I have always sought to follow closely after God in my life and ministry. When I was being trained for ministry a professor once told me that you have three tools in ministry and they are the Bible, the Holy Spirit and Prayer. This weekend I am calling our congregation to a 24 hour prayer/fasting journey as a church. I am excited about how God will use this time in your life and thought I would spend my blog sharing with you some basic insights into fasting to help encourage you in this discipline. The particular information I am passing along is pretty well known and attributable to many places, but I am adapting a piece I found in a book by Nelson Searcy called Ignite that had a helpful Q and A style. I hope it will be used to Ignite your passion for Christ.
What is fasting? Fasting is abstaining from something, usually food, for spiritual purposes!
What does the Bible say about fasting? Both the Old and New Testaments speak to the spiritual discipline of fasting. Moses, David, Nehemiah, Ester, Daniel, Anna, Paul, Jesus and the early church all practiced fasting. Jesus placed fasting on the same level as financial giving and prayer (see Mt. 6:1 - 18) as well as stipulated that there is a time for fasting (Mt. 9:15). Paul says we should give ourselves to both time of prayer and fasting in I Corinthians 7.
What is the purpose of fasting? The primary purpose of fasting is to focus on God by 'centering' Him in all of our live and behavior. I call fasting a time of 'feasting on God' because we are focusing on God rather than our stomach. Fasting can help us see that some things are getting in the way in our walk with Christ - that there are things which have taken control in our lives that we need to remove. Fasting can increase the effectiveness of prayer (II Sam. 12:16) and bring God's guidance in the decision making process (Acts 14:23). There are many reasons why we may fast, but the most important is to focus on God and seek His guidance so that He may be glorified in our lives. I think a great opportunity is before us this weekend as we Fast for our fall festival - that God will help us focus on Him and that He will receive glory through our ministry and outreach to our community this weekend!
What are the different types of fasting? There are many types of fast. There is the absolute fast which would be no food or water for a period of time. There is also a normal fast which is only water, no food or other drink. Then there is what is known as a partial fast which includes juice, waters and sometimes fruit. There is also a seasonal fast known as the Lenten fast during which we give up something for the specific duration of Lent (Ash Wednesday through Easter). The final category of fasting would be called other which means we give up something like relationship, media, telephone, activities, habits, etc.
There are many places in Scripture where Fasting is seen as an opportunity to grow in our walk with Lord as we give something up that normally provides satisfaction so that we might be ultimately and fully satisfied in HIM! Join us this week - pick your fast and focus on Christ!
Fully Engaged!
Biz
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