By Socorro
Turn to 1Peter 5:6-9 6Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that he may lift you up in due time. 7Cast all your anxiety on him because he cares for you. 8Be self-controlled and alert. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. 9Resist him, standing firm in the faith, because you know that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kind of sufferings.
To me fasting is important because it allows me to humble myself to the Lord, allows him to mold me to be what he wants me to be, it changes my heart, and shows me discipline. It is only when I suffer and when I cleanse my body that I am able to see my faults and draw near to him. I think of fasting sometimes as the fat (in my body) sacrifice being burned and making a pleasing aroma to him. Then I will be clean and acceptable to him my Lord.
Fasting is frequently mentioned in Scripture as abstinence from food and drink. In the OT 1Sam 31:13; & 2Sam 1:12 it talks about fasting either being partial or total; it was a sign of mourning for sin; To get pure and righteous; or when someone near or dear died.
For what reasons should we fast? The first thing I want to talk about is allowing God to be in Control.
In Zechariah 7- 8 it says that while in exile, Jews had
fasted and mourned on certain days in memory of the siege and overthrow of
Jerusalem. Now that they had returned
to Jerusalem they wanted to know:
should we keep fasting?
Zechariah's answer came in 8:19:
fasting should now be replaced with feasting. But Zechariah warned that all religious ceremonies, however
proper, were meaningless
unless God controlled people's lives.
In Joel 2:12 `Even now, ` declares the LORD, `return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. ` 13Rend 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 Urged the priests to call a nationwide day of prayer and fasting to lead the people back to God. Then God would roll back the damage done by the locusts, and more: "you will have plenty to eat, until you are full, and you will praise the name of the Lord your God, who has worked wonders for you" (2:26) They/WE would emerge from the experience with new, durable confidence in God's love, so it has often proved for God's people: a disaster has pressed them to a deeper relationship with him.
Fasting is a way to petition God. To change our lives, or for others. Like in
Ezra 8 who proclaimed a fast, so that they might humble themselves before God and ask him for a safe journey, and he answered their prayers.
Likewise in Ester .4:16 "Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish."
Now that is bold petition, showing humbleness.
Exodus 12:8-11That same night they are to eat the meat roasted over the fire, along with bitter herbs, and bread made without yeast. 9Do not eat the meat raw or cooked in water, but roast it over the fire--head, legs and inner parts.
God's instructions for the Passover stress the need for haste. Roasting over fire cooks meat faster than boiling, and (unlike frying or baking) requires no pan or oven. Likewise, bread without yeast doesn't need time to rise. The emphasis on speed indicated to the Israelites how terrible this plaque would be, and how swiftly they had to flee from Egypt. We also should look for not wasting our time unnecessarily so that there would be more time to do God's work. We should see what really is important to God.
We talked about fasting in the OT now a couple quick pts on the NT.
In the NT there is the Great Fasting of Jesus preparing for his noteworthy sacrifice. He was about to undertake life as a man to begin with leaving the comfortable life he had with God. To come and suffer like a man and be tempted like one. It took him 40 days and nights just to prepare himself for that.
Mark 2:18Now 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?" 19Jesus answered, "How can the guests of the bridegroom fast while he is with them? They cannot, so long as they have him with them. 20But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them, and on that day they will fast.
In Hebrews 7:21-it says he became a priest with an oath when God said to him:
"The Lord
has sworn and will not change his mind:
"You are a priest forever.'"
22 Now there were many of those priests, since death prevented them from
continuing in office; 24 but because Jesus lives forever, he has a permanent
priesthood. 25 Therefore he is able to
save completely those who come to God through him, because he always lives to
intercede for them He sacrificed for
their sins once for all when offered himself Jesus did not need to prepare for his coming he was with
them he was the ultimate sacrifice and the priest.
In Leviticus & Deut under the law of Moses fasting was a requirement along with the sacrifices presented by the High priest for atonement of our sins. When Jesus came & died, that requirement for fasting for atonement of our sins went away. But just like in the Old and New Testament, fasting is important in our lives because it demonstrates to God our humbleness, allows him to be in control. It changes our heart, and teaches us discipline.
Fast for the right motives not to show how religious we are. But how we regret our sins and want to discipline self to clear our minds focus and allow the spirit to be alert. Jesus is our great example on how to fast, when to fast and for how long. He did it all the way to the cross. How long can we do it for?
Socorro McFarland
Proverbs 31 woman