Mensa Otabil - An Intentional Fast
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Welcome to a brand new week. It's always a pleasure to serve you with God's word. This week is very special because we start what we call 40 Days of Power, which is our 40-day period of prayer and fasting. It starts on the 26th of June.
So this week, I'm teaching on fasting. We start from Matthew 4:1 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 started his ministry with prayer and fasting. Prior to the prayer and fasting, he had been baptized in the River Jordan by John the Baptist. At that baptism, God testified of him. The Holy Spirit came upon him, and the Father openly endorsed him. All those who were around heard or saw this supernatural manifestation, and so they knew that Jesus was special. Apart from that, John had testified that this is the one he had been speaking about.
Now, it stands to reason that Jesus should have just started his ministry after this major spiritual encounter at his baptism. But he didn't. He had to go into preparation. 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 doesn't state whether he was hungry during the fast or not, but afterward. The impression you get is that Jesus was so absorbed in seeking God in prayer that although he was fasting, he didn't feel the fast or he didn't feel hungry.
There is a way in which, when we are seeking God, we are so absorbed in seeking Him that we forget 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 they abstained from food. So 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 every day. At the end of each day, we would break the fast and then continue the next day. That means you don't fast throughout the 40 days, but you fast for a day and then break, and continue the next day, breaking, and we're going to do that for 40 days. After the period of fasting, Jesus Christ faced a tempter, and the tempter came against him, tempting 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. No, the Father had to allow 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. This temptation of Jesus was to affirm His victory and assure us of our victory. 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.