A question that must be answered is, "why should i fast?" That is a good and legitimate question because why should I suffer if it's not necessary, right?
- Jesus warns us about the dangers of living in a society such as ours. In Luke 21:34 he said, "Be careful, or your hearts
will be weighed down with dissipation, drunkenness and the anxieties of life, and that day will close on you unexpectedly
like a trap." He was speaking to the church. What was he warning them about? Dissipation. Surfeiting. Eating and drinking
more and more and more.
Dissipation - to indulge in extravagant, intemperate, or dissolute pleasure
Fasting can be used as a regular practice to keep our lives in check from overindulging in our culture. Why should we fast? Remember, one of the major problems in our country is that we have such an abundance of everything. We are an indulged society. A regular regime on fasting can help you stay focused on your dependence on God and less on the fact that we really aren't in need of anything. You may be proud of yourself right now because you are very health conscious and go to the gym three times a week. Don't stop with this whole idea of over-indulgence with food alone. In our present day culture there are so many other things that we overindulge ourselves in like: media and entertainment, materialism, laziness, etc... So, as we think about starving our lives of those things that weight us down with "dissipation" lets add these other things and begin to fast from those things as well.
• Fasting is an act of humility before God, undertaken in part to seek His divine intervention in the events of our physical world.
• It is the example of Christ, the prophets, and the apostles.
• It provides more time to pray, seek God’s face, and repent because we are more focused on the Lord and less concerned
with daily routines such as preparing meals and eating, being entertained or just being lazy.
• It brings revelation by the Holy Spirit of our true spiritual condition, leading to brokenness, repentance, and change, and
allows the Holy Spirit to work in a most unusual, powerful way.
• It helps us concentrate on the Word of God to make it more meaningful, vital, and practical in our lives.
• It transforms prayer into a richer, more personal experience.
• It can help us regain a strong sense of spiritual determination and restore the loss of our first love for our Lord.
• Fasting is private in nature, in that Christians do not use it to been seen, but to follow the example of Christ (Matt 6:16-18).
Even though were not expounding on each of these, they do give us a clear picture on some of the why's for fasting. Could you imagine the personal and corporate revival that may happen if we all began to fast and pray. My prayer is that we do. That we humble ourselves and just trust the promises of God and see Him begin to work in our lives and our community.
Fasting can be used as a regular practice to keep our lives in check from overindulging in our culture. Why should we fast? Remember, one of the major problems in our country is that we have such an abundance of everything. We are an indulged society. A regular regime on fasting can help you stay focused on your dependence on God and less on the fact that we really aren't in need of anything. You may be proud of yourself right now because you are very health conscious and go to the gym three times a week. Don't stop with this whole idea of over-indulgence with food alone. In our present day culture there are so many other things that we overindulge ourselves in like: media and entertainment, materialism, laziness, etc... So, as we think about starving our lives of those things that weight us down with "dissipation" lets add these other things and begin to fast from those things as well.
• Fasting is an act of humility before God, undertaken in part to seek His divine intervention in the events of our physical world.
• It is the example of Christ, the prophets, and the apostles.
• It provides more time to pray, seek God’s face, and repent because we are more focused on the Lord and less concerned
with daily routines such as preparing meals and eating, being entertained or just being lazy.
• It brings revelation by the Holy Spirit of our true spiritual condition, leading to brokenness, repentance, and change, and
allows the Holy Spirit to work in a most unusual, powerful way.
• It helps us concentrate on the Word of God to make it more meaningful, vital, and practical in our lives.
• It transforms prayer into a richer, more personal experience.
• It can help us regain a strong sense of spiritual determination and restore the loss of our first love for our Lord.
• Fasting is private in nature, in that Christians do not use it to been seen, but to follow the example of Christ (Matt 6:16-18).
Even though were not expounding on each of these, they do give us a clear picture on some of the why's for fasting. Could you imagine the personal and corporate revival that may happen if we all began to fast and pray. My prayer is that we do. That we humble ourselves and just trust the promises of God and see Him begin to work in our lives and our community.
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