Profits, I

Esther 4:¹⁶ “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.”

We see from Esther’s example, that while you can leverage your community to give weight to your fasting and praying, you cannot outsource your part in spiritual exercises. Some people engage ‘professional prophets’ to fast for them and the ‘prophet’ is asking for beverages so that he or she can fast for you. The question is if he or she is fasting, what does he or she need the beverages for? It is just common sense; the person is in it for what he or she will get and not for you. Do not outsource your destiny, God wants to hear your voice. So, what happens when we fast? We are going to reel through seven things. Many of them you already know, but open your heart to another dimension of understanding as we go through them.

When We Fast, Cleansing Happens – Spirit, Soul, And Body. We are cleansed in our spirit, we are cleansed in our soul, and we are cleansed in our body. Your spirit man, in bathing in God’s presence, is cleansed. You are able to recover your soul because you slow down on your consumption of junk, and you begin to read the Word of God more. You start listening to messages and to God’s Word. Depression loses its grip on your mind; anxiety loses its grip on you. You get cleansed in your soul and you also get cleansed in your body. However, do not make the effects of fasting on your body the main reason for fasting. When some people think about fasting, what comes to mind is losing weight. But that is just the fringe benefit.

The doctors tell us that there are more than seven amazing benefits of fasting to the body. So here goes. The first benefit is Autophagy, a process where the body naturally removes cellular debris, the body cleanses itself. Secondly, there is a rise in stem cells and therefore healing happens faster. Thirdly, there is a rise in ketones, ketones produce fat-burning cells and ketones heal the brain, heals the gut, and turns off bad genes.  The fourth benefit is energy diversion. Energy is diverted from digesting and assimilating food to other things. For some people, most of their energy goes to digesting food. With fasting, you give your body a break.

The fifth is hormone optimization. Your cells become more sensitive to hormones and insulins, insulins, and glucose are controlled. Resetting of microbiomes is the sixth thing that happens. It fixes the gut barrier, influences our genetic expression, and resets our DNA. If you really want to turn off the bad genes and power up the good ones and reset the DNA of your children, let them fast.  Mark 2:²² “And no one puts new wine into old wineskins. For the wine would burst the wineskins, and the wine and the skins would both be lost. New wine calls for new wineskins.”

Prayer: Lord Jesus, even as I wait on You in fasting and prayer, please cleanse me – spirit, soul, and body. Take away the old skin, give me a new skin so I can retain the newness that You are pouring into me, in Jesus Name. Amen!