Is Fasting Relevant or Even Necessary Under the New Covenant?

Some Christians today question whether Fasting is relevant or even necessary under the New Covenant, especially in the light of the finished work of Christ, since we are already blessed with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ. But the Lord Jesus Christ Himself answered this question during His ministry here on earth. When the disciples of John the Baptist asked Jesus why His disciples did not fast, “Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom MOURN as long as the bridegroom is with them? But THE DAYS WILL COME when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then THEY WILL FAST.” (Matthew‬ ‭9:15‬ ‭NKJV‬‬). Here, Jesus, treated FASTING and MOURNING as though they were synonymous, and He indicated that we (His disciples) would fast in those days after He (the Bridegroom) is taken away from us (an allusion to His death, burial, resurrection and ascension into Heaven)— (see Matthew 9:15; Mark 2:20; Luke 5:35). And so we are currently living in the days Jesus was speaking about; WE ARE LIVING IN THE DAYS WHEN WE OUGHT TO FAST, because Jesus (the Bridegroom) has been (physically) taken away from us. When we fast, we basically mourn Jesus’ physical absence as we seek intimacy in our fellowship with Him, yearn for His quick (physical) return, and delight ourselves in His Word, treasuring His words more than our necessary food. In Fasting, we subdue our body (or flesh), and deny it its desire for pleasures such as food, wine, sex, foolish jesting, idle talk, and other mundane things, as we delight ourselves in the Lord and in the (spiritual) pleasures that are at His right hand forevermore. And so Fasting, if it is to be done right, must be accompanied by PRAYER, as well as STUDY and MEDITATION on the WORD of God. Indeed, studying and meditating on the Word of God gives us nourishment (see Matthew 4:4; Acts 20:32; Proverbs 4:20, 22), and should accompany fasting where possible. Moses said, “When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord had made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights; I ATE NO BREAD AND DRANK NO WATER.” (Deuteronomy‬ ‭9:9‬ ‭NIV‬‬). Doubtless it was the Word of God that nourished and sustained Moses in those 40 days and 40 nights. Jesus said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”” (‭Matthew‬ ‭4:4‬ ‭NKJV‬‬). God said that His words are life to those who find them, and health (or medicine) to all their FLESH (or body). Thus the prophet Jeremiah, speaking concerning the Word of God, said, “Your WORDS were found, and I ATE THEM, And Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart; For I am called by Your name, O LORD God of hosts.” (Jeremiah‬ ‭15:16‬ ‭NKJV‬‬). In Fasting, we align ourselves with and submit to God’s will as revealed in His Word, rather than our own will. Like Moses, and like Jesus, we shun natural food and desire and lay hold on the spiritual food of doing God’s will and finishing His work. (see John 4:34).

 Fasting must also be accompanied by good and charitable deeds (see Isaiah 58:6-7). The Lord Jesus taught that when we fast the right way, we will be REWARDED openly by God the Father (see Matthew 6:17-18). He said, “When you fast, DO NOT be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their REWARD. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and YOUR FATHER who sees in secret WILL REWARD YOU OPENLY.” (‭Matthew‬ ‭6:16-18‬ ‭NKJV‬‬). And concerning this REWARD that the Father will give you openly, the Bible says, “Then your light shall break forth like the morning, Your healing shall spring forth speedily, And your righteousness shall go before you; The glory of the LORD shall be your rear guard. Then you shall call, and the LORD will answer; You shall cry, and He will say, ‘Here I am.’” (see ‭‭Isaiah‬ ‭58:8-9‬ ‭NKJV‬‬). Truly, fasting, if it is to be rewarded this way must be a sincere act of worship to God, and not a hypocritical or vain religious custom or practice. We must all learn to discipline our body and bring it into subjection (by the Spirit), especially through fasting and prayer, submitting to God always and bringing His will and purpose into manifestation in our life.

Beloved, another evidence that Fasting is relevant and even necessary under the New Covenant is that the early apostles practiced it frequently. They fasted and prayed all the time, often doing so before the laying on of hands. In the Acts of the Apostles, we read that certain prophets and teachers in the church that was at Antioch were ministering to the Lord and FASTING, and that “As they ministered to the Lord and FASTED, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.”” (Acts‬ ‭13:2‬ ‭NKJV‬‬). After receiving this command from the Holy Spirit, they FASTED again and prayed. And the Bible says, “Then, HAVING FASTED and PRAYED, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.” (Acts‬ ‭13:3‬ ‭NKJV‬‬). Again in the Acts of the Apostles we read that Paul and Barnabas returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, strengthening the souls of the disciples, exhorting them to continue in the faith, and appointing elders in every church. “So when they had appointed elders in every church, and PRAYED with FASTING, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.” (‭Acts‬ ‭14:23‬ ‭NKJV‬‬). And so Prayer and Fasting was an integral part of the apostles’ doctrine and fellowship. In his first epistle to the church of God in Corinth, the apostle Paul recommended that whereas the Christian husband and wife are each to consider their body as being under the authority of the other and thus submit one to the other, seeking to fulfill their marital duties to each other without deprivation, that it is prudent that they each set aside by agreement times when personal (sexual) gratification is to be suspended in order that one or the other, or both together, may give themselves to FASTING and PRAYER. (see 1 Corinthians 7:3-6). Thus, although God does not frown upon marriage, nor the sexual relationship between husband and wife, we may voluntarily and for a time deprive ourselves of even this, which, like our necessary food, is rightfully ours, to seek God’s face and draw nearer to Him relationally, with great reward.

Indeed we should not minimize fasting and prayer, claiming that our fasting and prayer does not move God since He has already moved for us by giving His only begotten Son Jesus Christ to us, because such a statement is a partial truth and not the whole truth. You see, we cannot use the positional victory we have in Christ to minimize Fasting and prayer; fasting and prayer is as important as all the other actions such as reading and meditating on the Word of God, walking in the truth, preaching and teaching the Word, holding fast our confession, speaking in tongues, sowing faith-seed, practicing righteousness and holiness, walking in love and doing charitable deeds, etc that we have to take to work out our salvation or lay hold on eternal life. The truth is that although God has brought us out of (spiritual) Egypt or Satan’s kingdom and has given us an inheritance (or the promised land), which is ETERNAL LIFE in Christ Jesus, we also have a responsibility or a part to play to possess or lay hold on the land or the eternal life God has already given us. We have a fight to fight, and it is a fight of faith. Thus Paul said to Timothy, “Fight the good fight of faith, LAY HOLD ON ETERNAL LIFE, to which you were also called and have confessed the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.” (I Timothy‬ ‭6:12‬ ‭NKJV‬‬). Then to the Philippian saints, Paul again said, “WORK OUT YOUR OWN SALVATION with fear and trembling” (see Philippians‬ ‭2:12‬ ‭NKJV‬‬). To the elders of the church in Ephesus also, Paul said, “I commend you to God and to THE WORD OF HIS GRACE, which is ABLE TO build you up and GIVE YOU AN INHERITANCE among all those who are sanctified.” (‭see Acts‬ ‭20:32‬ ‭NKJV‬‬). You will notice from these verses that Paul is asking believers (not to be passive, but) to do something: to lay hold on eternal life, to work out or go in and possess our salvation, to, by the avenue of the Word of God’s grace, possess our inheritance among the saints.

Thus, we (believers under the New Covenant) are similar to the Israelites under the Old Covenant in regard to the means or avenue by which we possess or lay hold on the blessing or the inheritance God has already given us. And thus the Bible says that we should not become sluggish in our work and labor of love, but are to show diligence to the full assurance of hope until the end, and “IMITATE those who THROUGH FAITH AND PATIENCE INHERIT THE PROMISES.” (‭see Hebrews‬ ‭6:12‬ ‭NKJV‬). We are to imitate Abraham, imitate Caleb, imitate Joshua, imitate Paul, imitate those men from both the Old Testament and the New Testament, who through FAITH and PATIENCE laid hold on eternal life or inherited the promises of God. You would remember that when God said He had already given the promised land to the children of Israel, the children of Israel still had to take steps and actions to lay hold on the land, and this involved a fight— not only a physical fight but also a fight of faith. And unfortunately many of them succumbed to the fight of faith and did not inherit or possess the land. In fact, among all the Israelites who originally came out of Egypt and journeyed toward the promised land, only Joshua and Caleb actually inherited or possessed the promised land, and they did so through faith and patience. So the point we are making here is that God didn’t just drive out the inhabitants of the land of Canaan for the Israelites without any effort or action on the part of the Israelites themselves. In fact, it was God Himself who SPOKE to the children of Israel in Horeb, saying: “You have dwelt long enough at this mountain. SEE, I HAVE SET THE LAND BEFORE YOU; GO IN AND POSSESS THE LAND which the Lord swore to your fathers—to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob—to give to them and their descendants after them.” (see Deuteronomy 1:5‭-‬6‭, ‬8 NKJV, emphasis mine). Indeed God had already given the land to the Israelites, yet He wanted the Israelites to GO IN AND POSSESS THE LAND which He had set before them. The Israelites had to fight many battles to possess the land, the most important fight of all being the fight of faith; and God fought for them only as they believed God’s Word or His directives and took steps to fight and possess the land He said He had given them. Similarly, under the New Covenant God has already given us the promised land, He has set the land before us; He says that we have eternal life (see 1 John 5:13), all things are ours, the whole world is ours (see 1 Corinthians 3:21-23). God has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly realms in Christ (see Ephesians 1:3). But, like the children of Israel in the Old Testament, there are steps or actions that we have to take to possess our inheritance in Christ Jesus if we truly believe God, there is a fight that has to be fought, a battle that has to be waged, and God only fights for us as we yield or submit to Him or His Word and commit to the fight He has ordained for us, trusting Him to lead us in victory. For the children of Israel, the fight was both a fight of faith as well as a physical fight, they were involved in many physical wars; but for us under the New Covenant, it is spiritual warfare, it is a fight of faith; and one of the steps or actions God has ordained for us to prepare ourselves for and to engage the adversary in this fight is FASTING and prayer. Fasting and prayer helps us to lay hold on the victory Jesus has already won for us in our spiritual warfare.

Now, let me draw your attention also to a story in the gospels where a man brought his epileptic son to the disciples of Jesus to cure him, and they could not cure him. Later, the man brought the same son to Jesus and Jesus cured him by rebuking the demon (and the demon came out of the boy). The Bible says, “Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, “Why could we not cast it out?” So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. HOWEVER, this kind does not go out EXCEPT BY PRAYER and FASTING.” (‭Matthew‬ ‭17:19-21‬ ‭NKJV‬‬; see also Mark 9:28-29). Jesus said here that there is a kind of demon that does not go out EXCEPT by prayer and FASTING. The Lord Jesus Christ also said that the demon didn’t come out “because of your unbelief.” So what does prayer and fasting have to do with helping to overcome unbelief? You see, we walk in the flesh and in unbelief when we walk by sight and judge by the hearing of our ears. Fasting and prayer, however, helps us to subdue our flesh (by the Holy Spirit) or as Paul puts it, keep our body under, so that our spirit (the inner man) can gain the ascendancy or dominion over it, and thus strengthen us to resist the devil and his temptations by faith or submission to God’s Word. When you live a LIFESTYLE OF FASTING AND PRAYER, there is no operation of the flesh that the devil can lay hold of to resist you with or subvert your authority. Indeed, if you ever learn to shut your flesh (that is, your body and its desires) down through FASTING and PRAYER, you will walk by faith and shut Satan down, because the only power Satan has is through deception and manipulation of the flesh and its lusts. In conclusion, although our fasting and prayer may not necessarily move God, it does move us to a place where we can see, expect, receive and lay hold on the exceedingly great and precious promises of God, and thereby become partakers of the divine (or God) nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. Fasting and prayer helps us to overcome the influence or power that the flesh may have in our lives, so that, instead of operating out of the flesh, we can continually yield to the Spirit and operate out of the Spirit or out of faith! May you cultivate the spirit of prayer and fasting, and lay hold on the victory which God has already given, and which is rightfully yours in Christ Jesus. Amen.

 I share this message, “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.” (Romans 1:16).