Feeling hungry for God, his presence and his manifestation is without a doubt a spiritual realm. Stirring that need in our lives requires a living sacrifice, and an effective way is; practice the purposes of spiritual fasting. Fasting makes us sensitive to God’s call. By fasting we are declaring with the body that we are interested in being close to the Lord. The purpose of spiritual fasting is to bring us to know the heart of God, and to serve him in Spirit, Soul and body.
(Matthew 4:4) “He answered and said, “It is written: Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.”.
Fasting actually allows us to lively experience the reality that God is our greatest good, our treasure, what we yearn for the most.
Purposes of spiritual fasting.
1. Seek the face of God and his presence, humbling the soul before God, directing all attention to him, fasting for his cause and for him, in adoration. God calls us to seek him and humble ourselves through spiritual fasting. Because we must remember that everything we have comes from God and depend entirely on Him, not on our strength, it is important to direct attention to God.
(Daniel 9:3) “And I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him in prayer and supplication, fasting, sackcloth and ashes.
two. Develop spiritual sensitivity to hear the voice of God, fasting is an effective way to achieve effective communion with the spirit of God, since the flesh is without food in living sacrifice, the carnal body at the time of fasting is weak, in a state of death , and submitted to the spirit, in this way the spirit feeds on the word of God, then the spirit takes strength and total control to have a connection with the spirit of God, to see and hear in the spiritual world.
(1 Corinthians 10:3) “And they all ate the same spiritual food”
3. Find the God’s favor In your life, when you go through difficult tests of illness, divorce, and crisis, perhaps in a carnal human environment, you notice that you cannot solve some problems by your own strength. Through fasting, you find a key that allows you to enter the heart of God. to open the doors of heaven in your favor giving you victory, receiving quick answers to the requests you are waiting for, God seeing your genuine sacrifice fights the battle for you.
(Ephesians 6:10-13) “For the rest, my brothers, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might” “Put on the full armor of God, so that you can stand firm against the wiles of the devil.” “because we have no fight against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this century, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly regions.” therefore, take the whole armor of God, so that you can resist on the bad day, and having finished everything, stand firm.
4. Break bonds of impiety; oppression, ties difficult to release such as: personal burdens, habits, and unfinished relationships that leave you roots of bitterness, and wounds. “Spiritual fasting being a powerful way for God to treat those areas that are hard to heal.”
(Luke 3:4) “as it is written in the book of the prophet Isaiah, which says: the voice of one crying in the desert. Prepare the way of the Lord; make straight his paths.”
5. Fasting makes you strong against carnal appetites. The desires of the eyes, and the pride of life are taken out of the way in order to live a life guided by the holy spirit.
(Acts 13:3) “Then, having fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on them and sent them away.”
6.Fasting removes mountains. What is a mountain? In the Bible, the mountain represents a demon; there are behavioral problems that are difficult to correct because they have roots that come from iniquity and this produces sin. Perhaps you love God deeply, and even so it is difficult for you to comply correctly with the commandments, it is because in the spiritual world areas of your life are strong and big as a mountain, because satan has legality in them.
(Matthew 4:8) Again the devil took him to a very high mountain, and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory.
Fasting is a powerful weapon to tear down mountains, to release and drive out every demon that prevents you from doing God’s work correctly. Practicing the purposes of spiritual fasting is a wave full of supernatural power.
You can also read: I Will Give You All This… 3 Ways To Lose God’s Purpose.
7. Spiritual fasting is an effective means of removing “the spirit of unbelief” from our lives. What is disbelief? it is the lack of faith. Fasting and praying will cleanse and fill that container vessel so that faith grows and is strengthened through intimacy and communion with God, which you will be able to have in the midst of spiritual fasting.
(Matthew 17:2) “But this kind does not come out except by prayer and fasting”
8. Fasting is a spiritual weapon that God has given us: fast for marriage restoration. Fasting breaks the chains of iniquity, to undo all oppression of sin, so that your marriage is freed from divorce curses, and sin ties like; pornography, adultery, anger, alcohol, abuse, drugs and pride.
There is power in fasting, and noticeable results can be seen. Spiritual fasting resurrects everything that is dead; marriages, homes, spiritual life, stagnation in projects. Since it is in the form of a sacrifice that you surrender your strength, your pride and you recognize that God is the all-powerful to direct your life.
(Isaiah 58:6) “Is it not rather the fast that I have chosen, to loosen the bands of wickedness, to loosen the burdens of oppression and to set free those who are crushed, and to break every yoke?
9. Spiritual fasting breaks the devil’s obstacles that delay ministerial growth, to bring congregations to a spiritual level endorsed by God. In this way, growth is noticeable. Spiritual fasting takes you to a high level of understanding of the Kingdom of God, you can clearly see what the Holy Spirit wants to do in the church service.
(2 Corinthians 10:4) “for the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty in God for the destruction of strongholds”
10. Spiritual fasting is a powerful key for the nation to turn to God.
( Jonah 3:4-5) “and Jonah began to enter the city, a day’s journey, and preached saying: From now to forty days Nineveh will be destroyed. And the men of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and They put on sackcloth from the greatest to the least of them.”
In the scriptures we can see how God had decreed Judgment on the city through the prophet Jonah and God sent Jonah to tell the city to repent.
eleven. Spiritual fasting helps you recover your first love. In some cases we can lose our first love, which is the precious fire of the Lord. This occurs due to cooling off, leaving prayer and intimate communion with God, either because of the eagerness of this world, work, and situations that rob us of the time that belongs to God. fasting with purpose to recover the passion for the kingdom, God effectively responds by seeing the need and sincerity of those who fast with all their hearts.
The purposes of spiritual fasting are part of the key that will lead you to find closeness to God in your Christian life and see in the right direction that the Holy Spirit wants to show you throughout your ministerial growth.
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