Fasting
Scripture
“When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full.“
~Matthew 6:16, NIV
Quote
“The true test of a man’s spirituality is not how much he thinks of God, but how little he thinks of himself.”
~Martyn Lloyd-Jones
My Thoughts
Jesus was a great teacher. His sermons and lessons are so deep that no man can touch bottom. In the middle portion of the SERMON ON THE MOUNT He addresses the problem of ostentatiousness, being pretentious or a show off. He mentions three things: almsgiving {charity}, prayer and fasting. The Pharisees loved doing all three in public. They even prayed aloud on street corners. Almsgiving has to do with how we relate to others; pray deals with our intimacy with God [relationship to God] and fasting is a spiritual discipline dealing with our relationship to our self. All three are important and none of the three are to be done for the praise of man or for a quick return or reward.
Of the three, fasting is the most difficult to do ostentatiously. It is difficult to get an audience for 24 hours and the Pharisees fasted 24 hours twice a week. Where there is a will, there is a way and they found a way to fast with pomp and flair. They would disfigure their faces, not bath, go into the public ungroomed. They totally misunderstood the purpose of a fast. It is a spiritual discipline designed to help us recognize the power and lust of our flesh and our desperate need for divine intervention in our daily lives. Rewards and recognition have no business in the same room with fasting. Stop thinking about rewards. The ones who will get rewards don’t think about rewards. When you fast, and it will usually be your decision, although spiritual and civil leaders can call for a fast; have a purpose in mind. Remember a fast does not mean no food at all. It doesn’t even have to relate to food. June and I fasted from phone games for a month. I was getting to the office late everyday because I would linger at the breakfast table playing phone games. I am in another prolonged fast, no bread or sweets, and I am not going to lie, I am miserable. BUT there is a purpose to the fast which happens to be my health. You might be thinking right now…there you go, you lost your reward because you told us you were fasting and you have to keep it a secret. Two things make that kind of thinking wrong. First, I need help and accountability. If you have a problem there is absolutely nothing wrong with you sharing that with a friend so that they can pray with you and for you and ask you the hard questions which holds you accountable.
A. W. Tozer said, “A man has reached maturity when he ceases to be concerned about himself.” This is our goal. Almsgiving is thinking about others; prayer is thinking about God and fasting is forgetting about self. If we are not careful, we will spend more time thinking about our self than we do God or others. Fasting is a spiritual discipline to help us reel self in and think more about Jesus and others. You may say, “I don’t think it will work.” Then you go all day tomorrow without eating and see if you don’t think more about Jesus and in a spiritual sense, less of yourself. There is a subliminal truth is that last statement, a play on word so to speak.
Let me share with you briefly Martyn Lloyd-Jones keys to fasting:
- Understand there is a biblical precedent in both Old and New Testament
- Have a purpose in mind: don’t fast for the sake of fasting. It is a means to an end, not the end itself.
- Fasting is not a fedish or a rabbits foot; it is not a quick fix that produces instant rewards. It does not put God in your debt.
- Don’t fast to call attention to yourself or your piousness. Hypocrites fast! Some of them fast twice a week.
- Never fast or practice any other spiritual discipline for the praise of men. When it comes to fasting, forget pleasing others and forget yourself. Do it as an act of worship. Think only of pleasing your Heavenly Father and think about His honor and glory.
Extra
I do hope you had a good FATHERS DAY. I have no complaints. I want to thank my children and grand children and that includes the greats for a wonderful time. We had an old fashioned fish fry, the kind that my Daddy loved. Our great grand son Titan took a ziplock bag of cold fish home with him. He eats it right out of the bag with no sauce of any kind. Folks, that is Eugene Bailey made over. When we had a fish fry, he would eat the left overs the next morning for breakfast. Once a week will do me on fish. I can eat pork, chicken and beef every day.
We had good attendance yesterday at the Point. All our grand children were there except three and two of them had a good reason, they were supporting their daddy. We had a good response of the sacrifice of thanksgiving. I think there were 15 or so and I went over them on the way home. I love having my own personal driver. The number one topic of thanksgiving was family and that was also mine yesterday. I was so thankful to have my family with me. What we are looking for is what comes to the surface on a particular day. We are all thankful for the incarnation and the atonement. God’s mercy and grace are always at the top but we are looking for what you are feeling on any given Sunday morning. You can’t make a list of things you are thankful for; you can try but the list will go on and on. You did good no more than I explained it. There were no prayer request but there will be once people get comfortable with the idea. No one will read these other than myself.
Have a great day and thanks for reading the blog.
Extra/Extra
Seven Principles of Christian Stewardship
- Recognize Divine Ownership {Psalm 24:1, Psalm 50}
- Resolve to Tithe {Malachi 3:10}
- Resist all forms of Greed {1 Timothy 6:6-10}
- Realize that the secret to getting is giving {Luke 6:38}
- Remember the words of Christ…It is more fun to give than to recieve. {Acts 20:35}
- Renounce all selfish motives{Matt.6:2, 1 Cor. 13}
- Rely on God for every need {Matt. 6:33 and Phil. 4:19}