Fasting for Repentance

We are now six days into our holy 21-day fast.  Those of us at "The SUB" have been denying ourselves many of the pleasures of life and abstaining from food for the purpose of having a deeper walk with God for twenty one days. When we fast, we are fasting because we are seeking a deeper experience with the Lord.  A nice definition of a fast is "to deny yourself food for a spiritual purpose".
 I am writing this article for some people who want to fast but who have major issues in their lives that will hinder the results of their fast. We cannot have a deeper experience with our Father if we are in deliberate sin or practice consistant lifestyle sins. I am not talking about doing wrong once in a while and I am not talking about an "oops" accidental sin. I am talking about walking the sin life everyday, living the sin everyday. An example of this would be adultery, homosexuality, womenizing, prostitution, larseny, murder, living together, thievery, a lying lifestyle, Galatians 5:19 stuff.....it is a sin that you are knowingly committing and are a willing participant in.  If you are in that type of sin then your fast will be a struggle to you because you truly want to have a deeper relationship with God, BUT sin separates you from that sweeter hug. Unfortunately, your perspective in your fast is that you have God's favor, but......you won't have it! You desperately need to fast alright, but you need it to break that strongman. That oppressing sin in your lifestyle will keep His favor from you. You must first have a deeper experience with God by getting Him to help you remove your offense and so remove the barriers that restrict His favor. And that is worth fasting for! I want to commend you for taking on your fast.
     I pray that in your fast God would give you the wisdom, courage and discernment to see that you are being harmed, that He would bring liberty to you, that the devil's hold on you would be broken, that He would give you the deliverance necessary to walk away from that sin and that He would restore you to a totally healthy Christian life as a free person with all of the LORD's blessings.
 It is never easy to change a lifestyle, especially if other people are involved in it with you, because they may have something to say or may lose benefits to themselves when you break away. Prostitution, adultery, drugs, immoral behavior, witchcraft, fortune telling, lying, are all good examples of that type of  bondage. Remember the girl in Ephesians (Acts16:16) who Paul set free from demons? The men who profitted from her were mad at him because they were going to lose the money they made off of her.
    In all of these types of situations you are fasting as a 'fast of repentance'. You want God to break the spell that has bewitched you and tormented you all these years. If you want out of it, a fast-with prayer- and the power of Jesus Christ will get you out of that bondage.
 One example of this 'lifestyle of sin' is the many deceived people who share their living quarters and their bodies with each other outside of marriage because they have "a better financial situation together" than living alone. This is still fornication or adultery and it is wrong according to God's Word. So for them to fast for a blessing would be a waste of time. You're not going to get God's blessing while you walk opposite of what He has already said in His Word.  What is worse is that you have become an enemy because you know it is wrong and forbidden, you are a hypocrite, or as the Bible describes a person like that, a 'wolf'', which makes you worse than an unbeliever doing it outside of God's covenant. You need to 'fast for repentance'  however. That process must take place so you can get God's favor.
Lets look at another situation. You may be in ka-hootz with someone who is stealing money from someone through some clever loophole in life and this easy money is filling your wallet on a regular basis.  Examples of this can be conspiracy to defraud through unemployment, social security checks for elderly parents, or welfare checks, food stamp fraud. Messing with the time clock at work is also in this category that we are using for an example. (Proverbs 11:1 says, "The LORD hates cheating, but He delights in honesty." (NLT) There are many others ways but they are all sins and you can't fast for God's blessing while these things are a part of your life...you won't get the blessing.  You may be deceived to think that you have gotten away with this and it is not hurting you and that life is good........but you need to know it is not God but satan that is making your life comfortable and you will definitely be caught. The Bible warns us of this with these powerful words 'be sure your sin will find you out, Num.32:23.'
   So to conclude: in your desire to get free, know that your fast, along with your troubled conscious, is God's plans to help free you, along with your prayers. Now go to a leader who has the Spirit of God in them, male or female, who can agree with you and has the visible, anointed power of God and get that person to anoint you and bring Jesus' peace into your life.... maybe for the first time in your life!