Some who are reading this might not be aware that the Foursquare Church nationwide on Monday the 10th of January will begin its annual event of 21 days of fasting and prayer. This has been happening and evolving for many years.
The purpose for what we have fasted and prayed about has changed over the years as well as the various topics prayed for during this period. What has also changed or improved is the effort made to involve every person of every age of our Foursquare family.
This year’s purpose and a brief explanation is given by our Foursquare president Randy Remington in a short 2-minute video. If you are reading this on an electronic device, follow the internet link to learn more and to access the many available and suggested resources.
Most Christians have a good understanding and personal experience concerning prayer. However, because most Christians are not well informed of what the Bible teaches concerning fasting and have not experienced the blessing of fasting, is the reason why most of the recommend resources are concerning this topic.
On the previously noted website under the heading “Payer + Fasting resources” you will find many recommended books, podcasts, articles and videos that explain what is Biblical fasting. However, concerning prayer, of all the recommended books I highly recommend, Prayer Is Invading the Impossible by Jack Hayford. Some of you are familiar with this book because we have used it in our Wednesday night Bible study. I also recommend to watch the video “Fasting Is Spiritual Warfare by Jentezen Franklin” in the section “A deeper dive into prayer and fasting”. It is about 26 minutes and it gives us and inspirational sermon of spiritual warfare with prayer and fasting.
Another video that gives us a good explanation of what fasting is which is only 2 minutes long which is not in the recommend resources, but I would highly recommend, is found in the Christian website “Got questions.org” under the heading “Christian fasting – what does the Bible say?”. Or just click on the following link,
https://www.gotquestions.org/fasting-Christian.html
However, when any reading any Christian book, listening to Christian podcasts or watching a Christian video as this one, we always must be careful and compare or put to the test what the Bible teaches about what we are receiving.
I was taught this many years ago by one of my professors at LIFE Bible College and I now habitually apply this to everything I read, listen and or watch. “Eat the meat but watch out for the bones” What this is saying is that whatever we read, listen and or watch we need to be careful just as we are when eating fish with small little bones, we eat the meat of the fish but be careful and not swallow those little bones.
Not everything we read, listen and or watch should be totally accepted or “swallowed”. If we know what the Bible teaches, we will know if a point or statement of what we are reading, listening and or watching is Biblically accurate or not. Most of us who eat fish will not throw the whole fish in the trash because it has those small bones that we shouldn’t swallow. We just enjoy the meat of the fish and spit out the bones.
Please do not let what I am about to say discourage you from watching the video on GotQuaestions.org. or from fasting.
There is a small incorrect belief and confusion that fasting is refraining from doing something which can be applied to almost anything. This is abstinence not fasting.
First let us look at some verses of what the Bible teaches concerning abstinence. Abstinence is and or can be self-denial or abstaining from anything that hinders our relationship and communion with God such as; Watching TV, reading secular books and or magazines, listening to secular music, using the internet or playing video games, staying off social media and so much more that our culture has to offer.
One Bible dictionary gives us this explanation of abstinence (self-denial) as – The voluntary, self-imposed, and deliberate denial of certain pleasures, such as food, drink, and sex. The verb “abstain” is found six times in the NIV. The following three verses are 3 examples found in the New Testament.
In Acts chapter 15:1-31 the leaders of the early church in Jerusalem made a judgment and put it in a letter telling the gentile converts to Christianity to abstain from certain things that they were accustomed to do before their conversion.
Acts 15:19-20
19 “It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. 20 Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood.
The apostle Paul writing to his spiritual son Timothy (Timothy 1:2, 18) talking about false teachers and their heretical teaching states the following.
1 Timothy 4:3,
They forbid people to marry and order them to abstain from certain foods, which God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and who know the truth.
Peter writing to the many congregations located in various Roman provinces encourages them in to “abstain from sinful desires”.
1 Peter 2:11
Dear friends, I urge you, as aliens and strangers in the world, to abstain from sinful desires, which war against your soul.
The Bible also demonstrates self-denial or abstinence of certain things for special personal dedication to God such as the vow of a Nazirite.
Numbers 6:2-8
6 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Speak to the Israelites and say to them: ‘If a man or woman wants to make a special vow, a vow of separation to the Lord as a Nazirite, 3 he must abstain from wine and other fermented drink and must not drink vinegar made from wine or from other fermented drink. He must not drink grape juice or eat grapes or raisins. 4 As long as he is a Nazirite, he must not eat anything that comes from the grapevine, not even the seeds or skins. 5 “‘During the entire period of his vow of separation no razor may be used on his head. He must be holy until the period of his separation to the Lord is over; he must let the hair of his head grow long. 6 Throughout the period of his separation to the Lord he must not go near a dead body. 7 Even if his own father or mother or brother or sister dies, he must not make himself ceremonially unclean on account of them, because the symbol of his separation to God is on his head. 8 Throughout the period of his separation he is consecrated to the Lord.
The parents of Samson were instructed to raise him as a Nazirite.
Judges 13:2-5
2 A certain man of Zorah, named Manoah, from the clan of the Danites, had a wife who was sterile and remained childless. 3 The angel of the Lord appeared to her and said, “You are sterile and childless, but you are going to conceive and have a son. 4 Now see to it that you drink no wine or other fermented drink and that you do not eat anything unclean, 5 because you will conceive and give birth to a son. No razor may be used on his head, because the boy is to be a Nazirite, set apart to God from birth, and he will begin the deliverance of Israel from the hands of the Philistines.”
John the Baptist lived a life of abstinence from wine and fermented drink.
Luke 1:13-16
13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth.
So, what is fasting? The Hayford Bible handbook give us this explanation.
FASTING—The Bible reveals fasting as a fully desirable, non-religious spiritually dynamic means for intensified seeking of God in prayer. To fast is to go without food or drink voluntarily, and generally was for the purpose of humbling the soul before God. Fasting was sometimes done as a sign of distress, grief, or repentance. Hayford’s Bible Handbook
Hayford’s Bible Handbook also gives us this important instruction and misconception by some Christian of what fast does. “The Bible nowhere suggests that fasting is to be thought a means of earning God’s favor or of improving one’s status with God. Therefore, one should not fast as a religious or as a superstitious exercise, hoping thereby to gain God’s special attention or to tip invisible scales of blessing in their direction.”
Why should we fast? Taking a quotation from the transcript of the video that I mentioned earlier. “Got questions.org” under the heading “Christian fasting – what does the Bible say?”; will help us to understand what the Bible teaches us about fasting and the personal benefits.
“Scripture does not command Christians to fast. God does not require or demand it of Christians. At the same time, the Bible presents fasting as something that is good, profitable, and beneficial. The book of Acts records believers fasting before they made important decisions. Fasting and prayer are often linked together.”
Acts 13:2-3
2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.
Acts 14:23
Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.
Continuing from the transcript of the video, “Christian fasting – what does the Bible say?” states some additional important points that help us experience and receive the full benefit of our fast. “Too often, the focus of fasting is on the lack of food. Instead, the purpose of fasting should be to take your eyes off the things of this world to focus completely on God. Fasting is a way to demonstrate to God, and to ourselves, that we are serious about our relationship with Him. Fasting helps us gain a new perspective and a renewed reliance upon God.”
Much more can be said concerning Biblical fasting. Please take the time and read some of the suggested resources provided on the Foursquare Church’s website 21 Days of Fasting and Prayer.
Pastor John
