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When You Fast Message 02 of 05
Examining Our Hearts Through Fasting - Part 2
Pastor Anthony King· November 20, 2022
Deuteronomy 8:2-3
“And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live.”
Deuteronomy 8:2-3
The series
A Study of Biblical Fasting
Spiritual fasting entails reducing the intake of food and replacing these activities with the exercise of prayer and preoccupation with spiritual concerns.
Biblical fasting always deals with food. The Greek word which is translated “fasting” literally means one who has not eaten, one who is empty, one who is hungry.
Three Types of Fasts
Normal: no intake of food for a prescribed period of time, though there may be an intake of liquids;
Partial: diet is limited, though some food is allowed; ILL: Daniel Fast
Absolute: a total abstinence from food and liquids in all forms.
Supernatural Absolute: No food or liquid for an extended period of time.
Moses…Twice
When I was gone up into the mount to receive the tables of stone, even the tables of the covenant which the LORD made with you, then I abode in the mount forty days and forty nights, I neither did eat bread nor drink water:Deuteronomy 9:9
And I fell down before the LORD, as at the first, forty days and forty nights: I did neither eat bread, nor drink water, because of all your sins which ye sinned, in doing wickedly in the sight of the LORD, to provoke him to anger.Deuteronomy 9:18
Elijah
And he arose, and did eat and drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights unto Horeb the mount of God.1 Kings 19:8
Jesus
And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.Matthew 4:2
The first step for any kind of fast is to declare our immediate purpose.
Fasting and prayer is not trying to get your way with God.
Fasting is a way for God to get what He wants from me and it’s a time for me to get on God’s side.
Fasting is a matter of proving.
It’s proof and a reminder that we are completely dependent on God.
It’s proof that we trust in God, not in the stuff that God gives.
Fasting is a time of reflection.
Fasting lays bare the condition of our heart.
Fasting helps us answer the questions…”What does our heart truly desire? What are we slaves to?”
Fasting is a matter of growing.
“That He might make thee to know…” “That His Word is life-sustaining…”
We don’t fast to get God to change something. We fast so that we are changed and come into a greater level of faith.
Fasting is more about replacing than it is about abstaining.
“More than any other discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us. This is a wonderful benefit to the true disciple who longs to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. We cover up what is inside of us with food and other things.”
2And thou shalt remember all the way which the LORD thy God led thee these forty years in the wilderness, to humble thee, and to prove thee, to know what was in thine heart, whether thou wouldest keep his commandments, or no. 3And he humbled thee, and suffered thee to hunger, and fed thee with manna, which thou knewest not, neither did thy fathers know; that he might make thee know that man doth not live by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of the LORD doth man live. Deuteronomy 8:2-3
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