Our Challenge to Fast!

The following is an excerpt from the script notes from the message Pastor Fernando gave on the weekend of March 7-8. Enjoy!

21 Then I proclaimed a fast there at the river of Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from Him the right way for us and our little ones and all our possessions. 22 For I was ashamed to request of the king an escort of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy on the road, because we had spoken to the king, saying, “The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him.” 23 So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer. Ezra 8:21-23

Ezra realized that in order for the people of Israel to experience breakthrough and get glowing again, they needed to depend in the Holy Spirit by praying and fasting. So he called all the people of God to pray and fast together, all of them at the same time. The purpose of their fast was threefold:

• We fast to seek guidance.

Is anybody here in need of direction for your life? Maybe you need direction in your career, or in your future. You are facing important decisions and you don’t know what to do? Every time that I face a difficult situation or a crucial moment where important decisions needed to be made, I’ve done a fast. I fasted and found direction when I went to Bible College. I fasted when praying about coming to Hawaii… I even fasted when I was praying about asking Karen to marry me. I wanted to make sure that I was doing the right thing. Remember, It’s not by might, nor by power, but by the Holy Spirit. Let’s get glowing with the right fuel and let’s seek God’s presence together as we fast and pray.

• We fast to seek protection for our loved ones.

Is anybody here in need of protection for yourself or a loved one? I mean, is anybody being wrongly accused of anything, or your children are being targets? Do you feel like there is no light at the end of the tunnel? Do you feel vulnerable for sickness or any other attack of the enemy? Remember… Not by might…. Let’s get glowing with the right fuel and let’s seek God’s presence together as we fast and pray.

• We fast to seek protection for our possessions.

Is anybody here loosing your retirement or your life-savings, or your legacy? Without being materialistic, you can come to God and ask him for protection. With the way this economy is going, we need to pray for our jobs, for our homes, for the things that we have worked so hard and that could be gone. We may be tempted to fight with our might and with our power. But as we have heard from God Himself, it’s only by His Spirit. Let’s get glowing with the right fuel and let’s seek God’s presence together as we fast and pray. Amen?

Today I want to empower you with one of the most amazing tools we have on our side in order to see breakthrough in our lives. I want to challenge you to be fasting. Yes! Fasting! I don’t know of any other way to get fresh oil for our spiritual tanks than when we come to God’s presence in prayer and fasting.

Biblical fasting is not merely going without food for some time. That is dieting. Nor fasting is something done by fanatics. Fasting is not done only by monks, or by ministers in special occasions, or by weird people. In our church we are charismatics, not charismaniacs. Simply said, biblical fasting is refraining from food for a spiritual purpose. Fasting has been always a normal part of our relationship with God.

So starting Sunday, March 22, we are going to set apart together as a church a time to fast and pray. This is 21 days before Easter, so we are going to have a 21 day fast as a church. We will be doing a Daniel’s Fast!