In this video, Bryce talks about what biblical fasting is. Filmed By; Josh Rodriguez @whitehorse.studios MERCH👉 https://www.jesusinthestreet.com subscribe for more! Sow Into My Ministry One-Time or Monthly! Visit 👉 https://www.equipnet.org/missionaries/bcrawford (all donations are tax deductible) Download Our FREE Bible Plan https://growinfaith.readytoconnect.com/join-the-one-year-bible-challenge (https://growinfaith.readytoconnect.com/join-the-one-year-bible-challenge) follow me on other platforms! Podcast Instagram 👉https://instagram.com/brycecrawfordpodcast Personal Instagram 👉 https://instagram.com/brycecrawford Merch Instagram 👉 https://instagram.com/ilovejesus Tiktok (main) 👉https://www.tiktok.com/@brycecrawford Tiktok (2nd) 👉 https://www.tiktok.com/@adventuresofbryce Snapchat https://snapchat.com/add/brycecraww Twitter 👉 https://twitter.com/ibrycecrawford #christianity #christian #Jesus #BryceCrawford #christiantiktok #christianvid eos #holyspirit #Jesusheals #viral #christianvideo #venicebeach #evangelism
Chapter 1: What is biblical fasting?
And if you want to download a PDF that just tracks with you, go to jesusinthestreet.org, which is our ministry website and go download the Luke PDF so that you guys can print it out and follow along for yourselves. It's going to be amazing. The Luke series was so powerful last year. We had 4 million people engaged with it.
And so I'm excited to see this year, the people that want to stick with it and do a verse by verse breakdown. It's Let's talk about fasting. Let's talk about what fasting is and how we can apply to our daily lives. Fasting is something that I've seen drastically transform my life. And, you know, the basic definition of fasting is saying no to some form of worldliness or harmful fleshly indulgence.
So you'll see a lot of people, especially around the time of Lent, people are like, oh, I'm going to fast from chocolate because I got a sweet tooth. Or I'm going to fast from coffee because I've got a coffee addiction. Or I'm going to fast from this or I'm going to fast from that. You know, a lot of people fast in generality.
Some people fast from their phone, social media, because things are starting to become idols in their lives. And I think that's great. That's a beautiful thing. I believe that we should truly fast from things that are starting to take over the throne of our heart.
but what a biblical fast is is to go without food for the purpose to seek god earnestly in prayer so fasting yes is saying no to some form of worldliness or fleshly desire but a biblical fast is strictly saying no to food for the purpose of seeking god in intimacy and through prayer and so why would we just go without food what does that exactly mean we're going to talk about scripture
But fasting is God's appointed way for us to cry out to him in special and specific needs. I mean, in Matthew 7, Jesus says, ask, seek, knock. And I truly believe that this scripture goes hand in hand with fasting because when we starve ourselves physically of food, it actually sharpens our mental focus into what we're fasting for.
And so we begin to hyper fixate on Jesus, who he is in his character. There's no distractions because I'm going to be real. Gluttony is the one sin in today's day and age that we just don't talk about much. That is like a hidden killer, a silent killer. Like we idolize food way too much.
And this isn't always about the idolatry of food, but when we starve ourselves physically for the sake of seeking God intimately, it just does something in the spiritual realm and it sharpens our focus on God's character and our relationship with him intimately. And it's so powerful.
And we should resort to fasting out of a deep sense of our weakness and a need to seek God in a more heartfelt manner. I mean, this is like a beautiful picture of true surrender. I mean, fasting is so specific. You know, so many people nowadays, they're like, oh, I don't need to fast. This is an Old Testament thing. No, no, no. I mean, the Old Testament, it did happen a lot.
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Chapter 2: Why should we fast?
But if we really care about the outcome of our country, we would seek the Lord in fasting and prayer and say, God, regardless of the outcome, you sit on the throne, Jesus, you reign. But man, God, I'm going to seek you in fasting and prayer that if it be your will, this be the outcome of an election. a national emergency, a heart posture of prayer.
And outside of emergencies, like we don't need to just treat God, treat fasting the way that a lot of people treat prayer. We don't need to treat fasting the way a lot of people treat prayer. And that's if, oh, we only do it in case we need something. Like, sure, we fast on behalf of things, but I believe that the Bible is calling us into a lifestyle of fasting.
Like, man, if we really care about someone, if we really care about a situation, if we really care about God's opinion, we'll turn the plate down. We'll actually starve ourselves physically and say, God, look, I'm down to turn the plate down. I'm down to turn the fork down to hear your voice and see what you have to say.
I want to know you deeper on an intimate level, God, and I need to hear your voice. We must learn to fast and live it as a lifestyle of prayer. God also received Nineveh's fast when they were literally wicked. Jonah goes to Nineveh, he preaches the gospel, and they fast on behalf of their wickedness, and God receives their repentant heart out of a fast.
And then Jesus fasted in preparation for his public ministry and to conquer the devil's temptations. Jesus' number one defense in his fast for 40 days was his prayer and intimate time with Jesus through the scriptures. He quotes scripture and through his fast he was able to overcome temptation. And Jesus actually calls us in Matthew 26. He tells the disciples, pray lest you fall into temptation.
So we see a big correlation between fasting and prayer. Fasting and prayer is a deadly combo to overcome temptation. Because when you're praying, you're in direct communication with the eternal one. And fasting starves ourself physically so that we sharpen our focus spiritually and say, God, I need to hear your voice. God, I'm relying on you. I'm not relying on food.
I'm not relying on my own circumstances. I'm not relying on my own strength. God, I'm relying on you. So why should we fast today? Those are examples in the Bible of what fast did and why people should fast, but why should you and I fast today? It humbles ourselves before God as we see in Psalm 69 and Psalm 35.
Man, so many people, the number one sin that happened in the garden, the number one sin people struggle with today that they don't know is pride. We oftentimes think we know it all. There are moments where I think in my faith journey, I know everything. But in reality, I don't. I need to rely on Jesus Christ. And we hear his voice more clear when we fast.
And if we fast, we humble ourselves and say, God, I'm not trying to make a decision out of my flesh. I'm not trying to make a decision without consulting you. God, I just need to hear your voice. God, I just love you. God, I've got this friend, he's struggling, and I just want to fast on behalf of him. You know, our battle's not against flesh and blood.
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Chapter 3: What does the Bible say about fasting?
A lot of people want to see breakthrough for their friends, want to see breakthrough in a scenario of your life, want to see breakthrough in your family's situation, in your parents' marriage, in your relationship. Fast. It does something in the spiritual realm. Now when fasting, look, I have a major warning for fasting. I want you to avoid these two things when you fast.
Spiritual pride and legalism. Spiritual pride can sneak in when fasting because you might think you're better than other Christians because not a lot of people fast. And that is not what we do. If you fall into spiritual pride because you think you're better than yourself and your chest gets big, which is like, oh, I fast and not a lot of Christians fast, you're the Pharisee now.
And the goal of fasting is actually to live a lifestyle of fasting that encourages other people to fast. Not turn them away from the heart of the Father. We need to encourage other people to fast. And the second is legalism. This isn't something that we necessarily do to get something in return from God. We're not fasting as like God's a genie in a bottle.
Like, okay, if I fast, God's going to do X, Y, and Z for me. No, we do this out of a heart of purity. We do this out of a heart of humility. We do this out of a heart of love. The same reason we read the Bible, the same reason we pray, the same reason that we listen to the commandments of Jesus Christ is not because we get something in return. It's because we love Him.
We do this out of a heart from purity. So avoid legalism. Avoid it as like this thing, it's like transactional with God. It's not. We just do this out of a heart of love. So what is the proper approach to fasting? It's unto the Lord.
It's something we do for Him, for His glory, to seek Him out, deepen our intimacy with Him, and grow in relationship with Him, with the intention to glorify God in whatever the result of the fast may be. You may be fasting for something, and you might not get the answer you were fasting for.
And if that's the case, we have to trust that the reason that you didn't get the response that you wanted is because God is protecting us from something, or it wasn't in God's will. Our heart posture in the fast should not be, God, give this to me now because I'm fasting, but saying, look, God, listen, I'm starving myself physically because I'm trying to seek you, Jesus, in this area of my life.
And I pray that it be this outcome. I'm seeking you out for this outcome. But I pray that the outcome and the result of this fast may be in your will, God. And that should be our heart posture of the fast. And I really pray that fasting is something that you guys get to do today.
Because I thought for a long time, all my life, I thought that fasting was just some ancient ritual that people did in the Old Testament. I thought it was kind of whack, to be honest with you. But this year, we've really tried to challenge ourselves with fasting in our ministry. And we've seen God do something in amazing ways.
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Chapter 4: How can fasting lead to spiritual breakthroughs?
I bless you. And I just bless everyone watching and listening to this, God. And I just pray that fasting may become a part of their lifestyle and they will be able to grow in deeper intimacy with you, God, through fasting and prayer. In Jesus' name, amen. Guys, thank you so much for watching and listening to this episode.
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See you guys in the next video.