Free Word Ministry

Isaiah 58 Fasting

 

Shout the message! Don't hold back. Say to my people Israel: You've sinned! You've turned against the LORD. Day after day, you worship him and seem eager to learn his teachings. You act like a nation that wants to do right by obeying his laws. You ask him about justice, and say you enjoy worshiping the LORD. You wonder why the LORD pays no attention when you go without eating and act humble.

 

But on those same days that you give up eating, you think only of yourselves and abuse your workers. You even get angry and ready to fight. No wonder God won't listen to your prayers! Do you think the LORD wants you to give up eating and to act as humble as a bent-over bush? Or to dress in sackcloth and sit in ashes? Is this really what he wants on a day of worship? I'll tell you what it really means to worship the LORD. Remove the chains of prisoners who are chained unjustly.

 

Free those who are abused! Share your food with everyone who is hungry; share your home with the poor and homeless. Give clothes to those in need; don't turn away your relatives. Then your light will shine like the dawning sun, and you will quickly be healed. Your honesty will protect you as you advance, and the glory of the LORD will defend you from behind. When you beg the LORD for help, he will answer, "Here I am!" Don't mistreat others or falsely accuse them or say something cruel. Give your food to the hungry and care for the homeless. 

 

Then your light will shine  in the dark; your darkest hour will be like the noonday sun. The LORD will always guide you and provide good things to eat when you are in the desert. He will make you healthy. You will be like a garden that has plenty of water or like a stream that never runs dry. You will rebuild those houses left in ruins for years; you will be known as a builder and repairer of city walls and streets.

 

But first, you must start respecting the Sabbath as a joyful day of worship. You must stop doing and saying whatever you please on this special day. Then you will truly enjoy knowing the LORD. He will let you rule from the highest mountains and bless you with the land of your ancestor Jacob. The LORD has spoken!

 

  Isaiah 58:1-14 (Contemporary English

 

Prayer is the most important weapon against the forces of evil. Fasting with Payer takes your prayers to another level. Fasting and Prayer is the most powerful Spiritual Combinations on earth. There may be times in life, when it seems as if praying is not enough, it  may seem as if God is not listening. In these dry periods, when you are seeking the face of God and you do not see any rain drops, it is time to Fast. There are times when you must pull up your sleeves and go after what you desire from God. Fasting can be private or corporate. For those of you who need a Prayer Partner to Pray and Fast with, you can join me in Fasting and Prayer on Mondays and Thursdays.


  

 

Mediation Scripture

Moses remained there on the mountain with the Lord forty days and forty nights. In all that time he ate no bread and drank no water. And the Lord wrote the terms of the covenant—the Ten Commandments —on the stone tablets.

 

                                                       Exodus 34:28

 

Then, as before, I threw myself down before the Lord for forty days and nights. I ate no bread and drank no water because of the great sin you had committed by doing what the Lord hated, provoking him to anger.

 

                                                     Deuteronomy 9:18

 

David begged God to spare the child. He went without food and lay all night on the bare ground. 17 The elders of his household pleaded with him to get up and eat with them, but he refused. 2

 

                                                      Samuel 12:16-17

 

When I heard this, I sat down and wept. In fact, for days I mourned, fasted, and prayed to the God of heaven.

 

                                                       Nehemiah 1:4

 

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. For I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to accompany us and protect us from enemies along the way. After all, we had told the king, “Our God’s hand of protection is on all who worship him, but his fierce anger rages against those who abandon him.” So we fasted and earnestly prayed that our God would take care of us, and he heard our prayer.

 

                                                        Ezra 8:21-23 

 

Then Ezra left the front of the Temple of God and went to the room of Jehohanan son of Eliashib. He spent the night there without eating or drinking anything. He was still in mourning because of the unfaithfulness of the returned exiles.

 

                                                         Ezra 10:6

 

Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same. And then, though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.

 

                                                       Esther 4:16 

 

Yet when they were ill, I grieved for them. I denied myself by fasting for them, but my prayers returned unanswered. 

 

                                                       Psalms 35:13

 

When I weep and fast, they scoff at me.

 

                                                       Psalms 69: 10

 

No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people.

 

                                                       Isaish 58:6 

 

So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and fasting. I also wore rough burlap and sprinkled myself with ashes.

 

                                                      Isaiah Daniel 9:3

 

All that time I had eaten no rich food. No meat or wine crossed my lips, and I used no fragrant lotions until those three weeks had passed.

 

                                                         Daniel 10:3

 

Blow the ram’s horn in Jerusalem! Announce a time of fasting; call the people together for a solemn meeting. 

 

                                                         Joel 2:15

 

For forty days and forty nights he fasted and became very hungry. 

 

                                                        Matthew 4:2

 

And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do, for they try to look miserable and disheveled so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get.

 

                                                        Matthew 6:16

 

Jesus replied, “Do wedding guests mourn while celebrating with the groom? Of course not. But someday the groom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.

 

                                                         Matthew 9:15 

 

Then she lived as a widow to the age of eighty-four. She never left the Temple but stayed there day and night, worshiping God with fasting and prayer. 

 

                                                          Luke 2:37

 

So after more fasting and prayer, the men laid their hands on them and sent them on their way.

 

                                                           Acts 13:3

 

Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders in every church. With prayer and fasting, they turned the elders over to the care of the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.

 

                                                           Acts 14:23