So, my sermon today isn't what I planned to preach.
I did plan on preaching today why we're a fundamental church, and then next week why
we're a Baptist church, if you remember that.
What I've decided to do next week, next Thursday, I want to have a time of prayer
and fasting, okay, just over many different things, and I'll go through those things
later on.
But I thought, you know what, before we have a time of prayer and fasting, it's
probably a good idea to pray on fasting, okay?
So we'll just go, today's going to be more of a Bible study, it's not really going
to be a preaching type sermon, just a Bible study to go through different aspects of what
a fast is, what we read about in the Bible, how long it is, you know, how people fasted.
And so I think that was a good idea to do that before we get back on track on what
I had planned to preach.
So if you still have Matthew 6 open, Matthew 6, look at verse number 16.
It says here,
Moreover, when ye fast.
So the title of the sermon is, When Ye Fast.
Moreover, when ye fast, be not as the hypocrites of a sad countenance, for they disfigure their
faces that they may appear unto men to fast.
Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
Now the first thing I want to bring to your attention is, when you read about fasting,
you're going to read a lot about fasting in the Old Testament, and not that much
in the New Testament.
And sometimes people ask the question, well, is fasting still for the New Testament church
today?
You know, but when we look at what Jesus said, he says, Moreover, when ye fast, right?
He's not saying, if ye fast, right?
Jesus is expecting, when you fast, he's expecting us to fast, okay?
And so it is a teaching for the New Testament.
It's not only that, that's not the only place that it's found, but if you can turn
to Mark chapter 2, Mark chapter 2 verse 18, Mark chapter 2 verse 18.
And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast.
And they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees
fast, but thy disciples fast not?
And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom
is with them?
As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast.
But the days will come, and the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then
shall they fast in those days.
So the teaching we see here, Jesus Christ describing himself as the bridegroom.
And of course, you know, these guys, this bridal party, if you will, is getting ready
for this wedding, getting ready for this celebration.
It's not a time to fast when you're celebrating.
It's not a time to fast when you're rejoicing.
And you know, they're going to obviously have a wedding reception afterwards, they're
going to be eating plenty of food.
Jesus is saying, Look, while I'm on the earth, while he was on the earth 2,000 years ago,
that wasn't the time for his disciples to fast.
Yes, the disciples of John fasted prior to Christ coming into his ministry, but now
was not the time to fast.
But what he says, or the point that I want to bring to your attention, is, But
the days will come, verse 20, but the days will come when the bridegroom shall
be taken away from them.
So today we don't have Jesus Christ bodily on this earth.
Yes, he is here because he's God and God is, you know, omnipresent.
But Jesus Christ bodily is not on this earth.
He has been taken away from the disciples, and then shall they fast in those days.
So those days referring to today, and ever since Jesus Christ ascended to the Father.
So Jesus Christ has an expectation that we would fast.
That would mean when Christ comes back to establish his Millennium Kingdom and he's
here again bodily, that would mean that wouldn't be a time of fasting.
But right now, between the time that he came for the first time to the time that
he comes the second time, it is a time for fasting in the New Testament.
So it's not if you fast, it's when you fast, okay?
Now what is the effect of fasting?
What's the purpose of it?
You know, why do people fast?
And you know, there's not a lot of information as far as God saying, hey, you need to fast
like this.
What you'll find is different ways of fasting, different periods of times of fasting, different
purposes of fasting.
But when we read Psalm 35, I'll just read it to you, Psalm 35 verse 13 to 14.
One of the first reasons that I've seen about fasting is that it humbles the soul.
Or the Bible uses the language, it afflicts the soul, it humbles the soul.
You know, we often think about fasting as humbling the flesh, right?
Because fasting means you're not eating, right?
You're not taking part of the food you would normally eat during the day.
And so you're depriving the flesh.
And so a lot of people think, you know, the first thought about fasting is that we're depriving
the flesh.
And there is a truth to that, but yet it has a much deeper connotation to that and
that's the humbling or the affliction of the soul.
So in Psalm 35 verse 13 to 14 it says, but as for me, when they were sick, my clothing
was sackcloth.
I humbled my soul with fasting.
So one way to humble your soul before God is with fasting.
And my prayer returned into mine own bosom, I behaved myself as though he had been my
friend or brother, I bowed down heavily as one that mourneth for his mother.
So we see how fasting is humbling your soul before God, mourning if you will, before
an almighty God.
Now of course, I don't think I have it in my notes here, but of course what does God
say about being humble?
The Lord is seeking for men to be humble.
The whole purpose of being saved is humbling yourself and going, you know what, I cannot
save myself, I must go with the plan that God has, only God can save me.
And when you believe in Christ, you are humbling yourself to the plan of God, right?
But the same thing also, you know, as believers we have needs, we need to not be prideful
and we're going to look at pride later on and how that affects our fast and prayers.
But you know, we need to humble ourselves before an almighty God.
This is something that we ought to do on a regular basis.
And again, you know, I'm teaching this because I would like us as a church to do
this next Thursday.
But yeah, it is a time where we would humble ourselves and bring our requests before God
because you'll find that for whatever reason, and I don't understand all the spiritual
connotations and the deep spiritual things we fast in, but it's as though the Lord hears
you further and wants to answer and reward you for your prayers, okay?
But one reason for fasting as well is to change your belief, your unbelief to belief.
Your unbelief to belief.
I'm not even talking about salvation here.
I'm talking about a believer and as a man, we talked about this guy on Wednesday morning
about, you know, can we increase our faith?
And I thought it was interesting that I came across this passage here, but if you look
at Matthew 17, Matthew chapter 17 verse 14, Matthew 17 verse 14, Matthew 17, 14.
This is the story about Jesus Christ rebuking a devil out of a man and the disciples
were unable to do that.
Matthew 17 verse 14.
And when they were come to the multitude, they came to a certain, sorry, they came
to him a certain man, kneeling down to him and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son, for
he is a lunatic and saw vexed, for oft times he fall off into the fire and oft
into the water, and I brought him to thy disciples and they could not cure him.
Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall
I be with you?
How long shall I suffer you?
So this man with this lunatic son, with this evil spirit in his son, he took him
to the disciples of Christ and Christ gave those disciples power over, you know, devils
and over unclean spirits, but they could not cure this boy.
They could not cure this man, you know.
And what does Jesus say?
He says, look, O faithless and perverse generation.
So there was something lacking in the faith of the disciples that they could not cure
this man from his evil spirit.
And then verse 18, and Jesus rebuked the devil and he departed out of him and the
child was cured from that very hour.
Then came the disciples to Jesus apart and said, why could not we cast him out?
And another passage in the Bible says they came to him privately, they didn't want
to obviously do this publicly and look embarrassed, they went privately to Jesus Christ.
And Jesus said unto them, because of your unbelief, wow, you know, but these guys
have been casting out devils, they've been preaching the gospel, they've been getting
people saved.
And Jesus says, look, because of your unbelief, for verily I say unto you, if you have
faith as a grain of mustard seed, you shall say unto this mountain, remove hence to yonder
place and it shall remove and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
So what Jesus is implying here, these guys didn't even have faith the size of a mustard seed.
And so even if they had that size of that mustard seed in faith, they would have
been able to cast out this devil.
But then he says in verse 21, howbeit this kind goeth not out, but by prayer and fasting.
And of course, they hadn't prayed and fasted because Jesus said, hey, they're not going
to fast while the bridegroom's with them, right?
So we see that there are certain evil spirits that are, you know, harder to cast out of
men and it requires prayer and fasting.
There is a spiritual warfare that we can't see with our eyes.
There is something powerful about prayer and fasting put together that would have given
these people the ability to go from unbelief to belief.
Do you see that?
Because of your unbelief, right?
So something about praying and fasting can increase your faith.
And think about this, because when we pray, what are we doing?
When we pray to God our Father, we are exercising our faith, aren't we?
We're going to God and saying, look, these are all the things that we have need for.
You know, these are requests that we're bringing for you.
And by doing that, by saying, hey, God, I know you can answer that prayer.
You are exercising your faith.
You are, you know, perhaps bringing things that you believe God can't do.
By speaking to him, by talking to him, by asking him to answer that prayer, we are exercising
that faith and we are exercising turning from that unbelief to belief through our prayers.
And so these things go hand in hand, increasing our faith, fasting and prayer.
And somehow in the spiritual realm that has a powerful impact and God will hear the
one more so, the one that's praying and fasting, than just praying alone.
So more prayer is the more exercise of your faith and coupled with fasting, this can turn
unbelief to belief.
So these men did have the ability to cast out this stuff.
You know what it reminds me of?
I don't know if you guys have ever had a virus and, you know, I don't recommend
antibiotics by the way, but I once had like these severe stomach pains and I did
some tests to find out what that creature was.
It was some parasite that I had in my stomach and I was given three different types
of antibiotics because like basically one of them, any of those could have destroyed
the creature, the virus, but they said the virus hides and so you need to attack
it like three different ways in your body.
And that's what it reminds me of, like this evil spirit, this devil reminds me of
like this virus, but like this spiritual virus that was hiding itself and would
only come out with prayer and fasting.
Anyway, so look, there's two ways to fast.
Really there's two ways that you're going to find throughout the Bible to fast.
Number one is to do it individually.
Okay, you just do it by yourself.
You have a need that requires you to fast.
You do that individually.
And by the way, if you do it individually, the instruction is to do it secretly.
Okay.
The other one is to do it collectively.
You know, we see in the Old Testament, Israel as a whole nation fasting.
We see the church in the New Testament fasting together.
Obviously they're not doing that in secret.
That's been done in public.
But they're the two main ways to fast, individually, secretly or publicly,
collectively as God's people.
But I want to cover right now how or how not to fast.
What are the things that we should or shouldn't do?
And Matthew 6, we'll read that before, but I'll read it again.
Matthew 6, 16 says, Moreover, when you fast, be not as the hypocrites.
So there are hypocrites that fast.
There are Christians that fast, but they're hypocrites.
Okay.
And then why are they hypocrites?
Of a sad countenance.
They disfigure their faces.
They want you to know they're fasting.
They want you to know they're mourning.
They want you to know that their soul has been afflicted.
And so they disfigure their faces.
They want to be seen of men rather than doing it for the Lord.
That they may appear unto men to fast, it says there, right?
Verily I say unto you, they have their reward.
Many times Jesus Christ says, look, if you're looking for the praise
of men, then all you're going to get is the praise of men.
And that's your reward.
You're not going to have those rewards in heaven.
And so be very careful when you fast.
So you don't do it because, you know, you want to be seen of men
because you do it because you're doing it to the Lord.
They have their reward.
I want you to have your reward in heaven.
But thou, verse 17, but thou when thou fastest, anoint thine head.
You know, in those days they would put like oil, you know, on their head and wash thy face.
You know, I guess we would say like clean up, you know, wash yourself with soap and water.
Look clean, and verse 18, that thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father
which is in secret, and thy Father which is safe in secret shall reward thee openly.
Okay?
So we say, hey, we shouldn't be looking to impress men with our fastings.
We ought to be doing it secretly to the Father.
This is your individual fasting, okay?
This is something you do individually.
You're not to look like you're mourning.
You know, sometimes, I don't know if you've ever fasted before,
but you can be really hungry and you can have that face like, oh, I'm so hungry.
And you're just, you know, you're just promoting your fast, you know, to everybody.
Hey, that's not going to work for you.
You're gonna have your reward, whatever reward that is on the earth from men
that you're trying to impress.
But I want you to realize, hey, there's a reward to be had, okay?
Jesus Christ says, thy Father which is safe in secret shall reward thee openly.
So even though it's this secret thing, right, done privately in your own, you know,
in your own bedroom or what have you,
the Bible says, hey, there's a reward for that and I'm all for rewards.
I want us to get as many rewards as we can in heaven.
And, you know, the Lord may even reward us upon this earth as well.
So never think that fasting is a waste of time because spiritually there are rewards,
rewards to be had which obviously are eternal, okay?
So we're not too fast by looking like we're fasting and not trying to impress men.
The second thing that we ought not to do is boast.
Turn to Luke 18, Luke chapter 18, verse 9, Luke chapter 18, verse 9 to 14.
And he spake this parable unto certain which trusted in themselves,
that they were righteous and despised others.
So Jesus Christ is about to speak about a parable about people that trust in themselves, right?
This is like salvation.
We go knock doors, people are either trusting in the Lord for salvation, which is very rare,
or they're trusting in themselves.
Verse 10, two men went up into the temple to pray, and one, the one a Pharisee and
the other a Republican, the Pharisee stood and prayed thus with himself.
So this Pharisee, you know, he wants to be seen as though he's praying to the Lord,
but the Bible says he's praying to himself, or with himself.
He says, God, so who's this God?
If he's praying with himself, who's this God?
His God is himself.
He says, God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are, extortioners, unjust, adulterers,
or even as this publican.
I fast twice in the week.
Man, I've never fasted twice in a week, but this guy, every week fasts twice.
I give tithes of all that I possess, and the publican standing afar off will not
lift up so much as his eyes unto heaven.
Remember we talked about the humility that Christ or God is looking for in his people.
This guy would not even lift up his eyes unto heaven, but smote his breast, saying,
God, be merciful to me, a sinner.
Jesus says in verse 14, I tell you, this man went down to his house justified rather
than the other, for everyone that exalts of himself shall be abased, and he that
humbleth himself shall be exalted.
So this is not how we ought to fast.
I believe this Pharisee was probably more than likely fasting twice a week, like he
said.
I should have been lying, I don't know, but you know, I would have no reason to think
that he wasn't.
But here's the thing, was God rewarding him?
No, he was praying to himself, you know.
He went away unjustified rather than the publican did.
The publican went justified because he had humbled himself before the Lord.
This man was boasting about his works, boasting about his fast, and so we ought not to
be the same thing.
You know, if we're fasting, same thing that I just said before, you know, we shouldn't
be promoting that to man if we're doing it privately, and the Lord would reward you.
So please, you know, imagine making that decision to fast, you're like, God, I need
your help, you know, I'm going to be super hungry, it's going to be really hard
for me to fast, but I'll do it twice a week, Lord, only to find later on because
of your boasting, that was a waste of time and waste of effort.
That'd be disappointing, I think.
Now the next thing that you need to do when you fast is not to satisfy the flesh, okay.
So the reason why we're not eating food is because we're not trying to satisfy our
flesh, okay.
We're trying to weaken that flesh, and I do believe that carries on to spiritual
connotations, the fact that we need to crucify, you know, our members and die daily,
spiritually, like this flesh, and obviously walk in the spirit and all that, but we
are not to satisfy the flesh.
And one thing, and you know, I'll be careful because there's kids here, but 1 Corinthians
chapter 7 verse 4 to 5 says, The wife hath not power of her own body, but the husband,
and likewise also the husband hath not power of his own body, but the wife.
The fraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may
give yourselves to fasting and prayer, and come together again, that Satan tempt you
not for your incontinence.
So the Bible says, look, when it's time to fast, if you're going to take time to fast,
if you're a married couple, obviously refrain from those marital relationships, because
you're depriving the flesh.
That's the whole purpose of the fast, not just the food, but anything that satisfies
the flesh will prevent that fast from being effective, okay.
And so that's one example that's given to us there.
And you know, I remember, and you know, I'm trying to be careful because I don't want
to boast, but in fact I'm not really boasting, I'm just laughing at myself, but I remember
once fasting, and like, the way I normally fast is I usually just take a day, I decide
this day I'm going to fast, and I don't eat, but I'll drink water, you know, just to stay
hydrated.
And I remember just losing focus, I normally try to choose a day, and you know, you do
need to choose a day that you can be focused on, okay, if you're going to fast, choose
a day that you can prepare, and that you can be focused, and say, look, this day
I'm going to commit to prayer and fasting, but I just remember losing focus, and
going and making myself a coffee, and just totally forgetting that I was fasting that
day, you know, and just, ah, that was so good, and then realizing, hold on, I'm meant to be fasting,
I'm meant to be deprived in the flesh.
So you know, fasting does require focus, you guys know this, you guys even know prayer
requires focus.
So how much more a spiritual challenge of prayer and fasting requiring that focus.
And that's why sometimes, you know, it's just easier to fast collectively, you know,
if we know, hey, the whole church is fasting this day for these reasons, hey, you know,
it's going to be a lot more easier for you to do that, because you don't want to let down,
you know, the whole congregation with your lack of focus.
But you know, if you are going to fast, you know, I do recommend that you choose
a day that you can commit a lot of time in prayer and Bible reading, you know, I mean,
obviously, you'd still have other things to do during the day.
But make sure it's a day that you can commit to prayer and Bible reading as well.
So just a couple of things here very quickly, length, how long should we fast?
Well, there really isn't any rules.
But in Leviticus chapter 23, verse 26, we see this fast for one day.
And this is a command given to the Lord, from the Lord to Moses.
It says here in verse 26, Leviticus 23, verse 26, and the Lord spake unto Moses saying,
also on the 10th day of the seventh month, there shall be a day of atonement.
So if you've heard about that, that day of atonement before, and it shall be in
holy convocation unto you, and you shall afflict your souls.
So the Bible doesn't use the language here of fasting, but it uses the terminology
there, the afflicting, afflict your souls, and that has to do with fasting.
And offer an offering made by fire unto the Lord, and ye shall do no work in the
same day, for it is the day of atonement to make an atonement for you before the Lord
your God.
For whatsoever soul it be that shall not be afflicted in that same day, he shall
be cut away from among his people.
So if someone, one of those Israelites were able to fast, but they did not afflict their
soul that day, they did not fast, I mean, God's serious about this.
It's like you cut them away from your people, kick them out of the nation, you know.
Get rid of that person, because they're destroying the day of atonement, they're taking that
away, the power there is of the prayer and the fasting on that day.
So this is just an example of a one-day fast.
An example of a three-day fast, we'll read about that in Esther, chapter 4, verse 15.
Then Esther bade them return Mordecai this answer, Go gather therefore all the Jews
that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three
days, neither day, I also and my handmaidens will fast likewise, and so will I go in unto
the king, which is not according to the law, and if I perish, I perish.
If you know the story of Esther, Esther being a Jew married, this was while they
were in captivity, married the king, and there was a plan for the Jews to be destroyed.
And Esther as the queen took it upon herself to go and speak on behalf of the people,
like it said here in this verse, that it was not according to the law.
She couldn't come to the king whenever she wanted to.
She could only come to the king when he had called for her.
So she was, you know, and then she says, if I perish, I perish.
So it was a possibility that if the king did not want to receive her in his sight,
that he could have just put her to death.
And so because of this situation, she asked that the Jews would fast for three days,
and she herself and her handmaids would fast for three days.
Another example of fasting is one in three weeks in the book of Daniel, chapter 10, verse 1 to 5.
And in the third year of Cyrus, king of Persia, a thing was revealed unto Daniel,
whose name was called Belteshazzar.
And the thing was true, but the time appointed was long, and he understood the thing
and had understanding of the vision.
In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks.
I ate no pleasant bread, neither came flesh nor wine upon my mouth,
neither did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.
And in the four and twentieth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river,
which is Hiddakel, then I lifted up mine eyes and looked, and behold, a certain man clothed in linen,
whose loins were girded with fine goat of Uphaz.
I won't continue reading, but after Daniel had fasted for these full three weeks,
he received a vision, he received an understanding of the Lord.
And we're going to go into reasons of fasting, and this is one reason,
is sometimes we need an understanding, we need wisdom from the Lord.
Sometimes we need to understand certain passages, we're in a situation where we're struggling,
we don't know the answer to that.
Hey, that's a good time to fast.
We see Daniel fasting in that situation as well.
And of course, the one that's probably the most common that we read about or we know about
is the 40 day fast.
There are three men in the Bible that fasted for 40 days.
The first being Moses in Exodus 34, verse 27.
And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words.
This is when God gave him the commandments.
For after the tenor of these words, I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.
And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights.
He did neither eat bread nor drink water, and he wrote upon the tables the words of
the covenant, the ten commandments.
So wow, this is Moses fasting for 40 days, nothing to eat, and no water to drink.
Can a man last 40 days without water?
I don't think they can, right?
I mean, the fact that he was with the Lord, so the Lord was obviously sustaining his body.
But wow, I mean, that's a long fast of 40 days.
He's not the only one.
There's also, I've lost my place here.
I think this was Elijah.
1 Kings chapter 19, verse 7 to 8 says, In the angel the Lord came again the second
time and touched him, and said, Arise and eat, because the journey is too great for
thee.
And did Eden drink, and went in the strength of that meat forty days and forty nights,
unto Horeb the mount of God.
Let me just turn there.
I just want to make sure I've got the right person there.
1 Kings chapter 19, if you guys want to turn there, you can have a look as well.
1 Kings chapter 19, verse 7, yeah Elijah, verse number 1, so yeah, it's definitely Elijah.
And the third person that fasted for 40 days we know is Jesus Christ, right?
Luke chapter 4, verses 1 and 2, And Jesus, being full of the Holy Ghost, returned from
Jordan, and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness, being forty days tempted of the
devil, and in those days he did eat nothing, and when they were ended he afterward hungered.
So you know we see for 40 days Jesus Christ went into the wilderness and fasting
and being tempted of the devil this whole time.
And we see a little bit about the temptation, but there was a lot more that took place
because it took place that entire 40 days that he was there, which is crazy.
So yeah, obviously Jesus Christ did that.
And I've heard of people who have fasted for 40 days, like I've heard that people
have actually attempted that, and I'm not sure if, like I know some people personally
that have tried that, I'm not sure, I've never really asked them, it's like hey,
did you succeed?
Because you know, the Bible says about doing those things in secret, so I don't want
to take away their rewards.
But I know people have attempted that.
But what to fast for?
We saw in Daniel when he had fasted, you know, I didn't keep reading but in verse,
Daniel 10, verse 12, it said,
So the reason Daniel was fasting so that he could have a heart to understand what God
was showing him and what God was trying to show him through that vision.
So there is a time for spiritual understanding, okay?
You might be going through hardship, difficulty, you don't know why God's put you in this
situation, and you don't have an answer, perhaps you can't even find those answers
in the Bible.
That's probably a good time to fast and seek the Lord's wisdom and understanding.
Or you're just struggling with something in the Bible, you can't get a clear answer,
you really want to know, hey, pray and fast, you know?
Spiritual understanding is a great thing to ask, to fast for.
The next thing that you might want to fast for is ordination.
You know, when I was ordained to start this church, we fasted that day, the whole
church fasted that day, and we see that practice happening in the book of Acts, chapter 13,
Acts 13, verses 1 to 3.
Now there was a church that was at Antioch, certain prophets and teachers, as Barnabas
and Simeon, that was called Nigar, and Lucius of Cyrene and Menaen, which had
brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.
And they ministered to the Lord and fasted.
The Holy Ghost said, separate me Barnabas and Saul, for the work whereunto I have
called them.
And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
So we see, ordination is a time for the whole church to fast.
That's not the only time.
We see that in Acts 14, verse 23 as well.
And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting,
they commended them to the Lord on whom they had believed, okay?
Now another reason why we should fast is the confession of major sins.
Of course, you know, we ought to pray and confess our sins daily.
I've preached on that before.
But if you're in major sin, right, and the Lord's chastising you, and you need to seek
the Lord's mercy, hey, I tell you what, pray and fast.
And inflict your soul, humble yourself before the Lord, so he can have mercy upon you.
But we see that obviously in the Old Testament when Israel were in deep sin, that, you know,
the Lord was going to judge them, and they turn, they fast and pray.
We also see that in Nineveh.
We see people that are not the people of God do the same thing, and God be merciful
to them.
But I'll just read from 1 Samuel, chapter 7, verse 3.
And Samuel spake unto all the house of Israel, saying, If ye do return unto the Lord with
all your hearts, then put away the strange gods, and Asheroth from among you, and prepare
your hearts unto the Lord, and serve him only.
And he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.
So these guys are in major sin.
They've turned to other gods, right?
Samuel says, well, you've got to turn from other gods.
You know, you've got to prepare yourselves and your hearts for the Lord.
Then it says in verse 4, Then the children of Israel did put away Balaam and Asheroth,
and served the Lord only.
And Samuel said, Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray for you unto the Lord.
And they gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before the
Lord, and fasted on that day.
So this one day of fasting, the entire nation, and said there, We have sinned against
the Lord, and Samuel judged the children of Israel in Mizpah.
Okay, so we do see that, hey, major sin.
You know, man, if you want to deter the hand of chastisement from the Lord, get on
your knees.
Pray and fast.
Dedicate a day to that, okay?
But also, the other reason why Israel fasted, and we'll continue reading on the
same chapter, is to have victory in warfare, because remember, they were being persecuted
by the Philistines here.
But in verse 7 to 11, it says, And when the Philistines heard that the children of
Israel were gathered together to Mizpah, the lords of the Philistines went up against
Israel.
And when the children of Israel heard it, they were afraid of the Philistines.
And the children of Israel said to Samuel, Cease not to cry out to the Lord our God
for us, for he will save us out of the hand of the Philistines.
And Samuel took a suckling lamb and offered it for a burnt offering holy unto the Lord.
And Samuel cried unto the Lord for Israel, and the Lord heard him.
And as Samuel was offering up the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to battle against
Israel.
But the Lord thundered with a great thunder on that day upon the Philistines, and discomfited
them.
And they were smitten before Israel, and the men of Israel went out from Mizpah and
pursued the Philistines, and smelt them until they came under Bethka.
So the same situation, these guys had sinned, this great sin upon the Lord.
The Philistines were going to destroy the nation of Israel, and yet they pray,
they fast, Samuel does his further work as far as offering that lamb for a burnt offering.
And the Lord heard the cry of Israel and delivered them from the hands of the Philistines.
So victory in warfare, victory in warfare is another reason why we ought to fast.
And of course we don't have, you know, the warfare we have in the New Testament isn't
against flesh and blood.
Ephesians 6 12 says, For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities,
against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual
weakness in high places.
So our warfare, our fight is not against flesh and blood, though it might be represented
by flesh and blood sometimes.
It's the spiritual weakness behind that flesh and blood that we're in warfare with.
And so hey, if we're in spiritual warfare, hey, that's a good time to pray and fast
as well, to have victory over spiritual weakness in high places.
Now one thing that I find interesting about fasting that, I can't show you this from
the Bible, but this is just further research, is that, you know, when we fast, we
afflict our souls, we weaken the flesh, it's very hard to do.
The Lord says, hey, I'll reward you openly, remember that, if you do it right.
But you know what, our God is so wise, our God is so knowledgeable, even though we're
weakening our flesh, there are benefits, there are health benefits to fasting.
I mean, I can only imagine an amazing God, I don't think man would really think of
the idea, hey, if I fast, it's going to have health benefits for me, bodily, upon
my flesh.
Yet God designs things in a way where, you know, even when you're starving your flesh,
there's still health benefits to that.
And I'll just read a few health benefits to you.
So obviously when we're fasting, we give our digestive system a rest, you know, and
our digestive system is a high energy absorbing system, it takes up a lot of energy
from your body, you know, constantly digesting food and breaking that down.
So it allows the body to rest, and it allows the body to work on other areas of your
body.
Number one, one of the things it can help in weight loss, okay, it can help regulate
your hunger hormones, okay.
So you know, if you're someone that's overweight, or you know, you've eaten too much, and
I'm trying to lose a bit of weight myself, but you know, you get to a point if you're
constantly eating, is that the body doesn't know what true hunger is anymore, because
you're constantly eating, those hormones aren't calibrated properly.
And so when you fast, it kind of recalibrates those hormones in your body.
And your body starts to know what true hunger is again, and your body will know when it's
full.
You know, if you eat a lot, sometimes your body doesn't recognise when it's full, like
you've satisfied your flesh, it's enough to get you through the day, but your body
doesn't know that it's eaten enough.
You know, it will also will tell you when you're like, so it'll improve your eating
patterns, because you'll know when you're truly hungry, when your body truly needs
food, you eat, and then you know, hey, I've eaten enough, I'm satisfied, the hormones
in my body telling me, hey, I'm full.
And so you will improve in your eating patterns, and of course, naturally, you'll lose weight
because of that.
Number two, it improves your brain function.
By fasting, it releases a protein, and it's called BDNF, and they stand for something,
I'm not sure what that protein is.
But that improves neural health to your brain, interestingly.
Also it can protect that hormone that gets released when you fast, can protect you
from Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, okay.
Number three, it helps your immune system.
When you fast, it regulates inflammation in your body, and it also starves cancer cells
from forming when you fast.
Number four, it can clear your skin and prevent acne, because when your body is not
breaking down all that food, now it's going to help clean up the toxins that are in
your body.
And so that will help, obviously, your skin from being cleaner and not having an outbreak
of acne.
So I mean, just bodily reasons to fast, there are great health benefits to it.
So I'm just saying that as an additional reward, you say, well, we really need to fast.
Hey, there are other benefits as well, besides just those spiritual things that I raised.
So I just think that shows the wisdom of our God to actually look after us, even when
we think we're depriving ourselves in our flesh.