When You Fast Derek Prince

In Matthew, when Jesus says, "When you pray," we all accept that He intends for prayer to be a key part of our life as a Christian. But then how do we respond when Jesus says, "When you fast"? Discover God's mandate to fast—and the benefits and effects connected to it.

00:00 I. Background For Fasting
00: 58 A. When you pray . . . (Matt. 6: 5–6)
1. Don’t pray like the hypocrites
2. Do pray this way: The Lord’s Prayer
02:02 B. When you fast . . . (Matt. 6: 16–17 [compare John 14: 12])
1. Do not fast like the hypocrites
2. You are expected to fast. Not “if,” but “when” you fast
06:12 II. Purpose: Self-Humbling
A. It removes pride—the first sin
1. Sit in the lowest place at the table (Luke 14: 11)
09:18 2. Humble yourself (James 4: 10)
3. God resists the proud (1 Pet. 5: 5–6)
B. Pattern of David (Ps. 35: 13)
1. He humbled his soul with fasting
2. Soul: arrogant, ego, self-assertive—“I want . . . I think . . . I feel . . .”
C. Israel on the Day of Atonement (Lev. 16: 29–31 [Acts 27: 9])
D. Ezra and the returning exiles (Ezra 8: 21–23)
25:58 III. When To Fast
A. People under God’s judgment
1. Elijah vs. Ahab (1 Kings 21: 21–22, 25–29)
2. Jonah vs. Nineveh (Jonah 3: 4–10)
B. Averting disaster—Esther and the Jews in Persia (Esther 4: 13–17)
32:25 C. Individual fasting in New Testament
1. One way Paul validated his ministry (2 Cor. 6: 4–5)
2. In fastings often (2 Cor. 11: 23–27 [compare Acts 9: 8–9])
37:37 D. Corporate fasting in New Testament
1. Sending out apostles (Acts 13: 1–4 [compare Acts 14: 14])
a. To select the two men
b. To send the apostles out
2. Appointing elders (Acts 14: 21–23)
45:27 E. Mercy for a nation in seven steps—four things God requires (2 Chron. 7: 14)
1. Humble yourself—by fasting
2. Pray
3. Seek God’s face
4. Turn from your wicked ways
5. Then God will hear
6. Then God will forgive
7. Then God will heal your land
50:23 F. Prelude to the outpouring of the Holy Spirit
1. Responsibility of leaders: elders, priests, ministers (Joel 2: 15–17)
2. Afterward: “I will pour out My Spirit . . .” (Joel 2: 25)