Fasting
“That the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.” (Romans 8:4)
The Bible says that we are supposed to be overcomers. But the first overcoming we have to do is inside of us. If you do not overcome the man in you, you are not going to be an overcomer of anything else. I do not know if you understand this principle, but I pray God will give you the understanding. There are things or burdens that God puts upon us as natural men. It says in the Word that Elijah was a man, a natural man, as we are. Paul said about himself, “I am natural like any one of you. I could lead around a wife as others do.” (I Corinthians 9:5) He had to tell them that, because some of the people were looking up to him as if he was not natural. But we have to overcome the natural man!
How do you learn to overcome the natural man? I can only tell you how God taught me. I received the Lord when I was in my twenties and He taught me very early to fast and pray. He taught me to have food to eat yet not eat. He taught me to be hungry! He taught me to love what I am looking at and smelling but not eat. I think the worst thing for a hungry man is a smell. It just kills you! Imagine the hunger you have when you are really hungry and on top of that you smell fresh food, especially things you like. It is like a kind of madness that overtakes you! God wants us to be able to have food and not eat it. I would have to use every ounce of will to contain myself. This is why God gave us a will. Do you know that after you have gone through fasting, the exercise of it gives you discipline that you cannot get anywhere else? The fasting and the prayer gave me a discipline to control my body.
Some of the brothers feel, “Boy, I need a wife! I need a wife so badly! Oh God, you know, I really need a wife!” Let me tell you something. The person who doesn’t have a wife has less problems of temptation than the one who has one. For you have to lie down in bed with her every night and be spiritual at the same time. You have to control yourself and put your desires and your wants away.
Some people’s problem is money. If this pertains to you, ask God Almighty to deliver you from money. I thank God that He taught me early how to abase and how to abound. Money never bothered me. My children grew up not to worry over money. My wife grew up not to want what every other woman had. And we were happy, because we never bothered whether we had money or not.
Some people have devils of gluttony. There are people who die from gluttony – they eat the wrong thing, they eat too much. Such spirits come upon us as people. If you find out that you cannot pass the refrigerator, that you cannot resist certain things, God is giving you the understanding how to handle this spirit: “This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting.” (Mark 9:29)
We learned how to be hungry not by being hungry. We first learned it by learning how to fast. Being hungry is not fasting. If you don’t have any food to eat, it is not fasting. You must have food and you must not eat it, for you have decided to fast. I don’t think you have ever felt the hunger I have felt. When you are fasting for 40 days, there is a time when such hunger comes upon you that it almost makes you crazy. One time I was working in my office and because it was lunchtime I went home to spend some time in prayer. It was the 21st day of my fast and I was really hungry. On the way to my house I felt like grabbing a tree leaf and stuffing it in my mouth. I caught myself and continued on my path. A little bit further a cow was tied on the gatepost. She turned her rump towards me and… believe it or not I almost bit the cow! I had to stop and get ahold of myself before I could pass her. Hunger became madness. Now I can laugh about it as it is humorous when you look at it in hindsight.
You have to learn how to control your body by fasting, which means to have food and yet be hungry! To have water and yet be thirsty! I have gone through such thirst in my life that my throat began to split and bleed. Just imagine: my lips and my throat bleed because I am thirsty and there is water available, but I will not drink because I am fasting a fast of thirst! I am not telling you to do what I did. Your God must tell you what to do. Your body is not your body. It is not your property. Your body is the temple of the living God so you’d better take care of that temple. And so if God tells you, “Do not drink water,” then you do not drink water.
Overcoming is then a task for all of us. Brethren, learn how to control your body in all things for without it you cannot be overcomers and inherit all things. Keep in mind that it is your Father’s desire to make you succeed in Him and if you take the first step, He will be there to support you and deliver you to the uttermost.
Sonlight Devotional 