JESUS CHRIST FASTS 40 DAYS.

SERIES: THE POWER OF PRAYER AND FASTING.

TEXT: LUKE 4:1-14

 

The ministry of prayer and fasting is an important pillar in the christian faith for the believer who wants to go extra mile to fellowship with GOD. Fasting causes self-denial, piety and repentance. In the New Testament we read of the early apostles fasting and praying. God manifested Himself to them by signs, wonders and miracles-Acts 5:12.

Salvation itself is by grace alone. It cannot be bought through works for we are not saved by good works but are saved for good works-Eph. 2:8. God is a great King and is not obvious. It’s them that seek Him diligently find Him-Jer. 29:13. The founder of our faith is our Lord Jesus Christ and He showed us an example on how to seek the face of the father by prayer and fasting.

Many christians abhor prayer with fasting because it robs the body of comfort and inflicts it with pain; they prefer to live in the comfort zone. Others detest prayer with fasting because they have small goals in life with small challenges that can be addressed by “small prayers.” However, when storms in life come, they can be handled more effectively by prayer and fasting. To have a robust christian life prayer and fasting is a must. More about the prayer and fasting of our Lord Jesus Christ.

JESUS CHRIST WAS LED TO FASTING BY THE HOLY SPIRIT-Luke 4:1.

• When one person leads another one is in front and one is behind. The Holy Spirit was ahead, leading Jesus and Jesus was following the leader.
• Even today most of the men of God filled with the Holy Spirit and led by the Holy Spirit to prayer with fasting.
• Prayer and fasting was important in God’s time plan in the 3 years of the ministry of Jesus Christ. If the prayer and fasting wasn’t important, God the father through the Holy Spirit would not have included it in the ministry plan of Jesus Christ.
• In the 3 years of earthly ministry of Jesus Christ the Holy Spirit planned that it must be the first thing to do even before selecting the 12 disciples.

JESUS CHRIST ATE NOTHING FOR THE 40 DAYS.

• Jesus drank water possibly but ate no food.
• If Jesus our Lord denied himself comfort to seek the face of the father how much do we need to do that!!
• One of the traits of a spirit-filled believer is the disciple of prayer and fasting.
• Prayer with fasting strengthens the spirit influence and weakens the carnal attitudes of man-Gal. 5:17.
• Prayer and fasting makes one more sensitive and receptive of the influence of God through the Holy Spirit.
• Whereas repentance is an important part of fasting, Jesus Christ was not fasting for his sins to be forgiven (He did not have sin) but for the sins of the people He would die for.

JESUS CHRIST DEFEATS SATAN.

• The explosion of spiritual power during the fast, took attention of the devil. He decided to confront Jesus first before Jesus Christ starts destroying his kingdom.
• The devil started with the temptation of food when Jesus was already hungry. Satan tempted the first Adam with food and succeeded, he now came to test the second Adam with food and he failed.
• If temptation approaches you when you are fasting you are advantaged to overcome satan.

JESUS RETURNED FROM WILDERNESS WITH POWER-Luke 4:14.

• The Lord left the wilderness full of the Holy Spirit. He returned from the wilderness FULL of POWER of the Holy Spirit.
• Fasting ignites the power of the Holy Spirit within us, it activates the power at work within us.
• Fasting increases resonance of the “Inner man.” The spirit person with the voice of God and the fasting person can hear more clearly from God concerning any issue in life. When God finally “speaks” all problems are solved.

CONCLUSION

• Jesus Christ the author, beginner of our faith said that when He is taken away His followers/disciples will fast-Luke 5:35. Fasting produces stronger faith and we experience greater fellowship with God.
• If Jesus Christ being the son of God needed fasting to seek the face of the father, how much do you and me need it to seek the father concerning our issues.