Dear Precious Prayer Partners,
(Mat 6:16) Moreover when you fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. (Mat 6:17) But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and2 wash your face; (Mat 6:18) That you appear not to men to fast, but to your Father which is in Heaven: and your Father, who sees in secret, shall reward you openly.
Tough times happen to everyone at one time or another. Pain and loss are part of life. There are many different reasons why these things occur, but God is always there to bring good out of it when we invite Him to. Fasting is a powerful weapon most people overlook.
When you pray and fast together you will hear God’s voice speak to you from His word. He will touch your body, your mind, your emotions, your family, your finances, and any area of your life you need Him to touch.
From Genesis to 1Timothy 4:3, fasting is mentioned 85 times in the Bible. From seeking a Bride, in Genesis 24:33 to healing the sick, in Psalms 35:15, to deliverance in Matthew 17:21, to needing strength in 2 Corinthians 11:27.
There is Power in fasting.
Saved or unsaved anyone can receive the secondary rewards of fasting. Only the consecrated child of God can receive the spiritual blessings. When we go into food abstention, the Holy Spirit in us does a spiritual house cleaning. When we honor God He honors us 1Samuel 2:30
First, let me tell you some of the things doctors have found out about fasting:
1. People who fast regularly live 25 to 35 years longer.
2. Fasting rids the body of all the and antitoxins that are in it.
3. It purifies the blood stream, improves blood circulation, and rests the heart.
4. It conserves energy. Sick people cannot get well unless there is a conservation of energy. Many foods, while being digested, will destroy or waste what energy a sick person has.
5. Fasting gives the stomach a vacation as well as the whole body.
6. Fasting rapidly removes the causes of many diseases. Because the disease itself will have nothing to feed on and it becomes its own destruction.
7. Fasting quickly removes simple diseases such as indigestion, fever, skin blemishes, and rheumatism.
8. Fasting improves memory and mental facilities. It makes it easier to think, study, and remember.
9. The headache one gets at the beginning of fasting is a sure sign a person needs to fast. The body has something in it that is hurting it. We are a society that believes in three meals a day. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner or supper. The body hasn’t finished digesting breakfast and we put lunch on top of it. By the time it is half done digesting lunch, we put supper on top of that.
10. Too much sugar or starch will give you a headache. Fasting eradicates coffee, caffeine, and ordinary headaches quickly.
11. Fasting eradicates drinking, drug, and tobacco habits in about 5 to 7 days. The reason is because the roots of these habits are embedded in the stomach.
12. A person cannot starve while fasting. Only things that are needed by the body are used.
13. Doctors have found that some contaminated, rotten food particles have been embedded in the stomach lining for months. When I read this I fasted right away.
12. Some doctors have found that dehydrated food and even worms were found impacted on the walls of the intestinal tract for up to 15 years. This very condition invites disease. Fasting will starve it out.
13. Fasting is the greatest natural youth restorer. It beautifies and cleanses the skin.
14. Fasting has been known to remove ulcers, goiters, and cancer. Even tumors as large as a small watermelon have been documented.
15. Fasting removes that sour bad taste in your mouth. (morning mouth)
16. Fasting aids insomnia.
17. The older a person gets the more he or she needs to fast. No one is too old for fasting. History and the Bible show us that men and women who fast on a regular basis live the longest. We can find this if we study the lives of Moses, Elijah, and Anna the prophetess.
18. Fasting improves our sight, hearing, taste, touch, and smell. All our senses benefit from fasting.
Now let’s go to the source of all truth. What does the Bible say about Fasting?
(Mat 6:16) Moreover when you fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, they have their reward. Mat 6:17) But you, when you fast, anoint your head, and2 wash your face;(Mat 6:18) That you appear not to men to fast, but to your Father which is in Heaven: and your Father, who sees in secret, shall reward you openly.
Notice Jesus didn’t say “if”. Had He said “if” it would have left open the possibility that you would not fast. He took it for granted that you as Christian and follower of Him would fast. Moreover He says that He will reward you openly when you fast. Fasting shows Jesus the level of our faith. It shows Him the level of our diligence.
(Heb 11:6) But without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.
I learned about fasting from reading about a man named Napoleon Hill. He was commissioned by Andrew Carnegie to take 20 years of his life and study all the great men and women of the world. Then he was to put into one book what they all had in common, so the common person could use the same principles to succeed in life. Do you know what he found? He found that all these great men and women believed in the Bible and its principles. Napoleon Hill put what he learned about fasting from the Bible to the test.
Napoleon had a son who was born with no ears. From reading God’s word he came to believe. Doctors had told him his son would never hear. How could he with no ears. But, Napoleon believed God could do anything. Every day he would put his head on his baby’s head and say, “you are going to hear. God is going to give you ears. The vibrations would penetrate through the little baby’s head. Well that little baby is about seventy years old now, and he still doesn’t have ears. Outer ears that is. You see the bones in his inner ears grew together in such a way that he has 80% hearing in one ear and 70 % hearing in the other. That is the power of diligence and faith. That is the power of letting God’s word penetrate you. That is the power of becoming more like Jesus in our belief. That is the power of fasting.
Now I don’t want to make this a nine page newsletter so I will write this one over two months. Don’t worry I’m not going to tell you to fast your turkey next month, although I wonder what God would do if you did?
I want you to learn that you can fast as little as one meal to honor God and He will honor you as he says in His word. We find the greatest answers to prayer after I have preached the message God has given me to pass on in fasting. But, you will have to wait until next month for the “rest of the story…” as Paul Harvey would say.
I also wanted to clarify that our work with the children has not come to a close nor are we giving u
p on them. This has been a major battle we will win and the only way we can win is not to lose the support of our givers. We still have 143 children waiting and hundreds more who need God’s help and the only way they can receive it is by people who care like you. We are still paying the bills for them in the meantime to keep the Center. Also, we are still in the ministry we have been in now for 25 years, helping the little churches that the big evangelists won’t go to because they can’t meet their financial requests. The only way we can do this is by our faithful Prayer Partner support. We know God would never leave these children without hope or a place that has served them and Him for 17 years? We also know that God would not turn His back on the little churches because they can’t afford His Evangelists to come and encourage them? Not the God we have served together for the past 25 years.
In this time of Thanksgiving we want to thank each and every one of you who continue to support our work in the ministry for His Kingdom. To God Be the Glory!
Bishop Nick and Sandy