Alignment with God through Fasting and Prayer
Seeing Spiritually • Sermon • Submitted
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· 473 viewsPrayer and Fasting is a tool to align ourselves with God and His purpose.
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Our theme for 2020 is Seeing Spiritually.
Our church and many churches are spending some time in prayer and fasting as we begin the new year.
Prayer and fasting is a spiritual discipline that has been practiced by the church since the time of Christ.
We share this morning about what God was speaking to us through our fast time.
Fasting is about alignment with God.
What is alignment?
On a car it means that the back wheels and the front wheels are tracking together.
If they are not, the car will be more difficult to steer, pulling to one side or the other.
Your tires will also wear out faster because they will encounter more friction with the road.
Alignment with God is like a car.
We need to be tracking with God, following Him in complete obedience.
We need clear direction for our lives, not being pulled one way or another.
When we are not in alignment life wears on us more than it has to because we are not living the life that God intend for us.
Why doesn’t fasting work for me?
Why doesn’t fasting work for me?
1 “Cry aloud; do not hold back; lift up your voice like a trumpet; declare to my people their transgression, to the house of Jacob their sins. 2 Yet they seek me daily and delight to know my ways, as if they were a nation that did righteousness and did not forsake the judgment of their God; they ask of me righteous judgments; they delight to draw near to God. 3 ‘Why have we fasted, and you see it not? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you take no knowledge of it?’ Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. 4 Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is such the fast that I choose, a day for a person to humble himself? Is it to bow down his head like a reed, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? Will you call this a fast, and a day acceptable to the Lord?
Fasting isn’t for you - it’s for God!
Cry aloud! The prophet says, “You guys don’t get it!”
Seeking the Lord is about seeking something beyond yourself.
Many people today are seeking a feeling.
Many people are only seeking God for blessing, but they don’t want to change.
Many people came to Christ because of what God could do for them, but they never fully gave themselves to God.
Fasting is an exercise in humility.
Humility is the opposite of pride and selfishness.
Sin and pride entered in at the fall.
The sin was wanting to be independent of God.
Paul refers to “the flesh” as being the old nature.
So our bodily hunger becomes a symbol of our sin or our wanting to be independent of God.
And the fast is a literal denying of that selfishness to pursue God.
Humility means giving up control.
When you are fasting you can’t just eat whatever you want.
Rees Howels, the Welsh missionary and intercessor, was known for skipping a meal each day.
A popular way to fast these days is ‘the Daniel fast,” where you live on nuts, fruits and vegetables. Like Daniel and his companions did during their training in Babylon.
Brian Sauder in his new book “Hungry for God,” recommends mostly water with a little tea or juice to supplement.
However you fast, work that out between you and God but be obedient to the fast that God gives you.
Don’t start too big. Some people have been overly zealous and that can be dangerous. (Remember Anthony from last week.)
You have to take into consideration the amount of energy that you need to do your work. ( I couldn’t fast when I was doing construction.)
Start with a few days and work up to a longer fast.
The idea behind a fast is to spend more time in prayer, but the fast itself is a kind of prayer.
Brian Sauder quotes Franklin Hall as saying that a fast is a “wordless prayer.”
Let your hunger remind you of your hunger for God.
Let the weakness remind you of your dependence on God.
Let everything that you have to say “no” to remind you of your devotion to God.
Prayer changes things, but most of all, it changes you.
When you are fasting, it is good to know what you are fasting for.
What do you want God to do? Think about it and write it down in a journal.
But fasting is not about “twisting God’s arm” to do something for you.
Yes, God responds to fasting and it is a source of spiritual power.
But even more than that, it is a source of alignment.
Alignment with God means that we begin to see things from God’s perspective.
In this passage God is not impressed with their fast because they continue in their pride and arrogance while fasting.
They pray and they fast, but nothing changes.
They stay mean and nasty and self-centered.
Alignment with God means that His desires become our desire.
This is why we talked about seeking God in silence and solitude before we talked about fasting, because the two go together.
Isaiah says they “delight to draw near to God” but it is not a true seeking because they are doing it just for show.
Isaiah say they were seeking God daily, but it didn’t produce any change.
A religious spirit will take the things of God and use them to accomplish a self-centered agenda.
So what is fasting supposed to accomplish?
So what is fasting supposed to accomplish?
6 “Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh? 8 Then shall your light break forth like the dawn, and your healing shall spring up speedily; your righteousness shall go before you; the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard. 9 Then you shall call, and the Lord will answer; you shall cry, and he will say, ‘Here I am.’ If you take away the yoke from your midst, the pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness, 10 if you pour yourself out for the hungry and satisfy the desire of the afflicted, then shall your light rise in the darkness and your gloom be as the noonday.
Fasting breaks the yoke of oppression.
A yoke is a harness mean to restrain animals and sometimes people.
If we do not practice self-restraint we become enslaved by our own desires.
Oppression is what happens when the self-centered sinful nature becomes empowered.
You’ve seen it. Give someone a little bit of power and the next thing you know, they are barking orders at everyone.
Then you think, if only I were in charge, I wouldn’t act that way ...but you do.
Unless you voluntarily humble yourself and give up control, you won’t lead in the character of Christ.
Fasting also breaks through spiritual oppression.
Spiritual oppression is built on our own character flaws and weaknesses.
A demon finds our fear, anger or self-gratification and says, “let me help you with that.”
Next thing you know we have an area of our life that is out of control.
We know that we can call on Jesus to have authority over evil spirits, but either we don’t try or it doesn’t seem to work.
Fasting undermines the self-centered behavior that invited the devil in the first place.
As we align ourselves, not just in words but in action, with God the devil has to go.
Fasting increases empathy and compassion.
Pleasure is like a drug.
As long as we are well-fed and satisfied we can be oblivious to the suffering all around us.
When you suffering, you suddenly notice other people around you who are also suffering.
Fasting is a voluntary suffering. It will open your eyes to the needs of others.
Empathy is the ability to enter into the pain of others.
Studies have been done that show that empathy is the primary quality which helps people to heal emotionally.
Having someone share your sorrow or your pain makes it more bearable.
Having gone through a painful experience makes you more compassionate to the needs of others.
Fasting is hard. It’s not pleasant.
It is a self-discipline, but one which forms in us the compassionate character of Christ.
Fasting helps you to hear God’s voice.
Fasting helps us to hear God more clearly because our flesh get in the way.
Are you familiar with selective hearing disorder? It’s when someone doesn’t hear what they don’t want to hear.
Our brain literally filters out things that don’t fit our preconceived ideas.
Let’s look at verse 9 in plain language.
9 Then when you call, the Lord will answer. ‘Yes, I am here,’ he will quickly reply. “Remove the heavy yoke of oppression. Stop pointing your finger and spreading vicious rumors!
Before the yoke of oppression is broken and before there is empathy and compassion you can’t hear this.
When you are oppressed or deceived you don’t realize that what you are doing is wrong because it feels right.
Not until the light of Jesus Christ shines on those dark places are they seen for what they really are.
When God shines that light of conviction into your heart you begin to realize that what you think is everyone else’s problem is actually you.
Did you know that when you point your finger there are three fingers pointing back at you?
Fasting helps you to recognize what is your part and come to repentance.
Fasting leads to righteous and holy living.
10 Feed the hungry, and help those in trouble. Then your light will shine out from the darkness, and the darkness around you will be as bright as noon.
It is good to seek the Lord in prayer and fasting when you have to make important life decisions.
Many ministries have been started through a time of prayer and fasting.
I have spent time in prayer and fasting before many of my overseas trips, before seeking a life partner and before deciding to come here.
My life and your life has a purpose that is more than just seeking our own pleasure.
When you set aside the pleasures in life, such as food, you can align yourself with God’s purpose for your life.
Brian Sauder talks about one of the purposes of fasting being delayed gratification.
Delayed gratification is a sign of maturity. When we can put aside the pleasure of the moment for some future benefit we become mature in our thinking.
Fasting helps one to get the bigger picture because the pressing needs of the moment are set aside.
When we align our heart with God’s we see that His heart is for the world and all the people in it.
How do I do this continually?
How do I do this continually?
11 And the Lord will guide you continually and satisfy your desire in scorched places and make your bones strong; and you shall be like a watered garden, like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail. 12 And your ancient ruins shall be rebuilt; you shall raise up the foundations of many generations; you shall be called the repairer of the breach, the restorer of streets to dwell in. 13 “If you turn back your foot from the Sabbath, from doing your pleasure on my holy day, and call the Sabbath a delight and the holy day of the Lord honorable; if you honor it, not going your own ways, or seeking your own pleasure, or talking idly; 14 then you shall take delight in the Lord, and I will make you ride on the heights of the earth; I will feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken.”
Fasting should be a lifestyle.
Sometimes I enjoy closeness with God and the clarity of mind and heart so much that is is difficult to break a fast.
The benefits of fasting are meant to last. They should become a lifestyle.
5 Is such a fast as yours what I have chosen, a day for a man to humble himself with sorrow in his soul? [Is true fasting merely mechanical?] Is it only to bow down his head like a bulrush and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him [to indicate a condition of heart that he does not have]? Will you call this a fast and an acceptable day to the Lord?
If the purpose of prayer and fasting is alignment and change, then that should be something that would last, right?
A former professor, Mr. Bambino would say, “live a fasted lifestyle.”
Get up in the morning before your alarm goes off.
Stop eating before you are completely stuffed.
Make time in your day for God. Say “no” to some things.
The discipline that we exercise while fasting can be applied to our everyday lives to some degree.
Fasting is part of God’s restoration process.
12 Some of you will rebuild the ancient ruins; you will restore the foundations laid long ago; you will be called the repairer of broken walls, the restorer of streets where people live.
If you are going to be a “rebuilder” and a “repairer” in this world then you need to be different.
We live in a fallen world where everyone does what they please.
What does it look like to live for God in world that has forgotten and forsaken God?
John Dawson in his classic book “Taking our Cities for God,” suggests that part of our spiritual warfare is acting in an opposite spirit to the prevalent spirit or the world around us.
Fasting does that because it puts our desires aside to align with God’s desires.
Fasting and prayer should be part of our Sabbath.
13 “Keep the Sabbath day holy. Don’t pursue your own interests on that day, but enjoy the Sabbath and speak of it with delight as the Lord’s holy day. Honor the Sabbath in everything you do on that day, and don’t follow your own desires or talk idly.
I’m not saying that we should fast every Sunday (or every Saturday), but that one day a week truly be set apart for God.
Just as we set ourselves apart during a fast to seek God, that is the purpose of Sabbath and we should do it regularly.
Daily, we spend time in prayer and in God’s Word.
Weekly, we meet together for worship and for fellowship.
About once a month we celebrate our covenant with God through Christ in communion.
I have a day set aside for prayer and seeking God about 4-6 times a year.
Each year we begin the year with a time of prayer and fasting.
Sabbath is more that just going to church on Sundays, it is establishing a regular rhythm of seeking God and aligning ourselves with Him.
Questions for Reflection:
Questions for Reflection:
How is fasting going for you? Is it just a religious exercise or have you been able to really connect with God? Have you checked your own motives for fasting? Is this about God doing something for you or it is about aligning with God?
What are the benefits that you have received (or would like to receive) from fasting? Have you found freedom from oppression? Do you have compassion for the things that break God’s heart? Are you hearing God’s voice clearly? Are you sure of your purpose and destiny?
Where do you go from here? Do you have a regular rhythm of seeking God? When is the next time that you will have time set apart for God? How does this discipline influence your daily life?
If you have questions about fasting and would like resources, here are some that I can recommend:
“God’s Chosen Fast: A Spiritual and Practical Guide to Fasting” by Arthur Wallis, 1968, 2019 CLC
“Hungry for God” by Brian Sauder, 2019 House to House
“The Daniel Fast” by Susan Gregory, 2009, Tyndale