#171 "When You... Fast"

God has hardwired something here, that in fasting, we embrace desperation.

We embrace the fact that I just need you, God. But it also provides this opportunity for us to get clarity, I think, Bill, on what's really going on. Welcome to the One Cry Podcast, a nationwide call for spiritual awakening. The goal, accelerating the movement of God through sharing revival truth, stories, and reports. Welcome to the One Cry podcast. We are so glad you're joining us today. I'm Bill, and this is Kyle Reno. I'm not Bill Reno, Kyle Reno. I'm Bill Ellis, and that's Kyle Reno.

Yeah, you are. That's a popper. We are brothers, but we're brothers from another mother. That's true. So it's so great. Hey, Kyle, we've been tracking down this beautiful passage in Matthew 6 where Jesus is saying, when you. Right. In other words, I have a kingdom life for you, a revived life, a life with no anxiety. But there's some things you've got to participate. And one of those is giving.

One of those is praying. And then, you know, there's some words that just when you hear the word, you kind of recoil. Like, let's talk about that. For instance, like Brussels sprouts. Liver. Liver. I can smell my mother couldn't liver. Oh, man. Every Thursday, she thought we had to have this certain amount of blood, you know.

And so. salmon patties bro salmon patties my grandmother that's what i oh man yeah and and and you know uh uh marathons some people get all hyped about it but they don't realize that they're weird they're just weird true but uh marathon here for an athlete two a days oh good grief come on. I got a taste in my mouth when you said it. I'm going to barf. I'm going to barf. A little of some salt tablets. But, you know, here's a word that sadly most Christians recall from, fasting.

Man. And Jesus said, whenever you fast, in other words, he assumed we would be doing this. In our life. And so we're going to talk about that today because fasting is a great key to a revived life and to a spiritual power and to movements of God. And I know, Kyle, you've seen that a lot in your life, haven't you? You were introduced to it pretty early. Yeah. Yeah.

By God's grace. And just remind our listeners, maybe if you haven't been with us the whole journey and you're getting to know us some still. I didn't grow up in church, didn't grow up around things of God whatsoever. And so everything at 19 was new. And so every word, every aspect, every spiritual discipline. And some of that was I came to Christ in the middle of a little R revival, a real move of God in a local church and was seeing so many lives change, mine being one of them.

But things that I came to believe as normative in the Christian life, I didn't find out until later, was not true everywhere. And one of them was fasting. And like when, well, the church I came to Christ in, that prayer and fasting and the pursuit of God's presence and the belief that the good news of Jesus can save anybody's life and that needs to get to the ends of the earth, like it was just hardwired into the groundwork.

And so when I come to know Christ and I'm going to eat lunch with a buddy and, you know, he said, well, I ain't gonna eat today. And I'm like, why aren't you eating? Well, I'm fasting. I have no idea what that means. Like, what do you mean when you say that? But what I found is it was a when you part of the Christian life. And that's what Jesus is saying. It's not like there are, and we'll talk about this, Bill. I mean, you're going to talk about fasting.

There are seasons that God will call you to extended fast. And we'll talk to you about that in a minute. But there is always the opportunity to fast.

Like there is seasons where God will say, give me 10 days, give me 21 days, give me more even. But when Jesus thought about fasting is that there's also decision moments. You know, I'm going to give God a morning. I'm going to give God a meal. I'm going to give God a couple days to really seek his face. So I just want to say this and then just I want to talk about the, because I do, Bill, man, if the Lord would grant a few things, I'd love to change to see the conversation around fasting change.

And I think that's what Jesus is doing right here. It says, verse 16. And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their face that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, when you fast, anoint your head, wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others, but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.

And I think here's the spirit of it, is that the Lord is saying, hey, man, don't let fasting be this external show. Like, look at me, I'm gulped, I'm a mess, I'm starving, You know, I'm surviving is what that looks like for the sake of some kind of penance before God or notoriety in front of people. Instead, Jesus changed. He goes, no, no, no, man, wake up, wash your face.

Get your life in order, your look in order, and walk into your Father's presence who knows that you are giving him undivided attention and know that God rewards that. God rewards that. So he's changing the conversation around it. Not that people can't know that you're fasting. Man, you're going to have spiritual friends and buddies that I'd encourage you to let them be an accountability even in that or just know what God's doing to you.

What the Lord is saying, man, let's change the conversation around this. I love this thought, Bill, and I'll kick it to you. I like even the physical when Jesus is saying this, hey, wash your face, anoint your head, it's the thought of, you know you need something, a fresh season spiritually in your life. Right. And so you're even approaching this on the outward and like, hey, man, new day with God right here. I'm walking into his presence prepared to meet with him.

You know, if you approach it like he says not to approach it, you know, by griping, and complaining and trying to show everybody how spiritual you are and that you think fasting is going to earn you some brownie points with God. And a gloomy face, it shows, one, you don't have the right motivation. It's all about you. And number two, you're not getting there. Because the purpose of fasting is to lay aside other things so that you can encounter God in a new way.

And in his presence is fullness of joy. That's right. Right? Right. So if I'm gloomy now, I'll have to admit, Kyle, in the first few days, if I'm on a bit of an extended path, I'm a bit of a grump because I love eating and I don't. But it's you know what that is? Usually it's my flesh dying. Exactly right. I mean, it's just it's the denial of self that we don't like, but it's so necessary and so healthy to go through.

You know, when God takes us through different things to break us and to loosen our grip on the things of this world, that's painful at first. But if I still have a gloomy face after several days and I'm griping and complaining, I'm not getting to God. And that's the point of fasting ultimately. Yeah, I think one thing is declaration to decide to fast, which I would encourage you to make a decision to give God a meal a day that where you're making a declaration.

Every fast is a declaration. God, I realize that I need you more than I need this next meal. And the truth is, God made my body to need a physical meal and that you're going to return to eating at some point.

But what you're saying is, but I know on a soul spirit for the good of the whole being, I need you more. And I think, Bill, what you just said is so true that fasting has a way of telling your flesh you're not in charge. Yeah. Yeah, you're not in charge. I am rightly aligning my spirit soul with the Lord, making a decision to put to death my flesh and all of its wants and desires all the time, and saying, Lord, here's my life again.

Here's my life. You're saying to your flesh, you're not in control. You're saying to God, you are in control. You are in control, yeah. Which is, it permeates every part of your life. So I love, man, and you just think about, Bill, all the things that God's taught you about fasting. He's teaching me about fasting. And I've learned from others that I love this statement that fasting is just another way of feasting. Wow. It's another way of saying, love a great meal.

I do. And listen, I love a great meal. But, Lord, I love to delight in you even more. Wow. That I want to taste and see that the Lord is good. When you think of this, Kyle, of... What are the benefits of fasting? I mean, one of them you just said is just to love the Lord. It's just to get more intimate with him and it's to lay aside. It's to give time, you know, like a meal.

But but instead of just turning on the TV and, you know, going mindless is you're spending that mealtime in prayer or in the reading of the word of God.

What are some of the just the great feasting that's a great statement it's another way of feasting what's the feast that comes from fasting yeah well one and this is our heart i just think the experience of his presence you know like there there is something that happens when draw near to god and he'll draw near to you you know and i would encourage i remember bill we could we could spend a whole episode on fasting fails, I'm sure. Yeah. Yeah. And the Lord loves that, I think.

Would that be the episode where I told about extended fast and not paying attention to everything I read about eating, drinking enough water and ending up with kidney stones in the hospital? That'd be that one. That would be some really good practical information. Yeah. But one of mine was, is that I was given the Lord several days, and yet I was not eating, but I was also not communing with God.

And so it's the whole point. And as clear as I can hear from the Spirit of God, the Spirit of God said, Kyle, fasting without prayer is starving. And I had no reason to think that other than that is dumb. It's spiritually dumb. Like the whole point of laying aside a meal was to actually have a moment with God. And so an encouragement, practical encouragement, if fasting is new to you, don't just decide, I'm going to skip lunch.

I also make the decision, I'm not going to eat lunch, but I'm going to go to this park and I'm going to walk this trail and do nothing but commune with God. Yeah. And, you know, there are so many incredible things. I don't know about you, Kyle, but my experience, I've done all kinds of lengths of fast.

But in the early moments of fast, of a fast, there's uh usually kind of a purging and a death to my flesh we talked about all that kind of stuff things don't it takes a while but there comes a point in an extended fast where everything gets incredibly clear you're you're literally i think physically your brain gets very clear because it's not having to be used to work on absorbing all that food you know but but there's something

about about that fasting time that you just start thinking clearly and that's when to me i hear the lord in ways that i've never heard him and i can't, Most of the, not all, but most of the greatest spiritual moments of my life, many, I would say, have been accompanied with fasting. Oh, no doubt. I've been seeking the Lord about this and, you know, we're praying for revival and a time of extended fasting, open the gate for that, you know.

So just the benefits of that, discernment, clarity, intimacy with God, you know, a renewed. And here's another benefit is just realizing I don't need this other stuff. You know, some people do fast from media and that kind of thing. I know a family that you know this family too, Kyle, that every August they do a complete media fast for a month. They're kids, no TV, no, no, you know, just minimal phone, no Facebook, none of that.

And it just, the dad told me one day, he said, it just resets our family. And we talk to each other. We play board games. You know, it just is a beautiful thing. Yeah. Well, I think, man, why, if he said when you, it should ask, why should I? Well, one, he said so. It would be a good start. But the other is because God has hardwired something here, that in fasting, we embrace desperation. We embrace the fact that I just need you, God.

But it also provides this opportunity for us to get clarity, I think, Bill, on what's really going on. Like that there's something about I read this just fascinating study that came out secular organization, university hospital conglomerate of universities come together to study fasting. And actually right now is pretty trendy in culture, you know, like different kinds of fast, you know, like, yeah, yeah, it's very trendy, which is interesting.

You know, like we're starting to understand that there's actual physical benefits even to fasting, you know, inside of it.

But one thing that it showed, which is so and I think this is true in a human body. I think this is even more true spiritually. That fasting provides this opportunity for your body to kill things that you don't need.

Like thing it like your body moves into this right defense of saying hey i don't need those cells in my body that's actually harmful for me it like awakens an aggression in your body to to get rid of things and i thought man on a spirit level fasting it awakens in in your spirit man oh dude that's gotta go like this that like this oh that way of thinking that act that action i've told you this story so many times bill but one of the greatest breakthroughs in my life that i believe has

shaped probably the last 14 15 years of my life was on a fast, where the Lord really showed me my pride. And I'm not talking about, like, I knew I was biblically aware of my struggle with pride because I'm a person. I'd had moments where God had convicted me of my pride, but on a fast, things got quiet enough long enough for God to speak with a clear voice and show me the root of pride. And allowed me to repent at a level I had never repented, like a guttural.

Like, God, I realize that this is permeating every part of my life. And it's a driving motivation around my ministry, my marriage, like what I really want out of this. And for me, and Bill, you've had that, it changed the battle. It changed the battle. It doesn't mean I never struggle with pride again, but it changed the battle. You know, I don't know any man. You read, I read a lot of biographies of great Christians and that stuff.

There's some things that are just, you're just waiting as you're reading the book because you know it's coming, you know, and one of them is this moment is coming where God is going to use whatever means possible to bring that person to the end of themselves and to see their pride. And, you know, Kyle, I've told you about a time and I had never thought about it until this exact moment. I had just come off a 10 day fast and we went into this meeting And we,

our church desperate, we were in trouble and we needed the Lord. And I was a young pastor. I didn't know how to get there. And I sat on the front row and I said, God, speak to me first. And about three days in, I found myself as the guy was preaching on my face on the floor. And God just showed me the groundwork of pride. And it's just like, Bill, you know why you do this? You know why you're upset when your wife doesn't comment about your sermon? That's pride.

You know why you want to always weave yourself into the conversation, tell everybody what you've done. That's pride. That's pride. That's pride. That's pride. And it was the most... It was the most beautiful and hard moment, but I've never been the same since then. I hope I never will be. But, you know, I never thought about that, Kyle. That came after a 10-day fast.

Well, I think that's what God knows spiritually is if I get you aligned long enough and get you focused, that there's this opportunity for freedom. And then it changes the battlefront. And so, I mean, we should do it because he said do it. We should do it because it's going to help you. Like, God's not trying to—I think that that's what Jesus is trying to destroy. God's not trying to hurt you with fasting. You know, he's trying to help you.

Like, he's trying to do something you can't imagine or fathom. But on the other side of it, and I'm telling you, Bill, you know this, in every great movement of God, like, I can't imagine how many things God's allowed me to see, be a part of, that from God's perspective has a direct correlation to some season of fasting, some moment where we've set apart our church or our people.

For me, now when I know moments are coming in my life or in the life of our church, I'm thinking, golly, we've got to fast our way into that. I'm going to give you a perfect illustration. I mean, like this is just real-time talk. We got a big season starting in the lives of our men here in our church. Going to start two Tuesdays from now.

And I just felt from the Lord, I'm going to give mornings next week to fast and pray, you know, and send a text to my men's leader saying, hey, I'm going to, if you desire to, do that. And so I'm just going to take my morning breakfast meals and really focus and fast and pray, because this is what I, building faith, I'm like, one, I know God sees that. He sees it. He hears it. He hears it. And I need him.

I need him. We need him. And so I say that, say, like, over time, when you, God will put in you faith in what he does through fasting. Right. You know, I once heard James Dobson of Focus on the Family, you know, say that when his children were born. I think he and his wife both decided to take every Friday until they got out of their home and fast. And he did it. And he did it. And he was just talking about the correlation between that.

I think he had a boy and a girl and what he felt like God had done in their life. And he said, you know, you'll never know the one for one correlation. But I said, I can't believe that God would not hear the prayers of a mother and father who would give up their meals to pray for their children. And what a beautiful thing. Would you ever regret that? Would you ever come back and say,

oh, I wish I had a cheeseburger every Friday. That would have been so much better versus look at my kids walking with the Lord, you know. So I think practically, Kyle, just for a minute, because I think what is going to come out of this, I hope, is that God would lead us into new times of fasting. And I know there's some practical steps. You know, you just need to hydrate well. You need, you know, I'm at a stage it's, it's interesting.

I'm at a stage that I've never been in with some health things in my life that I have to really be careful. Yeah. Right. Yeah. I can't, you know, this used to, when I was young and they said, go to your doctor, check with your doctor. I thought, and, and, and so I didn't do that. I really didn't need to do it as much, but I have to now. And I have to moderate things or maybe do other different kinds of fasts a little bit.

But I know they're practical, and there's a lot out there you can read about that. But don't get all hung up in that. If God tells you to fast, just do it, man. Just do it and be careful and drink plenty of liquids and et cetera. Yeah, be wise. I told you there's great resources, and we've done some other podcasts even around this in the past. I encourage you. And it's not about the type, the time necessarily,

all that. It's the Spirit. Hey, Lord, I want you, so I'm going to give you this morning, this day, if the Lord speaks to you about giving specific days, all those things. And then I love, I heard a guy talk about the freedom of fasting. You know, like there's a, God said, if, for me, one of the greatest things I asked a guy to practice, because I'm like, boy, so what does that mean? I mean, like, can I drink anything? And the guy said, if you can get it through the straw, go for it, big guy.

And for me, honestly, though, that was the best thing I could have heard. Because it didn't make it about what was going in my body. How you were doing it, yeah. Yeah, it made it about being with God. And so, man, I would encourage, and Bill, maybe you can lead us to pray, because this is what I know.

The Lord is speaking to each of us and when you. Yeah and and there's there is a out of this podcast is a practical application of this call in charge by the lord that i just know is going to mean a lot for you your church and your community so bill lead us to pray for it well let's let's join in prayer together and father you you said a lot to us over the last three or four weeks uh. A lot to me and in these podcasts, when you give, when you pray, when you fast and you have a lot for us.

But, Father, we want to come and and say, Lord, we want to do all of these things that you tell us to do unto you or because we love you. And because you deserve all of our resources given back to you. Lord, you own all the money in the world and you want it in circulation to bless our lives, bless the lives of others, and to glorify God. You want us to pray because you know that prayer is the capital of our relationship with you. And we won't have a relationship if we don't pray.

And you want us to fast because, Lord, you want us to take us into deeper levels of intimacy and deeper levels of power to accomplish things for your kingdom. I pray we wouldn't resist that. I pray we wouldn't chalk these up as. Well, that was four more podcasts I've listened to and I've got a little more spiritual knowledge. I pray, Father, that we would be responding to what you tell us.

And if we're not giving or if we're giving to be seen by men, we would repent and begin to follow your prescriptions for giving. If we're not praying, Lord, morning prayers, everything prayers, intensive prayers. Lord, we would come and begin to pray. And if we're not fasting. Lord, you would lead us into God-initiated fasts that would be a blessing to us and a blessing to our families. Lord, I think of that story about the Dobsons praying for their kids.

That may be the whole point of this podcast for somebody is you want to take some mom or dad to a whole new level of intercession for their children. And you know that their children are going to need that with things they're going to face in the days and weeks and months and years ahead. So, Lord, if that's what you're telling us to do, I pray that we just do it. Give us the grace to do it. We know we can't do it without your grace and the empowering of your Holy Spirit.

So, Lord, thank you for your word. Thank you that, Lord, this is not stuff Kyle and Bill are telling us. This is what this is what Jesus said. These are literally your words to us. And, Lord, we want to pay heed to them and follow you. And and we thank you that you have invited us into this great adventure. And we don't need to see these as duties, but as delights to know you more and serve you better. In Jesus name we pray. Amen. Amen. Amen. Well, Kyle, thanks so much.

What a joy this has been to walk through this little passage in Matthew 6. And and and we pray that you'll just come back week after week to one cry dot com and the one cry podcast. And it would it would be a blessing if you'd tell somebody about the podcast. And I think if you if you're being helped by it, I bet you they might be helped by it, too. So let people know. And of course, we're on every podcast platform. You can find us anywhere, just One Cry podcast.

And I hope that you join us. And the One Cry movement, which is a movement to just seek revival and spiritual awakening and stir up the church to cry out together. Music.