The Best Year Yet - Fasting

 We’ve been looking at 4 keys to help make 2017 the best year yet

 Those keys are, in no particular order:

 Worship

 Word

 Presence

 Prayer and Fasting

 I think all of us would agree that these 4 things are most definitely keys to a successful Christian life

 Thus far we’ve looked at Worship, the Word, Presence and Prayer

 Today I want to continue our study on this topic by looking at something that is not often talked about

 Fasting –

 Prayer and fasting really go together

 As I have mentioned, prayer is an absolutely vital part of the Christian life

 You cannot have a deep relationship with God unless you have an active prayer life

 I’m not going to review what we have talked about concerning prayer

 If you missed any of those messages, or would like to review them, they are available on our website or you can grab a CD copy in the back

 Today I want to build on the topic of prayer by looking at the portion of Scripture directly following the Lord’s Prayer

 Matthew 6:16-18 (God’s Word translation) 

    "When you fast, stop looking sad like hypocrites. They put on sad faces to make it obvious that they're fasting. I can guarantee this truth: That will be their only reward. [17] When you fast, wash your face and comb your hair. [18] Then your fasting won't be obvious. Instead, it will be obvious to your Father who is with you in private. Your Father sees what you do in private. He will reward you.

 Here we see Jesus talking about the next key to having the best year yet - fasting.

 This, of course, begs the question “what is fasting?”

 The dictionary defines fasting as “abstaining from food” or “To eat very little or abstain from certain foods, especially as a religious discipline.”

 The dictionary is right, but since the dictionary is not a spiritual book it misses the deeper spiritual application

 Fasting is not always a spiritual activity as there are times when it is medically necessary to fast:

             Medical tests

            Surgical procedures

            Etc.

 But Jesus is not talking about medical procedures, He’s talking about spiritual fasting

 Spiritual fasting is where you give up something for a period of time so you can focus on God

 This period of time could be a day, a week, a month, or even longer

 During this period a person would take the time that they would normally spend on the activity that they are giving up and focus on prayer, worship, and Scripture meditation

 The goal of this time is to bring us closer to God and to hear His voice more clearly

 The one key thing we need to remember abut fasting is this –

 Fasting isn’t done to change God’s heart to fall in line with ours.  Fasting is done so that our heart will change to fall in line with God’s

 This is why the topic of fasting is so vital to having the best year yet

 Life can be hard enough when I’m following God’s will – it’s much worse when I’m not!

 If we wish to have the best year yet our hearts need to be in line with God’s, and one of the best ways of doing this is by fasting.

 As we look back at the dictionary definition of fasting it talks about giving up food

 This is the most common form of fasting mentioned in Scripture, but there are others as well

 What I’d like to do is take a look at some of the instances of fasting mentioned in the Bible and how they apply to us

 A Total fast:

 In Exodus 34:28 we read about Moses going up to Mount Sinai per God’s instructions. 

 It states, “Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water.”

 Can you imagine - 40 days without food and water?

 This was truly a miraculous event because the human body cannot go that long without water

 I do not recommend even attempting this type of fast, because unless God intervenes you will die

 I have known people that have gone for either a day, or most of a day, on a total fast

 If you really feel that God is leading you to do this, then that’s fine

 But you need to realize that you have to limit your physical activities because under the right conditions you can die in a few hours without water

 Food fast:

 As I mentioned before, fasting from food alone is the most common form of fasting mentioned in Scripture

 Under this type of fast you abstain from any type of food and drink only water and juice

 These fasts mentioned in Scripture can be a day in length or several days

 After Jesus was baptized Scripture states that He went into the wilderness and fasted from food for 40 days

 Biologically this is very possible as long as you are drinking water and juices to give your body the nutrition it needs

 I know a few people that have gone on 40 day fasts

 A fast of this length is not something to undertake lightly and I would only attempt it if you really felt called by God to do so

 I would also highly suggest doing so under the care of a physician – is that a lack of faith?  No it’s common sense

 How many times have you thought God was calling you to do something when He really wasn’t?

 I’ve also met many Christians that want to fast, but for medical reasons are unable to do so

 If you have diabetes, fasting from food could be fatal

 In an instance like this I would highly suggest doing a

 Daniel fast

 We see this type of fast in Daniel 10:3 “I ate no choice food; no meat or wine touched my lips; and I used no lotions at all until the three weeks were over.”

 Daniel abstained from “choice food” i.e. the good stuff, along with meat and wine – but still ate other types of food

 I’ve known people to abstain from some of their favorite foods for an extended period of time

 I’ve known others who have abstained from all solid foods

 Here’s the key with this type of fast – whatever you fast from should be a sacrifice for you

 I could fast from liver, and it wouldn’t affect me at all!

 Chocolate on the other hand would definitely be a sacrifice!

 Fasting activities

 1 Corinthians 7:5 “Do not deprive each other except by mutual consent and for a time, so that you may devote yourselves to prayer. Then come together again so that Satan will not tempt you because of your lack of self-control.”

 The context here is a married couple mutually deciding to abstain from physical relations for a short period of time

 This can also apply to any activity that you enjoy

 Again, the thing we must remember here is that it’s more than abstaining from something, it’s taking the time we would have invested in whatever we chose to give up and spend that time with God.

 Let’s go back to our main Scripture for today

 Matthew 6:16-18 (God’s Word translation) 

    "When you fast, stop looking sad like hypocrites. They put on sad faces to make it obvious that they're fasting. I can guarantee this truth: That will be their only reward. [17] When you fast, wash your face and comb your hair. [18] Then your fasting won't be obvious. Instead, it will be obvious to your Father who is with you in private. Your Father sees what you do in private. He will reward you.

 Did you notice what verse 16 says?  It says “when you fast” not “if you fast”

 Jesus expects us to fast – this is kind of scary to many people

 Why is it so scary?  I think I know why, but the reason is going to be a hard one for most of us to accept

 Please listen closely to what I’m about to say – I want to make sure there are no misunderstandings

 As people we tend to be pretty selfish by nature

 There are obvious exceptions to this, but as a whole much of what we do is for our own personal gratification

 Even those who serve others often times do it for selfish reasons

 We like feeling good and we like having fun – and I’m not saying that there’s anything inherently wrong with that

 But the problem comes in when we focus on the short term, rather than the long term benefits

 I know that if I put money in a savings account, a mutual fund, or an IRA on a regular basis that it will have good long term benefits

 But if I put my extra money in a savings account, a mutual fund, or an IRA then I won’t have as much left over for chocolate and pizza!

 Again, there’s nothing wrong with chocolate and pizza, but investing my money in them only gives short term benefits that only last until I am hungry again

 The same principle holds true when we think about fasting

 We can see the long term benefits, but we don’t want to sacrifice our short term pleasure to get the long term benefits

 As I look at my own life I can definitely see the benefits derived from each time I fasted

 God has done everything from physical healing, to spiritual breakthroughs, to gained wisdom during my fasting times

 But even though I am aware of the benefits, it’s been a while since I have fasted

 Why?  I really don’t have a good reason.

 I do know that when Jesus said in Matthew 6:16 “when you fast” He was not excluding me

 As Christ-followers we need to make fasting part of our lives.

 How often should we fast?  That’s between you and God

 When Jesus was preaching these words most of the Jewish leaders would fast twice a week

 Does that mean that we should do the same?  Only if God tells you to.

 My guess is that He won’t, but you never know

 I have known a few Christians over the years that have had regular fasting days

 Most, however, only fast when they feel led by the Lord, or when they are facing a time when they really need a special touch from God.

 Jesus doesn’t tell us how often to fast, but He does give us specific instructions on how to fast

 Let’s look at Matthew 6:16-18 again 

    "When you fast, stop looking sad like hypocrites. They put on sad faces to make it obvious that they're fasting. I can guarantee this truth: That will be their only reward. [17] When you fast, wash your face and comb your hair. [18] Then your fasting won't be obvious. Instead, it will be obvious to your Father who is with you in private. Your Father sees what you do in private. He will reward you.

 In a nutshell Jesus is telling us to keep our fasts private

 We don’t need to share with everyone else what we’re doing

             “I can’t eat it, I’m fasting!”

 Jesus clearly states that if we are seeking to impress people with our fasting, that impressing those people will be our only reward – we will get nothing else out of it

 The only real exception to this is that we should tell our family members

 I need to tell my wife so she doesn’t go out of her way to prepare my favorite foods

 I do this for two reasons – the first is that I do not want her upset with me for not eating the food that she has lovingly prepared, and the other is that I do not want to be tempted to break my fast when I see and smell my favorite food

 Outside of those people who would be directly affected by my fasting, no one else needs to know

 Fasting is about God, not us

 One final passage of Scripture that I think we should look at is found in the Gospel of Mark chapter 9

 Jesus takes Peter, James, and John up on the mountain with him for what we know as the transfiguration

 (explain)

 While Jesus, James, Peter, and John are up on the mountain the rest of the disciples are waiting at the bottom of the mountain

 A man brings his son to the disciples to be healed

 It turns out that his son was possessed by a demonic spirit and the disciples were unable to cast the spirit out of the boy

 When Jesus came down off the mountain He had no difficulty at all driving the spirit out of the boy

 Mark 9:28-29 After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, "Why couldn't we drive it out?" ²⁹  He replied, "This kind can come out only by prayer and fasting"

 Here’s the interesting thing – the disciples had already had great success in casting out evil spirits and healing the sick

 Yet they failed in this instance because, as Jesus said, this kind of spirit only comes out by prayer and fasting

 It would be easy to think that Jesus, since He is God, had a slight advantage in this situation

 But remember that Jesus did everything He did while on this earth through the power of the Holy Spirit, not through His own divinity

 Notice that Jesus didn’t take several days to pray and fast before He cast the evil spirit out of the boy

 It happened right away – why?

 Because prayer and fasting was a normal part of Jesus’ life

 You never know when life is going to sucker punch you

 You never know when you will encounter something that can only be overcome by prayer and fasting

If we desire to have the best year yet fasting must become something that we do

 Leave the details of the fast to God, but be willing to follow His desires

 I think you will be amazed at what God can accomplish in your life through this activity!