This study is based on a previous revelations. For an updated and comprehensive study on the subject of FASTING please follow this link. Is Fasting Law?
Based on the teaching of Derek Prince, Andrew Wommack.
Definition of fasting is abstaining from food for spiritual purposes. Other terms which are associated with it are like afflicting our soul or humbling our soul. [Derek Prince]
Here the continual aspect of prayer and fasting is illustrated through out.
- Anna who served the Lord with prayer and fasting(s) night and day: Luke 2:37
- Jesus’s His own fasting 40 days in the wilderness led by the Spirit: Matthew 4:2, Luke 4:2
- Jesus expects us as christians to pray and fast: in the sermon of the mount Matthew 6:5-6, 16-18, Jesus makes a parallel between praying in secret and fasting likewise. He makes the point the right and wrong way of praying and fasting that it is not a means of boasting that we may get praise of men [But must be aimed at God]. The key statements being “when you Pray” and also “when you Fast”
- Why Jesus disciples did not fast: Then they said to Him, “why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers, and likewise those of the Pharisees, but Yours eat and drink?” And He said to them , “Can you make the friends of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them: then they will fast in those days.” [Matthew 9:14-15, Mark 2:18-20, Luke 5:33-35]
- First incident of Fasting and prayer after Pentecost: Paul’s conversion he ate no food and drunk no water but was in prayer until Ananias laid his hand on him to receive the Holy Spirit. Acts 9:9, 11
- Cornelius [Fasting and praying in the Old Testament] abstaining from food until 3pm when he received the angel who instructed him what to do in order that he may be saved. Acts 10:30
- Peter’s Arrest and imprisonment: Acts 12:5 they offered ernest prayer for him, but fasting was not explicitly mentioned, except that it was the days of unleavened bread [days after the Passover: eating the bread of affliction] [the disciples were most certainly keeping this feast of unleavened bread, while they made the petition for Peter. ]
- Corporate fasting: Some prophets and teachers: Saul and Barnabas and a few others were engaged in prayer and fasting [ministering to the Lord:] The Holy Spirit instructed them what He wants them to do. Acts 13:2
- Sending out: they fasted and prayed and laid hands on Saul and Barnabas and sent them out to the work. Acts 13:3
- Appointment of Elders: When they have appointed elders in every church and prayed with fasting they commended them to the Lord. Acts 14: 23
- Paul’s trip to Rome: after being caught up in a storm, they crew fasted without food for nearly 14 days. “After a long abstinence from food, then Paul stood in the midst of them and said …..’for there stood by me this night an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I serve, saying, ‘Do not be afraid, Paul; you must be brought before Caesar; and indeed God has granted you all those who sail with you.'” .. after the answer came with what to expect and the outcome they ate food. Acts 27:21-26,33-36
- Paul’s ministry:
- Teachings: Fasting as an aspect of between husband and wife [by agreement that you may devout yourselves to prayer and fasting] . 1 Corinthians 7:5
- Ministry Qualification: But in all aspects we commend ourselves as ministers of God: in much patience in tribulation, in needs, in strips, in imprisonments, in tumults,in labours, in sleeplessness, in fasting(s); 2 Corinthians 6:4-5 [that fasting as a regular aspect of his ministry]
- Are they ministers of Christ?- I speak as a fool – I am more:.. in weariness and toil, in sleeplessness often, in hunger and thirst, in fasting(s) often, in cold and nakedness- 2 Corinthians 11:23,27
Fasting was an integral part associated with the ministry of Paul, a man of God through whom God accomplished such great feats. From its beginning to its continued activity as a general concept of the walk, to the administration and dispensation of his duties to the church.
Fasting as a means to Humble Ourselves [D.P]
- For whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbled himself will be exalted. Luke 14:11
- James makes a reference Proverbs 3:34 that “God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.” therefore submit to God. ..Humble yourselves in sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up. James 4:6,10 In the middle of the discourse of humbling ourselves before God he makes these statements:
- Draw near to God and He will draw near to you
- Cleans your hands, you sinners
- Purify your hearts, you double-minded .
- Does not doubt in his heart. Double-minded as the essence of doubt.
- Lament, mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom.
- Peter also makes the same reference Proverbs 3:34 that “God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.” Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, 1 Peter 5:5-6.
That the general concept taught by Derek Prince is that, fasting is one of the ways given to us by which we humble ourselves before God. That it is not a concept that is relegated to the Old Covenant but a continual aspect of it. God does not seek to humble us rather we are required to do it ourselves. That it ought to be a regular part of our walk as Christians by which we afflict our souls [to humble and deny ourselves]. That we bring our soul into subjection [I want, I think, I feel] .
As a general concept the new testament begins after death and resurrection of Christ. He is our Covenant. That Christ was born under the Law to redeem those who were under the law. [Curry Blake]
However, there is a marked deference between the old covenant fasting and the new, a line that is drawn in the middle that is Christ. While He was with His disciples He permitted them not to fast [Mark: while the bridegroom is with them they cannot fast]. The questions they asked Him comparing His disciples to the Pharisees and John’s disciples is a marked point, they both belonged to the old (the Law: for all the prophets and the law prophesied until John. Matthew 11:13 ) John was the last of the old testament prophet. But Jesus’s disciples were not to continue in the same light. Grace and law were not to mix. The parable He gave of the un-shrunk cloth and the old garment and also the new wine and the old wineskin.
The old saints fasted, for specific purpose:
- For sin: they fasted as an expression of how sorrowful they are: The day of Atonement (the law) before making the sacrificial offering, David (after Bathsheba), avert judgment of God due to sin: [The most wicked king in Israel Ahab humbled himself before God in sackcloth and ashes and went about mourning, and the city of Nineveh] and part of Daniel fast was as an aspect for sins [Confessing his sins and the sins of his people, that God may fulfil His promise.]
- To Make their voice heard on high: An example to this is Daniel, when he fasted seeking understanding and a messenger was sent to him saying “from the first day that you have set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard;” As well as Esther, Ezra and Nehemiah all fasted before taking on difficult task that they may gain favour from God.
In the New testament fasting is not a means by which we seek acceptance before God, We are accepted and are beloved in Christ through faith. Our sins are paid for in full and there is nothing for us to do in those terms. We have a clear way made for us to the Holy of Holies by Jesus and we are instructed to come boldly before the throne room of grace. That we ourselves have become the Temple of Holy Spirit and we don’t have to go far to be heard. The Lord says where two and three are gathered in My name there i am in their midst.
Fasting does play a marked aspect in the new testament, the life and ministry of Paul testify to that. The aspect of fasting left to us is the subjection of this body and to deny or humble our souls. [A.W] fasting forces the unsightly character that is hidden in us to be forced to the surface and be dealt with, that the life of Christ may easily be seen in us.
- Present your bodies as a living sacrifice – renewing of your mind not confirming to the world.
- The Body: The desires of the flesh, that it should not rule over us.
- The Mind [Soul]: self assertiveness, seeking our own way, our need.
And the Lord said in Isaiah 58:4 “You will not fast as you do this day, to make your voice heard on high.” Is it a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it is to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to spread out sackcloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast ,and an acceptable day to the Lord?
The fast of the Lord is: not only to give of our abundance but to share of our substance from our need. feeding and clothing the poor, sharing in the affliction of the oppressed, without doing this aspects the fast we perform is of no value.
they desired only that we should remember the poor the very thing I was also eager to do. Galatians 2:10
The more comprehensive way to define fasting is a life of fasting, is not only subjecting our body through lack of food but our minds as well in service and submission to one another and in sharing what we have to meet the need of the one who lacks not only when we have the abundance to give but through denying ourselves.
Bread Bait. 
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