Esther 4:3
In every province to which the edict and order of the king came, there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many lay in sackcloth and ashes.
Isaiah 58:3
'Why have we fasted,' they say, 'and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?' "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers.
Isaiah 58:4
Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.
Isaiah 58:6
"Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen: to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed free and break every yoke?
Daniel 9:3
So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes.
Joel 2:12
[ Rend Your Heart ] "Even now," declares the LORD, "return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning."
Matthew 6:15-18
15 But if you do not forgive others their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins. 16 "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.
While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them."
Acts 14:23
Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.
Thoughts on Fasting, Lent and having the right heart or motive:
Jerry:
If the heart is right and only God would know. Then I'm all for the fasting and sacrifice. The problem with lent is it just becomes a tradition kind of like people that only go to church on Easter Sunday. I don't know health wise though if I could go three days with out eating or drinking. But that is definitely a convicting challenge to read about our brothers and sisters of long ago fasting that way.
The celebration of Lent has always had a negative connotation in my mind because of all the hypocrisy I've seen in the people celebrating Lent. In New Orleans Fat Tuesday was the day of sin right before Ash Wednesday and everyone would get drunk and then stumble into church the next morning to get ashes rubbed on their foreheads and then start the whole lent fast until Easter. Because of that I've just never wanted anything to do with it.
Ed:
That's powerful!
So like we spoke of yesterday, the same human condition that caused the Hebrews to embrace the law and forget about God's love in saving them from the Egyptians is also the condition that would cause someone to take an act of love towards God (fasting) and turn it into a tradition. Not that tradition in and of itself is bad, but if the meaning is lost or the tradition itself becomes more important than the God it is supposed to honor, then it becomes profane. Is this not correct?
OK. So from what I am just now beginning to understand is that the heart of God is his love for mankind, not a bunch of do's and don'ts. He loved the Hebrews enough to save them from slavery, give them a law that would help them focus on God in everything they did, and distinguish them from other peoples on the earth. Also, God sacrificed himself as the ultimate display of love (Hebrews 7:26-27) so that people would fall in love with him, help others to fall in love with him, and hang out with him forever.
So acts like fasting, church attendance, church involvement, and even pious living can blind me if not done with a heart of love for God because of his love for me. I suppose that anything religious can blind me, take my focus away from God, or distort my understanding of God's heart, his love for me. That danger probably hovers over the church like a dark cloud.
Jeff:
I believe in fasting and praying in Christ name only. That is key. Many religions fast and pray. But the main focus has to be Jesus. And this article is very encouraging. So as I go through out the day this reminds me to surrender unconditionally not just when I feel like it but even when I don't want to. That is the whole point of fasting (surrender). Christ surrendered all. So should we surrender all.
Karen:
Good and Bad will be with us until the end of time. Hypocrisy and Righteousness, also. We are all humans, born in sin, trying to navigate through life one day at a time. My decision to fast is personal and not based upon how others celebrate Lent or any other biblical principal. This sacrifice is for my walk, while I'm praying for myself, my family and others. The Lent season is tradition but how successful someone is with their fasting/sacrifice is personal. Going without food for 12 hours is definitely a sacrifice, not a tradition. Much like tithing, it is a sacrifice we make because we are commanded to. Giving 10% up is hard. Finding somewhere else to reallocate those funds are easy. This decision is not predicated (or shouldn't be) upon how the church spends the money. If you don't agree with the fiscal responsibility of the church, you change churches, not stop tithing. The same is true with fasting.
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