AN EXHORTATION TO THE SAINTS OF GOD

It's interesting that you should post this, as this was something that I was just thinking about tonight only an hour or so ago. Fasting has played such a crucial role in my spiritual growth, I really find it sad that many people don't want to pursue Christ in this area. Something my father pointed out to me once in Mathew chapter 6 really challenged my concept on this. Look at what Christ's talking about here in verses 16 and 17.

"WHENEVER you fast, do not put on a gloomy face as the hypocrites do, for they neglect their appearance so that they will be noticed by men when they are fasting. Truly I say to you, they have their reward in full. "But you, WHEN you fast, anoint your head and wash your face. (emphasis added to note key point)

Jesus lists this directly after he talks about prayer and giving. And he says WHEN, not IF. I think we rob ourselves from knowing God deeper when we ignore this, the exact same way if we were to simply put a condition on either of the other two things, giving and prayer. Jesus says WHEN, when speaking about all three. It's implied that it's something that should be done, and that we should be doing. The church in America is so scared to touch this one because one of the largest idols in all of America is our stomach. We don't want to hear that. You talk about prayer, sure, people will be on board, you talk about giving, people start getting a little squeemish, you talk about fasting though, now that's just going too far, even though Christ had no problem addressing all three in a single discourse.

Some of the most major breakthrough's I've ever had in my entire life with Christ, happened during fasting. Last year my father fasted for 88 days strait, now this is not to build him up or to compare him with any brother or sister, but during that time, some of the most incredible things began to happen to him and to our family and church (if anyone's interested I can go into detail further on this thread, some of it was really QUITE spectacular). I also fasted with him during that time, though I didn't go 88 days, as I probably would have died or something, haha, but Christ gave me the strength to do 40 days without food, and during that time, the breakthrough in my life was UNREAL. It's the reason I'm here in Japan right now actually. I believe the Lord spoke SO clearly to my heart during that time because fasting helps temper your spirit to be sensitive to His leading.

I don't want to sound like I'm puffed up on this at all. But I want to implore anyone who's never experienced this for themselves that you're missing out so much of what the Lord could show you. I fast before every important decision I'm presented with. It makes ALL the difference. I won't go into the extremes of how often a person should fast, or anything like that, but just to yourself, consider that Christ lists it with prayer, and giving. How often do you pray? How often do you give? I think most know what the next question will be.

Now, I'm not saying that everyone CAN fast. I'm quite aware that there are physical conditions that could make this dangerous to a persons health. It's just that most who can, choose not to. Many in the American church wouldn't dare speak against prayer, and feel that if they were to speak against giving that they would be deemed as mammon worshipers, but if we talk about fasting, they can find quite a bit of candor to say that they think that's a bit of "overly religious not for everyone sort of stuff". Where is our God? High and lifted up above all things? Or sitting somewhere on the opposite side of our belly buttons?

I really just want to go on and on about so many of the fantastic things that we're missing out on because many of us choose not to fast. I didn't for a long time. If you never have and are considering it, be aware, at first it's a pretty rough battle, but I guarantee every bit of hunger pain you ever face is absolutely nothing when it compares to hearing from the Lord and getting to know Him in this way.

I received a request from a member on this site to go into some of the things that have happened in my life and my family's life personally while participating in a fast. I'm sorry it's taken me this long to write up a response, as I've been unexpectedly busy the last few days.

I'll warm the reader up front that this post might be a tad bit long, so hang in there if you're interested in hearing a bit of how I've seen the Lord work recently.

Part of this testimony that I'm going to give interweaves with my own personal testimony, and why I'm here in Japan right now. That account is rather lengthy in itself though, and I'm never sure if anyone is actually encouraged by my long winded posts, so again, if this post sparks any interest, I'd be more than happy to share about God moving in that area of my life as well. It's been some incredible faith building for me, and I'm hoping any part of my testimony might help other believers, especially younger guys. However, I'll digress on this point, if anyone is curious I can elaborate more on that subject as well.

Anyways.

As I mentioned before at the very beginning of 2009 my father went on an 88 day fast, completely abstaining from all food. He asked me to consider joining him for the first 40 days of it. I had never fasted for any period even close to that before (I think the most prior had been like 3 days or so) and even though it intimidated me, I had this really sort of heavy feeling that I needed to hear from the Lord, and that something had to change, so I decided to pursue Him in this area along with my father. During this time is when my life actually took a completely 180 spin, in a direction that I honestly never dreamed of, but in this post, the testimony I'm going to give only involves me a small amount, and has more to do with my father.

If I remember correctly, I think the actual event MIGHT have taken place after I had finished the 40 days, and my dad was somewhere in the second half of his fast. I honestly can't remember, but the exact date or whatever is inconsequential.

My neighborhood (being in southern California) was becoming subject to more and more crime over the last few years, and we had recently been suffering graffiti, vandalism, etc, to our property and our vehicles. So one morning I woke up and went outside to find that in the middle of the night, someone had taken a bat to my car's driver's side rear view mirror, and had just smashed it right off (or at least this is how it appeared). Anyway, I was a bit bummed, but I had insurance, so it wasn't like I was steamed or anything, but for some reason my dad didn't want to call it in or get started on it right away. I didn't really think a whole lot about it.

Anyway, my dad and I were talking maybe a few days later, and he had been talking about how on this fast he was getting really sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit, and that stuff was just becoming real and supernatural in a way he had never known before. So then he pulls this one out on me.

We're talking and he says something like, "You're never going to believe what happened recently." I was naturally curious so of course I wanted to know what.

"Remember what happened to your car?" he asked.
I'm sure I responded with something like of course or whatever.
Then he went on, "Well the funniest thing happened to me. I was praying about it, and I was just kind of disheartened about the whole situation and wondering why, and then it would seem the Holy Spirit told me exactly what happened to your car, and who did it."

Now this sounded pretty wild. So I ask him naturally who it was.

And then things get really crazy.

He replies something like, "You don't know them, and I don't know much about them, but the Lord gave me a phone number to call, and then I believe He told me to call this number up, and accuse the person on the other end of doing this to your car."

Now, I honestly don't know where the number came from, if it literally just appeared in his head or whatever, I didn't think to ask. I think I was just still trying to take in what he said, (I was also probably beginning to think that his mind might be shutting down from lack of nourishment).

So, wide eyed I asked, "What did you do then? You didn't call this number did you?"
"Yes I did," he said.

"AND?????"

"Well, I basically just said something like, 'the other night, you were in my neighborhood, and what you did was you ran into my son's car with your car, it was late and everyone was asleep when this happened, and no one actually saw you, so you think you got away with it. I'm just calling to let you know that God saw you, and you can't hide from Him.'"

At this point my jaw's probably on the ground and I'm praying that God really told him to say that, and that my father isn't suffering from a nervous break down.

"SO WHAT HAPPENED?" I prodded him.

He continued, "At first they didn't say anything, and I began to think that I had lost my mind, and I didn't hear from the Lord at all, and now this person on the other end of the line thinks I'm 100% insane. But then the silence was broken. It was a girl, and she said almost in terror, 'who is this, and how could your possibly know any of this?' and then I knew that I had heard from God. So I explained to her that God sees everything, and there's nothing that she can hide from Him, and she told me what she's going through right now in her life, and the struggles she's having. And I told her that it's OK, and that we're not going to call the police, and that we're going to forgive her for what happened to the car, that we weren't going to report it to the insurance or anything."

And now to my shame, my fleshly nature and mind seemingly almost instantaneously was willing to forget the reality and the power of what JUST happened, and I said, "WHAT? Why would we do that? We can forgive her sure, but that mirror's not going to fix itself! I can't afford the $500 dollars it's going to take to fix that, and I'll get a ticket for sure, driving around with one of my mirrors gone!"

My dad replied, "You don't have to worry about it, I'm going to pay for it myself."
His reply alone, to this day convicts me so hard. At the time, honestly what I was doing, was breathing a sigh of relief that I wasn't going to have to shell out the cash, and I missed the whole big picture of what was actually happening. But my father was looking beyond all the material junk, and he saw a lost soul that he could be Christ to.

I'm not sure how long after, but this young girl's boss actually called my dad's cell phone, and was a bit freaked out himself. She apparently told him what happened, and he called to say something like, "Hey man, I have no idea how you were able to figure this out, but what's it going take to keep you from calling the police? I'm going to make sure she pays back the money. (He might have been even kind of saying that he was in my fathers power to name his price, I'm honestly not sure)"

And my dad just told him the same thing he told the girl, he wasn't interested in calling the police and that he was going to take care of it.

That's the jist of that account. Like, I'm really not sure what happened with them after that, but in no way are they ever going to forget the random guy who called them, to tell them that there's no way a person can run or hide from God, and who forgave them of a debt that the girl couldn't initially pay, and was terrified to own up to. I don't know if we'll get the full story to that one until this life is over, but nonetheless, my father was dedicated to seeking the Lord during this fast, and it opened up the ears of His heart, to know the voice of the Lord, and to act upon it.

This is but ONE, account. ;)
May only Christ receive all of the glory from this.

-Grant

What I forgot to mention, to the members who read this. Don't let this thread go out of site and out of mind so easily. Nj15's exhortation is a good one, and this really is not an issue to easily just agree or disagree with and then be done with. Others, please share your own testimonies or thoughts on this.