Jan 16 2014 - Is it NC (New Covenant) to fast?

This is a good question to be asking.  As a church that believes in the completeness of Christ’s work of grace, why would we need to fast at all?  We have nothing to prove and nothing to earn.  The Spirit of God dwells within us, as Christians, and Jesus said that we should not fear about overcoming the world because He overcame it.  Are we just fasting because church history is filled with it?  Why are we fasting?

Firstly, yes, the early church did fast.  There are only three passages, from the Book of Acts on, where intentional fasting is noted.  Acts 13:2 says that there were prophets and teachers who were “ministering to the Lord” and fasting.  Paul writes in 1 Corinthians 7:5 that a husband and wife should not deprive each other of the sexual aspect of their relationship except for a specific period of time “that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer.”  So, we do see that people in the early church would fast in conjunction with worship or prayer.

Fasting and prayer is connected with commissioning leaders.  Acts 13:3 and 14:23 shows fasting and prayer in the commissioning of Paul and Barnabas and in the commissioning of church elders.  This could be linked to 1 Timothy 5:22, where Paul instructs Timothy to not lay hands on anyone suddenly.  Fasting takes prayer out of the realm of the ordinary and moves it into a higher level of intentionality.

This is where fasting is often misunderstood to simply be about denying yourself.  Fasting is never seen on its own—that’s dieting, not fasting.  Fasting is not about the fasting.  Fasting is about the worship and the prayer.  The denial of the flesh is not focussed on having less flesh but about having more Spirit.  Fasting joins prayer and worship as an intentional physical/psychological positioning before the Lord.  It is not the magic pill that makes your prayers work.  We can do nothing to earn the grace of God.  It’s just that we often have so many other things happening in our lives that we have no room for more of God.  Fasting with prayer and worship connects us with both sides of that coin.

As we enter this fast for breakthrough, recognize that the breakthrough we are looking for is firstly in us.  I’ll write about revival in tomorrows thoughts.

Blessings,

Merril