Fighting with Fasting

The Messiah said that there were some kinds of demonic afflictions that could only be relieved by prayer AND FASTING. Please see Matt. 17:21 and Mark 9:29.

There may be a demonic component to a problem like masturbation or other sexual sin which is very persistent. I found that when I finally resorted to fasting God finally responded by making the urgency and “pull” of the problem greatly reduced. I made a commitment to look at the clock whenever I would succumb to this scourge and begin a fast at that moment, for a specified period of time. It didn’t matter whether it was two o’clock in the morning--if I succumbed I was to look at the clock and begin a fast, a total fast. I suggest a 24 hour fast. Normally Biblical fasts begin at sunset but in this case I suggest looking at the clock. During the fast you should spend time in prayer and Bible Study. The commitment has to be strong enough to make you keep your promise; you can’t break your word.

Make the commitment for a period of time, such as for a month or two. The presence of the commitment may be enough of a deterrent (fasting is unpleasant) to help you to stop then and there, before you do it. But if you do succumb, do the fast. Fasting is a genuine spiritual exercise before God which does get His attention and is one of the ultimate things you can do to prove to Him that you mean business. I find that my problem simply subsided. He helped me, in other words, by keeping the temptations at a much lower level which I could control. It took a few times for this to take effect.

From time to time, as you go through life, a fast for general purposes is necessary. If it’s been a month or so since my last fast, I find that the temptations seem to crop up again and I realize I am going to have a problem. So do a PRE-EMPTIVE fast for 24 hours, one that you schedule in a convenient way. I think a fast every month or so is a genuine spiritual tonic if accompanied with prayer and Bible study.

Please read Isa. 58:1-10:

Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and show my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins.

Yet they seek me daily, and delight to know my ways, as a nation that did righteousness, and forsook not the ordinance of their God: they ask of me the ordinances of justice; they take delight in approaching to God.

Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.

Behold, ye fast for strife and debate, and to smite with the fist of wickedness: ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.

Is it such a fast that I have chosen? a day for a man to afflict his soul? is it to bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him? wilt thou call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the LORD?

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 reward.

Then shalt thou call, and the LORD shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity;

And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day:

And the LORD shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.

And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.

God will indeed respond to a sincere fast and the bonds of wickedness and the heavy burdens will be released.

And whatever you do, throw out the pornography immediately, turn away from it, do not do ANYTHING which might stir you up or cause you to become enflamed. Do not look at or lust after anything you should not--women, things on the Internet, or even think about such things. If you let this happen, the problem will gradually return. A key approach to remember is, NIP IT IN THE BUD. Put out the fire while it is still small.

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