Why Fast?

Fasting has the potential for significant impact in our lives. Through fasting and prayer, the Holy Spirit can transform your life personally and God can speak to you in new and dynamic ways.

 

Fasting and prayer can also work on a much grander scale. According to Scripture, personal experience and observation, we are convinced that when God’s people fast with a proper Biblical motive – seeking God’s face not His hand – with a broken, repentant, and contrite spirit, God will hear from heaven and heal our lives, our churches, our communities, our nation and world. Fasting and prayer can bring about revival – a change in the direction of our nation, the nations of earth and the fulfillment of the Great Commission.

 

Biblical fasting is, very simply, denying oneself something for the sake of seeking and honoring God. It has been stated by various writers on fasting that “prayer is connecting with God; fasting is disconnecting ourselves from the world.” That’s a great way to describe the feeling.

 

 

Why We Are to Fast

Below are some important facts about the power and importance of fasting,

§    Fasting was an expected discipline in both the Old and New Testament eras. For example, Moses fasted at least two recorded 40-day               periods. Jesus fasted 40 days and reminded His followers to fast, “when you fast,” not if you fast.

§    Fasting and prayer can restore the loss of the “first love” for your Lord and result in a more

      intimate relationship with Christ.

§    Fasting is a Biblical way to truly humble yourself in the sight of God (Psalm 35:13; Ezra 8:21).

      King David said, “I humble myself through fasting.”

§    Fasting enables the Holy Spirit to reveal your true spiritual condition, resulting in brokenness, repentance and a transformed life.

§    The Holy Spirit will quicken the Word of God in your heart and His truth will become more meaningful to you!

§    Fasting can transform your prayer life into a richer and more personal experience.

§    Fasting can result in a dynamic personal revival in your own life – and make you a channel of revival to others

§    Are you in need of healing or a miracle?

§    Do you need the tender touch of God in your life?

§    Are you in need of a fresh encounter?

§    Do you desire a deeper, more intimate and powerful relationship with the Lord?

§    Are you ready to have heightened sensitivity to the desires of God?

§    Do you need to break away from bondages that have been holding you hostage?

§    Is there a friend or loved one that needs Salvation?

§    Do you desire to know God’s will for your life?

 

 

If you fast, you will find yourself being humbled. You will discover more time to pray and seek God’s face. And as He leads you to recognize and repent of unconfessed sin, you will experience special blessings.

 

BIBLICAL FASTING FOCUS

1 TIMOTHY 2:1-2 “I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.”

 

ROMANS 12:1 “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a

living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, [which is] your reasonable service.”

 

MATTHEW 6:33 “But seek first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things will be

added unto you.”

 

ISAIAH 58:6 “Is this not the fast that I have chosen to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?”

 

I encourage you to target your prayers during the fast. Our primary fast focus is the desire of annual church theme Romans 12:2,

         I.             And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a                         living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.

 

         II.            Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you                                  think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, what is good, pleasing and perfect.

 

The Bible instructs us to continually pray for our leaders (1Timothy 2:1-2). When we lift up our leaders, here in the United States and around the world, we can expect God’s peace in our lives and in our nation.

 

Another great promise, from the book of Isaiah, proclaims that the chosen fast will “undo the heavy burdens and let the oppressed go free.” We are living in tough economic times and we know that so many people are under a financial burden. As we come together to fast and pray, we believe that your burdens will be lifted and that financial blessings will be released into your life!

 

We encourage you to seek the Lord in prayer. Ask the Lord to show you areas to target during your time of fasting and prayer. We believe that, as we pray and seek God and give Him our best at the first of the year, He will bless our ENTIRE year (Matthew 6:33)!

 

A PRAYER FOR DAILY CONSECRATION

 

“Lord, I come before you this day and acknowledge you in all of my ways and ask you to make straight my path. Walk before me this day in all that I do and say and live your life in me and through me. Guide my every word, thought, judgment, counsel, and action. I acknowledge you in all of my ways and ask you to make straight is my path. “I empty myself and, as an empty vessel, receive you Holy Spirit for the work you would have me do this day for your glory. I come to you in full submission to your will in my life. In Your Name, I pray.” “Lord Jesus Christ, I confess to you all of my sins of this day, of yesterday, and every day past. I repent and renounce them, those known and unknown) those of omission and commission, in what I have done, and in what I have failed to-do. In particular, I lay down at your feet all sins of the flesh, sins of the tongue, sins of the heart, and all unholy thoughts or actions.

 

UNDERSTANDING THE BELIVERS AUTHORITY

 

Spiritual warfare prayer, as all prayer, is empowered by our faith in Christ through the delegated authority given to every believer through His shed Blood and Jesus victory over Satan through His death on the cross. Disciples are to know we are joined to Jesus Spirit (I Cor. 6:17) and are, therefore, one with Him (Romans 6). The born-again, Spirit-filled believer, functions through His position in Christ. The believer must know who he or she is in Christ, and the power is delegated to them by the Holy Spirit. Study the following scriptures on the Believer’s Authority:

 

1.    Luke 10:17

2.    Luke 10: 19

3.    Matthew 11: 12

4.    John 14:12

5.    Jeremiah 51:20

6.    Matthew 16:19

7.    Matthew 12:29

8.    Job 22:28

 

Different Types of Fast

 

I.        Complete Fast

             Drink only liquids (you establish the number of days).

II.       The Daniel Fast

             Eat no meat, no sweets and no bread. Drink water and juice. Eat fruits and vegetables.

III.     3-Day Fast

             This fast can be a Full Fast, Daniel Fast or give up at least one item of food.

IV.     Partial Fast

            A partial fast is from 6:00 am to 3:00 pm or from sun up to sundown.

 

You can select from three types of fasting —a Full Fast, Daniel Fast or give up at least one item of food.

 

Scripture References for Fasting

Matthew 6:16-18, Matthew 9:14-15, Luke 18:9-14