Teenagers & Fasting 1.0
Could fasting be one of the keys to a spiritual awakening in America? Could fasting be what unifies a generation to reach their world for Christ? Why fasting? What is the importance of fasting? What about fasting and its relationship to Next Gen?
You might think, “young people won’t fast!” They are great at indulging but certainly not fasting! We’ll, I’m not so sure about that. I’ve watched young people enthusiastically involved in fasting.
Over the past few years, there has been an unprecedented number of events that should alert us to a real need for awakening and revival in our world. These events should awaken us to the desperate need for a global spiritual movement that shocks the world.
Look at some of these events:
The disunity in government, the rise of racism in America, violence in our schools, human trafficking, global terrorism, the financial crisis, and the sexual revolution in America.
All of these are taking center stage through the news and media outlets, classroom and office conversations, and of course social media. How does a teen generation overcome the devastating events that are trying to define their society and their lives?
I believe it will only happen when we raise a new generation of young people who commit to prayer & fasting. When we as the spiritual leaders of Next Gen ministry in America call our young people to fasting, we will see an unprecedented awakening as never before.
Defining Fasting
One of the things to remember about fasting is that it must be centered on removing food for the purpose of a spiritual movement or goal.
Although there are many things that delight or attract us that we can remove from our lives for a spiritual purpose, in this podcast we will not get into the context of media, or activities, or exercise, or time management, or social/relational fasting. Instead, we will focus on the fasting of food specifically for the purpose of a spiritual movement or goal.
Here are five important principles in the Bible about fasting:
1. Christ did not command us to fast, but He did say, “When you fast,” implying that we should fast properly. (See Matthew 6:16.)
I want to make the things that Jesus thought were important, more important to me. Next week we are going to talk specifically about fasting and what that looks like practically.
A couple of decades ago, I started fasting one day a week. That has become a constant discipline of mine that has changed my life. The weekly cycle has become one of the highlights of my life.
Call it intermittent or cycle fasting. But it becomes an adjustment every week in your spiritual life. Not to mention the regular detox that comes with it. And although a detox is not the goal of a spiritual fast, it is a byproduct.
2. Fasting should reveal what is controlling us. That is why fasting in the Bible specifically deals with the appetite. (See 2 Samuel 12:16–17; Psalm 35:13; Jonah 3:5–8; Acts 13:2.)
There are many kinds or types of fasting. Things like media, activities, exercise, relationships, or even time management. But true fasting deals with the control of sustenance and appetite, driven specifically by food. The key is to break what controls us.
3. Fasting should be done to make our spirit attentive to spiritual things for a season. (See Daniel 10:2–3; Luke 4:1–13.)
Fasting should hurt. It is not comfortable. This is one of the things I struggle with in the American church. We try and make fasting so easy by marketing it and giving people menus and dietary supplements. Don’t get me wrong, I get it. It is important to teach properly on fasting.
But if it doesn’t hurt, it’s not fasting.
Instead of looking for supplements and replacements for our hunger, we should be conquering the hunger with prayer and discipline.
4. When we fast, it creates spiritual maturity and ultimately authority in our lives. (See Matthew 17:21; Mark 9:29 NKJV.)
Jesus called fasting the key to “this kind” of breakthrough. Remember, when the disciples came back from their ministry, they were concerned that they could not cast out demons, and do only a few miracles. That is the context of this verse.
Jesus was telling them that certain things could only happen through fasting.
I’ve seen the spiritual growth and the authority increase in my life brought fasting. And that is what this generation needs. If we are going to affect the society we live in today, we must lead Gen Z and Alpha Gen in a commitment to fasting.
If we are going to change the disunity in government, the rise of racism in America, violence in our schools, human trafficking, global terrorism, the financial crisis, and the sexual revolution in America, it will begin with spiritual maturity and authority of Gen Z and Alpha Gen.
5. One of the most powerful results of fasting is unity. (Leviticus 23:27, 2 Chronicles 20:3; Ezra 8:21–23; Zechariah 8:19; Joel 2:12, 15.)
This is why I love the corporate fast. The kind of things that are prayed for across a congregation become the message of the movement. Corporate fasting brings great unity and singularity of purpose.
If ever our world needs to see a generation moving in spiritual unity, it is right now.
Finally
What we do know for sure is that fasting is a special kind of spiritual replacement of a physical or natural appetite or desire. It brings an urgency, reveals to us what is controlling us, overcomes natural desires, and creates spiritual formation, maturity, authority, and unity.
What we are seeing in our nation today is going to require this kind of tandem spiritual discipline of prayer and fasting for us to see our nation turned around.
Billy Graham on Fasting
In his letter, “My Heart Aches for America,” Billy Graham, recalled how his late wife Ruth once expressed concerns about the nation’s “terrible downward spiral.” She told him, “If God doesn’t punish America, He’ll have to apologize to Sodom and Gomorrah.”
Graham, who preached to more young people over the course of his ministry, wrote that we will not see global revival without a new generation committing to fasting.
This, he said, was the one thing that could break the chains over America. He also wondered what Ruth would think of the country today, where “self-centered indulgence, pride, and a lack of shame over sin are now emblems of the American lifestyle.”
As Next Gen leaders, we must call young people to a disciplined life of prayer & fasting for the purpose of a global spiritual awakening.
As Jesus said in Mark 9, "This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer and fasting." There are some things that we want to see in this generation. But, it will not happen without prayer. Without another level of prayer and the addition of fasting.
If we are going to meet the task of beginning an American revival & awakening, we must ask for the power of the Holy Spirit in our lives. Our natural attempts are not working so whatever we have been doing we should stop and try something else.
We must pursue the supernatural power of The Holy Spirit through fasting.