I am more excited about fasting than I have ever been. Don’t get me wrong—I enjoy eating! Though I enjoy eating, I cannot say I enjoy watching people as they cut into a big, steaming, juicy steak while I’m crunching on steamed broccoli. I have found that hungering and thirsting for God brings with it a much greater reward than satisfying the temporary hunger I may be experiencing in my body.
Do you remember Anna?
Her story only fills a few lines in Luke’s Gospel, but I believe God saw much more in the life of this precious saint. She is called a prophetess, and her simple testimony is that she was “a widow of about eighty-four years [of age], who did not depart from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day” (Luke 2:37). That just goes to show you that you are never too old to fast.
Anna had a hunger for God’s Word that was greater than her hunger for food, and her faithfulness in fasting prepared her for what was about to happen.
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Although fasting doesn’t get any easier with age, it does get easier with grace. When the Holy Spirit calls you to fast, He is preparing you for what is ahead.
Fasting requires faith. As Jesus said, “Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled,” (Matt. 5:6, KJV).
Believe God
If you want to please God, believe God. Take Him at His Word.
When the apostle Paul was teaching the Corinthians, a knowledge-seeking society, he told them, “We walk by faith, not by sight,” (2 Cor. 5:7).
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego walked by faith and not by sight. The three of them joined Daniel in his initial fast from the king’s delicacies. Think about what they saw on their way into that furnace. It had been heated seven times hotter than normal. The heat was so intense that it killed the guards standing by the doors. If they had walked by sight, they would have said, “Today we shall surely be ashes.” Instead, by faith, they walked on saying, “Our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will deliver us from your hand, O king,” (Dan. 3:17).
Faith is the evidence of things unseen.
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Hunger for the Word
Where does the kind of faith that enables you to look to God and believe His Word no matter how grave your circumstances may appear come from?
Your daughter is unsaved and on drugs. Your father lies dying in a hospital bed. You are about to be evicted from the house you rent because it’s been sold out from under you. Your marriage of 20 years has come to an end, and the divorce papers have been signed.
I could go on and on. These are very real circumstances that have no solution in the natural. Where does such faith come from?
“Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God,” (Rom. 10:17). The Amplified version of this Scripture verse states, “Faith comes by hearing [what is told], and what is heard comes by the preaching [of the message that came from the lips] of Christ (the
Messiah Himself).” It is by hearing God’s Word, by hearing the preaching of the gospel, that faith increases.
There is something about getting in a church where the anointing flows and you hear the Word of God preached. Faith does not come from programs, dynamite worship teams or being with a group of people who are like you. Faith comes when you hear a man or woman of God preach the Word without compromise to all who will listen. That is the birthplace of faith. If this revelation truly takes hold of your spirit, you will never allow the devil to talk you out of being faithful to God’s house.{eoa}
To learn more about the spiritual impact fasting has on your life, click here!
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