Matthew 4:18-22

As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men." At once they left their nets and followed him.


"at once, they left their nets".... wow, I would have grabbed my purse, James' coat, Eliza's diaper bag, and my keys all before I looked up at the face of Jesus, the one who was calling me. Would He have waited for me to decide what to bring before I followed him? Nope. That was an easy answer. I am the absolute worst at getting things ready before I leave for a trip. Ask Trey. I water the plants, get the mail, make sure the house is clean, etc. It drives him crazy. Just as I am sure that Christ gets so tired of waiting for us to get around to following Him. "They left their nets," which was their food, their income, their trade...it was who they were, all they knew. They left it ALL to follow Christ, they knew He was the King. But we drag it all behind us, trying to follow Him. Our past hurts and failures, our fears and worries, what could have been. We drag around our accomplishments too....the glory days, how good it was. They all define us. But they weigh us down. Fasting has a way bringing those things to the surface...the junk in our lives that hold us back from the will of God. God has something new, something better. God wants to make us fishers of men. He so desperately wants to use our talents and gifts to bring salvation to those we contact. We all touch so many lives.... how many more lives will you touch and how many greater things can you accomplish, if you let go of your nets? Whatever, they are.

(sorry this is a day late! I will post Day 6 later today)

1 Peter 2:21
To this you were called, because Christ suffered for you, leaving you an example, that you should follow in His steps

Jesus- our example in all things. We walk around with bracelets, stickers on our cars and t-shirts that say "WWJD," What Would Jesus Do? But do we really ask ourselves that question? Do we follow all His commands? Most of us are good at giving and praying, 2 of the 3 lessons that Jesus gives us in Matthew chapter 6. Fasting is the 3rd lesson. We are not taught to fast. Most churches don't preach about it. I don’t know why that is, because we are missing out on spiritual clarity, direction, vision and blessings. We are doing ourselves an injustice when we don’t fast. It is our plan of action in times of trouble. In the scripture, it is clear that doing all three together are very powerful.

Ecclesiastes 4:12
Though one may be overpowered, two can defend themselves. A cord of three strands is not quickly broken

Jesus fasted in the wilderness for 40 days before He entered into His ministry. (Luke 4: 1-2) He knew that He could not accomplish His earthly ministry without fasting first. Never begin an assignment without fasting. Satan tempted him relentlessly, but Jesus used the Word of God to resist him. He said, “it is written” and told the enemy what the Word said. We will be tempted and taunted by Satan when we fast. Use the word of God to rebuke him. Jesus returned after this fast in the power of the Spirit. He gained dominion and authority over the enemy and over the flesh. And He was able to cast out demons only after he fasted. (Mark 9:29) The same result is true for us when we fast. We will gain power over Satan! We will be anointed and full of the Holy Spirit. And yes, we can cast out demons. Not only that, but we will be able to do more than Jesus!

John 14:12
 I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

Just a few people from the Bible who fasted and the result of their fast.

*Jesus- began his earthly ministry after fasting for 40 days
*Moses- after a 40 day fast received the 10 commandments
*Daniel- after a 21 day fast God blessed Daniel with wisdom beyond that of anyone else in the empire
*Esther- Haman called for the annihilation of all Jews. Esther called for a 3 day fast for all the Jews in her city. The result- the Jews were spared and Haman was hanged on the gallows he built.
*Hannah- could not bear a child. She “wept and did not eat”. God heard her plea and the prophet Samuel was born.
*Ezra- declared a holy fast for children
*Paul- God called him and shared the assignment for his life during a fast- Acts 9:7-9
*Peter- was fasting on a rooftop when God gave him a new revelation and called him to take the gospel to the Gentiles- Acts 10
*Jehoshaphat- needed to know the Lord’s plan to defeat an Army. Through a fast God’s plan was revealed and the Army was defeated.
*Elijah- the word Elijah received during his fast affected even the next generation
*Joseph- fasted in prison. When released he became fabulously wealthy and was put over all the money of Egypt. (Gen. 41:39-45)
*Solomon- humbled himself in fasting and prayer and God greatly increased his wealth and wisdom (Kings 3:10-13).

**My favorite because it happened relatively recently to a great Nation**

The people of Israel in 1963- It was on Yom Kippur in 1963 that the nations of Egypt, Jordan, and Syria allied to attack Israel and wipe out that nation. All of Israel had been fasting and repenting of sin before God for 24 hours. History records that the soldiers literally ran out of the synagogues to the front lines, having had nothing to eat for 24 hours. At first, the battle was going toward the Arab armies who pushed Israel back for 3 days. It appeared that victory for Israel was impossible, but the battle turned on the third day. Even though they were significantly outnumbered, Israel’s army was victorious and took back what ground they lost, plus more. Today, when you hear new reports about things happening in the “occupied territories” remember these are the additional lands Israel claimed during the Yom Kippur War.
All of my information came from Jentezen Franklin’s book, Fasting. As I have been doing my daily devotions I began to recognize that many people fasted in the Bible and God heard and answered their prayers. Now, the people on the list are just a handful of those who fasted throughout the Bible. There are so many more and many nations that did also. These were just a few that stood out in my mind as I was reading. I decided to “document” who fasted, what they fasted for, and how God answered their prayers as a testament to myself of how mighty God is. I knew this already, but as I have stated before, I sometimes have a lack of faith, so for me to write down all that God did helped me to see that if he can do such mighty work in their lives, then I KNOW he can and will do the same for me! He delivered nations from captivity and from great armies. He provided protection, healing, and wealth to those that were faithful to him. He showed direction and gave the 10 commandments to Moses. All of this was done through fasting, praying and believing.

James 1:1-3
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance.

I don't know about you but I struggle with that verse. "Pure Joy"? what? That is hard to do when you are in the middle of a crisis. When you are so thick in trouble that you can't see the hand of God. It is interesting to me that it says "pure joy." It doesn't say "consider it ok" or "consider yourself lucky." What is pure joy?

pure: free from anything that adulterates or taints. spotless, absolute

joy: happiness, delight

So it is absolute delight. That is hard to swallow when you're in the valley. Feelings like this are the farthest from your mind. But yet Paul says this is what we are to feel. We are to praise God for the trials. Praise him through our circumstance. Because if we are facing opposition, the enemy is near and he is afraid of us. Satan only troubles those who are nearest to God and next in line for a blessing. And fasting puts you there because Satan hates fasting! He hates the sacrifice you make. If we are treading water, we are becoming more like Jesus with every struggling breath. He is making us in His image. Every time we go through tribulation, it is like a boiling pot of soup. All the junk comes to the surface and can be skimmed off. The good stuff is left for us to feast on. And there will be a feast!

Isaiah 58:14 says if we fast:

"then you will find your joy in the lord,
and I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land
and to feast on your inheritance..."

Ok.. so turns out I don't think I can blog from an iPad. I received an iPad for Christmas this year. While that may seem very hipster/trendy and give you the assumption I am extremely tech savvy, you are wrong my friend. It takes me 5 minutes to send a text message! Neil had to register my iPad and set everything up for me on the first day, and still has to show me how to do anything on it! Don't get me wrong, I absolutely love it- I just wish I knew how to use all of the bells and whistles.

I am in day four of my Fast and I have already begun to see God work. I hope this is an encouragement to those of you Fasting too. I began my Fast with excitement, but that excitement soon turned into discouragement in just the first day of my Fast. However, since then I have had unspeakable peace about trusting God with my sacrifice, knowing he is listening to my prayers, and will honor my sacrifice during this Fast. I believe this peace only came and still comes through my prayer warrior friends. If you are Fasting, find someone who you can confide in and and trust that they will pray for you. I know that I am daily bathed in prayer by many people who love me and want to see God work as well.