Window For Glory To Slide In
You and I are both surrounded by something that is at the root of everything you and I hate. Every symptom of illness, the grief and sorrow that plaques your soul, the decay of everything around you, this thing called sin has infected all the things within the world around you. “I was brought forth in iniquity, and in sin did my mother conceive me.” (Psalm 51:5 ESV) “The wicked are estranged from the womb; they go astray from birth, speaking lies.” (Psalm 58:3 ESV) Because of original sin inherent from Adam (Romans 5:18) you and I were birthed into a world that has imprinted upon us the one thing that separates us from the Father. While because Christ lived a perfect life, died, and was resurrected; you and I have been given a new life and are cloaked in righteousness making us right with the Father so we may be in communion with Him, and we are now dead to sin but alive in Christ (Romans 6:11), on this earth we are still surrounded by the decaying process of sin. There are things in your life and in my life that we have come to acceptance; this is how it is, I will live with this trauma forever, this illness is a part of my life, this addiction is the thorn in my side and I will remain saying to myself that His grace is sufficient. There are seasons you and I go through where we are far away from God. Our prayer life has gone stale, we stop opening the scriptures and reading, we drift away from going to church, we feel the distance in our hearts and we accept it. There is an ancient discipline that comes out of the scriptures that our culture has warped into a self-idolatry form of self help. This thing called fasting. In the ancient times this was a way of humbling yourself, breaking your flesh from its greatest desire, placing yourself under God’s hand and crying out to Him in worship and communion; to restore, to perform a creative miracle, to heal and revive - a window for Glory to slide in. In our culture fasting has become a fad of weight loss, a fast pass around losing fat. This discipline that was intended to be used for righteousness has become the way of seeking the self.
I need to begin this with assuring you, that outside of the righteousness of Christ and what He has covered you and I with, there is nothing that you and I can do for the Lord. There is no offering, no works, no ritual or religious performance that can earn anything more from the Lord. Fasting is a gift from the Lord to you and I for us to become more intimate with the Father. It is in times of fasting, that we will see, where God bless those who fast - these too are a gift of God’s grace, not a reward of their performance. You have nothing to offer Him. I have nothing to offer Him. But rather we owe Him everything, spot the difference. Fasting is a gift, prayer is a gift, taking communion is a gift. These are gifts that draw us closer to Him, not Him closer to us.
In the American Christian culture fasting has been looked upon as something that is reserved for the “extreme” Christian; the Christian that be doing the most, the Christian that likes to practice rituals and thinks that they are more holier then thou. While yes, some may have distorted this practice into that and perform it in order to appear more righteous then those next to them. Jesus talks about fasting in two different instances. The first is in Matthew 6:16 (ESV) saying “when you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward.” I want to note here, that even Jesus in the first century knew that fasting was a way to lose body fat, to change the appearance of yourself; exactly what our culture has turned fasting into. Apart from that, though, I want to draw your attention to Jesus saying “when you fast,” this implies that Jesus expected for you to fast. In the same way that He says “when you pray,” not if you pray or if you fast. Praying is not reserved for the extremist, and neither is fasting. The next time we see Jesus speaking about fasting (a part from His own fast) is in Matthew 9:14-15 (ESV) “Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, ‘Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?’ And Jesus said to them, ‘Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.’” Here, John’s disciples are challenging Jesus that his followers do not fast, so we can assume that throughout all of Jesus’ ministry none of His disciples spent time fasting. Why is this? Jesus tells us in His response; because they are with the bridegroom in the flesh. Fasting is a way of breaking your own flesh, allowing your Spirit to become intimate with the Father. To allow the Holy Spirit to connect with the bridegroom in a state of deep dependence. I want us to notice too that Jesus says: “and then they will fast,” Jesus affirms again that it is expected that we should fast. It would be odd to say “I do not pray at all because Jesus prayed ‘the high priestly prayer’ so that covers all of my prayer,” in the same breath I would say it would be odd to never fast because Jesus fasted for 40 days so I don’t need to. Many times we do not want to fast because we are comfortable with where we are with our relationship with God. That He answers my prayers, He blesses my efforts where I am at right now, He understands why I don’t fast. What if you fasted just to have deeper communion with the Father? What if you took what Romans 12:1 says and present your body as a living sacrifice. Allow your Spirit to have a window for Glory to slide in.
“While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.” (Acts 13:2 ESV)
Following the death and resurrection of Christ, while the early church is gathered together and they are praying and fasting to seek the Father for guidance scripture tells us that while they were doing this God heard them and answered them. We see that after they received this message they ended their fast, and then laid their hands on Barnabas and Saul to be sent off. When we fast God gives you direction, He gives you guidance, and you hear Him with clarity.
A window for Glory to slide in.
“‘Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, ‘Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.’” (Esther 4:16 ESV)
Esther is a powerful book. A peasant made queen, Esther’s uncle Mordecai sends word to Esther that there is a plot to abolish their people, so Mordecai pleads to Esther to inform the King to resolve this matter before it is executed. Rather then testing her luck with the King, Esther trusts in the Lord and holds a fast with her appointed maidens, telling Mordecai to gather their people and do the same. After the fast, it is then that Esther approaches the King. I will leave it to you to go and read the rest of Esther to see how God answers their cries. But it is a miraculous answer that could only come from Him. God honors Esther’s fast, and in turn exalts not only her but Mordecai as well while striking down their foe.
A window for Glory to slide in.
“Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.” (Nehemiah 9:1-2 ESV)
Nehemiah is one of my favorite books of the Old Testament. I often return to it to see Nehemiah’s heart that he has for his nation, and to see the way he cries out to God over the brokenness in his nation. Here we see an example of corporate fast, Nehemiah gathers the Israelites, and together they fast and pray; crying out to God confessing their sins of their fathers who were lost in the wilderness and created idols, they complained, they turned their back on God every opportunity they had. Again, I would encourage you to go and read all of Nehemiah and see how The Lord responds to this corporate cry of repentance and deliverance.
A window for Glory to slide in.
“‘Yet even now,’ declares the Lord, ‘return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.’ Return to the Lord your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.” (Joel 2:12-13 ESV)
Lastly, the book of Joel. After the locust has come and destroyed all the crops, creating a wasteland, we see the Lord commanding Joel to return to Him with all his heart, with fasting, with weeping and mourning - and here is my favorite part - rend your hearts and not your garments. That is, bring your heart to The Lord like it is a dirty rag and imagine yourself wringing out that rag at his feet. Confessing everything that is in your heart. If you are in a season where you feel far away from God, we see here that God offers a way to return to his presence; with fasting. Be broken over your sin. Break your flesh, rid your heart of the sin that dwells in it. Allow a window for Glory to slide into your life and for The Lord to revive you. For He is faithful and gracious and merciful.
There are many more examples of fasting that I could pull from, but I want you to see the power that there is in fasting. I want you to begin to see how much God honors fasting when you cloak yourself in humility and enter his presence with an empty stomach, in a state of utter weakness, and cry out to Him who can do all things. The One who knows nothing impossible. Fasting is not a meal plan, it is not a way of being disciplined about your screen time, it is not just giving up your favorite sweets for a couple hours. There are many forms of fasting and I believe God honors our efforts, but if it doesn’t break your flesh and create a dependency upon the Lord you are missing the fruit. I challenge you to consider approaching The Lord with fasting, and see how He responds in your life.
A window for Glory to slide in.
