Fasting for a Breakthrough to Something New
By Kie Bowman
Do you need a breakthrough to something new? Consider prayer and fasting as the key to your breakthrough.
What is fasting? In the Greek New Testament, the word for fasting literally means “no eat.” In the Hebrew Old Testament, the word translated “fasting” is literally “shut mouth!” Obviously, true biblical fasting involves the voluntary refusal to eat food for a specific period of time in order to more intensively pray and seek God.
You may have many reasons for fasting. For instance, you can fast in order to grow closer to God, to humble yourself before Him, or to pray through an important decision. Nothing challenges us or deepens us in those personal areas as much as prayer and fasting. For some reason, the combination of prayer and fasting realigns our entire perspective.
As we have often heard, “Prayer connects us to heaven and fasting disconnects us from earth.”
Prayer and fasting together create spiritual, spontaneous combustion.
In addition to the excellent reasons mentioned above, there is another vitally important reason for prayer and fasting. You can pray for something new. This additional purpose of prayer and fasting is revealed in Scripture so often that it emerges as a pattern we can claim as a promise. Here is the pattern:
Prayer and fasting in Scripture always precedes something new in the earth, in the church, or in the life of the believer.
For instance, Moses fasted and prayed prior to God giving him the Ten Commandments (Exodus 34:28). Elijah fasted and prayed, and God gave him a new vision, a new mission, and a successor (1 Kings 19:8-21). Nehemiah fasted and prayed, and God led him to rebuild a nation (Nehemiah 1:4-8). Daniel fasted and prayed, and God showed him a vision of the end times (Daniel 10:2-12:9). Esther fasted and as a result she prevented a genocide (Esther 4:16). Anna fasted and prayed, and she was among the first people in history to recognize the infant messiah (Luke 2:36-38). Paul and the leaders in Antioch fasted and prayed and launched an evangelistic mission to the nations (Acts 13:1-4). Jesus fasted and then began His public ministry, which led all the way to the cross and resurrection.
A biblical pattern emerges from so many similar experiences. These biblical heroes fasted and prayed, and God did something He had never done before. When we fast and pray, God does the unprecedented, the unpredicted, and the unimaginable. Fasting and prayer dismantles the status quo in our lives!
For example, the late Bill Bright was unrestrained in his exuberance about the results possible through fasting and prayer. He once said, “I believe the power of fasting as it relates to prayer is the spiritual atomic bomb that our Lord has given us to destroy the strongholds of evil and usher in a great revival and spiritual harvest around the world.” Prayer and fasting often usher in an otherwise unimagined future.
So how do we fast and pray for something new? Let’s observe some principles gathered from Scripture.
Fast and pray until God teaches you the lessons learned only in deep humility. We never discover God’s best through pride. Instead, as Watchmen Nee said, “There is just one basic dealing which can enable man to be useful before God: brokenness.”
Take your time in prayer and fasting. We can be urgent about the purpose of God, but we must never be in a hurry in the presence of God. Jesus fasted 40 days. Moses fasted 40 days. Ezra fasted three days. Nehemiah fasted for several days. Paul fasted a day or more in Antioch. The only fast required in the Old Testament lasted at least one day (Leviticus 16:29-31). You can pray quickly, but you cannot fast quickly! If you want what matters most to God in your life, give him what matters most in your life – your time.
Expect the blessing of God when you sincerely fast and pray. No one in Scripture ever fasted and prayed without receiving a blessing – and God hasn’t changed. What He did for them He will do for you.
As a believer, if you humbly pray and fast, you can expect God to open doors of opportunity you never imagined (Ephesians 3:20). If your spiritual life has lost momentum or is dull because of worldly indulgences or has become stuffy in the bland atmosphere of the status quo, isn’t it time to experience a breakthrough to something new?
Remember, if you want to get what you’ve never gotten, you’ve got to do what you’ve never done. With the promises of God offered to every child of God who will deliberately fast and pray, why would you hesitate? Now is the time for something new!
Kie Bowman is a speaker and writer who for the last 45-plus years has been passionate about prayer, revival, evangelism, the Spirit-filled Christian life, and teaching the Word of God. He is author of the books, “Evangelistic Prayer” and “City of Prayer.”
For more info on Bowman go to his website: KieBowman.com. Connect on X: @KieBowman