Releasing God's Power Through Fasting
By Bill Bright
A discussion on prayer would not be complete without including a subject that is an important companion to prayer in the Bible: fasting.
Combining fasting with prayer can result in a spiritual atomic bomb that pulls down spiritual strongholds and releases the power of God in your life and the life of your church, its pastor, its leaders, and its members.
Down through the centuries, godly people who have done mighty things for the Lord have testified to the necessity of prayer with fasting. John Wesley, who shook the world for God during the Great Awakening, which gave rise to the Methodist Church toward the end of the eighteenth century, is representative of such great spiritual leaders.
John Wesley so believed in this power that he urged early Methodists to fast and pray every Wednesday and Friday. He felt so strongly about fasting those two days a week that he refused to ordain anyone in Methodism who wouldn't agree to do it.
The roll call of other great Christian leaders who determined to make prayer with fasting a part of their lives reads like a hall of fame: Martin Luther, John Calvin, John Knox, Jonathan Edwards, Matthew Henry, Charles Finney, Andrew Murray, D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, and many more.
Why were they so convinced of the need for fasting and prayer? And how does fasting cause the fire of God to fall upon the life of the individual and the Church?
OUR NEED TO FAST
The writings of Scripture, the church fathers, and many Christian leaders of today offer several biblical insights into the spiritual need for fasting:
- IT IS A BIBLICAL WAY TO TRULY HUMBLE ONESELF IN THE SIGHT OF GOD (PS. 35:13;EZRA 8:21).
- IT BRINGS REVELATION BY THE HOLY SPIRIT OF A PERSON'S TRUE SPIRITUAL CONDITION, RESULTING IN BROKENNESS, REPENTANCE, AND CHANGE.
- IT IS A CRUCIAL MEANS FOR PERSONAL REVIVAL BECAUSE IT BRINGS THE INNER WORKINGS OF THE HOLY SPIRIT INTO PLAY IN A MOST UNUSUAL, POWERFUL WAY.
- IT HELPS US BETTER UNDERSTAND THE WORD OF GOD BY MAKING IT MORE MEANINGFUL, VITAL, AND PRACTICAL.
- IT TRANSFORMS PRAYER INTO A RICHER AND MORE PERSONAL EXPERIENCE.
- IT CAN RESULT IN DYNAMIC PERSONAL REVIVAL--BEING FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT AND REGAINING A STRONG SENSE OF SPIRITUAL DETERMINATION.
- IT CAN RESTORE THE LOSS OF ONE'S FIRST LOVE FOR THE LORD.
Throughout the Old and New Testament eras and during the last two thousand years, fasting was a primary means of humbling oneself before God.
In Isaiah 58:5, the prophet describes fasting as a "day for a man to afflict his soul" (NKJV). And in Psalm 69:10, David says he "chastened" his soul with fasting (NKJV). And in Psalm 35:13, he says he "humbled" his soul by abstaining from food.
Humility is an attitude of the heart. The Scripture says, "A broken and contrite heart--these, O God, You will not despise" (Psalm 51:17 NKJV). God will hear us and respond to our cry when we come before Him in humility and brokenness--acknowledging and repenting of our sins, and asking Him to cleanse us by the blood of Jesus and to fill us with His Holy Spirit.
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