The Call to Fasting

We have been studying Paul's second epistle to the church of Corinth for the past two months. With our spring week of Prayer and Fasting coming up a week from now, I would like to present a little teaching on the subject of fasting. This is not a commonly taught on topic in the greater church anymore. Yet, it is a discipline that is assumed to be in the life of those who seek YHWH. At first, I considered this teaching to be a break from our teaching in 2 Corinthians, but as I meditated upon it I realized that actually this teaching on fasting will be just an amplification of the next portion of our study - 2 Corinthians 10:1-7 - and our consideration of spiritual warfare. For one of our primary spiritual weapons, as we will see, is indeed the discipline of fasting. What is "Fasting"? Fasting, in its proper form, is when you abstain from food and/or drink for a period of time. That concept has been extrapolated to other realms as well (especially during the season of "Lent".) Fasting was seen to be an "affliction of the soul." Hence, as we consider this discipline of fasting for the next two weeks, we want to remember that this temporal affliction of our physical body is for a great spiritual purpose. Today, we are going to consider the call to us, as New Testament believers, to fast. As well, we shall consider some of the reasons to fast. Next week, Lord willing, we will consider "The Proper Fast." This message was presented on March 15, 2020 by Bob Corbin.