Project Description

“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

Jesus began teach his disciples one day with “And when you fast…” (Matthew 6:16). His first words raise a basic question: When should you fast? Every other Monday? When your friends do? When you feel bored? No, fasting isn’t a spiritual whimsy; it’s a spiritual discipline, and the Bible gives some clear outlines to the practice. Isaiah 58 could have some different applications, but one of them different scenarios to fast for:

TO LOOSE THE BONDS OF WICKEDNESS: So when you are caught in a sinful pattern…fast. Fasting opens your heart to God to show you how you are being held captive by your behavior or how you are out of control. Fasting not only reveals sinful patterns but it helps you break the pattern.

SETS THE OPPRESSED FREE: Do you have a heavy burden that you have been carrying for a long time? Then fast. For example, maybe skip a lunch for a week or one day a week according to your health. Don’t just not eat, give the time you would have spent eating to prayer. Let the gnawing hunger pains heighten your hunger for God. Each time you feel your stomach growl, say “God I want you more than I want food.”

BREAK EVERY YOKE or UNTIE THE YOKE: Do you feel burdened for someone who is not walking with God? Maybe you have been praying consistently for them, add fasting. Ask God to remove the yokes of sin and that their darkness of soul would turn to light.

TO SHARE YOUR FOOD WITH THE HUNGRY AND PROVIDE THE POOR WANDERER WITH SHELTER: Another kind of fasting is going without to meet another’s needs.  When we share our bread, homes, clothes, and blankets—not the extra items we don’t need or want anymore, but the stuff we consider ours—that’s a form of fasting pleasing to God. Fasting teaches us how to be generous not only with the surplus God provides, but also with the principal God provides.

Look what God’s word says will happen … “Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say: Here am I.” When our hunger for God is elevated, the stuff keeping us from sensing His presence will be removed, and we will hear God.

The remainder of Isaiah 58 gives others reasons to fast…when you need wisdom or direction, fast for His Guidance. When you need to be spiritually restored, He will bring restoration…God offers water to our scorched souls, and others.

There are many different kinds of fasts: food fasts, media fasts, dessert fasts. The point is not what you fast, but that you make the fast about seeking God. Turn your focus during your fast to God and you will see Him drawing near to you.

We began by asking, “When should you fast?” Let’s make that question more personal. When should you fast? Pick a time of prayer and fasting this week, go back over this rich passage from Isaiah 58. What do these verses mean, and what does God promise in regard to fasting?

PRAY TODAY

  • Lord God, when should I fast? Help me to hear Your answer to that question. How do You want me to apply what I am reading and learning? Fasting heightens my hunger for You. Lord, please restore and renew my heart for You.

  • Pray that God would put a hedge of protection over our Church family. That He would push the enemy back as we fast and pray for those that need the gospel message this Easter. Pray that He would draw the lost to Himself and that they would place their faith in Him.

  • Pray that people would be freed from addictions and bondage, burdens lightened and the sick healed.