As we are fasting and seeking the Lord’s face regarding His will for our building fund, I hope these points will encourage us! I am very excited to see how Jesus will/and how He already had spoken to us. We will have two special times to discuss how Jesus is guiding us on Monday, May 14 and Tuesday, May 15 both at 6 p.m. at the church!
Four Answers to the question, “why should I fast”:
1) “While they were worshipping and fasting, the Holy Spirit spoke…” (Acts 13:2).”
“Lesson: When you need to hear the voice of God more clearly, fast and worship.”
“2) Jesus said, “As long as [my disciples] have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast” (Mark 2:19-20).
The bridegroom has gone on a long journey. He is preparing for us a place. We can have great confidence that we will one day see him face to face. But for now we are not “home with the Lord.” Our lives are shot through with longings. Fasting is an expression of our conviction that it is sin to be satisfied with ourselves as we are. Our hunger cries out to the Lord: This much, Lord! This much I am not content with the measure of my holiness and the power of my witness. Come! Change me! Fill me! Enlarge my capacity for joy in you even as you shrink the capacity of my stomach for this world.”
“Lesson: The Christian life between the two comings of Christ is a wonderful mingling of joy already and fullness not yet.”
“3) “And when you fast, do not look dismal…that your fasting may not be seen by men; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you” (Matthew 6:16-18).”
Lesson: Lovers of Jesus fast.
“4) “I will not be enslaved by anything” (1 Corinthians 6:12).”
“Fasting reveals how severe is our bondage to food. Gluttonous Christians are a disgrace to the gospel. Fasting is a thermometer under the tongue of our appetite to measure the fever of our own gluttony. “Self-control” is a fruit of the Spirit. Self-gratification is a fruit of American advertising. O how much spiritual weakness there is due to our slavery in this area.”
“Lesson: Strive to say with Paul, “I pommel my body and subdue it, lest after preaching to others, I myself should be disqualified” (1 Corinthians 9:27).”
The preceding is a summation of a blog post from John Piper. You may find the full article at http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/taste-see-articles/fasting-in-1984.
