other people’s sins, 10 If you are generous with the hungry and start giving yourselves to the down-and-out, Your lives will begin to glow in the darkness, your shadowed lives will be bathed in sunlight. 11 I will always show you where to go. I’ll give you a full life in the emptiest of places— firm muscles, strong bones. You’ll be like a well-watered garden, a gurgling spring that never runs dry. 12 You’ll use the old rubble of past lives to build anew, rebuild the foundations from out of your past. You’ll be known as those who can fix anything, restore old ruins, rebuild and renovate, make the community livable again.

13 “If you watch your step on the Sabbath and don’t use my holy day for personal advantage, If you treat the Sabbath as a day of joy, God’s holy day as a celebration, If you honor it by refusing ‘business as usual,’ making money, running here and there— 14 Then you’ll be free to enjoy God! Oh, I’ll make you ride high and soar above it all. I’ll make you feast on the inheritance of your ancestor Jacob.” Yes! God says so!

PRAYER AND COMMITMENT

Let God lead you as to how you can minister to Him by fasting these next few days.