Fasting: The Forgotten Strategy

Fasting: The Forgotten Strategy

 

Islamic Sangha Nepal with Islamic Sangha Narayani organized a seminar on ‘Scientific Reason and Religious Purpose of Roza or Fasting for Man’ held on August 13, 2012 at Birganj’s famous Thakur Ram Multiple Campus meeting hall. I was also given an opportunity as a contributing participant representing the local Christian Community. I wrote the following material as I was preparing to share in the seminar.

 

Introduction:

 

I was a student at the Engineering School in Jawlakhel, Katmandu from 1963 to 1965. In late 1964 a brother from India shared the Gospel with me which led me to studying New Testament with the help of another brother from Kerala, who was pastoring the Patan Church at that time. In order to understand the Bible and spend personal time of prayer effectively I started practicing fasting. This helped me not only in understanding the Bible but also in deepening my prayer life and communication with the Holy Spirit (although I did not know much about Him). In about ten months together we covered Gospel of Mathew chapters 1 to 7when the Lord spoke to me from Rev. 3:20. In response opening my heart by faith I received the Lord Jesus as my personal Savior in my hostel room while on my knees. I was also able to face the uproar in the college as a result and got wonderful boldness to witness among the students and teachers. They got the impression that I was out of my mind though! Fasting and the resulting spiritual depth helped me enormously to stand those trying times.

 

Eating is very natural for the body and essential for our survival and physical wellbeing. Suitable vegetarian food was provided both for man and animal at creation. The list for man was changed after the flood in the Nohaic Covenant and included non-vegetarian items as well. We like to eat and drink as our body signals through hunger and thirst. They are God-ordained for our survival. The fall changed everything, as sin entered the world and death through Sin started ruling man through the sinful nature or flesh. “Those who live according to the sinful nature have their minds set on what that nature desires; … The mind of sinful man is death … the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so. Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.” (Rom. 8: 5-8) Flesh or the sinful nature is the center of all the fleshly desires, all the negative thinking, destructive ideas and everything that man thinks and does against himself and God. Subsequently food which was meant for sustenance became in a way the purpose of living. People no longer eat to live but live to eat. Natural appetite has taken the form of lust. (Lust is unrestrained appetite).We find people all around who have given themselves to eating and their bodies prove it. The varieties and the junk food available in the market make it appealing and easy to indulge. This is true not only for eating but in every area of human activity.

 

Both eating and fasting are related to our physical body. Just to find out how the body reacts, simply announce a fast. Immediately you’ll feel the cry and the protests the body makes. There will be a very strong craving for food and you’ll get every possible signal indicating you’ll never succeed in fasting. This is simply the flesh shouting for food and the demand it makes is very strong, at times irresistible. Fasting or deciding to fast is not as simple as it looks. It has strings attached to the flesh. It requires more than just the willingness; it needs the passion to excel in spirit and determination to discipline the fleshly demands. To understand the issues involved in fasting we need to dig deeper into the habit of eating.

 

Issues with eating:

 

Everybody needs to eat, we understand that and we like eating. As time goes by we tend to develop different habits which remain with us for life. Some habits are good, like regular uninterrupted personal devotion and some habits are bad. What do we mean by bad habits? By these we mean the actions which cannot be done openly and we feel shame and guilt but still like to do it. We know our behavior is contrary to the Word and unable to please the Lord. This may be true in our eating also. There are people who knowingly eat too much and have no control over either the quantity or the quality. They eat because they feel like eating. There comes a time when they are helpless, become like slaves of food and simply live to eat. How can a person become so helpless that he completely loses control over his appetite? He definitely understands the situation, knows what is better for his physical health and can make a choice on what and how much to eat. They simply have given themselves to food and have no choice of their own. It appears as if somebody else is in control.

 

There was a king a long time back. He liked eating, so much so that he could continue eating day and night. His body grew heavier and there came a time he could no longer walk. He was provided with all the choice food in the world, enjoyed his meals and remained at the table all the time. As the story goes, the king’s younger brother put him in prison. He was simply put in a room with all the food of his choice, servants were appointed to bring in the supplies. The door in the room was kept open for the people to come in and go out. There was no guard at the door. The king could free himself from the prison room any time he decided. But he could not do so as the door was smaller in size than that of his body. He could easily make himself free by eating rightly to bring his body in shape. The moment the king could make such a decision, he was going to release himself! But he had become a slave to food.

 

How can somebody become a slave to food? There is a principle that works in every area of human life. “…for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him.”(2Pet. 2: 19b) “Don’t you know that when you offer yourselves to someone to obey him as slaves, you are slaves to the one whom you obey – whether you are slaves to sin, which leads to death or to obedience, which leads to righteousness?” (Rom. 6:16) Man may become a slave to a habit, a desire, and lusts or a person or entity as long as he chooses to obey. In the long run we develop likes and dislikes. Our likes if unbridled may lead us to slavery. There is a very fine line between our likes and the slavery it brings. It is very subtle also, very easily the line is crossed over and by the time the mistake is realized it is too late to make a comeback. The cords are too strong to be broken loose. How are people trapped?

 

Evil spirits’ involvement:

 

What I am going to share now may be shocking to many. We must be careful in examining the facts and accept them if they sound true. The truth will make us free. Satan after deceiving Adam and Eve was brought under judgment. ‘So the Lord God said to the serpent, “Because you have done this, “Cursed are you above all the livestock and all the wild animals! You will crawl on your belly and you will eat dust all the days of your life.” (Gen. 3:14) Life before the fall always fascinates me. All the creatures living together in harmony were able to communicate with each other! Before the curse serpents might have been walking upright and eating leaves and branches like all other animals. The curse made them crawl and dust was pronounced as their food. But the serpents of today eat rats and other insects or animals. What then is the dust and dust eating serpent? The serpent involved in deceiving Eve and Adam through herwas Satan working as a serpent. He was the devil, the boss of the evil spirits. Evil spirits have no bodies; they lack a physical form and appearance. “…a spirit does not have flesh and bones…” (Luke 24:39b) They are very desperately looking for a body to share and are content even with a pig’s. Sharing a human body is on their priority and they will do everything possible to possess one.“When an evil spirit comes out of a man (after hearing the Gospel and believing in Jesus half-heartedly), it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house unoccupied, swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that man is worse than the first….” (Matt. 12: 43 – 45) Jesus explained the behavior of evil spirits and how an indecisive person puts himself in danger of their possession.

 

Man was formed from the dust of the ground, “the Lord God formed the man from the dust of the ground and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.” (Gen. 2: 7) The physical being of man was formed from the dust. The flesh is full of fleshly desires which tend to express themselves in lustful actions. Man’s sensuality is very much identical with the things evil spirits look for. After taking possession of a human body they start manipulating the person’s sensuality and using the body to satisfy their own evil hunger and thirst. For the person it is impossible to take control of his life, he continues serving the commanding spirit as a slave with no choice of his own. This is evident in many peoples’ lives where they make themselves captive to a habit.

 

So eating dust for the serpent is an evil spirit possessing a human body and using the person to fulfill its own lustful desires. It may be true from watching TV to drinking, from eating to smoking, from telling lies to stealing, staring at a pretty girl to being taken up by adultery, every kind of perverted sex and an unlimited lusting for more. Lusts are hardly ever satisfied and evil spirits are never.

 

An evil spirit cannot possess a born again Christian but the danger is that a born again Christian by his or her (hidden) bad habits is providing open opportunity to the evil spirits to at least have a foothold in their lives. This may not last long but definitely is an invitation for trouble.

 

Fasting as a strategy:

 

Eating and food are God ordained and essential for survival. The problem is it not only involves our person, it also involves the evil spirits. As eating is essential for our physical life, so is fasting both for our physical and spiritual life. By years of continued eating we not only get the required ingredients for our body; we also accumulate harmful toxins in it. Abstaining from food for a period of time but taking a lot of plain water helps us get rid of the toxins and the body is refreshed. But there are other more significant reasons for which fasting was commanded and practiced. We find fasting both in the Old Testament and the New Testaments used widely for different purposes. The Law of Moses commands the Israelites to observe fasting as self-denial on the Day of Atonement as a lasting ordinance.

 

Fasting in Old Testament:

 

In the Law of Moses there is no direct command to fast but there is a very special occasion when the people are commanded to deny themselves; indirectly meaning to fast. The Lord was giving various laws to Israel through Moses and this special ordinance was given for the ‘Day of Atonement’: “This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves (or fast) and not do any work – whether native born or alien living among you – because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. Then before the Lord, you will be clean from all your sins. It is a Sabbath of rest, and you must deny yourselves (or fast); it is a lasting ordinance.” (Lev. 16: 29 – 31) As self-denial fasting was to be observed by Israel on the Day of Atonement as a lasting ordinance.

 

There are varied incidents and occasions in the OT when fasting was observed.

 

• Moses fasted 40 days on behalf of Israel’s sin: Deut. 9:9, 18, 25-29; 10:10.
• David fasted and mourned the death of Saul: 2 Samuel 1:12,
• David fasted and mourned the death of Abner: 2 Samuel 3:35,
• David fasted and mourned the death of his child: 2 Samuel 12:6,
• Elijah fasted for 40 days after fleeing from Jezebel: 1 Kings 19:7 -18,
• Ahab fasted and humbled himself before God: 1Kings 21:27 -29,
• Darius fasted in concern for Daniel: Daniel 6:18-24,
• Daniel fasted on behalf of Judah’s sin while reading Jeremiah’s prophecy: Daniel 9: 1-19,
• Daniel fasted regarding a mysterious vision from God: Daniel 10: 3-13,
• Esther fasted on behalf of her people: Esther 4:13-16,
• Ezra fasted and wept for the sins of the returning remnant: Ezra 10: 6-16,
• Nehemiah fasted and mourned over the broken walls of Jerusalem: Neh. 1:4 -2:10,
• The people of Nineveh fasted after hearing the message of Jonah: Jonah 3.

 

Of all the fasting listed above mostly are observed for gaining God’s favor, mourning, self-denial, repentance and spiritual guidance.

 

Fasting in New Testament:

 

In Old Testament times God was dealing with Israel and the nations around them. His people were given the Law and God spoke through the prophets. There was a serpent in the Garden, Satan was there in the story of Job and an evil spirit troubled King Saul. We do not read of Satan’s workings apart from these incidents. Israel was engaged in warfare but that was either with the Philistines who troubled Israel or with their own people who had rebelled. And they used physical, manmade weapons. They had never encountered warfare against the powers of darkness. The reason is that Satan had kept the whole human race in captivity. Time passed by year after year and then the time for direct encounter, face to face fight arrived. With Jesus’ coming the kingdom of darkness was in trouble. Although he was entitled the ‘prince of this world’, the King of Kings and the Lord of Lords’ had arrived fulfilling Isaiah’s prophecy. Jesus’ ministry was to establish and restore everything in every minute detail that was lost in Eden. With Jesus’ coming the trumpet was sounded, the warfare begun, the fiercest of its kind but unseen using spiritual weapons. “For though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does. The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world. On the contrary, they have divine power to demolish strongholds.” (2 Cor. 10:4).It was going to be a spiritual warfare, using weapons with divine power.

 

As with the law and statutes so also with fasting, everything had become a matter of social status and had lost its spiritual value. The Jews lived in total hypocrisy and every ritual they performed was just for a show. Every commandment had lost its meaning and Jesus had to preach their real application. Although the Jews felt proud of fasting twice a week, they used it to gain social respect and made it obvious for the people to know they were fasting. Jesus had to correct them and ask them to bring a change in their attitude. He said, “When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting.” (Matt. 6:16) Fasting had become a superficial means to gain public attention, losing its sharpness as an effective weapon against the lusts of the flesh. Jesus never commanded the disciples to fast but He realized its importance in spiritual warfare and after baptism and receiving the Holy Spirit, He fasted for forty days and forty nights to prepare Himself for the ministry.

 

Why is fasting so important? Eating is associated with the flesh. When Eve was deceived, there were three basic reasons for her failure. After she was fully enticed by the serpent’s offer, the fruit was appealing to all the three areas of man’s vulnerability. “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.”(Gen. 3:6) The three basic areas of temptation are the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. The forbidden fruit was appealing to all the three areas and the woman yielded. The lust of the flesh actually is dominant in all the three. Strong flesh dominates the other two areas of temptation. Weak flesh helps the spirit to be strong and the two elements do not have a dominating pull. One act of fasting helps get victory over the remaining two. This is evident in Jesus’ temptation. After the fast the tempter came. Like Eve Jesus’ temptation also centered in the same three areas: the Lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes and the pride of life. After forty days of fasting Jesus was able to use the Word as sword of the Spirit. The flesh was helpless and the spirit was willing and stronger!

 

Apart from the extended fasting of Jesus and resulting victory over temptation, there are other occasions and reasons where fasting was strategically used.

 

• Anna fasted for the redemption of Jerusalem through the coming Messiah: Luke 2:37,
• The disciples of John the Baptist fasted: Matt. 4:1-11,
• The elders in Antioch fasted before sending off Paul and Barnabas: Acts 13: 1-5,
• Cornelius fasted and sought God’s plan of salvation: Acts 10:30,
• Paul fasted three day fast after his Damascus Road encounter: Acts 9:9,
• Paul fasted 14 days while at sea on a sinking ship: Acts 27: 33-34.

 

Fasting as a spiritual weapon:

 

At one point during Jesus’ ministry there was a boy suffering greatly with seizures. The father of the boy had requested the disciples but they could not heal him. The father brought the boy to Jesus and requested Him for healing. “Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed from that moment”. (Matt. 17: 18) Please read the whole story from Matt 17: 14 – 21. Perplexed the disciples wanted to know why they were unable to heal the boy. Of course it was due to their lack of faith but there was another element also associated with it. At the end Jesus added, “But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” (Matt. 17:21)

 

As a church we are engaged in warfare and we cannot close our eyes to this fact. Actually the advancement of God’s kingdom is at stake. The salvation of the nations is at stake. Powers of darkness have their own strategic planning, to use human weaknesses to make them captives. We are given the keys of the Kingdom of heaven, we are sent by Jesus as He was sent by the Father. We have the Holy Spirit and need to move in His power. We need to recognize the enemy and set the captives free. We need to exercise prayer and fasting to encounter the enemy. We need to get rid of the flesh in our own lives and use the weapon against the enemy.

 

Practicality of fasting:

 

Personally I have successfully completed 12 days fast (no eating but drinking enough water). I started with a 3 days (and nights) fast with spending sufficient time in prayer. The purpose was to have fellowship with the Lord in prayer and receiving clarity in thinking. The time was full of blessings. Being encouraged I decided to go for seven days. This time also no food but drinking a lot of water. Then for ten days and lastly for twelve days. Every time it was a time full of blessings and experiencing a very close fellowship with the Lord. Studying the Word and meditating them brought in deeper meanings and insight. The Holy Spirit brought in revelations which no Bible College would teach; the fresh presence of the Lord and have been amazing. The confusion in my mind and the ever winding uninvited tunneling went. Spending the time with the Lord has been so fruitful ever since.

 

Fasting also needs to be taken seriously. I remember during one of my times of fasting I was not able to spend much time in prayer. Actually I was going to the office in a normal way and doing all my normal work. I think it was a ten day fast. At the end although I had the clarity in my mind, I felt an unusual hardness in my heart. I was not so sensitive to the Holy Spirit and my understanding of the Word was blurred. It took me some time to recover and be restored. I learnt a lesson: never ever I would take up a fast without spending time with the Lord in prayer and studying the Word.

 

Negative Effect:

 

Fasting is observed by devout people in every religion. They take up a fast on a special day prescribed by their priests. Mohamedans observe one month’s fast during Ramadan. All this fasting has one purpose: to accumulate points for self-righteousness. All such fasting has negative effects on the person. They usually get their hearts hardened towards the True and Living God and bring an increase in the activities or workings of the powers of darkness. Jesus’ fasting or abstaining from food helped Him overcome the enemy, whereas each and every person observing fasts apart from fellowshipping with Jesus moves closer to the enemy.

 

Fasting helps a born again person in self-denial, overcoming the lusts of the flesh and making a choice according to God’s will. Fasting is used both in the Old and New Testament times for spiritual enrichment, effective intercession and experiencing victory. It is as important to hold a fast today as it was then.

 

Fasting makes the flesh weak. Meditating on the scriptures helps our spirit to rule and influence our will to make decisions accordingly. This is a means to help man be spiritually minded, dwell on the temporality of the world and everything in it, have a heavenly vision, think of eternity and live here for that.

 

Fasting can easily be done for 40 days, but there are some practical things to think about. It is not something by which we earn righteousness. It simply helps man in getting victory over things of the flesh and growing in the things of God.

 

• It is better to prepare for a fast, start decreasing the food intake gradually, at the end have an apple.
• Have a separate place where you are not disturbed
• Start with one evening fast and increase the duration gradually

• Spend time in prayer and reading of scriptures, remember fasting may have positive as well as negative effect on a person.
• Drink a lot of water but stay away from tea and coffee
• Do not be bothered by the bad smell as it will happen, the body is getting rid of all the poisons.
• Refrain from physical relations during a fast, live in sincerity and honesty.
• Take note of any revelation or new thoughts God is showing or coming to your mind.
• Never attempt to read dirty literature or watch vulgar programs on TV.
• Never try to gain public attention by your fast.

 

Fasting if used wisely and properly will help you come closer to God; on the other hand it may bring damage to your inner man which is very tragic.