- [Narrator] Welcome to a Grace Digital Presentation.
The Word of God gives us numerous reasons to fast.
However, there are wrong reasons to fast.
Number one, fasting is not a Christian diet.
You should not fast to lose weight,
although weight loss is a natural side effect.
If one does not associate prayer with fasting,
one does not need to fast.
Giving up food alone means simply starving.
When fasting, one concentrates on prayer
and the Word of God.
Number two, one does not fast in order to gain merit
with God or to get rid of sin.
There is only one thing that gives us merit with God
and cleanses us from sin, the blood of Jesus.
Fasting, however will begin to bring to the surface
all areas of compromise in your life
and make you more aware of every sin in your own life
so that you can repent.
"And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food."
Genesis three, chapter six,
it is still amazing that food was the lure
to tempt Adam and Eve to sin,
resulting in the fall of mankind.
It is also interesting that Jesus began his earthly ministry
to redeem us from sin by staying away from food.
I imagined that it was an extraordinary sight
for John the Baptist to see his own cousin, the Lamb of God,
like all the others rise into the water to be baptized.
Most of the people were baptized that day
probably went home afterwards to celebrate with a nice feast
and talk about what they had seen and heard.
Jesus did not.
He followed the guidance of the Holy Spirit
and began his earthly ministry alone,
fasting 40 days and nights while tempted in the wilderness.
Matthew three, verse 16 to 17.
"As soon as Jesus was baptized, he went up out of the water.
At that moment, heaven was opened
and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove
and alighting on him."
17, "And a voice from heaven said,
this is my son whom I love.
With him, I am well pleased."
The message continues in Matthew four, verse one to six.
"Then Jesus was led by the spirit into the wilderness
to be tempted by the devil."
Two, "After fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry.
The tempter came to him and said,
'If you are the son of God,
tell these stones to become bread.'
Jesus answered, 'It is written.
Man shall not live on bread alone,
but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.'
Then the devil took him to the Holy City
and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.
'If you are the son of God,' he said,
'throw yourself down.
For it is written, he will command
his angels concerning you
and they will lift you up in their hands
so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.'"
The first thing that Jesus felt for you and me
in his earthly ministry was hunger.
One of the last feelings he felt on this earth was thirst.
When according to John 19, verse 28,
the Lord of glory was hanging, dying on a cruel cross.
John 19, verse 28.
"After this, Jesus knowing that all things
were now accomplished,
that the scripture might be fulfilled, saith, I thirst."
The question then is, why does the body of Christ
have such difficulty with the disciple of fast?
Lack of control over the flesh opened the door
to the temptation of sin in the Garden of Eden,
but Jesus took control of his flesh
and sanctified himself to break the power of temptation.
When Jesus fasted for 40 days and night,
Satan tempted him to command that these stones
be made bread.
Matthew four, verse three, King James version.
The enemy repeatedly tried to get Jesus to focus
on the desire for food,
not on the Father's tasks and purposes,
but Jesus knew that sanctification is an essential key
to opening a door to God's blessing.
If Jesus had to fast, how much greater is our need to fast?
Fasting is never an easy thing.
To be honest, I know nothing more tiring than fasting.
Jesus understands the difficulty
of stripping ourselves of food.
In Hebrew four, verse 15 we see,
"For we do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize
with our weaknesses,
but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin."
He also gives us strength to overcome the temptation
in Hebrews four, verse 16,
"Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace
that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help
in time of need."
With these promises in mind,
the process can become less unpleasant for you.
When you fast, you abstain from food for spiritual purposes.
Some people say they plan to fast
or watch TV or computer games or surf the internet.
It is good to put these things aside
for a time of consecration if they interfere
with your life of prayer or your study of the Word of God,
or your service to the needs of others,
but technically this is not fasting.
Fasting means to abstain from food
for a certain period of time,
which usually leads to leaving the hustle and bustle
of normal activity.
The sacrifice of fasting, the search for God,
and the study of His Word requires
that normal activities take a back seat.
Number three, finally,
you do not fast so that others will notice you.
Fasting is not an opportunity to show others
how profoundly spiritual you are,
but an opportunity to focus on the needs of others.
The World Hunger movement has a program
called Let It Growl,
a program for world hunger and awareness.
During this fast, when participants feel hunger pangs rise
and their stomachs start to growl,
they remember that a third of the people in the world
go to bed every night with the same feeling
because they have no food.
Dr. David Yonggi Cho is pastor of the largest church
in the world of Seoul, South Korea.
Every year, 750,000 members take part
in a 21-day fast break.
He has 500 young people camped in tents
on the prayer mountain to fast and pray seven days a year.
You have been deceived if you believe
that Christians should not fast.
God expects each one of us to fast, not just some of us.
In Matthew chapter six,
he names three things that Christians do,
when you pray, when you give, and when you fast.
He didn't say if, but when.
If you have a time to pray and a time to give,
then you should have a time to fast.
"Therefore, do not worry saying what shall we eat
or what shall we drink, or what shall we wear
for your Heavenly Father knows
that you need all these things,
but seek first the Kingdom of God and his high righteousness
and all these things shall be added to you."
Matthew six, verse 31 to 33.
You can always find a reason not to fast,
so you have to decide that you're going to do it
and everything else would take care of itself.
If you decide to set aside the first days
of the year for fasting,
you will set the course for the whole coming year
and God will bless your life throughout the year.
Just as you set the course of the day for meeting God
in the first hours, so also do you on the first days
of the year when you fast.
Let us pray.
Dear Father, You are a righteous, holy, and just God.
Awesome and blameless in all your ways.
Lead us in the way of your righteousness.
Help us Lord to walk in your obedience
so that we may live and flourish and extend our days.
Father, strengthen us so that we may turn our eyes to Jesus.
Through your word, let us be able to follow his example
and resist the temptation.
Deliver us Father from the schemes of the evil one.
You know how to rescue your Godly ones.
Help us to take refuge in the shadow of your wings.
We praise you that with every temptation
you are faithful to give us a way to escape it.
In Jesus name, Amen.