The Normal Christian Life: Fasting

Calendars

About 24 years ago I lost the job I had in California.  It was a good job that paid well but I had accumulated some debt and an expensive car lease.  Some may recall that 1990-91 was a period of a recession in the economy and good paying jobs were not easy to locate.   Around that time some cousins came to visit from Massachusetts and encouraged me to move back there. Without much to tie me to Southern California I agreed.  Still finding work was very challenging and what little money I had left was dwindling fast.  The jobs I was able to find paid poorly and nowhere near what I had been used to or needed for bills.  I was getting behind on payments and trying to avoid the inevitable calls.   I began to dread the calendar.  Each day was another one when something could come due or other items would be even later.  Some days led to events where spending money was implicitly expected as in birthdays and Christmas with family and I was too embarrassed to avoid them.

It took me close to 5 years of work to stop hating the calendar and to begin feeling like the calendar was my friend. 

God created time, days, weeks, months, years, as points for renewal.  No matter how bad a day is, I can sleep on it, and discover a new energy, a new idea, a new point of view in the morning.   I can start a new habit on Monday, stumble by Wednesday and reset again the next week.    The same is true with months and years.   

How has 2014 been for you?   Has it turned out the way that you thought back in January?  

Many of us, see January 1 as a new beginning.  A chance to do things differently. How do you want 2015 to go? How will the next year be different?

·       Will there be change or will it merely be a continuation of this year?

·       Will we lose weight and get healthier? 

·       Will there be a change of job?

·       Will there be a move?

·       Will there be new friends?

·       Will there be loss?

I have an idea for a new start for each of us in the New Year.

Close to God

There are some Christians who want salvation and eternal life but hope for little more from God than that. 

And yet, God so loves us so much that He gave His only Son to die for each of us.

He is seeking something more for us than just a “ticket to the game”.  He is seeking a deep and powerful relationship full of passion and dedication.

As the deer longs for streams of water, so I long for You, O God. I thirst for God, the living God. When can I go and stand before Him?  (Psa 42:1-2)

God has plans for us

'For I know the plans that I have for you,' declares the LORD, 'plans for welfare and not for calamity to give you a future and a hope.  (Jer 29:11)

Commands

When God gave Moses the law, there were 635 principle laws not just the 10 commandments.   Jesus’ sacrifice of His life for us freed us from the requirements of the law.  He taught us that whoever believes in Him would receive eternal life.  We no longer live under a book of regulations but of relationship with the living God.  There are very few commands in the Christian life. Love God with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and your neighbor as yourself.

However there are common practices and culture of the Christian family from the beginning.  Immediately after Peter’s first sermon the people of God responded.

So then, those who had received his word were baptized; and that day there were added about three thousand souls. They were continually devoting themselves to the apostles' teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Act 2:41-42)

I call these things THE NORMAL CHRISTIAN LIFE

·       Baptizing

·       Gathering together

·       Worshipping God

·       Praying

·       Studying God’s Word

·       Serving

·       Giving

One common practice of God’s people, including Jesus, is Fasting.

 

Fasting – Abstaining (Work, Food, etc)

There are many reasons to fast. Here are a few examples of those reasons.

Obedience – Rest – “Atonement”

"This shall be a permanent statute for you: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall humble your souls and not do any work, whether the native, or the alien who sojourns among you; for it is on this day that atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you; you will be clean from all your sins before the LORD. "It is to be a Sabbath of solemn rest for you, that you may humble your souls; it is a permanent statute. (Lev 16:29-31)

Repentance

Then Samuel spoke to all the house of Israel, saying, "If you return to the LORD with all your heart, remove the foreign gods and the Ashtaroth from among you and direct your hearts to the LORD and serve Him alone; and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines." So the sons of Israel removed the Baals and the Ashtaroth and served the LORD alone. Then Samuel said, "Gather all Israel to Mizpah and I will pray to the LORD for you." They gathered to Mizpah, and drew water and poured it out before the LORD, and fasted on that day and said there, "We have sinned against the LORD." And Samuel judged the sons of Israel at Mizpah. (1Sa 7:3-6)

"Yet even now," declares the LORD, "Return to Me with all your heart, And with fasting, weeping and mourning; And rend your heart and not your garments." Now return to the LORD your God, For He is gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness And relenting of evil.  (Joe 2:12-13)

Expectancy

Anna, a prophet, was also there in the Temple. She was the daughter of Phanuel from the tribe of Asher, and she was very old. Her husband died when they had been married only seven years. Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer. She came along just as Simeon was talking with Mary and Joseph, and she began praising God. She talked about the child to everyone who had been waiting expectantly for God to rescue Jerusalem.  (Luk 2:36-38)

Preparation

Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted there by the devil. For forty days and forty nights He fasted and became very hungry. (Matt 4:1-2)

Guidance

Among the prophets and teachers of the church at Antioch of Syria were Barnabas, Simeon (called "the black man"), Lucius (from Cyrene), Manaen (the childhood companion of King Herod Antipas), and Saul. One day as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Dedicate Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them." So after more fasting and prayer, the men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way.  (Act 13:1-3)

Purity - Daniel’s Fast

But Daniel made up his mind that he would not defile himself with the king's choice food or with the wine which he drank; so he sought permission from the commander of the officials that he might not defile himself. Now God granted Daniel favor and compassion in the sight of the commander of the officials, and the commander of the officials said to Daniel, "I am afraid of my lord the king, who has appointed your food and your drink; for why should he see your faces looking more haggard than the youths who are your own age? Then you would make me forfeit my head to the king." But Daniel said to the overseer whom the commander of the officials had appointed over Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah, "Please test your servants for ten days, and let us be given some vegetables to eat and water to drink. "Then let our appearance be observed in your presence and the appearance of the youths who are eating the king's choice food; and deal with your servants according to what you see." So he listened to them in this matter and tested them for ten days. At the end of ten days their appearance seemed better and they were fatter than all the youths who had been eating the king's choice food. So the overseer continued to withhold their choice food and the wine they were to drink, and kept giving them vegetables. As for these four youths, God gave them knowledge and intelligence in every branch of literature and wisdom; Daniel even understood all kinds of visions and dreams. Then at the end of the days which the king had specified for presenting them, the commander of the officials presented them before Nebuchadnezzar. The king talked with them, and out of them all not one was found like Daniel, Hananiah, Mishael and Azariah; so they entered the king's personal service. As for every matter of wisdom and understanding about which the king consulted them, he found them ten times better than all the magicians and conjurers who were in all his realm. (Dan 1:8-20)

Warning – “Don’t show off”

"Whenever you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. "But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face so that your fasting will not be noticed by men, but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees what is done in secret will reward you. (Mat 6:16-18)

Jesus assumed that His followers would fast.

God First

"But seek first His kingdom and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you. (Mat 6:33)

Most of us are familiar with this verse but tend to focus on the second half more than the first.  This is a conditional verse.  We may wonder why God doesn’t provide exactly what we ask but we may not have been doing our part.  We don’t like to view God that way.  Yes our eternal life is a free gift of God so that no one can boast in their accomplishments.  However, our relationship with God from that point does have a certain conditionality.  Jesus didn’t say “just go about your business, doing whatever you want and God will just bless you in everything you do.”  He said, “Seek God first..and all of these things will be added to you.”

Fasting is like that with God.  We are not commanded to fast but in the history of God’s people they did fast when they were really serious about God, about needing Him, about repenting from Sin, about purifying themselves, about seeking guidance.    Fasting is a statement to God that we are really serious about this and we want to be serious with Him. 

Fasting, like many other activities of putting God First, comes with many benefits.  My experience with fasting lead to a clarity of mind, a purity of mind, a sensitivity to what God is doing, scripture became even more alive to me and, finally, greater discipline and control over my appetites.  I lost weight because I no longer obsessed about food.  God’s Spirit strengthened me as I honored Him. 

There were challenges and I found myself falling off from my fasting plan but this also showed me even more about God’s grace.  I got up and picked up where I left off. 

How then should we live?

Most who know me know that I have done a 40 day fast, in the model of Daniel, for the last two election cycles.  However, there are some in body of Christ who have suggested that in the theme of “God First” perhaps we should consider giving the first day or week or few weeks of each New Year to God in this way. 

Many of us, see January 1 as a new beginning.  A chance to do things differently. How do you want 2015 to go? How will the next year be different?

·       Will we put God first in our lives?

·       Will we repent of putting ourselves first as we did last year?

·       Will we seek God’s guidance and plans for us?

·       Will we desire His presence as a deer pants for water?

In my life as a Christian I have heard very few messages about fasting.  Perhaps because it can be very difficult and it is not commanded and it is generally very private.  As a theme in the Bible it does not even receive very much teaching.  Most references are brief. Nevertheless there is evidence in the Word that this was a common practice by the people of God.  IT WAS NORMAL.

 

It was part of the normal Christian life.

Would you consider starting your year with a fast? Whether it is food or work or social media or other media, would you dedicate it to a new relationship with the God who loves you and gave His Son’s life for you? 

Could you use a fresh start of the year with God, with purity, with clarity of thought and purpose, with renewed physical and spiritual health?