Fasting For the Church

# 293 – We are continuing a series on fasting. As we have seen, this spiritual discipline is not just for Old Testament believers, yet we can learn much about fasting from their example. In the next couple of days, I want to spend some time looking at the fast of Nehemiah. You can read about this fast in the first two chapters of Nehemiah. As we go through this portion of Scripture, we will look at the reason for his fast, the prayer connected with his fast, and the results of his fast. First, a little background for you.. The Jews had been carried off into captivity by Babylon for 70 years. When Persia defeated Babylon, king  Cyrus allowed the Jews to return to their homeland and rebuild  the temple in the year 536 B.C.  Now they once again had a place to worship.   But they didn’t know how to worship, how to live if you will, and so a second wave of exiles returned led by a man named Ezra in 457 B.C. who had “set his heart to study the Law of the Lord and to do it and to teach His statutes and rules in Israel.” ( Ezra 7:10)   Evidently, Ezra’s message was not received whole-heartedly and by the year 444 B.C. the city (the church) was a mess. The believers, their religion, and by inference, their God had become a laughingstock to those around them,  and that’s where we pick up the story.   In Neh 1:3, we read that the wall of Jerusalem was broken down and it's gates destroyed by fire.” What are city walls and gates for? Well, the walls are for protection from any and all enemies, and the gates are a way of controlling who enters the city and who doesn’t. And they were gone, broken down, burned with fire. The people of Jerusalem had no protection from the influences of the world.   In many ways, the church of Jesus Christ today has become like this city of Jerusalem. There is no separation between the world and the church, and who needs gates, when “all roads lead to God.”  How dare anyone insist that Jesus is the only way to salvation!   The church has become the influenced, rather than the influencer. The salt has lost it's saltiness. Look around people! The walls are down people. The gates are burned! Does this bother you? Does it bother you enough to give up dinner? Does it bother you enough to fast to invite the power of God into the situation? It bothered Nehemiah, look at verse 4.  “As soon as I heard these words I sat down and wept and mourned for days and I continued fasting and praying before the God of heaven. Father, open our eyes stir our hearts, come and help us rebuild the walls and gates of Your church.