Fasting

 

Good day! I’m Duane Matz and this is Today’s Living Word.

 

Another lesson for us from Jehoshaphat!

 

2Ch 20:1 It happened after this that the people of Moab with the people of Ammon, and others with them besides the Ammonites, came to battle against Jehoshaphat.

 2 Then some came and told Jehoshaphat, saying, "A great multitude is coming against you from beyond the sea, from Syria; and they are in Hazazon Tamar" (which is En Gedi). 3 And Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the LORD, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah.

 4 So Judah gathered together to ask help from the LORD; and from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord.

 

Three nations combined their forces and gathered at En Gedi. En Gedi was an oasis located just west of the Dead Sea. It belonged to the tribe of Judah, but right now, it was occupied by enemy forces who were bent on conquering the Southern kingdom of Jehoshaphat.

 

Notice the reaction of Jehoshaphat. He feared. Fear is a powerful emotion that can rule and ruin our lives. How did Jehoshaphat respond?

He set himself to seek the Lord! And he used one of the tools God has given to us when fear and anxiety, and panic start to move in. Fasting.

 

Fear mongering is part of the devil’s calling card, and he uses it every chance he gets in order to try and separate you and I from the love of God.

 

But Jehoshaphat was having no part of it. He set himself, via a time of fasting to seeking God’s help.

 

I find myself wondering, when’s the last time I fasted. Have I ever even thought about it using it when anxiety and panic rise up in my life.

 

Fasting is one of the disciplines that mark the followers of Jesus. In His sermon on the Mount Jesus mentions three of those disciplines.

 

Prefacing them with the word “when.” In other words, it’s not “if” but when. When you pray, when you give, and when you fast.

 

It doesn’t have to involve day upon day, just skipping a meal is enough, or giving up other things that are important to you.

 

In fasting, we declare to God that hearing from Him is more important to us than food or pleasure itself. It is as Jesus said when the devil came to tempt Him.

 

Mt 4:4 But He answered and said, "It is written, 'Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.'"

 

If you struggle with fasting, this is a great verse to have on hand.

 

I’m Duane Matz and that’s Todays Living Word.