Tip:
Highlight text to annotate it
X
Bible Questions with Michael Pearl - Episode 032
[music]
Michael Pearl: All right here we are back in this elaborate studio out here in the
warehouse to answer your Bible questions. Now if you could actually
see, about four feet from me is a big bin of corn I picked during
the fall that we're grinding to make chicken feed and corn meal out
of it. Over there's a bunch of paint buckets and stuff. I know this
looks like Fox News or something setup here, but actually this is
just us out in the corner of a warehouse. So we're here to answer
your Bible questions and we've got Jared sitting there behind the
little camera. It's kind of chilly today, so he's shivering but I'm
not, I've got plenty to keep me warm. So, Jared, what's the first
Bible question you got for us today?
Jared: Would you please explain Biblical fasting? Why, when, and how
should a Christian fast?
Michael Pearl: You know, there's no commandment in the Bible to fast, but there is
an indication of the benefits of it. For instance, one time people
came to Jesus and said, "We brought our child to your disciples to
cast the devils out and they couldn't do it." And so Jesus cast the
devils out. And the disciples kind of in a state of chagrin came to
Jesus and said, "Why couldn't we do it?" He said, "This kind cometh
out not but by prayer and fasting." And so the indication was that
the thing that they lacked was two things: prayer and fasting; not
prayer and fasting at the moment in preparation for this particular
event, but generally in their lives they had a failure of prayer
and fasting. So it appears that fasting is related to prayer,
that another verse is related to prayer. Fasting, we're not given
a breakdown, where he doesn't tell us, it's kind of assumed like
prayer is assumed from the beginning of the Bible all the way
to the end that it's something that a spiritually minded person
does who wants to get closer to God or get sharper in his spirit
in regard to the things of God. We find the prophets fasting when
there were great burdens that they had. We find that Jesus, when he
was tempted, went up on the mountain and fasted 40 days and 40 nights
at the end of which Satan came to him and tempted him.
So if Jesus Christ, the Son of God, needed to fast 40 days and 40
nights in preparation for the great temptation when Satan came to
him, then it would appear that we need to fast too when there are
great burdens, great needs for prayer. If you look back in history,
you'll find too that men and women have fasted and prayed in
anticipation of God moving in a great revival and God has responded
and answered those prayers.
You know, fasting is not unique to Christianity. It is a universal
thing that occurs in all religions, at least all the ancient ones,
and it's generally understood that it is a way to focus the mind
and spirit and subdue the body, the bodily passions. And if you've
ever fasted three or four days, you know that after three or four
days, though your body gets weak, your focus gets keen. Your body's
no longer digesting food and your spirit and your mental state
seems to heighten and intensify. So I would say that fasting is a
natural - it's not some sort of spiritual sacrifice we're making -
it's a natural function in order to subdue the fleshly passions and
allow the spirit to take dominance over the flesh.
[music]
Jared (voice-over): If you would like to ask a Bible question,
email us at biblequestions@nogreaterjoy.org or call at 931-805-
4820.
[music]
Transcription by CastingWords