Perhaps no Christian
discipline is as neglected today as is fasting.
And yet, fasting carries with it a great potential for spiritual power
and answered prayer. For a believer,
fasting is voluntary abstinence from something to accomplish a specific,
God-directed purpose.
Fasting isn’t about
changing God – it is about changing ourselves.
At the outset, fasting seems impossible, but with God’s grace, fasting
can accomplish multiple victories. Let’s
look at a few:
· To
control appetite. You exercise authority over your
appetite. It trains us to not obey every
imagination that comes into our minds (2 Cor. 10:4-5). Our appetites must be controlled or they will
continually overrule our spirit.
· To
clear the mind. See 1 Peter 4:7. Fasting helps us be clear-minded and
self-controlled. The inability to focus
on the Lord will cripple us.
· To
establish priorities. Fasting helps us get a fresh glimpse of
things from God’s point of view. It
helps us to establish godly priorities.
· To
empower praying. Some situations require fasting (Matthew
17:21). Fasting will empower prayer and
increase the anointing against evil forces.
Fasting will touch things that prayer alone will not affect. We don’t seek spiritual power. We seek the Lord. Jesus was empowered by the Spirit after his
40-day fast.
· To
increase spiritual discernment. Our ability to discern
spiritual reality is sharpened. Like a ship
without a rudder, praying without the direction of the Holy Spirit is
ineffective. Fasting enhances our
ability to hear God’s voice and tune into His frequency (Acts 13:2).
· To
build faith.
Bishop William McDowell said, The
great sin of the modern church is its lack of expectancy. We pray, but we don’t expect anything to
happen. Fasting will enlarge our
faith to believe God for extraordinary breakthroughs.
· To
increase humility. Bill Bright said that fasting is the most
appropriate way for us to experience God’s prescription for revival found in 2
Chronicles 7:14.
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