April, 2000

Giving, Praying and Fasting By Pastor Pete Norris

Fasting is a total or partial abstinence from carnal desires for the purpose of setting aside time with God so that the inner man can hear God. It is not just giving up food. Fasting is one means of dying to the desires of our flesh in order to sharpen our spiritual senses in regard to spiritual warfare. Fasting is not a gift, it is an exercise..... an exercise of our spiritual authority. We do not have to pray about whether we should fast or not. God's Word clearly tells us to fast. However, much of the church does not want to hear the Word tell them to fast.  There are many instances of fasting in both the Old and New Testaments. Jesus fasted for 40 days.

Luke 4:2 Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.

Esther and the Jewish people drank no water or ate any food for three days.

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 fasted for the purpose of getting in to see the king and as a result was able to save the Israelites from destruction. Moses fasted for 40 days on the mountain as he was receiving the commandments of God, came down for 3 days, and went back up and fasted for 40 more days. Jonah went to Ninevah and the king called for a fast. As a result, Ninevah was saved. Daniel declared a partial fast for 21 days, seeking revelation from God.

Paul tells us in I Corinthians 7:5 that a man and his wife should come into agreement to abstain from sex for a period of prayer and fasting. We hear of some people fasting food, but sex?? Yes, that is what the Word says!

1 Corinthians 7:5 Defraud 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 incontinency.

Through fasting, we minister unto the Lord, as Bamabas and Saul did in Acts 13:2

Acts 13:2 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.

In this verse, note that the Holy Ghost spoke through a prophet. Some of us will never receive from God because we will never receive from people. We must understand that God can use another person to speak to us.

The Call to Fast

Joel 2:12-13 Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye [even] to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he [is] gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil.

We should turn to God and fast. Fasting is never to move God but to remove us. There is pain in removing ourselves. We fast so we can be removed from our own carnal desires and allow God to flow through us. Often, we are so worldly and have so many carnal desires that it is difficult to walk pure before God. We need to get so "spiritually expensive" that the devil cannot afford us. When we sell out, the devil will move out! God wants us to live a fasted life, being led by His Spirit and not by our carnal nature. When we fast, we are submitting to the presence and will of God. Then He can shine through us.

Jesus tells us that fasting and prayer increases our faith:

Matthew 17:19-21 Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out? And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you. Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.

Fasting increases our faith and destroys unbelief and doubt. Fasting destroys our fleshly nature and our flesh is where unbelief is rooted. The flesh retaliates, but, when you have fasted and the flesh is dead, mortified and surrendered to God, then faith can be activated to move mountains. We cannot move mountains with just prayer or just fasting. We must do both!

Our spirit is made alive when we are "born again", but we must make a choice to die to our flesh. John 6:63 says “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, [they] are spirit, and [they] are life.” The church is filled with unbelief because people are not fasting. One day we are spiritual and the next we are carnal. God cannot use us if we are not submitted. Submitted means that we are dead to our flesh. There is a difference in outright sinning, and not being obedient to the Word of God. We do not know what to do because we are not reading and meditating upon the Word. The church is carnal and offended because it is standing on emotions, instead of the Word of God.

Hunger is not in our stomach, it is in our throat and mouth. The stomach need nourishment, not our mouth. So, why do we overeat? It is because of our fleshly desires. Most of our hunger is in our mind. Jesus did not get hungry during His 40 day fast, He hungered after the fast. Luke 4:2 says “Being forty days tempted of the devil. And in those days he did eat nothing: and when they were ended, he afterward hungered.”

When we are praying and fasting, we should be praying and meditating on the Word. The purpose of abstaining from something is to hear God. So, we must spend time with Him during the fast.

The things of God will not manifest just because we come to church. They will only come by the Word, prayer and fasting. It is time for the church to stand up and take their place concerning the things of God. The church is getting comfortable and complacent. The Bible refers to this as being lukewarm. God said He will spew us out of His mouth if we are lukewarm. If we are complacent, God will remove us.

People need to be taught about fasting. There is a difference in being good and being submitted to God. We need to understand deeply that we fast to get rid of the flesh so we can walk in the spirit.

Romans 8:13 For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.

Faith comes by hearing, but we must do some things to get rid of this flesh.

Romans 12:1 I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, [which is] your reasonable service.

When we were saved, the only thing God did was change our spirit. He did not change our minds or our bodies. We must do this ourselves.

Colossians 3:5 Mortify therefore your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry:

We say our flesh is dead, but we can be easily upset or offended. This shows our spiritual immaturity. Fasting brings heart faith to believe in the Words of Jesus in as recorded in the book of Mark

Mark 11:23 For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.

Fasting increases our faith. For many, faith is in our heads (soul) and not our hearts (spirit). Fasting takes faith from our head to our heart and we can speak things and know they will come to pass.

Romans 10:8 & 10 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, [even] in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach; 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.

Many in the church will never get rid of their problems unless they are confessed. When God is talking about a mountain in our lives, it could be sickness, a financial burden, a marital problem, etc. Anything that is an obstacle and keeps us from seeing God is a mountain in our lives. We can speak to our problems and they will no longer be in our faces. We should be on the offensive against Satan. We should be in his face! The serpent was cursed that dust would always be in his face. We came from the dust and will return there. We will always be in the devil's face!

Read Isaiah 58:8-14. This covers the spirit, soul and body.

Fasting brings revival in our spirit.
Fasting will clean up our thinking (our mind).
Fasting will restore health to our body.

Fasting has a spiritual purpose with the soul and body seeing the effects of it. Fasting purifies everything around the spirit.

Isaiah 58:1-5 tells us how not to fast. Isaiah 58:6-14 tells us how to fast and the benefits of fasting. Our motives must be right when we fast. It must be out of concern for the lost and to allow the love of God to flow through us. Fasting will change us and cause us to view situations differently. We should stop trying to make God move and do what the Word says. It is time to move forward! We have to make changes to move forward. It is not about church, but about the kingdom. God will work more in our lives when our praying and fasting intensifies. We cannot go to the place that God wants to take us to in the Spirit on our own. We only go so far and God must take us the rest of the way. God has to clean up our character as we grow in the anointing.

We are believing for great things from God, but often we are not obedient. We should be committed to whatever we are doing for God. Our character is about to be exposed. It is time to be committed. It is time to raise a standard and press forward. We must remove ourselves so the Vision of God can come out of us. Fasting opens up a channel for the gifts and life of God to come out of us. God will move when we are removed. He is waiting on us. It is time for us to take our place and carry out our responsibility. Satan will not quit and things will not get easier. We have to get stronger. It will take us coming together in prayer and fasting to hear the direction of God.

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