 Hello, this is David Diga Hernandez and you are watching Spirit Church here on the Encounter TV Network. Fasting is probably the most neglected spiritual discipline for the average believer. And there is a reason that the enemy wants to keep you from fasting and praying. I'm going to teach you what the Bible says about prayer and fasting right now. But first, Stephen Maktezuma is here with me. He's going to lead you in some very anointed worship. And then we're going to get right into this message. Prepare your heart through worship. Here is Stephen Maktezuma. Here's a spiritual truth for every natural act of faith. There is a divine reaction. The Bible is very clear that when I step out in faith in obedience to the word of God, that God responds with power. The scripture says in James chapter two, verse 17, even so faith, if it has no works, is dead being by itself. Faith moves things in the spirit realm. Faith removes the stubborn barriers. Whenever you feel spiritually stuck or stagnant, carry out an act of faith. Faith has the power when it is enacted to cause you to become unstuck. It causes something to be stirred inside of you. Faith breaks through the difficult barriers in the spiritual realm. So when the scripture teaches us that we are to fast and pray, and it makes it very clear here actually in Matthew chapter six, verses 16 through 18. And when you fast, don't make it obvious as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth that is the only reward they will ever get. But when you fast, comb your hair and wash your face, then no one will notice that you are fasting, except your father, who knows what you do in private. And your father, who sees everything, will reward you. So here we see Jesus telling us that we are to fast. He assumes when you fast. It's something that you are to practice regularly. When we are told to fast, we may not understand all of the spiritual dynamics behind that. I don't know why fasting works. I've read it, the concept of fasting. I've studied it all throughout the scripture. And though I've looked for the why, I've only come to understand the what. I know that fasting works, but I'm never able to see exactly what is going on in the spiritual realm when I fast. So I take it by faith and I respond to the word of God by saying, if Jesus says it's something that I'm to do, I will do it. If the scripture tells me that it's something that I'm to do, then I will do it and I will experience the benefits of prayer and fasting, even though I don't understand the mechanism itself. So there are examples all throughout the scripture of what happens when you act in faith in the natural realm. For example, Moses parting the Red Sea, Israel shouting down the walls of Jericho, Elijah calling down fire from heaven and so forth. There are many examples in the Bible, hundreds, thousands even, of people stepping out of faith in response to the word of God and seeing powerful results. So the same is true when we fast. Again, we may not understand why it works, but we know, biblically speaking, that it works and that should be enough for us to step out in faith and take God at His word and experience the power of prayer and fasting. So, looking again at that portion of scripture we read in Matthew, we see that we're to do it regularly. Jesus says, when you fast, we're to do it privately. Jesus talked about not doing things publicly for the sake of being celebrated by others. Now, here I have to interject this point, we have to avoid superstition. Sometimes it's required that we fast corporately. Sometimes it's required that we fast as a group. You'll see it all throughout scripture, people fasting as a group at the same time for a common purpose. Now, if you're going to fast with a group at the same time for a common purpose, then you have to tell people that you're fasting. Jesus wasn't saying, keep it a secret or else it has no power. Jesus was warning us against wanting to pray and fast, specifically with the intention of being celebrated by other people, being esteemed as super spiritual. It's not like a birthday wish where if somebody knows what you wish for, it doesn't come true. That is superstition. But again, we do have to avoid that extreme of being motivated of doing these things so that others will look at us and celebrate us. So we're to do it in faith, we're to do it prayerfully. But the more basic question really at this point is what exactly is a fast? Well, in its strictest, most traditional definition, fasting is simply abstaining from food for a certain period of time in order to devote yourself more to prayer and the word. Now, that is a very simple definition, but I want to look at the different types of fast all throughout scripture so you can kind of get a better idea of what this is. So number one, there's the food fast. Matthew chapter four, verse two, we read, after fasting 40 days and 40 nights, he was hungry. Now, there's no mention here of Jesus being thirsty and the devil didn't try to tempt Jesus with water. He said, if you are the son of God, cause this stone to become bread. He tempted him with food because he was hungry. He was hungry because he was fasting food. Now here I have to interject the side point and this is somewhat of a tangent, but I think the question will come up. And this is a good place to address it. People often ask me when fasting, is it okay if I juice or if I, you know, get vegetables and blend it up and drink it? Well, here's the thing, when it comes to fasting, the whole idea is giving up the cravings of the flesh that we might depend upon the power of the Holy Spirit and focus more on devotion to prayer and the word. So really, if you're gaining nutrition, if you're gaining energy from anything, even if it is liquid, you're really kind of, really, how should I say this? You're missing the whole point. If I'm gaining energy from something, I'm not depending upon God. So juicing is just another form of eating, at least in the perspective of the fast. So there's the food fast, which is number one. There's the food and water fast. We see that in Esther chapter four, verse 16, and Ezra chapter 10, verse six, we see that they fasted both food and water. There's also the dietary fast. Now, I'm a little bit more traditional. I wouldn't consider this an actual fast. I consider it a diet, but still it's in the scripture. So I'll read it to you. Daniel chapter 10, verse three says, all that time I had eaten no rich food, no meat or wine crossed my lips, and I used no fragrant lotions until those three weeks had passed. So Daniel abstained from certain types of food. But fasting can actually go beyond food. 1 Corinthians chapter seven, verse five says, do not deprive each other of sexual relations unless you both agree to refrain from sexual intimacy for a limited time so you can give yourselves more completely to prayer. So from that scripture there, we can infer that fasting goes beyond food. Fasting can really be anything that your flesh craves. It can really be anything that distracts you from prayer. Now, to what extreme you want to take this, it's debatable. But here we see very clearly that fasting is defined biblically speaking as giving up food, giving up food and water, giving up certain types of food and giving up certain things that the flesh craves for a given period of time with the purpose or the intention of devoting oneself to prayer. And the word. Now, for how long should you fast? Here are some things to consider. Typically, whenever you see a fast in the Bible that goes beyond three days, it's a food fast. Why? Because the human body cannot go more than three days without water on average. I mean, some people have gone longer, some people weren't able to make it to even that point. But the point is we have to be wise. We have to read the scripture. Again, I emphasize when you read the Bible, when it was a food and water fast, you'll notice that it typically didn't go beyond three days. And there's a reason for that. In fact, I read a story about a pastor who died after fasting for 30 days, both food and water. He was trying to do what Jesus did. And though that was a noble goal, I don't think he took into account the fact that Jesus only fasted food. So I'm not trying to shame anyone there. I'm using that as a cautionary tale that you might approach this with wisdom, that you might approach this and really maintain your health while doing it. And this is another reason that we as believers should take care of our bodies and live healthy lifestyles so that fasting can be a regular part of our spiritual walk. So here are some examples of lengths of fast. There's the partial day fast that's in Judges chapter 20 verse 26. There's a one day fast that's in 2 Samuel chapter 1 verse 12. There's the three day fast that's in Esther chapter 4 verse 16. There's a one week fast that's 1 Samuel chapter 31 verse 13. There's a 21 day fast that was in Daniel chapter 10 verse 3. And then there's the 40 day fast that's in Matthew chapter 4 verse 2. Now what's interesting to me here, let's read Matthew chapter 4 verse 2 again. Scripture says, Now this is interesting. I want you to really pay attention to what the scripture says. In other words, it could be saying here that he wasn't hungry for the entire 40 days, meaning he was supernaturally sustained. He knew no hunger for that 40 day period. It was only after the 40 days when the tempter came that he became hungry and began to desire food. I don't know about you, but I want to get to that level spiritually to where when I am fasting, I'm not even hungry. That's a whole different level, which leads me to my next point. There is also the supernaturally sustained fast. And here again, I have to caution you. I am not giving you health advice and I am not telling you to go beyond what God is telling you to do. You need to be wise when it comes to these sort of things. But Moses in Exodus chapter 34 verse 28 fasted for quite a while. This is what the Bible says. Moses remained there on the mountain with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights in all that time. He ate no bread and drank no water. And the Lord wrote the terms of the covenant, the 10 commandments on the stone tablets. This is interesting for a couple of reasons. Again, you notice Moses was sustained by the presence of God alone. Now, you notice that Moses fasted both food and water. But this is one of the only occasions in the Bible where someone fasts food and water beyond the three day point. And it was a supernatural sustaining power that kept Moses from dying and withering away. So what's the conclusion? We see the partial day fast, the one day fast, the three day fast, the one week fast, the 21 day fast, the 40 day fast and the supernaturally sustained fast. We see that you can fast food, you can fast food and water, you can fast in a dietary way and you can fast things that the flesh craves in order to devote yourself to prayer and the word. So the conclusion here is that you need to go as your lead. There is no right or wrong way to do this. Now, I know many harshly condemn those who do, for example, social media fast. And well, I personally don't believe that a social media fast is necessarily biblical. That doesn't mean that it's not spiritually healthy to put away things for the purpose of devoting yourself to the prayer, to prayer on the word. That can never be a bad idea and it can never lead you astray. And you have to be careful that you balance things. Let's go back just for a second and read 1 Corinthians chapter seven, verse five. Remember, this is the verse that was describing abstaining from sexual relations for the sake of fasting. Let's read the rest of that verse where the Bible says afterward, you should come together again so that Satan won't be able to tempt you because of your lack of self control. So there we see that at some point the fast does have to end. There has to be a balance in the way that we approach these things. You can't just say, I'm fasting people for three years and not talk to anybody that wouldn't be spiritually beneficial. You can't just say, I'm fasting food for the next three months, you would die. Unless, of course, God very clearly told you and you better be sure to do that. So how often should we fast now? We've gone over what you can fast. We've gone over the different lengths of fasting. Now I want to look at how often you should fast. Now, some records which are not Scripture seem to indicate that the practice of fasting was done twice a week. Indeed, that point seems to be affirmed in Jesus' parable when we read Luke chapter 18, verse 12. I fast twice a week and I give you a tenth of my income. But we aren't given a clear command in Scripture on how often we should fast. So my opinion, and this is this is the part I'm going to interject here, which is my opinion. My opinion is that the believer should fast at least quarterly. I think the believer should at least fast four times a year. Now, I'm not saying that's the Bible. Again, everything else I gave you was Bible. What I'm giving you now is my opinion. Because after looking at it, again, we see some indication that fasting is to be done twice a week. But there's no clear command in Scripture on how often we are to do it as New Testament believers. So I don't want to be dogmatic where the Scripture isn't clear. I want to give you now my opinion. So let me be very clear. I want to be faithful to the Word, I want to be very clear. Now I'm giving you my opinion on how often you should fast. My opinion is that you should fast quarterly at least. Now how long those fasts should go and what you should fast? Personally, I think you should fast food. That's the traditional way to fast. No, I didn't say go eat fast food. I said you should fast food and drink water only. That is the traditional New Testament fast that we see most often practiced in the New Testament. Now as far as the length, again, you have to go with how the Lord leads you. You have to also see where you are in your physical health. You have to balance the wisdom of the Word with the direction of the Spirit and the Holy Spirit will never contradict the Word. God is not going to ask you to do something that's going to kill you because your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost. It's something you're to take care of. So let's recap again and then we will conclude this message here. The different types of fast. You can fast food, you can fast food and water, you can fast in a dietary manner and you can abstain from things that the flesh craves, all for the purpose of devoting yourself to prayer and the Word. You can fast really any length of time. We see the examples in scripture are a partial day fast, a one day fast, a three day fast, a one week fast, a 21 day fast and a 40 day fast. And then of course, there's the supernaturally sustained fast. All of these must be approached with wisdom and with the guidance of the Holy Spirit as you see the Word of God. So it's a consistent lifestyle, really. Luke chapter two, verse 37 says this, then she lived as a widow to the age of 84. She never left the temple, but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer. There we see an 84 year old widow who makes fasting and praying a regular part of her life. So be led of the spirit, look at what the Word of God says. As long as you're fasting, you're heading in the right direction. My suggestion to you is that you should fast. I know it's not something that we necessarily want to practice because it really does, I would say, contradict what we desire. And that's the whole point. Now, next week, I'm going to talk to you about the benefits of fasting or what happens when we fast. But I wanted to lay just some groundwork for you to have on how to fast and pray in general with biblical truths. And that is it for the lesson. I want to pray with you now. I want to pray that God would guide you and give you wisdom as you now make a commitment to begin to make fasting a regular part of your walk with God. Father, in the name of Jesus, I lift that one to you now who desires to go deeper in the spirit. And I ask you, Father, that you would cause them to have wisdom and discernment, that they would walk with you and Lord, that they would make it a practice. Holy Spirit, stir them unto this spiritual discipline in the name of Jesus, we pray. I want you to say it because you believe it, say amen. And that is it for the lesson. I want to welcome now the new members of Spirit Church. There you are up on the screen. We love you. We are praying for you. I always say that because I always mean it. If you like information on how you can join the Spirit Family, go to David Hernandez Ministries dot com slash Spirit Church. When you join the Spirit Family, you're going to get a brand new teaching from me every single week via email, as well as a worship song from Stephen Mock, the Zuma and the best part. You can reply to that email for prayer support from our ministry staff. Now to the comments and these comments are from last week's teaching, the double portion anointing. If you haven't watched that teaching, I recommend that you go and watch it now. That teaching covered the relationship between Elijah and Elisha. And here's what's interesting. Did you know that Elijah had a servant? So my question was, why did Elisha receive the double portion anointing and not Elijah's servant? I took a look at that question on last week's edition of Spirit Church. So go check that out while you're at it. Be sure to subscribe if you're watching this on YouTube. 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Until next time, remember, nothing is impossible with God.