Followers of Christ fast as a spiritual discipline. We don’t fast to manipulate God and appear more righteous than others. You are not required to fast, but it is very beneficial on your walk and highly recommended. Prayer and fasting has helped me cut off many sins and things of the world that I was clinging on to.

Fasting separates you from the distractions of this world and it brings us into a closer union with God. It allows us to hear God better and fully rely upon Him.



1. Jesus expects us to fast.

Matthew 6:16-18 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and 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.”



2. Humble yourself before God.

Psalm 35:13 Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth and humbled myself with fasting. When my prayers returned to me unanswered.

Ezra 8:21 And there by the Ahava Canal, I gave orders for all of us to fast and humble ourselves before our God. We prayed that he would give us a safe journey and protect us, our children, and our goods as we traveled.

2 Chronicles 7:14 if my people who are called by my name humble themselves, and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land.

James 4:10 Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you.



3. Distress and grief

Judges 20:26 Then all the people of Israel, the whole army, went up and came to Bethel and wept. They sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.

2 Samuel 3:35 Then they all came and urged David to eat something while it was still day; but David took an oath, saying, “May God deal with me, be it ever so severely, if I taste bread or anything else before the sun sets!”

1 Samuel 31:13 Then they took their bones and buried them under a tamarisk tree at Jabesh, and they fasted seven days.



4. Repentance

1 Samuel 7:6 When they had assembled at Mizpah, they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and there they confessed, “We have sinned against the Lord.” Now Samuel was serving as leader of Israel at Mizpah.

Joel 2:12-13 “Yet even now,” declares the LORD, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning; and rend your hearts and not your garments.” Return to the LORD your God, for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast love; and he relents over disaster.

Nehemiah 9:1-2 Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads. And the Israelites separated themselves from all foreigners and stood and confessed their sins and the iniquities of their fathers.



5. Spiritual strength. Overcoming temptation and dedicating yourself to God.

Matthew 4:1-11 Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God. Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple.“If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test. Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.’ Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.”



6. Discipline

1 Corinthians 9:27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Do you not know that your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your bodies.



7. Strengthen prayers

Matthew 17:21 “But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”

Ezra 8:23 So we fasted and petitioned our God about this, and he answered our prayer.



8. Express love and worship to God.

Luke 2:37 and then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.

Fantastic

Peter, the apostle, warned people about ALL MOGs (False Prophets and Teachers), from about 2000 years ago.

2 Peter 2 vs 1-7 (ERV)
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1. In the past there were false prophets among God’s people. It is the same now. You will have some false teachers in your group. They will teach things that are wrong—ideas that will cause people to be lost. And they will teach in a way that will be hard for you to see that they are wrong. They will even refuse to follow the Master who bought their freedom. And so they will quickly destroy themselves.
2. Many people will follow them in the morally wrong things they do. And because of them, others will say bad things about the way of truth we follow.
3. These false teachers only want your money. So they will use you by telling you things that are not true. But the judgment against these false teachers has been ready for a long time. And they will not escape God who will destroy them.

4. When angels sinned, God did not let them go free without punishment. He sent them to hell. He put those angels in caves of darkness, where they are being held until the time when God will judge them.

5. And God punished the evil people who lived long ago. He brought a flood to the world that was full of people who were against God. But he saved Noah and seven other people with him. Noah was a man who told people about living right.

6. God also punished the evil cities of Sodom and Gomorrah. He burned them until there was nothing left but ashes. He used those cities as an example of what will happen to people who are against God.
7. But he saved Lot, a good man who lived there. Lot was greatly troubled by the morally bad lives of those evil people. 8 This good man lived with those evil people every day, and his good heart was hurt by the evil things he saw and heard.

What peter said is indeed what we see happening here and now. Because of the AntiChrists also called MOGs, the world does not view Jesus Christ in a good light at all. You simply mention that you believe in the God of the Bible, and almost immediately you see the detest in their looks... nothing to do with persecution at all. No, they have become wary of those who claim to be Christians. The world is tired of the lies and deceit of MOGs - the hypocrisy that is claimed and justified in the name of God.

These MOGs are the Antichrists as they have set themselves up as Masters over Jesus Christ's flock, pretending to be Teachers in His place.

Their doctrines and traditions are twisted representations of the teachings of Jesus Christ, and in many cases many are deceived and led away from the Truth of Jesus Christ as a result.

They sit themselves in the place of God in the minds of His own sheep and they steal, kill and destroy, for their own pleasure and kingdoms, that which God has planned for those who are His. And they do all of this in the name of God.
MOGs are the false prophets that Jesus Christ warned His followers to beware of. These are the antichrists that the apostles spoke of even during their days.