Fasting is a physical act that is a spirutal tool that sensitizes us to the reality of who we already are in Christ! Paul said in 1 Cor. 3:11 “For no other foundation can anyone lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” Jesus went into fasting NOT to get the love of God, but BECAUSE of the love of God! The love of God was already expressed to Jesus in Matthew 3:17 and THEN He fasted. Do not fast to earn the love of God!
I have news for you … Jesus enjoyed His fast! “The Kingdom of Heaven is not a eating and drinking, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit.” (Rom. 14:17) Was Jesus in the Holy Spirit when He was in the wilderness fasting? You better believe it - the Holy Spirit had just descended on Him like a dove! So, Jesus was in righteousness. Jesus was in peace. And yes, Jesus was enJOYing His fast! You can too - if you fast out a revelation of God’s love for you!
If you don’t fast out of a revelation of God’s love for you, find another way to torture yourself … because you will be the one walking around with a disfigured face telling people that you are “serving God!” We fast out of the basis of God’s love for us. Jesus was feeding on the revelation of His Father’s love for Him the entire time.
If you are fasting longer than you have ever done, get a book on fasting and read the testimonies about fasting every day! It will be really difficult to get discouraged if you are reading fasting testimonies consistently.
When you step into the fast on any level - you step into it WITH CHRIST, you do not step into a structure. You do need to decide the length and type of your fast ahead of time, but you are going to do a fast with the Holy Spirit not a fast with your plan. I am not trying to get intimate with my fasting plan, I am trying to draw near to God.
I would encourage you to start slowly. If you were to run a marathon you would generally need to run less than 26 miles before you tried to run 26! Fasting is a spiritual workout. Obviously this fast is voluntary and I am trusting you to have discretion about your own body. If you’ve not fasted a good bit, I would advise you to use discretion. If you are fasting longer than 3 days on liquid only, you can actually injure yourself if you don’t know some basics about fasting. Especially about breaking the fast is very important for your health. It was good Jesus did not eat bread straight away at the end of 40 day fast! There are simply some things you need to tend to while fasting. Be sure to know those basics before starting your fast. If it feels like a stretch to you and you have peace on it, it is probably a great thing to do.
When we look at the many testimonies in the Word of God about fasting, we see that fasting can do what no other thing can do. There are things that your time in the Word can do that prayer cannot do. There are things that prayer can do that your time in the Word by itself cannot do. And there are things that fasting can do that neither of the other two can do totally by themselves. Fasting is a super-charger on your spiritual car. So my question for you is “what are you hungry for?” What are the breakthroughs that you are hungry for in this season? Ask the Holy Spirit. What keeps coming up in prayer? What are your hungry for?
When you have a vision for what this fast is about - why you are doing it - it makes it so much easier! Brad just pictures that empty plate and it is getting filled up during the time that he’s fasting and it helps him through it! May we see Your face, know Your love, and have tremendous breakthrough in this fast in Jesus’ Name!
