The ministry of fasting

The ministry of  fasting

1. After Moses fasted for forty days, God gave him the Ten Commandments and the Torah, the first five books of the Bible. He became the greatest of all prophets.(Exo. 34:28)

2. Yeshua fasted for forty days before starting His earthly ministry. He would rise up early in the morning to pray. He admonished His disciples, “Could you not watch with me for one hour? Watch and pray that you do not fall into temptation.” He finished His earthly ministry with the most agonizing prayer at Gethsemane and triumphantly marched to the cross to save the lost Adamic race. (Matt. 26:40,41)

3. Anna the prophetess, a widow who had been fasting and praying for 84 years, had the privilege of holding baby Yeshua in her bosom and blessing Him. (Luke 2:36-38)

4. Elizabeth fasted and prayed and the barren woman became the mother of the greatest man (John) born of a woman. (Matt. 11:11) 

5. Daniel fasted and defiantly opened his window for all the world to see him pray. God made him ruler over a foreign country, under four kings. God shut the mouth of the lions and revealed to Daniel the mysteries of the last days in dreams and visions. (Dan. 9:3;10:1-3)

6. God has said, ‘If my people will humble themselves and pray...then I will heal this nation’. Humbling implies ‘fasting’. David humbled himself with fasting. The secret of healing of nations lies entirely in the hands of those who fast and pray. (Ps. 35:13; 2Chron. 7:14; Jam. 4:10)

7. Queen Esther fasted for three days, then bravely took action and saved a whole nation of Jews from being killed. The Gentile king and the heathen people of Nineveh fasted and saved their entire city. (Esther 4:16; Jonah 3:6-10)

8. Demons come in various shapes, sizes and forms. Certain kinds of demons can only be expelled through fasting and prayer. (Matt. 17:21; 12:45; Mark 2:20)

9. Through the ministry of fasting and prayer, Paul and his colleagues turned the world upside down. (Acts 17:6; 2 Cor. 6:5; 11:27)

10. New Testament missionaries were sent out and elders were appointed with fasting and prayer. The ministry of fasting is rapidly spreading today, which is making ministries more effective and fruitful. (Acts 14:23, 13:3)

11. The fast that God has chosen for us is very dynamic; it is “to lose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the bands of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke of Satan, to give our bread to the hungry, to bring the poor to our house, and to cover the naked. Then shall our light break forth as the morning, our healing shall spring forth speedily; our righteousness shall go before us and the glory of Jehovah shall accompany us wherever we go.” (Isa. 58:6-8)

12. The prophet Elijah was an ordinary man, yet after he fasted and prayed, the Lord destroyed 400 prophets of Baal through him. While King Ahab feasted, Elijah prostrated himself and prayed such an effectual fervent prayer that rain poured out after 3.5 years of drought and the earth sprouted with green herbs.(Jam. 5:16-18; 1 Kings 18:42)