Before getting into the “results” of a fasting prayer, it is important to understand what the attitude is that brings us to a fasting prayer in the first place. The “why” of the fasting prayer.
The children of Israel (as seen in Judges chapter 20), having a very zealous sense of being obedient to God’s law, went to battle against their brother tribe, the Benjaminites….twice.
And twice Israel was slaughtered, even though both times they had enquired of God before the battle.
Before the third battle, they went before the Lord a bit differently: with weeping, waiting before Him, fasting, burnt offerings, and peace offerings.
The third time they were victorious!
So what was it that changed the outcome of the third battle? Was it the weeping or the waiting before the Lord, or the fasting, or the burnt offerings, or the peace offerings? Which one specifically?
I don't know for sure if it was one thing or all the things done. But I feel certain that the thing that gave the most impact for a response from God was the change of attitude displayed by the Israelites as they went before their God that was not seen prior to the first two battles: an attitude of repentance, of humility, of utter dependence on God, and of a plea for mercy and help.
And certainly fasting was one of the evidences of this changed attitude. Fasting indicates a willingness to surrender to God something that is very important to us, in exchange for something even MORE important being received: a resolution to the thing for which we pray.
And you must admit, when we fast, we are surrendering something that IS very important to our body: FOOD! The absolute importance of food to our body is evident by the reaction of our body to a fast.
When we fast, depending on the amount of time we fast, our body goes into “survival” mode because it recognizes that there is a danger of death that could “potentially” come from a fast. No matter that death couldn’t possibly occur for many months to come; the body recognizes the great risk to itself nonetheless, and sends forth a “frantic” response to the fat stores within shouting: “hold on for dear life!”
To better illustrate the body’s frantic reaction, let me use an analogy of an earthquake for a moment.
When my husband and I first moved to Nevada (almost 17 years ago now), within a year of our having settled into our new home, we experienced, very early one morning, a 6.0 magnitude earthquake. Neither of us had ever been in an earthquake before. My husband managed to handle it quite calmly, remaining in bed until it ended. I, on the other hand, jumped out of bed running for my life (not knowing exactly where to run to and not really caring, I just needed to be running!), and by the time I reached the door of the bedroom, the rumbling and shaking had stopped! The house had not caved in on us, and the earth had not opened up to swallow us! [Don’t laugh…that very thing happened in Numbers 14 to Korah and his co-horts.] In fact, there was no evidence, other than the intensely rapid beating of my heart and the look of shock on my face, to indicate there had even been an earthquake!
But the problem with an earthquake, I discovered, is that while it is happening you have absolutely no idea how long it will last and therefore, you have no idea how much damage will be done to “life or limb”, as they say, before it ends. When will it end? How long will it last? Will the house be so stressed before the quake is done that it collapses around us? If you knew before it began that it would only last 5 seconds and there would be no damage, then you would have no fear. But the unknown is what causes the fear. How long will this one last, and will I survive it?
This is the same thing the body considers when it finds itself suddenly in the middle of a fast. It, being the “victim” as it were, with no control whatsoever in choosing the length of the fast, has no way of knowing how long the fast will go on and how much damage might be done to it before the fast comes to an end. Therefore it begins immediately to go into “survival” mode, but instead of heading to the nearest exit, it begins to “hang on for dear life” to every fat store that it has in its possession, so that it has some “food” set aside with which to “survive” during this fast (famine); for it has no idea if this fast will last for an hour or a month. And, if the fast goes on for too long (as in malnourished 3rd world countries suffering through a real famine), then even all the fat cells it is clinging to will not be enough to allow the body to survive…it will die.
Thus, when we fast, we are saying, “even our bodies mean nothing to us in this matter. For without an answer from you, Lord, without your intervention on our behalf, we will die anyway. We are prepared to suffer this, all in the hope that you will turn your face towards us again.” The pray-er is saying: “These are desperate times, and our need of God is great. So great that we will surrender our very “living” to you if you will only help us”. And so, for an hour, or for a day, or for a week, or for a month....for whatever period of time we feel is required by the desperation of the situation...we die...at least to the "frantic" needs of our body.
This is the attitude of a fast.
When Moses fasted it was because he knew how great the sin of the Israelites was to the very holy Lord God, and he knew how great God’s wrath was against the people because of their great sin. The greatness of God’s wrath was very equal to the greatness of Israel’s sin. Destruction was on its way, and drastic prayer was required. Moses’ attitude, therefore, was one of intense desperation on behalf of those who had been given into his care. He sought mercy from God, and was willing to "die" himself for forty days and forty nights in exchange for their lives.
Sometimes the attitude for fasting comes because we see a potentially very near and very great danger to others, as it did with Moses above; sometimes, it is because that danger is headed towards ourselves. In the case of Esther, it was both.
Esther, by going into the king uninvited in order to attempt to save the lives of her people, faced certain death for herself….for no matter who she was, the king’s decrees were to be obeyed. It was the law! How desperate was her fasting prayer and that of all the people who fasted with her, both for their own sakes and for that of their queen, one of their own? In this case, God’s protection AND intervention were desperately sought!
The Christians of Acts 13 were desperate for guidance and direction from God. The church was facing terrible persecution that raged all around them, beginning with the stoning of Stephen, and including the recent martyrdom of James, the brother of John (the “sons of thunder”). Peter had been miraculously released from prison where he surely would have been executed. Every professing Christian was in extremely desperate times, at great risk of death for themselves and their families, and yet the Good News must go forth. They had been given a great commission! They desperately sought God for wisdom in how to proceed with this commission in view of the great danger surrounding them , as well as for courage to face whatever might come.
As we read through each of these examples of fasting prayer, we will see the desperate pleas for God’s help, in each and every case.
And as I read through these examples of fasting prayer, I see a very distinct parallel between the plight of God’s people in those bible times and the plight of God’s people in these current times; leading me to believe that what is urgently necessary now is just exactly what was urgently necessary then:
FASTING PRAYER!
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