There has been a lot of question about fasting and a lot of ways that has been said about fasting for Christians. There is only one way which is not eating and not drinking, there is no Daniel way of fasting which is for example a week without eating steak only. In passages below we will learn more about fasting.
Zechariah 7:5-6
5 “Say to all the people of the land and to the priests, ‘When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months [a]these seventy years, was it actually for Me that you fasted? 6 When you eat and drink, [a]do you not eat for yourselves and do you not drink for yourselves?
God asks whether are we doing the right way of fasting, whether we are directing the fasting in the right direction, are we using fasting for the right reasons?
Joel 2:12-13
12 “Even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning.”13 Rend your heart
and not your garments. Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and compassionate, slow to anger and abounding in love and he relents from sending calamity.
Fasting is indicated being similar to regret, to wish that God can take away all the sins that we have done, to purify ourselves from the lust and all the deadly sins that we have done over and over again. God is gracious, He forgave our sins, He will always be there waiting with His warm love.
Judges 20:26
26 Then all the Israelites, the whole army, went up to Bethel, and there they sat weeping before the LORD. They fasted that day until evening and presented burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the LORD.
So when is the right time to fast? When is the proper time? The key word is that day until evening means that after we ate our dinner, we don’t eat anything or drink anything until tomorrow evening. That is the proper way and time to fast.
Ezra 8:23
23 So we fasted and sought our God concerning this matter, and He [a]listened to our entreaty.
Matthew 4:1-4
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted[a] by the devil. 2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. 3The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” 4 Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’[b]”
This two verse complete the answer of why we should fast. When we weakened ourselves and we left all of our lust and wants and needs behind for God, He listens, He answers. We should not live off of our needs and wants like money and all of the bling of the world. We live by His words.
This is a summary from Handoyo Santoso service from Gereja Kemah Tabernakel – 26th February 2012
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