Power Point - October 7, 2005

October 7, 2005

Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness,

For they shall be filled.

                                                          --Matthew 5:6

Many people today have lost sight of the spiritual discipline of fasting. It is not a matter of law or command in Scripture—except on the Day of Atonement for the Jewish people—but, everywhere else it is commended. Throughout the ages in the church, fasting has been considered a dynamic experience that releases the power of God in His church, the community, and the lives of individual believers.

In America particularly, we know a great deal about feasting, but not a lot about fasting. We all like food and that’s okay, because God has made us with a desire for food. In Genesis 9:3 even says, “Every moving thing that lives shall be food for you, even as the green herbs that I’ve given to you in all things.” God has chosen to nourish us with a variety of good foods, and usually when we eat it’s often a time of fellowship with family and friends.

Food can also be abused. In our day, so many people live to eat rather than eat to live. Even in the day of Christ, the Greeks and Romans loved to feast. One Roman wrote, “Intent on stuffing themselves, they follow their noses and shrieking women’s voices to the kitchen and like a flock of starving and screeching peacocks, they stand on the tips of their toes, biting their fingernails, waiting for the food to cool.” Does that sound like a fast food restaurant to you?

And so, fasting is a discipline that many believers have dismissed for another time, place, and generation. The Bible never prescribes fasting for philosophical or physical reasons. Instead, it is to be a time to abstain from food or any other kind of physical pleasure that is normally good and God-given in order to focus our attention on Him. Over the next few days, I’d like to dig deeper into this spiritual discipline. Pray that God would open your heart and mind to what fasting really is according to His Word and how you can participate in fasting His way.

FASTING IS FINDING OUR FULFILLMENT AND SATISFACTION IN SPIRITUAL GROWTH AND FOCUSING ON THE THINGS OF GOD.