Understanding the New Testament Call to Fasting - Bible Verse Handbook

Session #1 - Understanding the New Testament Call to Fasting

I. THE CALL TO FASTING

B. Fasting is part of the normal Christian life.

17When you fast…18your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly. (Mt. 6:17-18)

D. God gives grace to fast.

2  Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord, (2 Pet. 1:2)

18  but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him  be  the glory both now and forever. Amen. (2 Pet. 3:18)

II. THE PURPOSES OF THE FAST

A•  Isaiah 58

“Cry aloud, spare not;
Lift up your voice like a trumpet;
Tell My people their transgression,
And the house of Jacob their sins.
2  Yet they seek Me daily,
And delight to know My ways,
As a nation that did righteousness,
And did not forsake the ordinance of their God.
They ask of Me the ordinances of justice;
They take delight in approaching God.
3  ‘Why have we fasted,'  they say,  ‘and You have not seen?
Why  have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?'

“In fact, in the day of your fast you find pleasure,
And exploit all your laborers.
4  Indeed you fast for strife and debate,
And to strike with the fist of wickedness.
You will not fast as  you do  this day,
To make your voice heard on high.
5  Is it a fast that I have chosen,
A day for a man to afflict his soul?
Is it  to bow down his head like a bulrush,
And to spread out sackcloth and ashes?
Would you call this a fast,
And an acceptable day to the  Lord ?

6  “ Is  this not the fast that I have chosen:
To loose the bonds of wickedness,
To undo the  heavy burdens,
To let the oppressed go free,
And that you break every yoke?
7  Is it  not to share your bread with the hungry,
And that you bring to your house the poor who are  cast out;
When you see the naked, that you cover him,
And not hide yourself from your own flesh?
8  Then your light shall break forth like the morning,
Your healing shall spring forth speedily,
And your righteousness shall go before you;
The glory of the  Lord  shall be your rear guard.
9  Then you shall call, and the  Lord  will answer;
You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I  am. '

“If you take away the yoke from your midst,
The  pointing of the finger, and speaking wickedness,
10  If  you extend your soul to the hungry
And satisfy the afflicted soul,
Then your light shall dawn in the darkness,
And your  darkness shall  be  as the noonday.
11  The  Lord  will guide you continually,
And satisfy your soul in drought,
And strengthen your bones;
You shall be like a watered garden,
And like a spring of water, whose waters do not fail.
12  Those from among you
Shall build the old waste places;
You shall raise up the foundations of many generations;
And you shall be called the Repairer of the Breach,
The Restorer of  Streets to Dwell In.

13  “If you turn away your foot from the Sabbath,
From  doing your pleasure on My holy day,
And call the Sabbath a delight,
The holy  day  of the  Lord  honorable,
And shall honor Him, not doing your own ways,
Nor finding your own pleasure,
Nor speaking  your own  words,
14  Then you shall delight yourself in the  Lord ;
And I will cause you to ride on the high hills of the earth,
And feed you with the heritage of Jacob your father.
The mouth of the  Lord  has spoken.” (Isaiah 58:1-14)

B. To set our heart to seek the Lord:

3I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer…
(Dan. 9:3)

12You set your heart to understand, and to humble yourself before your God… (Dan. 10:12)

C. To confess our sin:

20I was speaking, praying, and confessing my sin… (Dan. 9:20)

19Repent…that times of refreshing may come from God's presence (Acts 3:19)

D. For the fulfillment of God's promises:

1 In the first year of Darius the son of Ahasuerus, of the lineage of the Medes, who was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans—  2  in the first year of his reign I, Daniel, understood by the books the number of the years  specified  by the word of the  Lord  through Jeremiah the prophet, that He would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem.

3  Then I set my face toward the Lord God to make request by prayer and supplications, with fasting, sackcloth, and ashes. (Dan. 9:1-3)

In the third year of Cyrus king of Persia a message was revealed to Daniel, whose name was called Belteshazzar. The message  was  true,  but the appointed time  was  long; and he understood the message, and had understanding of the vision.  2  In those days I, Daniel, was mourning three full weeks.  3  I ate no pleasant food, no meat or wine came into my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, till three whole weeks were fulfilled.

4  Now on the twenty-fourth day of the first month, as I was by the side of the great river, that  is,  the Tigris, (Dan.10:1-4)

After Cornelius fasted and prayed, his whole house was saved and a door of grace was opened to the Gentiles

  There was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian Regiment,  2  a devout  man  and one who feared God with all his household, who gave alms generously to the people, and prayed to God always.  3  About the ninth hour of the day he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, “Cornelius!”

4  And when he observed him, he was afraid, and said, “What is it, lord?”

30  So Cornelius said,  “Four days ago I was fasting until this hour; and at the ninth hour I prayed in my house, and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing,  31  and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard, and your alms are remembered in the sight of God. 
(Acts 10:1-4, 30-31)

E. To stop a crisis:

7  So it was, year by year, when she went up to the house of the  Lord , that she provoked her; therefore she wept and did not eat.
(1 Sam. 1:7)

The Land Laid Waste

2  Hear this, you elders,
And give ear, all you inhabitants of the land!
Has  anything like  this happened in your days,
Or even in the days of your fathers?
3  Tell your children about it,
Let  your children  tell  their children,
And their children another generation.

4  What the chewing locust left, the swarming locust has eaten;
What the swarming locust left, the crawling locust has eaten;
And what the crawling locust left, the consuming locust has eaten.

5  Awake, you drunkards, and weep;
And wail, all you drinkers of wine,
Because of the new wine,
For it has been cut off from your mouth.
6  For a nation has come up against My land,
Strong, and without number;
His teeth  are  the teeth of a lion,
And he has the fangs of a fierce lion.
7  He has laid waste My vine,
And ruined My fig tree;
He has stripped it bare and thrown  it  away;
Its branches are made white.

8  Lament like a virgin girded with sackcloth
For the husband of her youth.
9  The grain offering and the drink offering
Have been cut off from the house of the  Lord ;
The priests mourn, who minister to the  Lord .
10  The field is wasted,
The land mourns;
For the grain is ruined,
The new wine is dried up,
The oil fails.

11  Be ashamed, you farmers,
Wail, you vinedressers,
For the wheat and the barley;
Because the harvest of the field has perished.
12  The vine has dried up,
And the fig tree has withered;
The pomegranate tree,
The palm tree also,
And the apple tree—
All the trees of the field are withered;
Surely joy has withered away from the sons of men.

Mourning for the Land

13  Gird yourselves and lament, you priests;
Wail, you who minister before the altar;
Come, lie all night in sackcloth,
You who minister to my God;
For the grain offering and the drink offering
Are withheld from the house of your God.
14  Consecrate a fast,
Call a sacred assembly;
Gather the elders
And  all the inhabitants of the land
Into  the house of the  Lord  your God,
And cry out to the  Lord .

15  Alas for the day!
For the day of the  Lord   is  at hand;
It shall come as destruction from the Almighty.
16  Is not the food cut off before our eyes,
Joy and gladness from the house of our God?
17  The seed shrivels under the clods,
Storehouses are in shambles;
Barns are broken down,
For the grain has withered.
18  How the animals groan!
The herds of cattle are restless,
Because they have no pasture;
Even the flocks of sheep suffer punishment. (Joel 1:2-18)

1  Blow the trumpet in Zion,
And sound an alarm in My holy mountain!
Let all the inhabitants of the land tremble;
For the day of the  Lord  is coming,
For it is at hand:
2  A day of darkness and gloominess,
A day of clouds and thick darkness,
Like the morning  clouds  spread over the mountains.
A people  come,  great and strong,
The like of whom has never been;
Nor will there ever be any  such  after them,
Even for many successive generations.

3  A fire devours before them,
And behind them a flame burns;
The land  is  like the Garden of Eden before them,
And behind them a desolate wilderness;
Surely nothing shall escape them.
4  Their appearance is like the appearance of horses;
And like swift steeds, so they run.
5  With a noise like chariots
Over mountaintops they leap,
Like the noise of a flaming fire that devours the stubble,
Like a strong people set in battle array.

6  Before them the people writhe in pain;
All faces are drained of color.
7  They run like mighty men,
They climb the wall like men of war;
Every one marches in formation,
And they do not break ranks.
8  They do not push one another;
Every one marches in his own column.
Though they lunge between the weapons,
They are not cut down.
9  They run to and fro in the city,
They run on the wall;
They climb into the houses,
They enter at the windows like a thief. (Joel 2:1-9)

On both occasions, Joel called Israel to turn to God in prayer and fasting

12  “Now, therefore,” says the  Lord ,
“Turn to Me with all your heart,
With fasting, with weeping, and with mourning.”
13  So rend your heart, and not your garments;
Return to the  Lord  your God,
For He  is  gracious and merciful,
Slow to anger, and of great kindness;
And He relents from doing harm.
14  Who knows  if  He will turn and relent,
And leave a blessing behind Him—
A grain offering and a drink offering
For the  Lord  your God?

15  Blow the trumpet in Zion,
Consecrate a fast,
Call a sacred assembly; (Joel 2:12-15)

When Nineveh repented with fasting, the Lord spared the city

3  Now the word of the  Lord  came to Jonah the second time, saying,  2  “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and preach to it the message that I tell you.”  3  So Jonah arose and went to Nineveh, according to the word of the  Lord . Now Nineveh was an exceedingly great city,  a three-day journey  in extent.   4  And Jonah began to enter the city on the first day's walk. Then he cried out and said, “Yet forty days, and Nineveh shall be overthrown!”

5  So the people of Nineveh believed God, proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest to the least of them.  6  Then word came to the king of Nineveh; and he arose from his throne and laid aside his robe, covered  himself  with sackcloth and sat in ashes.  7  And he caused  it  to be proclaimed and published throughout Nineveh by the decree of the king and his nobles, saying,

Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything; do not let them eat, or drink water.  8  But let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and cry mightily to God; yes, let every one turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands.  9  Who can tell  if  God will turn and relent, and turn away from His fierce anger, so that we may not perish? (Jon. 3:1-9)

God delivered Jehoshaphat in a military crisis (2 Chr. 20)

F. For a greater release of power:

15Lord, have mercy on my son, for he is an epileptic…16I brought him to Your disciples, but they could not cure him. 19The disciples said, “Why could we not cast him out?”…20Jesus said, “Because of your unbelief…21This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.” (Mt. 17:15-21)

G. For an open heaven:

51Jesus said, “Most assuredly…you [Nathaniel] shall see heaven open, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.” (Jn. 1:51)

H. For direction:

1 Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul.  2  As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” (Acts 13:1-2)

Before selecting elders

23  So when they had appointed elders in every church, and prayed with fasting, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.  (Acts 14:23)

I•  For grace to understand:

17  As for these four young men, God gave them knowledge and skill in all literature and wisdom; and Daniel had understanding in all visions and dreams. (Dan. 1:17)

  12  Inasmuch as an excellent spirit, knowledge, understanding, interpreting dreams, solving riddles, and  [ f ] explaining enigmas were found in this Daniel, whom the king named Belteshazzar, now let Daniel be called, and he will give the interpretation.”

13  Then Daniel was brought in before the king. The king spoke, and said to Daniel, “ Are  you that Daniel who is one of the captives from Judah, whom my father the king brought from Judah?  14  I have heard of you, that the Spirit of God  is  in you, and  that  light and understanding and excellent wisdom are found in you. (Dan. 5:12-14)

16  And I heard a man's voice between  the banks of  the Ulai, who called, and said, “Gabriel, make this  man  understand the vision.”  17  So he came near where I stood, and when he came I was afraid and fell on my face; but he said to me, “Understand, son of man, that the vision  refers  to the time of the end.” (Dan. 8:16-17)

13  “As  it is  written in the Law of Moses, all this disaster has come upon us; yet we have not made our prayer before the  Lord  our God, that we might turn from our iniquities and understand Your truth. 
(Dan. 9:13)

12Your words were heard; and I have come because of your words…14I have come to make you understand what will happen to your people in the latter days… (Dan. 10:12-14)

22O Daniel, I have now come forth to give you skill to understand. 23At the beginning of your supplications the command went out, and I have come… (Dan. 9:22-23)

9  With my soul I have desired You in the night,
Yes, by my spirit within me I will seek You early;
For when Your judgments  are  in the earth,
The inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness. (Isa. 26:9)

4  Therefore I said, “Surely these  are  poor.
They are foolish;
For they do not know the way of the  Lord ,
The judgment of their God.
5  I will go to the great men and speak to them,
For they have known the way of the  Lord ,
The judgment of their God.” (Jer. 5:4-5)

20The anger of the LORD will not turn back until He has executed…the thoughts of His heart. In the latter days you will understand it perfectly. (Jer. 23:20)

24  The fierce anger of the  Lord  will not return until He has done it,
And until He has performed the intents of His heart.

In the latter days you will consider it. (Jer. 30:24)

III. THE BRIDEGROOM FAST: ENCOUNTERING GOD'S LOVE (MT. 9:14-15)

A. Jesus spoke of the apostles fasting out of their desire to encounter Him.

14Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?” 15And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the Bridegroom mourn as long as the Bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the Bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.” (Mt. 9:14-15)

F. Jesus established the New Covenant by His death and resurrection, in which the Spirit comes and dwells in every believer. Then, fasting took on a whole new dimension, because the indwelling Spirit revealed the depths of God to the disciples

10  But God has revealed  them  to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God.  (1 Cor. 2:10)

19  Therefore, brethren, having boldness  to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,  20  by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,  21  and  having  a High Priest over the house of God,  22  let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.  (Heb. 10:19-22)

L. Five rewards of the Bridegroom Fast:

2. Fasting changes our desires and enlarging our desire for righteousness

9  You have loved righteousness and hated lawlessness;
Therefore God, Your God,   has anointed You
With the oil of gladness more than Your companions.” (Heb. 1:9)

Fasting Series:

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Much of this teaching will be used by the English speaking Pastors in the Africa Training Bible School.(ATBS)

Each of these ATBS Series includes an audio and handout or study notes to be downloaded as well as a PowerPoint to make the viewing more visual for the Pastors and the youth in thier church