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The Importance of Fasting

The Urban Alternative / Tony Evans, PhD
The Truth Network Radio
January 6, 2025 5:00 am

The Importance of Fasting

The Urban Alternative / Tony Evans, PhD

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January 6, 2025 5:00 am

Dr. Tony Evans believes that one of the best ways to satisfy your spiritual appetite is to sometimes say no to your physical one. In this message, he begins a fascinating look at the subject of fasting through the lens of scripture.

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Fasting is where you say no to you in order to hear yes from God. Dr. Tony Evans reveals how a physical fast can unlock a spiritual breakthrough.

It is renouncing the natural in order to invoke the supernatural. This is the alternative broadcast featuring the timeless biblical teachings from the archives of Dr. Tony Evans. Dr. Evans believes that one of the best ways to satisfy your spiritual appetite is to sometimes say no to your physical one. Today we begin a collection of messages that take a look at the subject of fasting through the lens of Scripture.

Let's hear from Dr. Evans. The true story is told of two lumberjacks. One was older, the other one was younger, and the younger one had gotten somewhat proud of the fact that he could cut down trees at a pretty fast rate. And even though the older lumberjack was known for his speed, he now felt that he had the wherewithal to challenge him to a tree-cutting contest. So he challenged him who could cut down the most trees in one day.

Well, they began. And the young man, with all of his vim, vigor, and vitality, went at it. And he chopped down one tree after another tree, and he wouldn't stop.

He went non-stop all day long. He knew that it looked pretty good for him when he noticed that the older lumberjack would only chop trees down for one hour and then take a 15-minute rest, chop another hour, then another 15-minute break. But when the end of the day came, the older lumberjack had chopped down one-third more trees than the younger lumberjack, somewhat muffed and put off. He went over to the old statesman of forestry and said, how in the world could you, taking 15-minute breaks after every hour of cutting, cut down more trees than I could, going non-stop all day long? The older gentleman looked at him and said, because when I stopped cutting and sat down, I sharpened my axe. A lot of us have been working hard to do right, but with dull axes and wonder why the trees aren't falling.

We've made resolutions last year. After two months, the axe got dull and the trees stopped falling. Sometimes you can look at somebody who doesn't seem to be trying half as hard as you are, but moving much further in their spiritual life than you are, and you're going to church and serving and running here and doing this and that, and you wonder why they are progressing while they seem to be chopping down a few spiritual trees.

Maybe they've taken the time out to sharpen their axes. You see, that's what fasting and prayer is all about. It is about sharpening the axe of the inner man so that we are able to move through what I call the gateway to spiritual victory. Jesus told the disciples this mountain can only be removed by fasting and prayer. Jesus said this mountain can only be removed, this circumstance can only be overcome, this tragedy can only be reversed by prayer and fasting.

Since you can't go to Jesus physically right now and sit down with him and have a verbal conversation, physical face to physical face, God says that there is a way you can make a special link with him when you need him, and he says, and they will fast. Fasting is the way that gets through the gateway to get to God in the crises of life. So let me say four things today about fasting. First of all, let me review with you the principle of fasting. In the Bible, fasting occurred during the burdens of life that demanded a spiritual breakthrough.

Let me say that again. In the Bible, fasting occurred when there was the need for a spiritual breakthrough due to the burdens of life. It could be emotional burdens, circumstantial burdens, relationship burdens, ministerial burdens, directional burdens, which direction you should take in life. Fasting was the way that the saints of God got a breakthrough to help direct them or to help them deal with a crisis in their lives. So with no small thing, what is fasting? Fasting is a deliberate, it's intentional, abstinence from physical gratification in order to achieve a spiritual goal. It is a denial of the flesh in order to gain a response from the Spirit. It is renouncing the natural in order to invoke the supernatural. So fasting is where you say no to you in order to hear yes from God. It was the way by which God's presence would be invoked in the midst of a difficult situation. Turn your Bibles to Zechariah chapter 7 next to the last book of the Old Testament.

Zechariah chapter 7 and let me read two key verses, verse 5 and 6. Say to all the people of the land and to the priest, when you fasted and mourned in the fifth and the seventh months these seventy years, was it actually for me that you fasted? Verse 6, And when you eat and drink, do you not eat and drink for yourselves? And do you not eat for yourselves? And do you not drink for yourselves? Now follow this. When you eat after church today, who will you be eating for? Nobody but you.

I guarantee it. You do not eat with me in mind, and I can guarantee you I don't eat with you in mind. But he says in Zechariah, when you fast, that is for me. When you eat, that's for you. But when you give up food, you get my attention just like you get your attention when you eat food. What food does for you, fasting does for me. So the reason that you get God's attention and fasting like nothing else is you place the inner man as more important than the outer man. You said more important than my belly and my body is my broken spirit and my broken soul, so it's more important that I feed God, that is my relationship with him, than I feed myself. It is a choice of what comes first. It is a matter of priority that gets God's attention about fasting.

Here is the question. The question in fasting is simply this. Are you willing to give up steak and potatoes to gain spiritual riches? Are you willing to give up that which gratifies the flesh in order to make an investment in that which builds up the spirit?

It is a test of how serious you are. Secondly, the purpose of fasting. If you look with me very quickly at Isaiah chapter 58, which is the longest, most comprehensive passage on fasting in the whole Bible, cry aloud, do not hold back, verse 1 says, raise your voice like a trumpet and declare to my people their transgressions and to the house of Jacob their sins. Yet they seek me day by day and delight to know my ways of the nation that does righteousness and has not forsaken the ordinances of their God. They ask me for just decisions, they delight in the nearness of God. Why have we fasted and thou does not see?

Why have we humbled ourselves and you have not noticed? Behold on the day of your fast you find your desire and drive hard all your workers. Now watch this. Behold you fast for contention and to strike with a wicked fist. You do not fast like you do today to make your voice heard on high. At least the third point, the practice of the fast.

Well, what do I do? Look at Psalm 69. Psalm 69.

I like this. Verse 10, when I wept in my soul with fasting. Fasting is when your soul cries.

It is an intentional abstinence related to a burden of the soul. When I wept in my soul with fasting, it became my reproach. And when I made sackcloth with clothing, I became a byword to them. In other words, people made fun of me. Those who sit in the gates, they talked about me.

Look at that fool, fasting, not eating, like that's gonna do him some good. And I am the song of drunkers. Drunk people are singing about me in jest. Oh, but look at verse 13. But as for me, my prayer, because fasting always went with prayer, my prayer is to thee, oh Lord. I'm not talking to them.

I'm talking to you. At an acceptable time, oh God, in the greatness of thy loving kindness, answer me with thy saving truth. Deliver me from the mire, and do not let me sink. May I be delivered from my foes. May the floods of water not overflow me. May the deep not swallow me up, and may the pit not shut its mouth on me. My world is closing in.

Anybody ever felt like that? But your world is closing in. What you need is to hear from God. You need to hear from God, and that's what he says. He says, I came before you in fasting, and when I came before you, I told you that my world is closing in on me.

It is where you go before God because you desperately need him to come through, and when you desperately need him to come through, the Bible says you go to him in prayer. Dr. Evans will reveal how fasting and prayer can transform despair into hope when he returns in just a moment. First though, I want to let you know that the lesson we're hearing today is part of an enlightening series exploring what the Bible has to say about fasting.

The complete collection of all 14 full-length messages in this two-volume series on fasting is available as our thank-you gift to those who make a contribution to help support the ministry of the alternative. This offer is only available for a limited time, so visit us right away at tonyevans.org to request your copy of Fasting the Key to Spiritual Victory. You'll receive all 14 audio messages on CD or digital download, along with an extra bonus, our Cultivating a Year of Kindness Perpetual Flip Calendar, featuring daily prompts, prayers, scriptures, and words from Dr. Evans that will help you develop a passion for the simple fruit of the Spirit, kindness. Visit us at tonyevans.org before this limited time offer runs out, or call 1-800-800-3222 to get some in-person help from our resource team. I'll have our contact information for you again after part two of today's lesson and this.

It was my first time meeting Jesus in the Bible. That's what one student is saying after studying Bibliology through the Tony Evans Training Center, taught by renowned theologian, Dr. Tony Evans. These online courses feature compelling and exclusive video and audio teaching, plus an interactive scripture-based curriculum you can access online or through the mobile app. Sign up now at tonyevanstraining.org. Take a course with Dr. Evans and explore the kingdom anytime, anywhere.

tonyevanstraining.org. Look at Joel chapter 2, where he brings up this whole concept of fasting and prayer, and how we are to relate to God. Verse 12, And even now, declares the Lord, return to me with all your heart, and with fasting, weeping, and mourning. It's a very serious time. And rent your heart, not your garments, and return to the Lord, for he is gracious in compassion.

Watch this. Compassion is slow to anger, abounding in loving kindness, relenting of evil. He's ready to change negative to positive at a moment's notice, who knows whether he will turn and relent and leave a blessing behind.

He will not only turn things around, he'll leave you some extra behind, he says. And verse 15, below the trumpet in Zion, consecrate a fast, proclaim a solemn assembly. A very serious gathering of God's people to get God's attention. The question is, how bad do you want it? How bad do you want it? How bad do you want deliverance from alcoholism? How bad do you want deliverance from drugs?

How bad do you want to save your marriage? Do you want it bad enough to give up dinner? Do you want it bad enough to give up other gratifications? Do you want it bad enough to throw yourself flush before God and say, I can't.

You must. And when I began to look at all the scriptures that talked about what happened when people fasted, I saw that this is not some little extra ditty that you do, this is a powerful thing when your world is closing in. And so it's prayer, it's praise, it's proclamation, it's hearing God's Word.

So what can I expect if I fast, if I develop this as my response mechanism to crisis? Well, let's finally again look at Isaiah 58, and he says in closing these words. Verse 6, is it not the fast which I choose?

Now watch this, Isaiah 58 6, to loosen the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, and to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke, every addiction, every oppression, stuff you can't shake. He says, is this not why you fast? That I might break the stuff that you haven't broken yet? That I might deliver you from the stuff that nobody has been able to help you to be delivered from? Have you tried me this way? He says, if you haven't tried this, you haven't been to the right program yet. I am the program.

Look, I'm gonna save some of you some money this week. Because when God breaks through and it doesn't cost you anything, you know it's God. Freedom from bondage, captivity, and so many of us are being held captive by things or other people or circumstances. We're just locked in and we live with spiritual handcuffs on, praise the Lord. Some of us can't raise our hands because of our handcuffs. We're handcuffed and we know that when we walk out of church, we're going straight for that addiction, straight for that bondage, because Satan has got handcuffs on. Satan owns us. He knows when we wake up in the morning, all they got to do is bring the thought across our mind and he got bang, bang, wow.

Some of us can't dance because we got bonds on our feet and we can't walk, we can't move, we can't praise him right. Because Satan, soon as we wake up in the morning, he brings that thought to our mind and he locks our feet down. Chains around our minds. The Bible calls them strongholds, where God holds you oppressed in your mind and you get up depressed. Can hardly get out of bed because Satan has got a vice grip around your mind. God says, have you fasted yet? He says, is this not why you fast? That you might be loose from all of this? Verse 7, is it not to divide your bread with the hungry and to bring the homeless poor into the house and when you see the naked to cover him and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

This is deep. Look, you can't divide your bread unless you have bread to divide, right? You can't bring homeless into the house unless you have a house. You can't clothe the naked unless you have clothing to give them.

And I like this last one. And not to hide yourself from your own flesh. Some of you running from your own family. Don't want to see your own people. Can't stand to look at each other. Can't stand to live with each other. Don't want the kids to come home. Don't want your husband to come home.

To hide yourself from your own flesh. He says, have you fasted? He said, because if you're fast, I can bless your business so that you have bread to share.

I can get you a nicer home so that you have a home to share. Please notice, he's only interested in blessing you if you're gonna be a conduit to others and you're not just gonna keep it all for yourself. He doesn't mind blessing you as long as he can even use the blessing. But if he blesses you and he can't touch it and none of God's people can touch it and can never be available to the kingdom of God, then that's not the fast he's interested in.

So is it not to change your circumstances so you can help others and to give you a better environment so that you don't have to hide from your own relatives? Verse 8, and then your light will break out like the dawn. Oh, I like this.

Then the butterfly will come out of the cocoon of the caterpillar. Then all this stuff God gave you. See, we've been given all these spiritual resources. We've been seated in heavenly places that we don't even know where the chair is.

We've been positioned next to Jesus Christ and we don't know where in the world that is. You know why? Because this light has been stuffled in the flesh. The flesh is so dominant the light doesn't break through. But he says you starve the flesh. What happens when you starve the flesh? You shrink, right? You shrink. Flesh gets weak.

I'm gonna tell you now. If you're going fast, especially if you fast more than one meal, you're gonna get weak. And that's wonderful. Why is it wonderful to get weak? Because now the flesh can't buck up like it used to.

See, see, when you keep the flesh strong, it can buck off. And every time the Spirit says, let's go serve God's flesh, we ain't going nowhere. I run this show. I'm in charge here.

Let's eat. But once the flesh starts to get weak and you can't move fast as you normally move and you can't, you can't act, the Spirit's gonna say, let's break out of here. And the flesh's gonna say, I can't stop him.

I'm too weak. Well, in our weakness, we are strong, Paul says. When we become weak, then we become strong. Because now we're feeding the flesh, the Spirit, the flesh is getting weaker.

That's a good thing. Because it can't resist you as strongly. And your recovery will speedily come forth. Somebody need healing. You know why some of us are not getting bodily healing?

Because we have two weak souls. And a lot of our bodily problems are related to weakness of soul. He says, strengthen your soul and your healing will spring forth. And your righteousness will go before you. You'll get back your testimony.

And now I like the end of verse 8. And the glory of the Lord will be your real God. I will protect you. I'll cover your back. Your real God, that's your back. I have your back.

Now everybody wants somebody covering their back. God says, I got your back. I got your back at work. I got your back at home. I got your back at play.

I got your back. You mean I can get all this from fasting? Yeah. Or if he doesn't give you that, he gives you something better than that. The bottom line is verse 9. Then you will call and the Lord will answer. That's the bottom line. Then you will call.

You say, but I've been calling all the time. But not with the fast. And if it's a crisis, God wants to be treated seriously. Since 1937, planes have been pressurized so that they can fly above the clouds. It is this pressure that allows them to go up 30 and 35 thousand feet and you still survive. You see, before then, they had to fly low underneath the clouds so that they would still be in the atmosphere so that we could breathe.

But once they pressurized the planes, the planes could go higher and higher and higher because the inside of the plane is pressurized and holds the oxygen so we can keep breathing even up there where the air is thin. You ain't praying with me. Listen, when you start this fasting and prayer, I'm gonna tell you what's gonna happen now. Satan and all of his minions gonna line up at cloud level and gonna keep you, try to keep you below the clouds.

They gonna say, let's not make, let's make sure that they don't get high. Let's make sure that they don't get up here close to the throne of God. He's gonna do everything he can to keep you below the cloud level. But if you fast and throw yourself on the mercy of God, you're gonna break the clouds.

You say, but how can I make it up there? Because when you're fast, he pressurizes your soul so you can make it up there in heavenly places where God's blessings are, where God's power is. For you have already been blessed with all spiritual blessings, but they're located above the clouds.

They're located in heavenly places. Don't let Satan keep you on the ground. It's time to fly by pressurizing the soul so that the flesh is now under your control and you're not under its control. Dr. Tony Evans with the biblical examination today on the importance of fasting. Now as I mentioned earlier, today's lesson is the first installment in a series called, Fasting the Key to Spiritual Victory. And don't forget for a limited time, we're offering the full-length version of all 14 lessons in this series on CD or digital download, along with our Cultivating a Year of Kindness Perpetual Flip Calendar that'll help challenge and inspire you to practice a life of contagious kindness. They're both yours as our thank-you gift when you make a donation to help us continue this ministry to a world desperately in need of more Kingdom believers.

People who embrace the love of God and live their lives for good, not just for their own benefit. Call us to make arrangements at 1-800-800-3222. Our resource center never closes so you can call us any time of the day or night. That's 1-800-800-3222. Or visit TonyEvans.org to take advantage of this special package.

You'll find the details right on the home page. Again, that's TonyEvans.org. Most of us understand that God has the power to deliver us, but when we're caught in a difficult situation or circumstance, we sometimes wonder if he'll actually do it. Be sure to join us next time as Dr. Evans talks about how we can grow our faith to fully trust in God's deliverance.
Whisper: medium.en / 2025-01-06 00:08:55 / 2025-01-06 00:17:55 / 9

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