“Fasting inaugurates war in heaven and angels and demons fight over the future of your prayer,” (Engle, MP3). Christian fasting is the act of going without food for a period of time for a specific spiritual purpose. Until a few weeks ago, I only understood fasting as a way to “supercharge” my prayer. It was something I did when I needed to be really serious about God or when I needed God to be really serious about my situation. It wasn’t something I enjoyed particularly (I mean, who wants to go without food?), and in fact, was something I kind of dreaded. Over the last few weeks, I’ve come to understand that fasting is about so much more than that; it provides us with a “key to unlock doors where other keys have failed,” (Wallis, p. 9). To summarize, fasting is POWERFUL. It might be easy to neglect because it isn’t fun, but when we do neglect it, we’re missing out on an incredibly powerful tool God has given us for spiritual warfare.
How does fasting work?
Fasting is actually more for our benefit than for God’s. It doesn’t just have physical results, such as making us hungry; it works on a spiritual level too. Here are some of the ways fasting changes our spiritual situation:
- Fasting literally humbles our soul before God: The Bible even relates fasting to a type of mourning; “the believer shares in a small measure God’s own grief over the sin and folly of humanity,” (Prince, ch. 6).
- Fasting tells our soul and body who is boss: “Our bodies, with their physical organs and appetites, make wonderful servants, but terrible masters,” (Prince, ch. 6). Paul told the Galatians, “The flesh sets its desire against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh; for these are in opposition to one another, so that you may not do the things that you please,” (NASB, Gal. 5:17). The “flesh” Paul is talking about is the desires of our soul (mind, will, and emotions) and the desires of our body. The “Spirit” he is referring to is the Holy Spirit. Basically our soul and body, if they are in the position of Master instead of Servant, are in direct opposition to the Holy Spirit working in and through our life. I know I’ve definitely faced times when I wanted to do what God was asking me to do, but I wasn’t doing it. Paul talks about this in Romans 7:14-20, and he concludes that it is the conflict between our “flesh” and the Holy Spirit within us.
- Best of all, fasting releases the Holy Spirit to work on our behalf: It is important to understand that fasting changes us, not God (Prince, ch. 6). Sometimes we get the idea that we can make God do something or make Him answer our prayer by fasting. That’s not the case. What we’re actually doing when we fast is removing the barriers to the Holy Spirit working in and through our life, so that He is able to work in His omnipotence (all-powerful-ness) and His fullness on our behalf.
An example that might help illustrate this is something that happened at our house a couple years ago. Our kitchen sink quit draining. If you’ve ever had a similar issue, you know what came next… putting drain cleaner through the pipes, then when that didn’t work, disconnecting the pipes and cleaning them out by hand. I won’t gross you out with the sort of nasty stuff that came out of that pipe. But once it was cleaned out, our sink drained like a dream. Sometimes we get frustrated when the Holy Spirit isn’t powerfully working through us, and we fail to think about all the crud in our pipes.
Why Should we Fast?
In the book, God’s Chosen Fast, Arthur Wallis quotes Andrew Murray (a Christian missionary to South Africa in the 1800s) as saying, “Fasting helps to… confirm the resolution that we are ready to sacrifice anything, to sacrifice ourselves to attain what we seek for the Kingdom of God,” (p. 50). Wallis goes on to tell us that “Prayer is warfare! Prayer is wrestling! There are opposing forces… When we plead our case in the court of heaven… [our] adversary is also represented in court,” (p. 51). Fasting brings pressure to bear so that we can have breakthrough. It’s really interesting that throughout the Bible you see examples of people who fasted AFTER they had received a promise from God. God already said to them, “Hey, you’re going to get this thing I’m promising you.” And they didn’t take that as permission to relax and wait around for His promise. Instead, they got on their knees and began fasting and praying, asking God to deliver on His promise (read the Bible story of Daniel who fasted and prayed for the promised restoration of Jerusalem). Sometimes we think we are waiting on heaven to deliver on a promise God has given us, but it could be that heaven is waiting for us to humble ourselves through fasting and prayer the way Daniel did (Wallis, p. 53). Below are some specific reasons for fasting:
- For consecration:
If you have been facing a lot of personal defeat, if you feel God calling you deeper with Him, if you feel God asking you to be more pure and more serious about your walk with Him, if you feel God calling you to a new task and you feel ill-equipped for it… that’s the time to consecrate yourself (set yourself apart to seek God through fasting), (Wallis, p. 48). - To receive favor: Remember I mentioned that we don’t fast to make God do something on our behalf. I’m talking about favor as undeserved blessing and mercy. In the Bible story of Queen Esther, she came before the King to make a request, knowing it could mean her death, but instead he extended his scepter, telling her she could have anything she asked for. That is a great example of favor. Fasting brings us humbly before the King, and we wait for Him to extend his scepter.
- To avoid judgment: When Jonah went to Nineveh to bring God’s word, what he told them was that God was about to destroy their city in judgment for their sin. What did the people of Nineveh do? They fasted and cried out to God for mercy, and God saw that they had repented and He didn’t destroy their city. Did God change His mind? No. He’s unchanging. But sometimes His judgment is conditional on our response, (Wallis, p. 56). God’s judgment is reserved for the unrighteous and He never wants to visit judgment on the righteous. But sometimes we sin and God brings us into discipline. The point of the discipline is to turn us back from our sin so that we don’t receive the judgment of the unrighteous, (Prince, ch. 1). Do you feel like you’ve been under discipline? Have you been involved in willful sin? Then it’s time to fast, repent, and ask for God’s mercy.
- For Revelation:
We need the revelation of God concerning our lives and there is scriptural principal that fasting brings revelation. “…Daniel, trained from youth to a life of discipline in which fasting played a significant part (Dan. 9:2,3; 10:1-3), became one of the greatest Old Testament seers of visions and dreams,” (Wallis, p. 73). Fasting is a “landing strip for revelation,” (Engle, MP3). You are preparing yourself to receive what it is that God has to show you. You’re cleaning out your spiritual ears and quieting all the noise around you (specifically your mind, will, emotions, and physical desires) so that you can clearly hear what God has to say. - To set the captives free: Maybe you’ve heard the story in Daniel about an angel coming to tell Daniel he’d been dispatched as soon as Daniel prayed his prayer; “But the prince of the kingdom of Persia was withstanding me for twenty-one days; then behold, Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, for I had been left there with the kings of Persia,” (NASB, Dan. 10:13). Fasting helps you maintain your pressure in intercession until your prayer is answered. Daniel continued praying and fasting while unbeknownst to him at the time, angels and demons were battling over the future of his prayer. Sometimes seeing a captive set free requires battle with prayer and fasting beforehand. Fasting gives you the heavenly authority to command release when the right moment comes. There are people everywhere, both in the world and in the church who are “bound by forces they do not understand and from which they cannot break free,” (Wallis, p. 61). God has called us to preach good news to the afflicted, bind up the brokenhearted, proclaim liberty to the captives, and freedom to prisoners (NASB, Is. 61:1).
To deliver from bondage: Arthur Wallis shares a wonderful story about a German apostle named Blumhardt who decided to make a regular practice of fasting, sometimes for more than 30 hours at a time, to see what sort of difference it would make in his life and ministry. He found that his spiritual warfare was much easier, he could speak with greater confidence and surety, he could heal the sick more quickly, and sometimes found that he didn’t even need to be physically present to have a spiritual influence, (pp. 68-69). Our community is full of people who need freedom and healing. Wallis asks a pointed question, “Are we afraid to face them because we know our own impotence and fear the power of the devil?” (p. 70). God has given us the tools to overcome. It is up to us to use them.
Fasting enables us to open ourselves up to the power of God as nothing else can. We are able to humble ourselves and master our flesh (or clean out our pipes) so that the Holy Spirit can flow through us in power. Captives can be set free, people can be delivered from bondage; we can hear God more clearly as we set ourselves apart to seek Him. Don’t be surprised if you face spiritual warfare over your fasting. It’s pretty common to feel discouraged while fasting, especially if you think you aren’t seeing any difference in your life or feeling any extra power or hearing any new revelation. Fasting often makes your life a little harder. That’s because whether you realize it or not, you are wrestling on a spiritual level. Don’t judge how worthwhile your fast is based on how you feel, (Wallis, p. 110). Many times it isn’t until the fast is over that we begin to see the benefits of it. Instead, hold on to the Biblical truth about what fasting is, and focus on an attitude of praise, especially if you feel discouraged or cranky (hey, you haven’t eaten in a while!). Lou Engle tells us not to just pray for the sake of praying. Instead, pray to win (MP3). God- initiated fasting combined with prayer is praying to win.
Resources on fasting that I highly recommend (and have quoted or otherwise used in this article):
- God’s Chosen Fast by Arthur Wallis (Wallis, Arthur. God’s Chosen Fast. Fort Washington: Christian Literature Crusade, 1997. Print.)
- Shaping History through Prayer and Fasting by Derek Prince (Prince, Derek. Shaping History through Prayer and Fasting. New Kensington: Whitaker House, 1973. Kindle file.)
- Nazarite DNA/A House that Contends, Sermon by Lou Engle (Engle, Lou. Nazarite DNA/A House that Contends. Luke 18 Project, 2011. MP3)
- The book of Esther, Bible
- The book of Daniel, Bible
Wonderfully done Crystal. Now for the hard part, actually doing this.
Thorough research! Thanks for sharing your insights.