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From the beginning, people have pursued God. They wrongly built the Ziggurat (tower) of Babel to reach Him (see Gen. 11:1-9). They rebelliously carved images to please God. They arrogantly conceived and lived by legalistic laws to impress God. They constructed monasteries and isolated themselves to please God. As we shall see, they even fasted wrongly in an attempt to divert His attention from other things they should have been doing, but were neglecting.

It's important to note that religious practices such as fasting are less important than doing God's will. As Micah 6:8 points out, what the Lord truly requires of us is devotion to Himself: "To do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God." Fasting is not an end in itself; it is a means by which we can worship the Lord and submit ourselves in humility to Him. We don't make God love us any more than He already does if we fast, or if we fast longer. As Galatians states, "Stand fast therefore in the liberty by which Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with a yoke of bondage" (5:1). The goal of any discipline is freedom. If the result is not greater freedom, something is wrong.

Even if we wanted to, we could not manipulate God. We fast and pray for results, but the results are in God's hands. One of the greatest spiritual benefits of fasting is becoming more attentive to God-becoming more aware of our own inadequacies and His adequacy, our own contingencies and His self-sufficiency-and listening to what He wants us to be and do.

Christian fasting, therefore, is totally antithetical to, say, Hindu fasting. Both seek results; however, Hindu fasting focuses on the self and tries to get something for a perceived sacrifice. Christian fasting focuses on God. The results are spiritual results that glorify God-both in the person who fasts and others for whom we fast and pray.

God's Purpose for Fasting

In this book I have focused on the well-known and often quoted passage of Scripture in Isaiah 58:6-8, which gives a veritable laundry list of warnings as well as positive results that can occur when we submit ourselves to the discipline of fasting.

It is as important to learn from this passage the kinds of fasts that do not please God as it is to understand those fasts He desires. God's people in Isaiah's day had been fasting, but without results. The reason, God says, is that they ignored the way fasting should change their lives , treating it as an empty ritual:

On the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high (Isa. 58:3,4, NIV ).

Like so many Christians today, God's people considered worship to be merely a private, inward act. All of the focus on fasting was on the personal dimension. Listen to God's rebuke of this concept:

Is this the kind of fast I have chosen, only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day acceptable to the Lord? (v. 5, NIV ).

The purpose of all worship, including fasting, is to change the worshiper in ways that have social and interpersonal impact. We worship not just to gratify ourselves, but also to become empowered to change the world! God goes on to specify the kind of fast He chooses:

Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh? Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward (vv. 6-8, KJV ).

We must not interpret the earlier verses in this passage as a call to a "social gospel" in the sense that would deny the importance of personal, heartfelt worship. God was not asking His people to stop fasting so they might instead bring in the Kingdom through social change. Far from it-He wanted the people to continue fasting, but to expand fasting through their actions into their everyday lives. Through the prophet Joel, God called His people to "Turn to Me with all your heart, with fasting " (Joel 2:12, emphasis mine). We may assume that Isaiah is communicating God's desire that fasting be continued, and that its effects be evidenced beyond the mere private and personal.

I find in Isaiah 58, therefore, a model for the fruits God expects to see from genuine faith and devotion. Rightly used, fasting can help us present Him with those fruits. Thus, the passage prompted me to find in other places in Scripture nine kinds of fasting I think Christians should rediscover today-not just for their own benefit, but for the benefit of others as well. Let's look at the passage again, listing the aspects that will be the basis for the rest of this book.

In Isaiah 58, God says He has chosen fasts that (1) loosen the bonds of wickedness, (2) undo heavy burdens, (3) let the oppressed go free, (4) break every yoke, (5) give bread to the hungry and provide the poor with housing, (6) allow the people's light to break forth like the morning, (7) cause their health to spring forth speedily, (8) cause their righteousness to go before them and (9) cause the glory of the Lord to be their reward (or "rear guard").

Rightly practiced, we see in Isaiah's day a privileged son of Judah bowing before God and pleading with his people to turn from their sin, abandon their idolatry and worship the Lord through fasting and service to the poor and afflicted.

There are indications that Israelites even pressed fellow Jews into slavery, perhaps in response to their failure to pay debts (see Neh. 5:8). Even though debt-servitude was allowed in some cases, those pressed into this kind of service were not to be treated as mere slaves (see Lev. 25:39-42). This law was apparently being widely violated in Isaiah's day.

We must admit that we will not find all of these social conditions present in our own situations. But if we read the passage with biblical imaginations, we can see a modern and often personal application of each aspect of the kind of fast that pleases God.

For example, even if literal slavery is not a widespread problem in our own society, what of the servitude of the soul? Just as an Israelite might fast in protest of the literal enslavement of others, so we might fast in resistance against selling ourselves to Satan. In each of these social sins a personal parallel can be seen. So in the description of the nine fasts, I invite you as a serious disciple of Christ to find a contemporary application of the original intention of this great passage on fasting.

Nine Fasts God Can Use

To better illustrate and reveal the significance of these nine reasons for fasting, I have chosen nine biblical characters whose lives personified the literal or figurative theme of each of the nine aspects highlighted in Isaiah 58:6-8. Each fast has a different name, accomplishes a different purpose and follows a different prescription.

I do not want to suggest that the nine fasts we are about to explore are the only kinds of fasts available to the believer, or that they are totally separate from each other. Nor do I want to suggest that there is only one type of fast for a particular problem. These suggested fasts are models to use and adjust to your own particular needs and desires as you seek to grow closer to God. What follows is a brief overview of the nine fasts that will comprise the rest of this book:

1. The Disciple's Fast

Purpose: "To loose the bands of wickedness" (Isa. 58:6)-freeing ourselves and others from addictions to sin.

Key Verse: "This kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting" (Matt. 17:21, KJV ).

Background: Jesus cast out a demon from a boy whom the disciples had failed to help. Apparently they had not taken seriously enough the way Satan had his claws set in the youth. The implication is that Jesus' disciples could have performed this exorcism had they been willing to undergo the discipline of fasting. Modern disciples also often make light of "besetting sins" that could be cast out if we were serious enough to take part in such a self-denying practice as fasting-hence the term "Disciple's Fast."

2. The Ezra Fast

Purpose: To "undo the heavy burdens" (Isa. 58:6)-to solve problems, inviting the Holy Spirit's aid in lifting loads and overcoming barriers that keep ourselves and our loved ones from walking joyfully with the Lord.

Key Verse: "So we fasted and entreated our God for this, and He answered our prayer" (Ezra 8:23).

Background: Ezra the priest was charged with restoring the Law of Moses among the Jews as they rebuilt the city of Jerusalem by permission of Artaxerxes, king of Persia, where God's people had been held captive. Despite this permission, Israel's enemies opposed them. Burdened with embarrassment about having to ask the Persian king for an army to protect them, Ezra fasted and prayed for an answer.

3. The Samuel Fast

Purpose: "To let the oppressed (physically and spiritually) go free" (Isa. 58:6)-for revival and soul winning, to identify with people everywhere enslaved literally or by sin and to pray to be used of God to bring people out of the kingdom of darkness and into God's marvelous light.

Key Verse: "So they gathered together at Mizpah, drew water, and poured it out before the Lord. And they fasted that day, and said there, `We have sinned against the Lord'" (1 Sam. 7:6).

Background: Samuel led God's people in a fast to celebrate the return of the Ark of the Covenant from its captivity by the Philistines, and to pray that Israel might be delivered from the sin that allowed the Ark to be captured in the first place.

4. The Elijah Fast

Purpose: "To break every yoke" (Isa. 58:6)-conquering the mental and emotional problems that would control our lives, and returning the control to the Lord.

Key Verse: "He himself went a day's journey into the wilderness.... He arose and ate and drank; and he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights" (1 Kings 19:4,8).

Background: Although Scripture does not call this a formal "fast," Elijah deliberately went without food when he fled from Queen Jezebel's threat to kill him. After this self-imposed deprivation, God sent an angel to minister to Elijah in the wilderness.

5. The Widow's Fast

Purpose: "To share [our] bread with the hungry" and to care for the poor (Isa. 58:7)-to meet the humanitarian needs of others.

Key Verse: "The jar of flour was not used up and the jug of oil did not run dry, in keeping with the word of the Lord spoken by Elijah" (1 Kings 17:16, NIV ).

Background: God sent the prophet Elijah to a poor, starving widow-ironically, so the widow could provide food for Elijah. Just as Elijah's presence resulted in food for the widow of Zarephath, so presenting ourselves before God in prayer and fasting can relieve hunger today.

6. The Saint Paul Fast

Purpose: To allow God's "light [to] break forth like the morning" (Isa. 58:8), bringing clearer perspective and insight as we make crucial decisions.

Key Verse: "And he [Saul, or Paul] was three days without sight, and neither ate nor drank" (Acts 9:9).

Background: Saul of Tarsus, who became known as Paul after his conversion to Christ, was struck blind by the Lord in the act of persecuting Christians. He not only was without literal sight, but he also had no clue about what direction his life was to take. After going without food and praying for three days, Paul was visited by the Christian Ananias, and both his eyesight and his vision of the future were restored,

7. The Daniel Fast

Purpose: So "thine health shall spring forth" (Isa. 58:8, KJV )-to gain a healthier life or for healing.

Key Verse: "Daniel purposed in his heart that he would not defile himself with the portion of the king's delicacies, nor with the wine which he drank" (Dan. 1:8).

Background: Daniel and his three fellow Hebrew captives demonstrated in Babylonian captivity that keeping themselves from pagan foods God had guided them not to eat made them more healthful than others in the king's court.

8. The John the Baptist Fast

Purpose: That "your righteousness shall go before you" (Isa. 58:8)-that our testimonies and influence for Jesus will be enhanced before others.

Key Verse: "He shall be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink" (Luke 1:15, KJV).

Background: Because John the Baptist was the forerunner of Jesus, he took the "Nazirite" vow that required him to "fast" from or avoid wine and strong drink. This was part of John's purposefully adopted lifestyle that designated him as one set apart for a special mission.

9. The Esther Fast

Purpose: That "the glory of the Lord" will protect us from the evil one (see Isa. 58:8).

Key Verses: "Fast for me ... [and] my maids and I will fast ... [and] I will go to the king ... [and] she found favor in his sight" (Esther 4:16; 5:2).

Background: Queen Esther, a Jewess in a pagan court, risked her life to save her people from threatened destruction by Ahasuerus (Xerxes), king of Persia. Prior to appearing before the king to petition him to save the Jews, Esther, her attendants and her cousin Mordecai all fasted to appeal to God for His protection.

Four Kinds of Fasting

The nine fasts described in this book are merely suggestive of a variety of ways to practice this helpful discipline. There are probably as many ways to fast as there are ways to pray-obviously, there is no set number in either case. The following four kinds of fasts, however, taken from Dr. Rex Russell's book What the Bible Says About Healthy Living (Regal Books, 1996; see Appendix 1), are good guidelines for you to follow or modify as God directs.

Continue...

Excerpted from Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough by Elmer L. Towns Copyright © 1996 by Elmer L. Towns
Excerpted by permission. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.