JESUS ​​CHRIST IS LORD

THEME: WHY SHOULD WE FAST?

Beloved, today in the Church, many Christians fast for different reasons. But, according to the Spirit, such fasting is not done according to the rules of the art.

Indeed, for some it is to elevate themselves or to be close to GOD and for others it is to obtain blessings.

However, the fact of fasting does not oblige GOD by turning his hand in our favor, because He owes nothing to anyone. Also, we must understand that all our good reasons that can justify our fasting find answers thanks to the foreknowledge of God. Thus for example, Ephesians 2:6.* reveals to us that God has made us alive with Christ, that it is by grace that we are saved : "and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus."

Beloved, to understand the question of fasting today, we must keep in mind that we are in the New Covenant with Jesus. However, many leaders in the faith want to bring us back to the old Covenant. Alas, the blessings of this Covenant are reserved for the Jews. Moreover, returning to the Old Covenant makes us antichrists!!!

If in the Old Covenant, fasting was visible (manifest): covering with sackcloth, covering with ashes, tears, etc., in the New Covenant, the fast wanted by Jesus is softer, more discreet: we perfume our heads, no sad face. And this fast of the New Covenant has only one objective: to drive out unbelief (lack of faith) to be pleasing to God. Indeed, unbelief is the thing that God does not tolerate until our days!

We can therefore easily understand this holy anger of Jesus towards his disciples who were unable to cast out a demon because of their lack of faith, cf Matthew 17:14-21.

Unbelief is a powerful weapon of Satan that obscures the light of the gospel. 2 Corinthians 4:4 emphasizes with emphasis that the veiled gospel is for those who are perishing, "whose minds the god of this world has blinded, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine to them."

Finally, thanks to revelation, the polemical verse of Matthew 17:21: "However, this kind of "demon" does not come out except by prayer and fasting," teaches us two things:

 the fasting of the New Covenant drives out unbelief so that the measure of faith, given to those who believe in God and who have received Jesus as Lord and Savior, can weigh on the scales and bring forth the light that moves mountains;

As for prayer, it no longer consists of giving orders to God who is at rest (do that, get up for...), but rather of giving thanks for the fact that we have already received our blessings because of the work of the cross accomplished by Jesus, then speaking to the mountain in the name of Jesus, and giving thanks for the accomplishment of this blessing in our life.

Let us remain abundantly blessed in the name of Jesus Christ!

Apostle Olivier FOANZ