Dear Southern Gables Friends,

In those "bulletin bloopers" that people pass around on email, I read an announcement that supposedly appeared in the Sunday worship program of a church, "The cost of the prayer and fasting retreat includes lodging and meals." (meals at a fasting retreat?)

One of my pastor buddies told me that he is a on perpetual a fast and that's why he only eats "fast food." My line has been that fasting for seven days makes one weak.

On a serious note, this Sunday is our Day of Prayer! In this final installment before our prayer day, I want to talk with you about fasting. As you may have noticed this past Wednesday was Ash Wednesday. This week begins what many Christians call "Lent." Those of us who grew up Protestant don't know much about Lent, but we have seen the smudge-marks on people's foreheads from ash Wednesday.

The word "lent" comes from the German word lenz, which means "springtime." From the time of the Early Church, the Christian Church has practiced a pre-Easter fast. Early Church fathers like Irenaeus (142-202 AD), Athanasius (296-373 AD), and Ambrose (died 397), strongly encouraged Christians to participate in a 40-day fast or at least a fast for the week just before Resurrection Day. Lent was supposed to be a time of fasting and prayer to anticipate remembering the death of Christ on Good Friday and celebrating the resurrection of Christ on Sunday.

What is fasting? Throughout the Bible, fasting was one way that people sought God, humbled themselves before God and drew closer to God. When God's people were mired in sin, the prophet Joel (1:14) called them back with a fast, "Declare a holy fast; call a sacred assembly. Summon the elders and all who live in the land to the house of the LORD your God and cry out to the Lord." God told them to fast, 'Even now,' declares the Lord, 'return to me with all your heart, with fasting and weeping and mourning. Blow the trumpet in Zion, declare a holy fast, call a sacred assembly." (Joel 2:12, 16). Fasting is a voluntary denial of a usually normal activity to do a concentrated spiritual activity. Probably the most common denial is the denial of food for the purpose of prayer and seeking God.

Why should a Christian consider fasting? Here are a few reasons:

First, fasting will draw you closer to God. Many biblical people who walked closely with God fasted:

• Moses fasted twice. Exodus 34:28 tells how "Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water." In Deuteronomy 9:18 Moses says, "Then once again I fell prostrate before the Lord for forty days and forty nights; I ate no bread and drank no water, because of all the sin you had committed, doing what was evil in the Lord's sight and so provoking Him to anger."
• David fasted. In 2 Samuel 12:16 David pleaded with God to spare the child he and Bathsheba had so he fasted to show His contrition and humility before God. Psalm 109:24 says, "My knees give way from fasting; my body is thin and gaunt."
• Daniel fasted. 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."
• Ezra fasted. Nehemiah's helper and scribe, Ezra (8:23) as they built the wall said, "So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and He answered our prayer."
• Nehemiah fasted. Nehemiah 1:4 says, "When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven."
• Our Lord Jesus fasted. Matthew 4:2 says, "After fasting forty days and forty nights ..."
• Anna, the prophetess, fasted. She is the widow of Luke 2:37 who "never left the temple but worshiped night and day, fasting and praying."
• As the church at Antioch fasted, it was then that God called our people to plant churches. Act 13:2 says, "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.' "
• The Apostle Paul and Barnabas fasted. Act 14:23 records that "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."

If godly people of the Bible and many of the saints of church history fasted, perhaps we should consider it. It might be a practice from which you and I might derive great spiritual benefit!

Second, fasting will allow you to hear God's voice. My joke has been that I don't call it fasting, but "slowing" (because the time goes so slow). But the truth is that fasting does make time go slow. That is very good. Fasting will remove the major focuses of your life. It will slow you down enough to really hear the voice of God. Turning off the television, unplugging yourself from email, Facebook, or Twitter, shutting off the phone and others things in your life that crowd God out can help you hear His voice. Since food is such a major focus of time for shopping, preparation, consumption and clean up, fasting from food is the one that most people find most helpful. But in this age of gadgets, you might fast those items too. Then use the new time you have to pray and mediate. By fasting, you will slow down and hear the still small voice of God telling you about the next steps in your walk with Christ.

Third, fasting will teach you faith. Fasting often reveals what is important to you. One of my pastor friends went on a 40-day fast from food (Don't do this unless you have your doctor's approval and guidance!). The third day into it, my friend was famished. The fruit juices and supplements were not enough to satisfy him. He told me how the remaining days of the fast were so incredibly hard but were also exceedingly spiritually invigorating. His hunger pangs were a continual reminder of his total dependence on God. He so relied on God for his emotional and physical sustenance during the fast that he says he will never be the same. Well, you don't have to do 40 days (most people should not fast that long for medical reasons anyway). But try it for a day or two. When you go on a fast, you are proclaiming your faith to the Lord and saying, "You are my daily bread." I know that God will bless that kind of faith.

Fourth, fasting will teach you to pray. Throughout the Bible, fasting is connected with prayer. Fasting can transform your prayer life into a richer and more personal experience. When media or food or other things are removed from your life, you will find time you never knew you had. This will give you more time to pray and seek God's face. Through God's Holy Spirit, He will speak to you about your sin, your needs, the needs of others and so much more.

Bill Bright, the founder of Campus Crusade for Christ, used fasting as a major tool in his walk with the Lord. He said, "Fasting and prayer are the only disciplines that fulfill the requirements of 2 Chronicles 7:14, "If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

Fifth, fasting will teach you humility. In Psalm 35:13, David said, "I humble myself through fasting." When the pangs of hunger are intense, God will show you in very profound terms how utterly dependent on God you are really are. In our modern era in the United States, most of us have never known real hunger. We think we are self-sufficient because we can go to the grocery store or a restaurant and fill our stomach any time of the day. Well, fasting will remind you in a tangible way that God is your "portion" (Psalm 73:26) and your only source of strength. Fasting will be very humbling as you realize how dependent you are on the provision of God, and that is a good thing to know and live!

Sixth, fasting will rejuvenate your walk with Christ. A few weeks ago we studied the church at Ephesus. Remember how they lost their "first love" (Revelation 2:4)? Perhaps one of the best ways to return to your walk with Christ might be fasting. When you fast, the Holy Spirit can show you your real spiritual condition. The accompanying results from your fast could be profound with things like contrition, repentance and a more Spirit-filled life. The Holy Spirit might use the Word of God to speak to you about sins in a multiplicity of ways. Fasting can result in a personal revival that will change your life forever. Fasting might reveal to you how God wants you to serve Him as it did for the Early Church in Acts 13:2-3.

So this Sunday, February 21, as our church gathers for our Day of Prayer, you might consider fasting as a part of your day. When the prophet Jeremiah (36:6) encouraged God's people in repentance and revival, God inspired Him to say this to them, "So you go to the house of the LORD on a day of fasting and read to the people from the scroll the words of the LORD that you wrote as I dictated. Read them to all the people of Judah who come in from their towns."

If you are not yet ready to put fasting in your spiritual arsenal yet, would you at least think about and pray about it? It might be the next step in your walk with the Lord Jesus.

One more thought about fasting. Be careful about your attitude and your behavior when you fast. Our Lord Jesus told us, "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to men 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" (Matthew 6:16-18). If you are fasting this Sunday (and I will be), put a smile on your face and concentrate on the "the joy of the LORD is your strength" (Nehemiah 8:10).

John Elliott will be leading our worship services this Sunday. This might be one of the most intensely spiritual and moving worship services you have ever experienced. Come expecting God to move in power and might on Sunday!

Would you bring a smile, a Bible, and an open mind to let Almighty God talk to you? Remember, we have two worship choices for you:

• 9:00 AM Worship — praise, worship, and songs of the faith
• 10:30 AM Worship — songs of the faith, praise and worship

I love being your pastor!

mplatt@sgc.org