Fasting

Does anyone know of any good sermons on this site that cover Isaiah 58?Topic - Fasting

Hi DennyI see that noone has answered your plea for help and a search indicates that there may not be any specific teaching on fasting in the downloads. However if you are able to get hold of a book called "God's Chosen Fast" by Arthur Wallace you will find it a good and balanced introduction to your topic and as you will have guessed from the title it majors on Isaiah 58.Please try this Review

Dear Denny and Ron. . .The author's namy is Arthur Wallis!An excellent item.Lars

Thanks for your correction Lars. I met Arthur a few times and he was a wonderfully gracious man. All his books are well worth reading, not only because of the content but because of the spirit of the man who wrote them.

Here's a site that has many great text and audio files. I have an article by John Wesley about fasting, from this site. No references to Isaiah 58, though. http://www.biblebb.com/Mrs. Fred

Thanks for the feedback. I have read Arthur Wallis' books, "God's Chosen Fast" and "The Radical Christian". I agree that his book is great in its coverage of fasting. The benefits of fasting can be huge. It is very neglected as a means of drawing closer to our Father as we seek a deeper life of holiness. I've just tasted of it's benefits and am no master of the discipline but I believe that the promises of Isaiah 58 are there for Yah's people if we would but seek Him with a pure heart through fasting and total commitment. I believe that fasting is one of the neglected means of achieving a closer walk with the Father and victory over plaguing sins. See my signature. "Why are we not more holy? Because we are enthusiasts, seeking the end without the means"Obey Always,Denny

I also recommend John Piper's "Hunger For God: Desiring God Through Fasting and Prayer." Here's a little review: There is an appetite for God. And it can be awakened. I invite you to turn from the dulling effects of food and the dangers of idolatry, and to say with some simple fast: "This much, O God, I want you."Our appetites dictate the direction of our lives--whether it be the cravings of our stomachs, the passionate desire for possessions or power, or the longings of our spirits for God. But for the Christian, the hunger for anything besides God can be an arch-enemy. While our hunger for God--and Him alone--is the only thing that will bring victory.Do you have that hunger for Him? As John Piper puts it: "If we don't feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because we have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Our soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great." If we are full of what the world offers, then perhaps a fast might express, or even increase, our soul's appetite for God.Between the dangers of self-denial and self-indulgence is this path of pleasant pain called fasting. It is the path John Piper invites you to travel in this book. For when God is the supreme hunger of your heart, He will be supreme in everything. And when you are most satisfied in Him, He will be most glorified in you.Hidden in Him, Chanin

Just wanted to share a few thoughts on this...Isaiah 58:5"Is it a fast that I have chosen, a day for a man to afflict his soul? Is it to bow down his head like a bulrush, and to spread out sackloth and ashes? Would you call this a fast, and an acceptable day to the Lord?"Precious brothers and sisters,When we fast, what is our primary reason? Why do we do it? Why do you do it? To draw near to God? To get an answer from God? To grow in our spiritual walk, our maturity, our knowledge of Him, our nearness to Him? To get God's attention, to seek Him daily, to delight in approaching Him?That was what Israel was doing...and it was selfish. Their motivating factor in fasting was all about themselves...and God called it transgression and sin in verse 1. It was not and is not acceptable to God.Isaiah 58:6-7"Is this not the fast that I have chosen: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry, and that you bring to your house the poor that are cast out; when you see the naked, that you cover him, and not hide yourself from your own flesh?"O, that when we would fast, we would truly fast, as the Lord has shown us in His word. That we would truly see the bonds of wickedness loosed in our lives and the lives of those around us. To witness the crushing burdens of sin, guilt, shame and confusion undone. To see true freedom come to the citzens of that desperate, dark kingdom, of which we once were in bondage to.Look at them! Each one, young and old alike...without any light at all. No hope of a glimmer. they stumble over each other, crying, angry, confused, consumed with desires, twisted, perverted desires...always promising to satisfy, but leaving more empty. Under greatest oppression from the taskmaster...completely blind, groping for something substantive...darkness of blackness...fear.We have been set free by the Son to fast, to fix our eyes upon Him, to gladly set aside the body and it's lusts, to give, give, give. We've been given all things pertaining to life and godliness, so freely have we each received, even more freely, may we give out..."to share your bread with the hungry"-physical and spiritual bread. Remember, man does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God."to bring the poor who are cast out to your house"-Those that Jesus came for...the spiritually sick, the spiritually handicapped, the spiritually lame, deaf, blind, prostitutes, tax-gatherers, outcasts.Let us not hide ourselves from our own flesh, our own kind, others who are in that miserable kingdom, of which we all were a member at one time, and let us extend our very souls to them.And we will then be that light shining to those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death.