34. FASTING      --page 281--

         So we fasted & besought our God for this: & He was intreated of us (Ezra 8:23).

         1. The whole idea of fasting is to give you more time to pray, to show God you're really in earnest & you're really concerned & willing to give up a little food & a little time to give more time for prayer.
         2. Fast foods for fast days is fasting enough for us!
         3. To me, genuine fasting is when you'd rather do something else than eat.
         4. One has more power in the spirit when fasting & praying, due to one's complete devotion & concentration on the subject & on the Lord & on His will & His work, uninterrupted by food or taking time to eat.
         5. Fasting saves time--to do things more important than eating.
         6. What I call real genuine fasting is when you are so busy either witnessing or feeding on the Word that you don't have time to stop to eat.
         7. Fasting helps you devote more of your time to the Lord & His work & others & less of your time to selfish interests & physical pursuits & unnecessary work.
         8. I believe in fasting but I don't believe it earns you anything. What God gives He gives, it's a gift. It may do you good to keep your body under subjection, to sacrifice physical desires, to crucify the flesh, but it doesn't earn you spiritual power, which is a gift of God. It doesn't earn you salvation, which is a gift of God. It doesn't earn you healing, which is also a gift of God, except it might help with what's wrong with you--maybe you eat too much.
         9. Keep it liquid, just to remind you that this is the day you're supposed to be denying yourself a little bit to give you a little more time for prayer & Bible study & fellowship.
         10. I've always advocated that the only good logical reason for fasting & not eating is because you have something more important to do, & that you just don't have time to either eat or to stop to prepare to eat because you're too busy doing something else.
         11. Both religiously & medically, fasting has been known to be effective, reaping not only spiritual but physical benefits.
         12. If you can run by the kitchen & throw something in your mouth, we probably won't consider that you've fallen from grace. Maybe that's more grace, because you had more faith & you're not just abiding by law! In Gideon's army it wasn't the amount they drank that they were judged by, it was how fast they drank it & how prepared they were for the Enemy!
         13. The whole idea is this: What are you putting first? If you get so involved with household tasks & meals & gluttony & physical needs that you don't have enough time to give to the Lord & prayer, then you need to fast a little bit! You need to deny yourself a little bit to really remind yourself to put the Lord & His Work first.
         14. A lot of us fast a little bit every day! We're so busy serving the Lord we just don't have time to fiddle around & eat a lot!
         15. Do some fasting instead of feasting!
         16. The whole idea of Fast Day is not that there's so much virtue in fasting; you're not earning merit & God's not going to answer your prayers better if you fast; the idea is that you want to do something more important than spending all that time cooking & eating & washing dishes.
         17. I don't believe in fasting just for fasting's sake or like it's earning merit, like the Orientals & like some Christians teach, but I believe in fasting for a purpose--to give you more time & more concentration for study or prayer or fellowship or whatever it is. It's putting food & meals in a minor place & putting the most important things first & giving the Lord more of your time.

         (See also No.689, 950, 1550.)

         18. ISA.58:6-11 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and He shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.
         19. MAT.6:16-18 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
         20. MAT.17:21 This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

         (See also MAT.6:16-18; ACT.27:9,33,34.)


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