fasting

[eric]

Greetings in His name.

Jesus said that he did not come to condemn the laws of Moses or the words of the prophets, but to fulfill them and I believe that He accomplished that on the cross, after he had made the new covenant during the last supper with his disciples. After doing a search in "crosswalk" I find no reference, after Paul's first letter to the Corinthians, that suggests that we should continue to fast.

I ask this, because someone very close to me went with out food for two days and on the third day complained of dizziness. I think maybe she took it too extreme.

Some genuine comments on new testament fasting from the christiam brothers and sisters would be most appreciated.

in Christ,

eric.

[Leonard]

Dizzy feelings often occur during fasting. If a person's constitution does not permit a full fast (abstaining from food and water), then they should abstain from what they can. Some people go on vegetable only fasts, because they find they get just too weak without some food of some kind.

I once lost 64 pounds on a fast, but with a year I had regained 75 of them!

[Guest Thomas I believe]

Dizzy feelings often occur during fasting.  If a person's constitution does not permit a full fast (abstaining from food and water), then they should abstain from what they can.  Some people go on vegetable only fasts, because they find they get just too weak without some food of some kind.

I once lost 64 pounds on a fast, but with a year I had regained 75 of them!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree and some people don't give up all food. I fast a lot and sometimes for many days. God makes the hunger go away but we should make sure its safe to do so. If you have medical problems , I don't know if its wise to fast. Give up that cake after supper is fasting too. Fasting is all about drawing closer to Our Lord and seeking His infinite wisdom in our lives, His will for us, to pray for breakthrus in our lives and others. Fasting can be as simple as giving up your coffee for 3 days or giving up food for a week. I have done both and the result is the same. I grow closer to my Lord and have a better understanding of His will for me. My appetite always goes away. Afterwards I am as hungry as a horse. Always pray before a fasting period and ask God to tell you what to do. He will tell you, all you have to do is listen.

[eric]

Thank you Leonard and Thomas for your responses, but maybe my question was not plain enough. I wasn't actually meaning the type of fasting that some do or the way they do it or the physical side affects it can cause, but more of the necessity and the effectiveness of fasting in our day. A lot of the fasting in the OT was more of a corperate type, for rain ,or to stop rain, the fertility of their livestock and the abundance of their crops and so forth.

When we are privately wishing some family or friend to come to know the Lord and we pray and pray for them, would fasting be of any added strength to your prayer, given the fact that Christ, through His sacrifice abides in us and we in Him? We know, or at least I do, that God answers all prayer of a true believer, so would fasting add any weight to our prayer, seeing it is not mentioned to any extent in the epistles written to the churches.

I hope this is a little clearer

blessings,

eric.

[Dad Ernie]

I ask this, because someone very close to me went with out food for two days and on the third day complained of dizziness. I think maybe she took it too extreme.

Some genuine comments on new testament fasting from the christiam brothers and sisters would be most appreciated.

Greetings Eric,

Here are all the verses in the Bible referring to fasting. I have highlighted those areas of particular interest:

Judges 20:26; 1 Samuel 7:6; 1 Samuel 31:13;; 2 Samuel 12:16;

2 Samuel 12:21-23 Then said his servants unto him, What thing is this that thou hast done? thou didst fast and weep for the child, while it was alive; but when the child was dead, thou didst rise and eat bread. 22 And he said, While the child was yet alive, I fasted and wept: for I said, Who can tell whether GOD will be gracious to me, that the child may live? 23 But now he is dead, wherefore should I fast? can I bring him back again? I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me.

1 Kings 21:9; 1 Kings 21:12; 1 Kings 21:27; 1 Chronicles 10:12; 2 Chronicles 20:3;

Ezra 8:21 Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance.

Ezra 8:23; Nehemiah 1:4; Nehemiah 9:1; Esther 4:3;

Esther 4:16 Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens 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.

Esther 9:31

Psalms 35:13 But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.

Psalms 69:10 When I wept, and chastened my soul with fasting, that was to my reproach.

Psalms 109:24 My knees are weak through fasting; and my flesh faileth of fatness.

Isaiah 58:3-6 Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours. 4 Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD? 6 Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?

Jeremiah 14:12 When they fast, I will not hear their cry; and when they offer burnt offering and an oblation, I will not accept them: but I will consume them by the sword, and by the famine, and by the pestilence.

Jeremiah 36:6; Jeremiah 36:9;

Daniel 6:18 Then the king went to his palace, and passed the night fasting: neither were instruments of musick brought before him: and his sleep went from him.

Daniel 9:3 And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:

Joel 1:14;

Joel 2:12 Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:

Joel 2:15; Jonah 3:5

Zechariah 7:5 Speak unto all the people of the land, and to the priests, saying, When ye fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh month, even those seventy years, did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?

Zechariah 8:19 Thus saith the LORD of hosts; The fast of the fourth month, and the fast of the fifth, and the fast of the seventh, and the fast of the tenth, shall be to the house of Judah joy and gladness, and cheerful feasts; therefore love the truth and peace.

Matthew 4:2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.

Matthew 6:16-18 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. 17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; 18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

Matthew 9:14; Matthew 9:15;

Matthew 15:32 Then Jesus called his disciples unto him, and said, I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days, and have nothing to eat: and I will not send them away fasting, lest they faint in the way.

Matthew 17:21 Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

Mark 2:18-29 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? 19 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. 20 But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.

Mark 8:3 And if I send them away fasting to their own houses, they will faint by the way: for divers of them came from far.

Mark 9:29 And he said unto them, This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.

Luke 2:37; Luke 5:33-35;

Luke 18:12 I fast twice in the week, I give tithes of all that I possess.

Acts 10:30 And Cornelius said, Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and, behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing,

Acts 13:2-3 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. 3 And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.

Acts 14:23 And when they had ordained them elders in every church, and had prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord, on whom they believed.

Acts 27:9;

Acts 27:33 And while the day was coming on, Paul besought them all to take meat, saying, This day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried and continued fasting, having taken nothing.

1 Corinthians 7:5; 2 Corinthians 6:5;

2 Corinthians 11:27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

Rely on the scriptures, as you can see, I believe, they answer all the questions.

Blessings,

Dad Ernie

[Guest Thomas I believe]

Thank you Leonard and Thomas for your responses, but maybe my question was not plain enough. I wasn't actually meaning the type of fasting that some do or the way they do it or the physical side affects it can cause, but more of the necessity and the effectiveness of fasting in our day. A lot of the fasting in the OT was more of a corperate type, for rain ,or to stop rain, the fertility of their livestock and the abundance of their crops and so forth.

When we are privately wishing some family or friend to come to know the Lord and we pray and pray for them, would fasting be of any added strength to your prayer, given the fact that Christ, through His sacrifice abides in us and we in Him? We know, or at least I do, that God answers all prayer of a true believer, so would fasting add any weight to our prayer, seeing it is not mentioned to any extent in the epistles written to the churches.

I hope this is a little clearer

blessings,

eric.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Eric, I see what your question is now. Does fasting make a differance in our modern day? right? I would still say yes, and it doesnt have to be food. If we gave up our favorite tv show to spend time with our Lord in prayer or study , that would be fasting too in a sense. Its being willing to sacrifice some of our life for Him who sacrificed the most. To draw closer to Our Lord is what he desires us to do. Its making our time that we set aside for Him the no 1 priority. From this we gain so much. The more time we set aside the more we gain. Maybe fasting was originally conceived for that purpose. To prioritize God in our lives. The closer we grow to Him and understand our Lord the more we will trust in Him and what He can do for us and others. True revelation of His will for us is only known when we can hear Him clearly. To Hear Him we must draw close to Him... Through fasting and prayer and studying His word we draw closer to Him.

[eric]

Thank you again for your input and though I'm still alittle bit confused, will take the advice of D Ernie and draw my own conclusions from the Word. And BTW DE I happened to check the word, fasting on the Crosswalk along with some of the commentaries and most of the verses you contributed were mentioned, so I will leave it to the Holy Spirit to quicken His explanation, however I dont think our Lord would want us to starve ourselves to get a point across, so I expect it's all up to our own personal exegesis.

thanks again all,

in Christ,

eric.

[Dad Ernie]

Thank you again for your input and though I'm still alittle bit confused, will take the advice of D Ernie and draw my own conclusions from the Word. And BTW DE I happened to check the word, fasting on the Crosswalk along with some of the commentaries and most of the verses you contributed were mentioned, so I will leave it to the Holy Spirit to quicken His explanation, however I dont think our Lord would want us to starve ourselves to get a point across, so I expect it's all up to our own personal exegesis.

Greetings Eric,

I got the impression from the scriptures that ALL "fasting" was due to the prodding of the Lord, even as Jesus was led out to the desert by the Holy Spirit. I have fasted but not often. When I have, God gave me the strength and the purpose of heart to do it. My main thoughts of fasting is that it is valuable to bring the body under subjection to the "spirit". For the natural man, the body/soul rules, but it is our duty as Christians to overcome that rule and allow God to sit on the throne of our life. Our natural desires, then come subordinate to God's purpose. We may go without a meal or meals in order to feed the poor for instance. We may give up one of our coats, or even our only coat if someone else has a greater need for it. These things go against our "natural" desires and tendencies. Like "giving", fasting is disciplining ourselves to the Lord.

Blessings,

Dad Ernie