Does Fasting Really Work? | Biblical Fasting | Tony Evans Sermon Clip
Summary
TLDRThe video script emphasizes the importance of genuine fasting and repentance to strengthen one's spiritual life. It highlights the necessity of addressing personal sins and attitudes to maintain a strong connection with God. The speaker explains how fasting, when done with sincere intentions, can lead to significant spiritual gains. Using various biblical references, the script underscores that true fasting is about prioritizing spiritual needs over physical desires, seeking God's intervention in life's challenges, and humbling oneself to achieve a deeper fellowship with God.
Takeaways
- 🩺 You must be willing to tell the doctor what's wrong if you want the doctor to make it right, similar to how you must be willing to tell God what's wrong to restore fellowship with Him.
- 📜 Isaiah 58 discusses how to sharpen your spiritual acts and get more accomplished, emphasizing the importance of fasting.
- 🍽️ Fasting is a deliberate abstinence from physical gratification to achieve a greater spiritual goal.
- 🙏 Zechariah 7:5-6 explains that fasting is for God, while eating is for oneself.
- ✝️ Jesus emphasized fasting in His absence to sharpen spiritual focus.
- 👶 The analogy of a pacifier shows that fake fasting is like fake food; it doesn't benefit you spiritually.
- 🛐 True fasting prioritizes the spiritual over the physical, seeking a deeper connection with God.
- ❓ In Isaiah 58:3, people question why their fasting hasn't been noticed by God, indicating the need for proper spiritual alignment.
- 📉 To genuinely fast, one must humble themselves and address sin, not just go through the motions.
- 🔍 Just like a colonoscopy removes harmful elements, spiritual fasting requires cleansing sin to allow God's intervention.
Q & A
Why is it important to tell the doctor or God what's wrong?
-It is important because addressing and acknowledging the issues allows the doctor to provide the right treatment and God to remove obstacles that block fellowship and communication with Him.
What does the prophet in Isaiah 58 emphasize about fasting?
-The prophet emphasizes that fasting is about prioritizing the spiritual over the physical, setting aside physical needs to achieve greater spiritual goals and accomplishments.
What are some reasons people fast according to the Bible?
-People fasted for various reasons including seeking a mate, relief from trouble, and other specific situations that required divine intervention.
How does Zechariah 7:5-6 describe the purpose of fasting?
-Zechariah 7:5-6 states that fasting is done for God, while eating is for oneself. Fasting involves giving up physical gratification to gain spiritual benefits for God.
What did Jesus say about fasting after His ascension?
-Jesus said that after His death, resurrection, and ascension, His followers would fast until He comes again, highlighting the need for a sharpened spiritual focus through fasting.
What is the significance of using a pacifier as a metaphor in the context of fasting?
-A pacifier symbolizes fake gratification. Just as a pacifier does not provide real nourishment, fake fasting or superficial religious activities do not provide genuine spiritual benefits.
Why did the people in Isaiah 58 feel their fasting was ineffective?
-The people felt their fasting was ineffective because, despite performing the rituals, they did not receive responses from heaven. Their fasting was more about fulfilling desires rather than genuine spiritual devotion.
What is the primary goal of fasting according to the script?
-The primary goal of fasting is to place the spiritual ahead of the physical, demonstrating a need for divine intervention and prioritizing heavenly matters over earthly concerns.
What does it mean to spiritually humble oneself before God during fasting?
-Spiritually humbling oneself involves repentance and acknowledging sin, ensuring that religious activities are not a cover for unrighteous behavior. It is about facing and addressing one's sins honestly.
Why is repentance crucial for effective fasting?
-Repentance is crucial because unaddressed sin can block communication with God. Acknowledging and addressing sin allows one to receive God's solutions and blessings more effectively.
Outlines
🙏 The Importance of Honesty with God
The speaker emphasizes the necessity of honesty with God, paralleling it with being honest with a doctor to receive proper treatment. The passage from Isaiah 58 discusses sharpening spiritual acts through fasting, highlighting that people in the Bible fasted for various reasons, such as seeking a mate or relief from trouble. Fasting is described as a deliberate abstinence from physical gratification to achieve a greater spiritual goal. The speaker warns against fake fasting, comparing it to a pacifier that provides no real nourishment, and underscores the need for genuine spiritual hunger and honesty before God.
🙏 True Spiritual Prioritization Through Fasting
The speaker explains that fasting places the spiritual above the physical, emphasizing the need for a spiritual boost. Fasting is a declaration of needing heaven more than earth, showing God the seriousness of one’s spiritual needs by giving up physical comforts. The speaker contrasts this with the devil’s attempt to prioritize the physical over the spiritual. The passage from Isaiah 58 is cited, where God questions the people's superficial fasting practices and calls for genuine repentance and spiritual humility as the first step to effective fasting.
🙏 The Necessity of Spiritual Cleansing
The speaker highlights the need to face sin and unrighteousness honestly, using the metaphor of stepping on a scale to reveal the truth. The passage from Isaiah 58 is referenced again, emphasizing spiritual humility and repentance as crucial for effective fasting. The speaker compares the process to a remodeling project, where tearing out the old is necessary before introducing the new. The analogy of a colonoscopy is used to illustrate the uncomfortable but necessary process of cleansing to achieve a healthy spiritual life. The speaker concludes by stressing the importance of allowing God to remove sin to receive His blessings through fasting.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Fasting
💡Spiritual Humility
💡Prayer
💡Isaiah 58
💡Repentance
💡Spiritual Discipline
💡Physical vs. Spiritual
💡Sackcloth and Ashes
💡Spiritual Booster
💡Pacifier
Highlights
The importance of telling God about our attitudes and actions to maintain fellowship with Him.
Isaiah 58 discusses how to sharpen your spiritual acts and get more accomplished through fasting.
Fasting is a deliberate abstinence from physical gratification to achieve a greater spiritual goal.
Zechariah 7:5-6 highlights the distinction between fasting for God and eating for oneself.
Jesus emphasized the necessity of fasting until His return to sharpen spiritual focus.
Fake fasting is like a pacifier, providing no real spiritual nourishment.
God wants us to be hungry for Him, not just going through the motions of religious activities.
Isaiah 58:3 addresses why fasting might seem ineffective when we focus on our desires rather than God's.
Fasting signifies that the spiritual is more important than the physical, emphasizing dependence on God.
To truly fast, we must address sin in our lives and humble ourselves before God.
Religious activity should not be a camouflage for unrighteousness; we must face our sins honestly.
The process of remodeling our spiritual lives requires tearing out sin, much like remodeling a house.
A spiritual colonoscopy, similar to a medical one, is necessary to remove the 'junk' and prevent spiritual 'cancer.'
God's chosen fast involves repentance and humility, allowing Him to work effectively in our lives.
Fasting adds power to prayer, sharpening our spiritual focus and enabling us to achieve greater spiritual goals.
Transcripts
you must be willing to tell the doctor
what's wrong if you want the doctor to
make it right
you and I must be willing to tell God
what's wrong with our attitudes our
actions what we did what we said
that would block fellowship with him if
we want to hear from heaven
in Isaiah 58.
the prophet talks to the children of
Israel
and he speaks to us today
about how to sharpen your spiritual acts
to get more accomplished
it is the single longest passage in
scripture on fasting
the Bible references fasting throughout
in your spiritual guide I will list the
whole list of passages because people
fasted
for different kinds of situations
throughout the Bible
single people fasted for a mate when
people were in trouble they fasted for
relief from the trouble
all kinds of scenario called for it
but it was a time where they would set
aside the physical in order to gain
something more important than the
spiritual
fasting can be defined as a deliberate
abstinence from some form of physical
gratification
for a period of time in order to
activate a greater spiritual goal or to
achieve a greater spiritual goal
Zechariah 7 verses 5 and 6 says
you fast for God you eat for yourself
we eat fit for our physical well-being
for our nutritional value but he says
when you fast
when you intentionally give up the
physical to gain the spiritual you do
that for God
and so
Jesus made the point that in my absence
after my death resurrection and
Ascension you will Fast until I come
again
because if you need something to happen
in the physical you're going to need to
have a sharpened ax in the spiritual
and that sharpened acts is when you add
fasting to prayer
I was speaking to a group uh here
recently
and when I spoke to the group my mother
had a baby in her arms
and the baby
broke the meeting up
because the baby
started crying and
just creating all kind of distractions
in the meeting so I'm trying to speak to
this group they're distracted I'm
distracted
the baby was hungry
the baby wanted food and the baby was
hungry and desperate
it's bad enough his baby is hungry but
if a baby's hungry and desperate the
baby will turn the place out
the mother recognizing that there was a
big disturbance tried to pacify
the baby she went in and brought out a
pacifier
that's called fake food
a pacifier is designed to shut you up
while not benefiting you at all
a pacifier is fake news
pacifier is designed to make you think
something is happening
because you're performing the duty you
are sucking and sucking and sucking and
sucking so maybe if you suck hard enough
and long enough you think
something is happening in your life
a lot of fake fasting goes on
where you can go through the motions to
pacify and make you think you are
spiritual
make you think you're going there's a
lot of pacifying worship that goes on
because I went to church I must be
spiritual or getting close to God
well the way you know you've been
pacified is you're still hungry
after you've done the work
God wants us to be hungry but he wants
us to be hungry for him
he wants there to be a hunger for God
and so
Isaiah writes
and the people
had a question verse 3 verse 3 of Psalm
I mean Isaiah 58 why have we fasted and
you do not see
why have we humbled ourselves and you do
not notice
behold on the day of your fast
you find your desire in other words
we come to you we tell you what we want
we tell you what we need we give you our
desires and we don't hear a thing
so we've done the duty we we've we've
done what you've asked us to do we
fulfilled what you've required but
Heaven is not responding Heaven is not
answering us
fasting is supposed to say that the
spiritual is more important than the
physical
that the Supernatural is more important
than the natural
fasting says that man does not live by
bread alone
that the physical can't fix this
fasting says I need a spiritual booster
because the vaccine of my normal worship
isn't working
it is to declare
that I need heaven
more than I need Earth
and to let you know God how serious I am
I'm gonna let something on Earth go
for a period of time because I need
something more important from heaven
and so it's designed to place the
spiritual in front of the physical of
course Satan wants to flip the script he
wants to make the physical more
important than the spiritual
because if he can keep you physical then
he can push back spiritual which gives
you limited access to Heaven while
increased access to Earth but since
Earth is not sufficient then you find
yourself Limited in what you are able to
achieve from a spiritual perspective and
so
they were calling on God they were going
to the Motions they were doing the
routine
and the question is raised at the
beginning of verse 5 is it a fast like
this which I choose
not the one you want
but the one I choose in other words
you've given it your own definition
you've come about you doing this your
way and not the way that I demand expect
and require
this leads him to an instruction for us
and for those of you who will enter into
this concept of making this a part of
your spiritual discipline with a day a
week or a portion of a day a week to
deal with the Deep issues of life and a
family that and you know you need
fasting because Earth was not able to
solve it and so
he gives them a baseball outline
then baseball they are there's the first
base the second base and the third base
and the goal is home plate
because when you hit home plate you
score
so the idea is to be able to round the
basis of fasting so that when you have
completed it you have scored Heaven
invading history
so first base
the place that you go first in the fast
that he chooses continuing in verse five
is it for Bowing one's head like a reed
and for spreading out sackcloth and
Ashes as a bed will you call this a fast
even an acceptable day to the Lord
so the first thing you've got to do to
have an acceptable time an acceptable
concentrated prayer time that includes
giving up the physical for the spiritual
because you need heaven on Earth is
spiritually humbling ourselves before
God
he calls it humble yourself sack off and
Ashes which is the posture of repentance
in other words he says
if you want my attention from heaven you
must be willing to address sin in your
life
sackcloth and Ashes humbling yourself in
other words you cannot use religious
activity as a camouflage for unrighteous
activity
we must face our sin
if we want to see God's Solutions
if we are not willing to face our sins
not excuse them but face them
to acknowledge God
the Bible says that the one Psalm 6 66
18.
who Harbors wickedness in his heart will
not hear from God
so if you want to hear from God you must
face unrighteousness in your life or my
life or collectively in our lives we
must not call it a mistake a bad habit
or you know my bad
we've got to call it what God calls it
if God has called it and God calls it's
sin when we dis obey him or his word
and so you must face it humble yourself
sackcloth and Ashes it is the posture of
repentance and he says this is the uh a
day that I approve of that I accept
there are probably some people in here
who avoid the scale
if someone were to ask you if you
stepped on the scale lately
you would you would say no and then
other people who step on it and lean
one reason that people don't step on it
or step on it and lean is they don't
want to face the truth
they don't want to they don't want it to
be revealed
that you've returned to meet
and dessert
you don't want it revealed that
the scale is going up and not going down
thinking that somehow
not getting on the scale
is
changing something
that leaning on it causing it to lie has
changed something
it is an unwillingness to face the
reality that keeps us from not
benefiting
you must be willing to tell the doctor
what's wrong if you want the doctor to
make it right
you and I must be willing to tell God
what's wrong with our attitudes our
actions what we did what we said
that would block fellowship with him if
we want to hear from Heaven according to
Psalm 66 18. so
you know when you want to remodel
something
you've got to be willing to
tear stuff out
and it's messy
before you can put new stuff in
and a lot of us want God to remodel our
circumstances when we don't want him to
tear out our sin
and if he's not free to tear out on
unrighteousness he's not free to remodel
Our Lives
and put them in the order that we want
them to be and need them to be in and
request that they be in
many of us have had colonoscopies
that's not a fun situation
colonoscopy is not one of those exams
you look forward to
but until the doctor can get rid of the
junk
he can't see or she can't see and remove
the polyps that can produce the cancer
and so even though it is an
uncomfortable process and an
uncomfortable exam is necessary to have
a healthy colon and deliver cancer-free
life from the colon perspective God is
inviting us to spiritual colonoscopies
he's saying I want to cleanse of sin so
that I am free to produce what you need
in your life through the fast which I
choose not the one that you want but the
one that I choose
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