Mensa Otabil - A Spirit-Led Fast
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Welcome to a brand new week. It is always a pleasure to be able to serve you with God’s word. This week is very special for us because, starting on Saturday, we begin what we call 40 Days of Power, which is our 40-day period of prayer and fasting. It starts on the 26th of June. This week, I’m teaching on fasting in preparation for those of you who want to join in the 40 Days of Power. This will help you to fast properly and achieve the results that God promises us in the Scriptures.
We start from Matthew chapter 4, verses 1 and 2: «Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, afterward he was hungry.» Our Lord Jesus Christ began His ministry with prayer and fasting. Prior to the prayer and fasting, He had been baptized in the River Jordan by John the Baptist, and at that baptism, God testified about Him. The Holy Spirit came upon Him, and the Father openly endorsed Him. All those who were present heard or saw this supernatural manifestation, so they knew that Jesus was special. Furthermore, John had testified that this is the One he had been speaking about.
It would stand to reason that Jesus should have started His ministry after this major spiritual encounter at His baptism, but He didn’t. He had to go into preparation, and the Bible says the Spirit led Him; He was led by the Holy Spirit to the wilderness. In that place, He was tempted, and He fasted 40 days and 40 nights. Interestingly, when you read the passage, it says that afterward Jesus was hungry. It does not state whether He was hungry during the fast or not, but afterward, so the impression you get is that Jesus was so absorbed in seeking God in prayer that, although He was fasting, He did not feel the fast or hunger. There is a way in which, when we are seeking God, we are so absorbed that we forget even about our physical needs.
So, what is fasting? Fasting is simply abstinence from food; that’s basically what it means. In the Bible, there are many instances of people who fasted for various periods of time and abstained from food. If you’re fasting, the first thing is that you’re going to abstain from food for a period-not for the rest of your life, but for a period. In our case, we are doing a 40-day fast beginning on Saturday, but every day at the end of the day, we will break the fast and then continue the next day. This means you don’t fast throughout the 40 days, but you fast for a day, break, and continue the next day, repeating this for 40 days.
On Friday, I’ll provide some practical instructions on how to go about it.After the period of fasting, Jesus Christ faced a tempter, who came against Him, attempting Him, and He overcame every temptation or attack of the enemy that was thrown against Him. The Father did not permit Satan to tempt Jesus because He wanted to find out whether Jesus was capable or not; rather, the Father allowed Jesus to go through the temptation to demonstrate His victory over Satan so that you and I, who believe in Him, would also come to the realization that we have victory over Satan. Thus, this temptation of Jesus was to affirm His victory and assure us of our victory as well.
As we start our 40 Days of Power this Saturday, I trust that God will give you victory over every work of the enemy, over Satan himself, and He will cause us to emerge as strong as Jesus did after His fast. I pray that each one of us will prepare our hearts and get ready for this major spiritual exercise.
Let us pray. Say with me: Heavenly Father, lead me into a deeper relationship with You. Give me the strength to wait on You. In Jesus' name, amen and amen. We begin well from this week, and tomorrow I will continue. I am Pastor Mensa Otabil. Shalom-peace and life to you.