My personal experience with fasting is one that has evolved over the years. As a young boy, I fasted a number of times to follow the rituals of the Christian faith. However, there is a deeper spiritual encounter in biblical fasting that goes far beyond rituals. Fasting is a declaration to surrender totally to God and to have an intimate fellowship with Him. Before I tell you my testimony, let me spell out for you what fasting is not. It is not for public recognition to be seen as more spiritual or holy, it is not for the assumption of gaining more favor from God.
In Mathew 6: 16-18, Jesus gave us the proper way to fast and what fasting is for. In fact, Jesus began by saying that hypocrites fast, and they fast for the wrong reasons. Fasting is a private and personal intimate fellowship with the Lord; it is a moment of focusing on God in praise and worship. It is a time of surrender.
My personal and spiritual experience in fasting occurred about three years ago when I fasted for 40 days from 6 am to 6 pm without food except with water. It was a moment in my life when I felt the essence of God calling into ministry work. I had refused to give in to the calling because I did not feel that it was the right direction for me until I fasted to seek the face and direction of God. Through prayers and fasting the Lord revealed so many mysteries to me concerning my own fear and assured me of His guidance and direction if I followed His commend.
One day, I came home from work during the fasting period, and my wife who was also fasting with me, gave me the exact same words that the Lord had spoken to me earlier that day in Isaiah 43:1-28. The first verse of the chapter says, “But now, this is what the Lord say, He who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine”.
I remember one night during the fasting, the Holy Spirit spoke to us and assured us that as long as we waited and followed God, He would take us through every storm and make us great in all things. When God speaks, you don’t ever forget it! He had told us to follow and that is exactly what we did.
Our 40 days fasting was a journey that brought us closer and intimately with the Lord with a renewed strength and power that I personally never felt in my life before. It also brought my wife and I closer in our common faith in the Lord and even made our marriage stronger. We never informed anyone of our fasting and never display anything publically to show that we were fasting. We went about doing the same normal routine of work, appointments, attending to our kids and church. But, we always made it a point to spent time in prayers and reading of the word during the day at work and in the evening after the kids had gone to sleep.
My wife and I had learned and gained a lot from fasting, we have seen a tremendous change in our spiritual life, in our home and in our ministry.
After the 40 days fasting, we followed exactly what the Lord had told us, and we left our former church and established our church, Partnership in Christ Centre. Again, the Lord made it clear to us, during the fasting, to leave our former church and take no one or anything from the church. We left, after informing the leadership of the church of the calling of the Lord and did not take any one or anything from them.
Yes, we serve a faithful God who cannot lie. God has always come through for us and our new church and we have seen a tremendous growth with so many new people in our lives that we would not have ever met or known otherwise.
Today, I have seen total transformation in my life and my relationship with the Lord. By the grace of God, I have gained strength and power to do greater things for the Lord. The Lord has given me more knowledge and understanding through the reading of the Word of God. My heart and mind are alert on the things of God more than anything else. My own household and marriage have become more peaceful and joyful in everything. We have never lack or in want.
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me”. Galatians 2:20
I pray that as you read my testimony about fasting, you will be filled with the power of the Holy Spirit to get more closely and intimately with the Lord. There is joy and peace to know the Lord in truth and in spirit. May the Almighty God bless you even as you read and may you encounter the supernatural favor of the Lord to know him more.
Pastor Henry Frimpong
Partnership in Christ Centre www.pccentre.org