Do Not Go Cold Turkey: How to Enter a Fast

Sermon outline

A fast is a chosen separation from food or pleasure for spiritual reasons, so enter it wisely, fill the hunger with prayer and the word, and stand in agreement for what God will do.

1. What a fast is, and is not

   A fast is abstaining from food or something pleasurable for spiritual reasons. It is not a diet, not a hunger strike, and not a protest against your wife's cooking. If anyone forces or compels you to fast, it is not a fast; it is a personal choice and a surrender. Distractions and entertainment desensitise us, and fasting moves them away and draws us closer to the Lord.

   “A fast, we do a physical thing in order to have spiritual manifestations.”

2. Why we fast

   We fast to overcome problems in life, to restore our hunger for God when we feel far from Him, to help us fulfil God's calling, and to subdue the flesh so that anything carnal is brought into alignment.

   “It moves away the distractions, and it draws us closer to the Lord, so we become more sensitive.”

3. The absolute fast

   Going without food and water, as Moses did for forty days and Paul did after the Damascus road, has to be Spirit-led because it is supernatural; for Paul it was a consecration for what God was preparing him for. He would not suggest it to everyone, and for health reasons it should not run longer than three days unless you truly know the Lord has led you into it. Eating three meals before dawn and calling the rest of the day a fast is no different from gluttony.

   “It has to be Spirit-led because there is something that's divine, it's something that's miraculous.”

   • Exodus 34:28
   • Acts 9:9

4. The normal fast and the partial fast

   The normal fast drops solid food and keeps water or liquids, which is more sustainable for three, seven, twenty one or forty days; Jesus in the wilderness is not said to have gone without water. A milder version breaks the fast in the evening with something like a cup-a-soup. The partial or Daniel fast gives up meat, sweets, takeaways and fizzy drinks, and families can also give up Netflix, TikTok, YouTube or even the Premier League. Do it in secret and the Lord will reward openly.

   Illustration: A liquid fast does not mean blending your chicken curry and rice, or an oxtail and mutton stew, and drinking it three times a day.

   “I would rather not anybody know, and the Lord reward me.”

   • Luke 4:1-2
   • Matthew 6:16-18

5. Do not go cold turkey

   If you normally eat three meals and snacks and stop overnight, you will be ravenous in three or four days and will not sustain it. Step down instead: two meals, then one, and by the fourth day you are on liquids. Come out the same way in stages, because the body goes into shock, and we do not swap one problem for gluttony at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

   Illustration: The day the fast ends, don't go for a 500 gram steak at Spur or a three-patty burger the size of your head. His own pattern is tea, coffee and water through the day and a butternut soup in the evening, and he admits he does not even like sweets until he starts fasting.

   “Just like how you gradually went into the fast, you gradually come out of the fast.”

6. Let the hunger be the prompt

   Begin each day around the table as a family, thanking God for His provision in the areas you need. When hunger comes, do not think of the veggie burger down the road; tuck yourself away, pray, read and speak in tongues, and fill the drive with worship and the word. If we fast only as an act we will not see the miraculous; it is separating from what normally satisfies, gratifies and entertains us that moves things.

   “Remember, if we're just doing it as an act, we will never see the miraculous provision of the Lord.”

7. Standing in agreement

   As pastor he is trusting God for a new building, a church full to capacity and back to multiple services, and families blessed enough to resource the kingdom. The church stands corporately while each family stands for its own needs, and the pastoral team agrees with them. He tells of testimonies already received before the fast began, including a woman who obeyed his counsel to forgive someone and was then given the trip home she had no means to make.

   “Because if we are blessed, then the church is blessed.”

   • Matthew 18:19