Why Fasting?

So begins this process of questioning, listening, praying, seeking, solitude, quietness, sadness, pain, humility, struggle, and fight. I name all of these because at different points over the next 90 days, I am certain to feel at least one of these; likely more than one with each day that passes. Why the fast? Why now? Why 90 Days? What do I hope to get out of it?

 

1.)                Stillness- “Be still and know that I am God.” I have found myself over the last couple of years pushing the boundaries of the speed of my life, seeking to fast forward to a time of security and comfort-dismissing the calling and purpose of the here and now.

2.)                Patience- “The Lord is good to those who wait on Him.” I learned a valuable lesson when I was still a running: “Timing is everything!”

3.)                Love- “A new commandment I give to you, that you love one another, even as I have loved you, that you also love one another.” We live in a world where love has been all but demolished and written off. “They will know we are Christians by our love.”

4.)                Fighting Pride- “Humble yourselves…under the mighty hand of God that He may exalt you at the proper time.” If I am ever known, let it be at the timing and boasting of Jesus Christ!

5.)                Despondency vs Happiness- “Why are you in despair, Oh my soul? And why have you become disturbed within me? Hope in God, for I shall again praise Him for the help of His presence.” The greatest need of the hour is a revived and joyful church. Unhappy Christians, are to say the least, a poor recommendation of the Christian faith!

6.)                Answers to the Longings of the Heart- “Seek ye first the Kingdom of God, and His righteousness. And all these things shall be added unto you.” When I have lost something, or when I desperately need something, I search for it. All else falls to the way side as I search!

 

Over the next 90 days, I plan to engage my studies richly in the text to examine the preparation, the calling, the exchange, and the execution of the Early Church. I will attempt to take a wholistic approach to the gospels, walk through the beginning of the church in Acts, and examine the spreading of the Church in the epistles. Before I embark on the Scriptures, allow me t put forth one of my favorite quotes by Jonathan Edwards: “The state of the times extremely requires a fullness of the divine Spirit in ministers, and we ought to give ourselves NO REST till we have obtained it. And in order to do this, I should think ministers, above all persons, ought to be much in secret prayer and fasting, and also much in praying and fasting one with another. It seems to me it would be becoming the circumstances of the present day, if ministers in a neighborhood would often meet together and spend days in fasting and fervent prayer among themselves, earnestly seeking for those extraordinary supplies of divine grace from heaven, that we need at this day.”

 

One of the clearest examples of fasting shaping history is found in Acts 13:1-4: “Now there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, prophets and teachers: Barnabas, and Simeon who was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyprene, and Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. And while there were ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work of which I have called them. Then, when they had fasted and prayed and laid hands on them, they sent them away. So being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia and from there they sailed to Cypress.” At least from what I hear in this passage, there was unrest and a deep burden on the leadership team: “Where do we go from here as a church?” They were fasting to seek the leading of the Holy Spirit in their next move.

 

The problem that often comes up in times like these, at least from my experience, is that the Bible doesn’t directly answer the questions we need answered. “Should we begin a missions program? Should it be now? Should we send some of our own leaders to be missionaries? Which direction should we go? What city should we go to? Where will funds come from? Will the leaders be bi-vocational or be supported by the local church?” If the Bible does not directly answer these questions, where do we get the answers from? Paul prayed earnestly that believers would be “filled with the knowledge of God’s will in all Spiritual wisdom and understanding…and bear fruit in every good work” (Colossians 1:9-10). The answer to the questions above are Spiritual matters. So what can we learn from the passage in Acts about the power of fasting and prayer?

 

1.)                This fasting was after Christ coming. Fasting wasn’t just an Old Testament thing. These leaders: Paul and Barnabas-believed fasting still had relevance today.

2.)                It was a corporate fast. Some say Jesus warned against fasting to be seen by men (Matt 6:17-18). The critical issue here for Paul and Barnabas was not whether people knew they were fasting, but whether you want them to know so that you can bask in their affection. One is selfless, the other is selfish.

3.)                It was an occasion for special guidance. There is a clear connection between worship, prayer and fasting and decisive guidance of the Holy Spirit.

4.)                It changed history. Before the fasting period there had been no formalized world missions movement. After, the gospel was catapulted from obscurity.

 

I think it is fair to say God was pleased to make worship and prayer and fasting the launching pad for a mission that would change the course of history! May it do so here as well!