Good afternoon! I hope your week has been fun and exciting! Isn’t it exciting to serve God? What a privilege it is to know God and to be loved by Him! 🙂 I’m continually amazed at His unfailing goodness towards us.
Today, I want to venture into some largely unknown territory known as the topic of fasting. Not keto fasting, not intermittent fasting, but Spiritual fasting unto the Lord. What do you know about fasting? Have you ever heard of fasting unto the Lord? Spiritual fasting is a biblical concept that we can see time and time again throughout the entire bible. From individuals to entire people groups and villages, from influential members of society to the poorest members of society, both men and women and even Jesus fasted (Matthew 4) at some time or another in the Bible. Since fasting is so prevalently found in the scriptures, is it something that we should really consider and apply to our own lives? Why should we fast, if at all? I believe that Isaiah 58 can offer insight into some of these probing questions.
In Isaiah 58, we arrive to a very intriguing point in time where God is speaking to the Israelites through the prophet Isaiah about fasting. We find that the Israelites have been fasting for some undisclosed amount of time and have grown extremely weary because they have not gotten a response from God. They began groaning to God about how He hadn’t taken notice of them. (This is beginning to sound familiar… Have you ever felt like that in your own personal situation? Like God didn’t see you?)
“Why have we fasted,’ they say,
‘and you have not seen it?
Why have we humbled ourselves,
and you have not noticed?’ – Isaiah 58:3
Let me ask you…Do you really believe that God didn’t see or know that the Israelites were fasting? Do you think that the Israelites were correct in their assumptions that God hadn’t noticed them? Or was it something else…Could it have been that God was not responding to their fasting for other reasons?
“Nothing in all creation is hidden from God’s sight. Everything is uncovered and laid bare before the eyes of him to whom we must give account.”- Hebrews 4:13
God knows all and created all. So it was not as if He didn’t know that they were fasting. I love how the Lord addresses the Israelites and in love tells them why He hasn’t moved in response to their fasting. The Lord said…
“Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers.
Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife,
and in striking each other with wicked fists.
You cannot fast as you do today
and expect your voice to be heard on high.” – Isaiah 58:3-4
Based on God’s response, we see that God chose not respond to the Israelites based on their fasting behaviors. Externally it seemed as if they were fasting. They wore sackcloth and ashes, bowed their heads and stopped eating (Isaiah 58:4). However, while they were fasting unto the Lord, it says that they sought their own pleasure. The Lord saw their own self-seeking behaviors of forcing people under them to work even harder, arguing and stirring up strife and conflict. It even got to the point of physical fighting and all of this greatly displeased (and still displeases) the Lord. This indicates that we should be walking completely in the Holy Spirit while fasting, not perpetuating sin and doing works of the flesh. Additionally, having the right motives and a right heart-attitude towards God is extremely important while fasting. Fasting is not for others, it is for God. For this reason, God should be the only one aware that you are fasting and we shouldn’t make a show to let others know what we are doing for God (Matthew 6:16).
God let the Israelites know that if they fast in this way they cannot expect their prayers to be heard. God is too righteous and Holy to honor people that do not honor others. This answer from the Lord indicates that there is an effectual way to fast unto the Lord and also an ineffectual way. So how can we please the Lord and have Him answer us while fasting? It all starts with a desire of wanting to be closer to Him. Positioning your heart and mind towards God humbly in order to receive whatever He may have for you is key. Seeking His will above your own while fasting (and also in our general walk) is crucial! I like how Pastor Mark Virkler says it, “Ask yourself: are you resting from your own works and doing the works of God instead?”
So does fasting do anything specific? Is there any real reason to go all day without eating food while praying? This is what the Lord says that fasting does in both the natural and heavenly realms:
“Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice
and untie the cords of the yoke,
to set the oppressed free
and break every yoke?
Is it not to share your food with the hungry
and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter—
when you see the naked, to clothe them,
and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?” – Isaiah 58:6-7
Here the Lord is telling the Israelites that the reason for fasting is way bigger and more important than anything they have ever comprehended before. I think the Israelites (and also many of us) have not fully understood the resounding power that comes from fasting and fasting to the Lord alone! The Israelites only used fasting for their temporal needs at the present time such as food and shelter. God seems to be realigning their thoughts with His incredible power by stating the extraordinary potential that fasting can have. Fasting has the ability to shift the atmosphere we live in and even change the future. The effects of fasting can be seen across generations and have a lasting and powerful effect. When the Lord mentioned loosing chains of injustice and setting the oppressed free, He was also talking about the Israelites future generations and events that had not even happened yet to the Israelites as a nation. We must expand our mind and thoughts to get on God’s level of what kind of impact we can make on the world.
I encourage you to also enlarge your current perspective of fasting and begin to ask God for *BIG* things to be accomplished in the natural as well as spiritual realm. God promises to loose chains, break yokes and undo heavy burdens through fasting. Do not be tempted to think that the blessing stops just at you either. You can certainly fast on behalf of your friends, family and even nation. You can fast for people you have never met in the world or causes you are not directly related to. Fasting can make all the difference in your current situation if you do it correctly and seek the Lord’s will in it. I encourage everyone to try this out for yourself and get closer to your Creator and make big changes in the situations that surround you! I’ll leave you with this final scripture:
“Take delight in the Lord,
and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord;
trust in him and he will do this” – Psalm 37:4-5
Thank you guys so much for reading this post! God bless you!
Lifted Vision Ministry 