ARE YOU HUNGRY YET?
My friends,
I have discovered over the years that one of the greatest secret weapons from God is the gift of fasting from food and other external and internal distractions. I have discovered many seasons of neglecting this great and powerful weapon as well as touching the fringes of this forceful gift. My first practice of fasting came when I was 16 years old and my Youth Pastor Jeff Skipper taught me about biblical fasting when I found myself at the greatest personal crossroads of my young life. I had just fully surrendered my heart to Christ and began to have a stirring in my heart to become a Preacher and consider college for full-time ministry. As a result, this would surely lead me to relocating and uprooting my whole life from my family and setting me on a wild new adventure. (There is much much more to this story that I will reserve for another day.) Fasting became God’s gift to prepare me to say ‘Yes’ to His leadership.
Fasting is the gift of Heaven for us in the earth. Fasting is intended to make us weak and position and prepare us to receive God's power and resource and plans. Fasting is also the choice for voluntary weakness. God rewards voluntary weakness with His nearness and His presence far beyond the path of involuntary weakness. God rewards our actions, choices, and attitudes that flow from hunger for Him in voluntary weakness. Involuntary weakness is forced upon all of us in various circumstances and seasons in life. For example, we experience involuntary weakness when we experience personal or family tragedy, when we see tragedy in other people’s lives, etc. These are not circumstances we would choose. But, in Voluntary Weakness, we choose, knowing that God will reward us in His time and ways.
Embracing and acknowledging our weakness through fasting from food opens a door to encounter God in a deeper way. The question is which door opens to us? God's door is already open because of what Jesus has already accomplished on the Cross of Calvary. So what door opens to us? It is the door of our heart. Fasting and focusing on God and His Word in an intentional way tenderizes our heart and expands our capacity to receive and retain more of God and His glory. Fasting from the temporary pleasures of this life help us to have a greater space for God Himself to speak, abide, and produce His life and fruit in our hearts.
Fasting prepares a table for us to dine and feast w/ God Himself. When is the last time and occasion that you have dined with God?
“Behold, I’m standing at the door, knocking. If your heart is open to hear my voice and you open the door within, I will come in to you and feast with you, and you will feast with me.” Revelation 3:20 TPT
Fasting from food reminds us of the body's process of hunger. It also exposes a greater hunger that is deeper within our heart. There is a voice heard in those hallowed hallways of hunger and in those low valleys of the shadow of intentional seeking. It’s the Voice of the Bridegroom Jesus whispering and at times shouting, “I desire time and space with you. I am preparing a table for you to dine with me.”
There's a spiritual hunger that continues to be unsatisfied by the pleasures of this life. We attempt to feed spiritual hunger with physical food or even tangible or material gifts. Though those are necessities and gifts from God, they are only temporary, even serving to lead us into the eternal food that will prove to satisfy us for eternity. It is God Himself.
Fasting is the open door to feasting. When we touch hunger, we are quickly reminded that God loves to draw near to the humble and weak.
The natural man and natural mind tells us to eat, drink, and be happy with whatever we see because there is nothing else to satisfy us. Yet, the way of the Kingdom is upside down, yielding to those who seek to access God’s Kingdom through voluntary weakness and humility to gain unlimited satisfaction and fascination. We gain the ability to see what we did not see before. We begin to recognize that it was God by His Spirit who was ever-present the whole time. When we were searching elsewhere, God was knocking on our heart and saying, “Let me in! Let me come and dine with you and satisfy you and answer the questions of your heart.”
The more attention we give to every other voice around us, the less we will discern the still small voice of God. Like John the Beloved Disciple of Christ, we say, “Let Your voice increase and let my voice decrease.” I say, let’s pursue a lifestyle that silences every internal and external voice attempting to drown out the Voice of God by His Holy Spirit. For His voice is His spoken Words to our heart. When Jesus speaks to us, He is breathing His breath of Life to us. When we discern His voice, we have discovered His Words coming from His own mouth. His mouth is His face where we stand face to face with Jesus. From that place and time we gain His heart for us. For as the Bible says, “Out of the abundance of the heart, our mouth will speak.” Whatever Jesus feels for us He will speak over us.
May God Continue Releasing Grace For Fasting,
David Futrell
IHOP-Miami
Prayer Missionary