Hey guys!
What does your relationship with God look like?
How do you handle difficult situations in your life?
When you go through the storms of life,
are you anchored in Jesus Christ, or do you feel kind of lost?
If you want to be anchored in Jesus Christ, that you can go through hardships and still have peace,
that you don't worry, that you don't stress, you don't have anxiety,
because you trust in who God is and in His promises.
Only with a good relationship are you able to do it.
You need to be anchored in Jesus Christ.
Have you ever really searched for God with prayer?
Seeking His face with an abnormal zeal.
Maybe you pray because you want a fresh meeting with Him,
or maybe you want Him to lead you, with a very important decision that you need to make.
Whatever the reason. Why not do it with fasting?
Do you know why the people of the Bible fasted?
Do you know why you as a Christian should do it, and how to do it effectively?
That's what we're going to talk about in this video, and it is so important to understand this.
So watch the whole video until the end.
Let's not waste any more time. Let's get to it.
Now, just very quick, if it's the first time that you're here on our channel,
welcome to DLM Christian Lifestyle.
My name is Daniel Maritz, and here we preach Biblical truth in a balanced way.
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First, you need to know that the Bible does not give us a command to fast,
but it shows us that it will be very beneficial to us to fast.
And it also warns us not to do it in such a way where we just want the attention from other people,
but we should do it in secret.
Jesus says in Matthew 6:16, "And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites,
for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others.
Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward.
But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret.
And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Now, if you pray and you live righteously, it has much power.
And we know this because James 5:16 says,
"The prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working."
So righteous prayer is good, and it is powerful and it is often linked with fasting.
There are so many good examples in the Bible of this.
People prayed and fasted when they wanted God to lead them in making a very important decision,
or when they just asked God for something.
For example, Ezra 8:21 says, "Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river Ahava,
that we might humble ourselves before our God,
to seek from Him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods."
And verse 23 says,
"So we fasted and implored our God for this, and He listened to our entreaty."
So, God listened to their prayers when they fasted.
You see when you fast, it shows God that you are serious in your prayer,
you're serious in seeking His face.
And when you fast, God will honor it.
He wants us to seek Him with our whole heart and soul.
Everything that you are, you go to God in prayer, and you are serious.
You are seeking Him until He answers you.
Breakthrough prayer.
This is especially important when you want to be free of a certain sin.
You know, some Christians struggle with a certain sin in their life, and they just cannot get free of it.
Have you ever tried fasting? Repent of it and fast.
Joel 2:12 says, "Return to me with all your heart, with fasting, weeping and mourning."
Another good example is how God led the apostles while they prayed and fasted.
Acts 13:2 says,
"While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said,
'Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.'
Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and send them off."
You know, many people want to do something for God, and they might pray a little bit.
When God is silent when He's quiet, they don't hear Him, they stop, they just give up.
But did it ever occur to you that God wants to teach you something first?
The basics of ministry, prayer, and fasting.
He needs to teach you first to seek His face so that He will be able to lead you in His ministry.
It's about your relationship with God.
If that is not right at the beginning.
It's not right if you don't have a good relationship with God where you continually pray with Him
and where He'll lead you in ministry, then you're not going to be able to do any ministry.
You might do it through the flesh, but not in the Spirit.
God wants to teach you first to take time to seriously pray and seek His face,
to get that right first.
To talk to Him about everything, with your whole heart, soul and mind,
near Him with an abnormal zeal.
James 4:8 says, "Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you."
Now, what is fasting?
When it comes to fasting, most people only focus on food, but fasting is not just about food.
It's about sacrificing any worldly things that are important to you.
Let me explain it this way.
It's to take your focus off from the worldly things that are important to you and focus on God,
a renewed focus, and then you do it for a certain amount of time.
The time depending on how long the Holy Spirit wants you to talk to God, to pray, to fast.
But there are different types of fasting as well.
For example, the short fast.
If you do a short fast, you need to abstain from something that is important to you for 6 to 24 hours.
This can be food, sweets, coffee, a hobby, tv, anything that will be hard for you to let go of.
Now, if you've never fasted before, the short fast is a good place to start.
But then you can also try intermittent fasting, where you fast for a certain amount of hours.
For example, a day has 24 hours.
You can choose to fast for 16 hours, and if it's food, eat within the 8 hours you have left.
Or you can do a 24 fast, where you fast for 20 hours and eat within the 4 hours that you have left.
Or a 22, 2 fast.
Or even a full-day fast, every 2 or 3 days in a week.
Then when you have the knowledge and you've seen your doctor, then you can also try longer fasts.
A good place to start is the 'Daniel fast'.
No, not me Daniel, but Daniel from the Bible.
This is a partial fast, meaning you abstain from certain things for 21 days.
If it's food, you are only allowed to eat plant-based foods and drink only water, and that's it.
So, no junk food, no meat, no tea, no coffee, only fruit, veggies, and water.
Earlier, I've said that fasting is not just about food,
but food is a very good place to start because it is good for both your body, your health, and your spirit.
And there are many people who struggle to control themselves when it comes to eating.
But your body is a temple of God, and He is against gluttony.
Proverbs 23:2 says, "Put a knife to your throat if you are given to appetite."
Wow, the Bible surely shows us how serious it is about glattony.
You know, there are a lot of people out there that are very quick to judge other people on other sins,
like sexual immorality, drunkenness, swearing, gossiping, lying.
These same people judge other people so easily,
give them over to their own selfish, sinful desires to overeat.
That's wrong.
Proverbs 23:20 says, "Do not join those who drink too much wine or gorge themselves on meat,
for drunkards and gluttons become poor, and drowsiness clothes them in rags!"
So here, being a drunk and being at glutton are put on the same level.
Sin is sin.
You see, as a reborn Christian with the Holy Spirit in you. You have control if you live through the Spirit,
you have self-control over everything, and that includes your appetite.
Remember Galatians 5:22 says, "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness,
goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, [and the last one there] self-control."
You see, that's why every form of addiction is wrong.
It's a sin because you've lost self-control.
You don't have control over it, It has control over you.
Be that drugs, alcohol, smoking, pornography, or eating.
I want you to understand something here that is very important.
The day you became a Christian, you became a reborn Christian.
You are Spiritually reborn, a new creation.
Now a child of God.
Why Spiritually reborn?
Because God sent His Spirit in you, you are now a temple of God, and He lives in you.
And you need to learn now how to crucify your old fleshly desire,
and to be led by the Holy Spirit, to walk in it.
You need to let the Holy Spirit guide your thoughts, your intellect, your emotions, and your own will.
And if you do it, you will not fall into sin and you will even control what you think, in order to obey Christ.
2 Corinthians 10:5 says,
"We destroy arguments and every lofty opinion raised against the knowledge of God,
and take every thought captive to obey Christ."
Fasting is a great way to stop a certain sin in your life,
to ask God to lead you in a very important decision that you need to make,
and just to connect with God, ask Him to reveal Himself to you, more and more, to grow Spiritually.
Jesus led by example when He fasted.
Luke 4:1, "And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit,
returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness for 40 days
being tempted by the devil.
And He ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, He was hungry.
Now, just to be clear. I don't recommend you go and fast for 40 days.
Jesus is different.
If you do it, and I do it, we might die.
You can fast for a few days, maybe even a week,
but go see your doctor first, educate yourself first on how to do it.
And then when you come off the fast, you can't just go and eat normal food again,
because your body is not going to be able to take it.
You need to go slow, maybe start with soup and then go to full food.
Be very careful.
But the point I'm trying to make is the example of Jesus. His whole life.
How He fasted and also when He prayed to surrender to God the Father's will.
Luke 22:40, "And when He came to the place, He said to them.
'Pray that you may not enter into temptation.' And He withdrew from them about a stone's throw,
and knelt down and prayed, saying, 'Father, if you are willing, remove this cup from me.
Nevertheless, not my will, but Yours, be done."
Fully surrendering every aspect of your life to God.
That is the key to living a happy and peaceful life even on this earth.
Yes, even in difficult times, you will still have peace,
because you have the peace from God, as He gives it, not as the world gives it.
Now, if you don't know how to fully surrender every aspect of your life to God,
then please watch this video here, and I'll see you there.
And always remember, God loves you, and I love you too.
Bye!