Some of us are conversant with the biblical account in Esther 4:16, of how queen Esther told her uncle Mordecai to gather together all the Jews so that they could fast for her.
She commanded them not to eat or drink for three days, night or day.
She led by example letting the people know that she and her attendants would fast as they did, willing to lay down her life for her people, at all cost.
God rebuked the people of her times who had gone against the type of fasting he had laid down for them when he said according to Isaiah 58:5 thus:
"Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for people to humble themselves?
Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying in sackcloth and ashes?
Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord?"
I was brought up by my parents and the local Church I attended to believe that fasting was a time period of sacrifice when one would:
1. Abstain from eating or drinking in order to deny one's flesh of it's natural cravings but instead feed one's spirit with the Word of God so that one's Spirit would be empowered over one's flesh, to subdue it and bring it under the control of God's Word, and
2. Pray and meditate on God's Word in order to know Him and His Word more and gain revelation about issues that was bothering one and therefore the empowerment one needs to overcome them.
True fasting however, as God has prescribed for mankind, that goes beyond what a lot of us have been taught, made to believe and practiced, can be appreciated by going through what God prescribed through his prophet in Isaiah 58 verse 6 to 7 and verse10, so that we can understand exactly how God would have us go about fasting, in a way that is acceptable to Him, so that the inherent blessings may accrue to us for our accurate and faithful participation.
In Isaiah 58: 6 to 7 and 10, it is aptly written thus:
6. “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
7. Is it not to share your food with the hungry and to provide the poor wanderer with shelter - when you see the naked, to clothe them, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood?
10. and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.
Most of us have been erroneously taught to fast by humbling ourselves before God, merely asking for the blessings God has already promised to provide for us, while leaving out the significant role God desires we do on behalf of the needy and oppressed to obtain those blessings.
True fasting, of frequently spending out of what we own, on behalf of others who are not as privileged as we are, as prescribed in Isaiah 58 requires that we:
1.) deprive and spend ourselves on the behalf of the hungry and
2.) satisfy the needs of the oppressed at our own expense,
so that, in turn God will:
- cause our light to rise in the darkness,
and
- our night to become like the noonday; which has to do with us getting revelations from God concerning gray areas in our lives that we are having difficulties in, and negative issues we were experiencing before being dealt with and oberturned by the Lord, as a result of our faithfulness in fasting.
Now that we have been enlightened about what true fasting is, let us ensure that when we fast by abstaining from eating or drinking in order to deny our flesh but instead, praying and feeding our spirit with the Word of God, the end result of our sacrifice will be that needs of the hungry and oppressed around us, are met by us, as God has prescribed, so that in turn God Almighty will meet our needs and wants, and bless us as he has said He would do for our faithfulness.
Shalom!
No comments:
Post a Comment