We’ll be ending this series on Prevailing Prayer by examining “Fasting and Praying.” The definition of fasting; it is a voluntary withdrawing from food and/or drink, or other fleshly appetite, for a specified period of time. The first mention of a fast in scripture is Exodus 34:28 “And the Lord said unto Moses, ‘Write these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel’. And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.” When Moses received the 10 Commandments from God, he engaged in a 40 day fast. You may have noticed it said he didn’t eat OR drink! Don’t any of you try that! It is a human impossibility apart from divine intervention. Some have worked up to a 40 day fast from food, but no one could survive 40 days with no drink. This was a miracle! There are three basic types of fasting mentioned in the Bible:
1. Normal fast. Jesus began His earthly ministry with prayer and fasting. Matthew 4:1-2, “a forty day fast Jesus completed!” Jesus taught His disciples to fast - “Moreover when (not if) you fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance” (Matthew 6:16). Though fasting is never commanded, Jesus assumed that the disciples would want to in order to see great things happen! But it’s not something a Christian has to do, but can choose to do. And not many guidelines are given in scripture about fasting, either! A normal fast is no food, only liquids like water, juice, etc. and it can last for 1 day (that’s a good place to start); 3 days (Paul did this right after getting saved); or 40 days (many examples in Bible). Several men alive today have done a 40 day fast and have said it was absolutely life-changing...
