In all the Epistles — the books of the New Testament written to the church — not one time is the church told to fast. However, that doesn’t mean we should not. Mention is made of fasting, but no rules are laid down nor is the church even encouraged to fast. The reason is that fasting is to be done as the occasion arises. Fasting doesn’t change God. He is the same before, during and after fasting.
By dr doug mamvura
However, fasting will change you. It will help you keep the flesh under and become more sensitive to the Spirit of God. It is good to fast when things are pressing in upon you and you need to wait on God prayerfully. On the other hand, the Lord may speak to you and lead you to fast. If the Lord lays a fast on your heart, do it. Please note that you don’t need to fast to defeat the devil. Jesus already won that victory for us. Fasting has in all ages and among all nations been an exercise much in use in times of mourning, sorrow, and afflictions. Yet there is no Bible example of fasting to be seen before the time of Moses.
Fasting in the Old Testament
Although the Bible doesn’t say so, it is presumed that the patriarchs of old fasted until Moses’ time. We know this because there was a great deal of mourning among people of the old covenant. It is interesting to note that Moses enjoined no particular fast in his five books, except upon the solemn Day of Atonement.
In Leviticus 23:27, Moses talks about “afflicting your souls”. In Hebrew this means, “You shall humble yourself deeply before God inwardly by sorrow, and by judging and loathing yourselves, and outwardly by fasting and abstinence from all carnal comforts and delights.”
This fast is the only one Moses enjoins, although the Jews did fast at other times for periods of 24 hours — from the sunset of one day to the sunset of the next.
Since the time of Moses, examples of fasting have been common among the Jews. After Israel’s defeat, Joshua and the leaders lay on their faces before God until evening (Joshua 7:6). In other words, it was from morning until evening, about 12 hours.
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Judges 20:26 speaks of fasting until evening, and I Samuel 7:6 and II Samuel 12:16 also give examples of fasting.
One might ask: “Should my goal be a 40-day fast?” A mistake many people make in teaching on fasting is picking out isolated portions of scripture and misconstruing them. It is very easy to take things out of context. Some writers leave the impression that everyone should go on a 40-day fast. They use the illustration that Moses fasted 40 days on Mount Horeb. What they fail to consider is that Moses was in the very presence of God. If you were on a mountain in the presence of God, talking to Him, you probably could go without food and water 40 days too.
Exodus 34:28, says: “And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights, he did neither eat bread nor drink water…” The scripture prior to this says God appeared to him. The glory of God was there and Moses was caught up in it. He could well go without food or water. Nobody can go without water for that long unless he is in a supernatural condition.
If you are caught up in the spirit and are in the glory of God, you also lose all sense of time. Those 40 days probably seemed like about a few minutes to Moses.
The only one whom the Bible ever said fasted for 40 days was Jesus. In Matthew 4:2 we read: “He had fasted forty days and nights, He was afterward hungry.”
Fasting in the New Testament
Nowhere in the New Testament did Jesus institute any kind of fast. In His commands to His disciples, Jesus never commanded any fast to be kept. Paul said he fasted but in all his letters to the church, starting with Romans, there is not a single reference telling the church to fast. We are encouraged to pray, but in connection with demon activity, healing or anything else we are not told to fast. (Kenneth Hagin).
Fasting then must not be as important as some people would lead you to believe. There would have to be some instruction to the church if it were. There are instructions on the gifts of the spirit, praying and giving, but none on fasting.
Let’s go to the four gospels and look at some things Jesus said about fasting. Luke 5:33-35 “And they said to Him, why do the disciples of John fast often and make prayers likewise those of the Pharisees, but yours eat and drink?” And He said to them: “Can you make the children of the bridegroom fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them and then they shall fast in those days.”
At one point Jesus did leave the disciples, but He did come back and He is with us today.
We also read in Matthew 6 something else Jesus said about fasting (Matthew 6: 16-18): “Moreover when you fast be not as hypocrites with a sad countenance…But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you don’t appear to men to be fasting…”
I believe that a person who talks about how long he fasts and encourages others to fast a long time is a hypocrite.
Furthermore, the Bible mentions fasting in Acts, nevertheless there is no direction given to the church on when to fast. The Bible in Acts 10:30 says that Cornelius was fasting. He wasn’t saved at this time. But being a Jewish proselyte, he naturally fasted because the Jews did.
Since Cornelius was a Jewish proselyte, we can’t count that as a reference to members of the church fasting. As I have been studying the word of God, I have been amazed at how little fasting is mentioned in the Bible. There are further references in Acts 13 and 14:23 says: “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.”.Here elders were being ordained. It is good for people to fast and miss one meal. This doesn’t mean the apostles went on a long fast.
In Acts 13:2 we see five prophets and teachers being mentioned and among them Saul (Paul) and Barnabas. As these five men ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said: “Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work I have called them.” Verse 3 states that: “Then having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.”
Again fasting didn’t change God, but it helped them become more sensitive to the Holy spirit. Did you know spiritualists fast? They are in contact with demons and evil spirits, and they believe fasting helps them become more sensitive to evil spirits. One of God’s generals, Kenneth Hagin, argues it is the reason the devil gets working on some people when they start fasting. One has to realise there are many spirits in the spirit world.
Many Jews in the early church, even though they were born again and spirit-filled, still kept the traditions of the Jewish religion. Prayer was more of a struggle under the old covenant because Jesus hadn’t come and conquered the devil.
There are no instructions given to the church to tell them to fast or not to fast. The records we have in Acts show that the apostles ministered to the Lord and fasted, and it seems the Lord would be pleased if we would set aside some time just to minister to Him. If you fast and do not minister to the Lord, it might not do you too much good. But fasting will give you extra time to wait on God. At the same time, it will help you to keep the flesh under.
It is important that you have to have a purpose before you fast. Don’t just fast because somebody told you to do so. In addition, please don’t fast for revival. As Charles G Finney said, a revival is no more miraculous than a farmer reaping a crop. The farmer has to till the ground, plant the seed, cultivate and trust God to send the rain. Paul stated to the Church in Corinth that “I have planted, Apollos watered but God gave the increase.”(1 Corinthians 3:6)
You can fast until cattle come home that God will save souls, but if you don’t “get out there and witness to people, preach salvation, and go into the world and preach the Gospel to every creature”, nobody will get saved. Nowhere in the Scripture did they fast for a revival nor for a mighty move of God.
l Dr Doug Mamvura is a graduate of Charis Bible School. Feedback: [email protected] or Twitter @dougmamvura.
