Fasting

The only time God commanded a fast was on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 23:27 32). However,
there are plenty of examples of fasting in the Bible. It was understood in Biblical culture, and in Jesus’
day. Jesus said, “when you fast.’ He did not say “if you fast,” indicating this was an expected spiritual
discipline, like prayer (Matt. 6:16-17).

What we must understand is that fasting is not starving, trying to get God’s attention, as if to
say, “Hey look at me I am suffering over this thing, I really need help here!” There is a spiritual
phenomenon that happens when we fast. It is not just missing food or drink, or whatever else one
denies themselves.

Why do we fast? Well, whenever I have a question, I do not assume I already know the answer. I
look at what the Word of God says about it, because there is one Truth for all things. John 17:17
“Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” Jesus is the Word, and He always has the answer to
the question. Why do we fast? Well, let us first look at our example in all things— Jesus. Why did Jesus
fast?

The first time we read of Jesus fasting, it was in the forty days of the wilderness before He began
His earthly ministry. What do you think He was doing during those forty days? Since He had grown as a
human being, and developed a relationship with the Father and the Spirit while He walked as a man, He
was no doubt talking with them day and night about the next few years He was about to live out. We
can get an idea of what they were talking about by looking at the things with which the devil came and
tempted Him. Whatever God tells you, be assured that Satan will attack that very thing. He attacks the
Word of God.

Jesus spent that forty days receiving the Word of God to prepare Him for what lay ahead. The
Holy Spirit gave Him direction, comfort, and support. The Father affirmed Him, and loved Him, and let
Him know His will for how the whole salvation plan was to be carried out. Remember, Jesus had laid
aside all His God power and omniscience for a season, to have the full experience in the flesh. He came
as a man, fully connected with the Father and the Spirit, and thus anointed to do God’s works, but He
was still limited by His flesh. He was still a man. He did not immediately know it all. He knew what the
Father and the Spirit revealed.

John 5:19 “Then Jesus answered and said to them, “Most assuredly, I say to you, the Son can do
nothing of Himself, but what He sees the Father do; for whatever He does, the Son also does in like
manner.”

Hebrews 5:7-9 … who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and
supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was
heard because of His godly fear, 8 though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which
He suffered. 9 And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey
Him…

John 5:30 “I can of Myself do nothing. As I hear, I judge; and My judgment is righteous, because I
do not seek My own will but the will of the Father who sent Me.”

Mark 13:32 “But of that day and hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son,
but only the Father.”

So why do we fast? Because we cannot live or accomplish anything in the Lord without the
Word of God. We fast to receive a word from God, so we can be sustained by that word, empowered by
that word, encouraged and strengthened by that word, and directed by that word for the challenges
ahead. Fasting prepares you for the works God has ordained for you to do. You will see that in fasting
examples in the Bible. If part of your calling is to intercede for someone, then fasting prepares you for
that battle on their behalf. You are going to need prayer strategies. You are going to need the character
of Christ. You will need to die to self. Fasting helps bring that to pass.

Moses fasted forty days receiving the Word of God on the mountain when God gave him the
Law. He was supernaturally sustained by the living Word of God. No one can go forty days with no water
in the natural, and it is certainly very hard with no food. (Deut. 9:9, 12-17; Exodus 20:18, Deut. 5:27-31).
As long as God talked, Moses lived and was sustained. He did not come down the mountain weak and
emaciated, barely crawling along. He came walking, full of the power and anointing of God, carrying two
heavy stone tablets. He came with the Word.

Jesus fasted forty days, not to show some kind of spiritual marathon ability, but because He was
receiving ‘downloads’ from the Father that would prepare Him for His purpose ahead. He was out there
in the hot desert, just Him and the Father and the Holy Spirit, proving that man does not live by bread
alone, but by every Word that proceeds from the mouth of God. One day for every year of Israel in the
wilderness when they came out of Egypt. For forty years they also lived by the bread of God—the
manna. That is exactly what He told the devil when Satan showed up questioning Him and tempting
Him, because He had just lived it out! It was not until He was done communing the forty days that He
was then hungry.

Matthew 4:2-3 And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.
Now when the tempter came to Him, he said, “If You are the Son of God, command that these stones to
become bread.” Remember when the Lord told His disciples, “I have food you know not of,”? (John 4:31-
35). The Word will sustain you. John 6:35 And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes
to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.”

Who knows how it feels to have a word from God sustain you through the fight? To carry on in
supernatural grace in the face of incredible pressure to give up? You must grab hold of the promises of
God, and let them hold you up. You must keep communing with God to receive fresh bread, fresh
manna, for every day. You may be holding on to a Word from ten years ago, but He will also feed you for
each day while He keeps you going with the promises of long ago.

Exodus 16:14-22 And when the layer of dew lifted, there, on the surface of the wilderness, was a
small round substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15 So when the children of Israel saw it, they said
to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. And Moses said to them, “This is the
bread which the Lord has given you to eat. 16 This is the thing which the Lord has commanded: ‘Let every
man gather it according to each one’s need, one omer for each person, according to the number of
persons; let every man take for those who are in his tent.’ ” 17 Then the children of Israel did so and
gathered, some more, some less. 18 So when they measured it by omers, he who gathered much had
nothing left over, and he who gathered little had no lack. Every man had gathered according to each

one’s need. 19 And Moses said, “Let no one leave any of it till morning.” 20 Notwithstanding they did not
heed Moses. But some of them left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and stank. And Moses was
angry with them. 21 So they gathered it every morning, every man according to his need. And when the
sun became hot, it melted.

It is important to note here, the bread was gathered early in the morning, as the day was just
starting. If you waited until much later, it melted. We need to take note, we should seek God’s Word in
the morning, or whenever we wake to start our day. That way we have shown God that He is first, and
we rely on His direction, strength, comfort, correction, and wisdom for whatever the day ahead holds.
When we seek Him, we will find Him, and He will give us just what we need. Whether we spend an hour
or a few minutes, He will be faithful to give us something to eat. However, the more you put into it, the
more you will get out.

Deut. 8:3 So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not
know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone;
but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the Lord.

John 6:58 “This is the bread which came down from heaven—not as your fathers ate the manna,
and are dead. He who eats this bread will live forever.”

Matthew 14:20 So they all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve baskets full of the
fragments that remained. More on Jesus’ commission after fasting What is important also to see is that
the Holy Spirit did not lead Jesus to the wilderness where He fasted, until He had first anointed and
empowered Him, affirmed Him, and fulfilled the sign of the new life that would be in Him: baptism.
Remember, Jesus is our example, first in all things, even baptism. Jesus came out of that water anointed
for the purpose ahead, loved and affirmed by the Spirit and the Father.

Matthew 3:14-15 And John tried to prevent Him, saying, “I need to be baptized by You, and are
You coming to me?” 15 But Jesus answered and said to him, “Permit it to be so now, for thus it is fitting
for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he allowed Him.

When Satan came, it was after the one-on-one time Jesus had with the Father. It was after the
sure Word from God had been given. It was after Jesus had heard from heaven the Father’s own voice
affirming Him, and felt the Holy Spirit coming down on Him affirming Him.

John 3:21 When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and
while He prayed, the heaven was opened. 22 And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove
upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well
pleased.”

Luke 4:1-15 Then Jesus, being filled with the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by
the Spirit into the wilderness, 2 being tempted for forty days by the devil. And in those days He ate
nothing, and afterward, when they had ended, He was hungry. 3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are
the Son of God, command this stone to become bread.”4 But Jesus answered him, saying, “It is written,
‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word of God.’ ” 5 Then the devil, taking Him up on a high
mountain, showed Him all the kingdoms of the world in a moment of time. 6 And the devil said to Him,
“All this authority I will give You, and their glory; for this has been delivered to me, and I give it to
whomever I wish. 7 Therefore, if You will worship before me, all will be Yours.” 8 And Jesus answered and

said to him, “Get behind Me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only
you shall serve.’ ” 9 Then he brought Him to Jerusalem, set Him on the pinnacle of the temple, and said
to Him, “If You are the Son of God, throw Yourself down from here. 10 For it is written: ‘He shall give His
angels charge over you, to keep you,’ 11 and, ‘In their hands they shall bear you up, lest you dash your
foot against a stone.’ ” 12 And Jesus answered and said to him, “It has been said, ‘You shall not tempt
the Lord your God.’ ” 13 Now when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from Him until an
opportune time. 14 Then Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit to Galilee, and news of Him went out
through all the surrounding region. 15 And He taught in their synagogues, being glorified by all.
Satan went straight for Jesus’ identity and purpose. Satan said, “if You are the Son of God…,”
and each time he said this, he tempted Jesus with fleshly, earthly desires and selfish thinking. That is
because that is all he knows. He is only mindful of things out of concert with the will of God.
Matt. 16:23 “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the
things of God, but the things of men.” Satan went first for the physical, the body, the hunger. Notice, he
targeted Adam and Eve with food too! Then, he went for the soul, attempting to find pride in who Jesus
was. Jesus had power to do ‘whatever He wanted to after all,’ so Satan pushed, ‘if You are God, prove it,
You can do anything.’ Satan demanded a sign. Unbelief always demands signs.
Matthew 16:1-7 Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing Him asked that He would
show them a sign from heaven…. 4 A wicked and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign
shall be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah.”
I Cor. 1:20-25 For since, in the wisdom of God, the world through wisdom did not know God, it
pleased God through the foolishness of the message preached to save those who believe. 22 For Jews
request a sign, and Greeks seek after wisdom; 23 but we preach Christ crucified, to the Jews a stumbling
block and to the Greeks foolishness, 24 but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, Christ the
power of God and the wisdom of God. 25 Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the
weakness of God is stronger than men.

When none of that worked, Satan then tried to twist the Word of God around and use it against
Jesus. When that failed, He finally went after Jesus’ purpose and future. He went after the timing aspect,
to try to get Jesus to make it all happen before the ordained time and in another way than that of the
Father. Jesus didn’t fall for any of it. Satan will do the same with you. For your own life, and for the
calling of intercession on you for another.

In addition to seeking a Word from God:

1. Fasting lets your body and flesh know they are not in charge, your spirit is. If we do not want
to fast, it is because our flesh is calling the shots. It is being directed by fear or rebellion. There’s just no
appetite for the things of the Spirit because we have been nibbling at the world’s table, and our soul is
full.

2. We fast to seek God’s wisdom. Acts 14:23 So when they had appointed elders in every church,
and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.

3. We fast to seek deliverance and protection.

Ezra 8:21-23 Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble
ourselves before our God to seek from Him a safe journey for us, our little ones, and all our possessions.
For I was ashamed to request from the king troops and horsemen to protect us from the enemy on the
way, because we had said to the king, “The hand of our God is favorably disposed to all those who seek
Him, but His power and His anger are against all those who forsake Him.” So we fasted and sought our
God concerning this matter, and He listened to our entreaty.

Esther 4:16 “Go, gather all the Jews who are present in Shushan, and fast for me; neither eat nor
drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will fast likewise. And so I will go to the king, which is
against the law; and if I perish, I perish!”

4. We may fast to show repentance.

Jonah 3:7-10 And he caused it to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree
of the king and his nobles, saying, “Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let
them eat, or drink water. But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes,
let 44 every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.”…Then God saw their
works, that they turned from their evil way; and God relented from the disaster that He had said He
would bring upon them, and He did not do it.

Judges 20:26 Then all the children of Israel, that is, all the people, went up and came to the
house of God and wept. They sat there before the LORD and fasted that day until evening; and they
offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the LORD.

In Isaiah 58, God said through His prophet to the people a word of correction on fasting. He
showed that fasting develops God’s character in you. He explained it is involved in intercession,
repentance, humility, and destroying enemy strongholds, in you and in others. Isaiah 58:6 “Is this not
the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, to let the
oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?” Those are deliverance terms. Intercession terms. In
Matthew 17:20-21, Jesus explained that fasting is sometimes involved in deliverance from specific
demonic attack and bondage. He said, “However, this kind (of demon) does not go out except by prayer
and fasting.” Therefore, we should consider fasting a weapon in our spiritual arsenal against the devil
and his demons. For us, and for those for whom we intercede.