Prayer & fasting

 

FOOD FASTING

 

The brain is not only an
information storer (knowledge and belief).
0000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000

The brain is also an
information processor (thinking).

            Knowledge  =  a structure.
            Belief  =  a structure.

            Thinking  =  a process, a change of structure.

Hence, as:
            all carbohydrates are slowly converted
            to become sugar in the blood
and as:
            that sugar is what the body uses for fuel
therefore:
            food-fasting does not stop you knowing or believing,
            but it does stop you thinking.


Hence, when you need a miracle:

            If you’ve renewed only parts of your mind:
                       so that some of your knowledge
                       is still unbelief, miracle-stopping facts,
            then food-fasting stops you:
                       thinking, processing,
                       using all those miracle-stopping facts.

,                                      Perhaps see earlier section: UNBELIEF
,                                      and its subsections.



            If you’ve not renewed any of your mind:
                       such that all your knowledge
                       is miracle-stopping facts,
            then you probably don’t even believe
            (though you may think you do)
            in the first place:

                       In which case food-fasting won’t help.
                       It would just be an empty, ‘religious’, exercise.

,         ,         ,,        ,         Perhaps see second cell (starting Andrew has read)
,         ,         ,         ,         of earlier section: ABOUT ANDREW WOMMACK.



            If you’ve renewed all of your mind:
                       such that none of your knowledge
                       is miracle-stopping facts,
            then you:
                       won’t need to food-fast
                       to do miracles.

,,        ,,        ,,        ,,        ‘Do’ is the verb used in the KJV.  (Though see Acts c3 v12 & v16.) ,,


,                                      Perhaps see earlier section: WHAT IS A RENEWED MIND? , , , ,

 

The heart/spirit, on the other hand, does not process.
Hence the heart/spirit is not affected
by sugar deprivation, i.e. fasting.
 
            The mind:
                       is both static and dynamic,
                       both knows and thinks.

            But the heart/spirit is only static,
            contains no processes:
                       It: ‘knows’ what it ‘knows’
                       & that’s the end of it.
                       Or rather: believes what it believes
                       & that’s the end of it.

So, relative to the mind, the heart/spirit gets a boost
when you’re fasting.

 

 

.

 

As a fuel supply – the body oxidizes (low-temperature burning)
a low, and even, supply of sugar.
The sugar is kept, in the blood,
at a constant level of concentration.

Normally the digestive system slowly converts
all the carbohydrates, in each meal, into sugar.
But, when food-fasting, the body, even more slowly,
converts body fat into sugar
and uses that instead.

On about the third day of fasting
the digestive system shuts down
(hence the hunger pains stop).

,,        ,,        Notice that fat-to-sugar conversion
,,        ,,        provides a much lower flow of sugar than normal.
,,        ,,        So, depending on your age, fat reserves, build, metabolic rate, fitness, etc,
,,        ,,        avoid work, just do sufficient exercise.

,,        ,,        Thinking won’t work well.
,,        ,,        Instead, just believe, and express yourself,
,,        ,,        i.e. let your heart/spirit express itself (e.g. in tongues).

,,        ,,        Earthly focus won’t work well.
,,        ,,        So, go easy on driving.  Perhaps no driving at all.

,,        ,,        Drink only water.  Other drinks would keep activating your digestive system.
 
When you’ve finished praying & fasting:
spend the same number of days coming off fasting
as the number of days you spent fasting.
I.E. Build up your food intake gradually:
,,        ,,        If you’ve fasted for a week, – start breaking the fast
,,        ,,        with a little juice the first day,
,,        ,,        tiny amounts of easily digested foods the next day,
,,        ,,        & so on,
,,        ,,        building up gradually.
This is so you slowly increase the load on your digestive system.
Eating normally, immediately after weeks of praying & fasting,
can, and has, killed.

,,        ,,        Even before the end of a 40 day fast, even without moving about much,
,,        ,,        fat reserves will have gone so that muscles will be being consumed.
,,        ,,        And that’s for fit adults.  Some people have died of fasting
,,        ,,        long before 40 days.
,,        ,,        So don’t fast if you’re a child or pregnant or diabetic or weak in any way.

,,        ,,        It’s prayer and fasting.
,,        ,,        God’s self-sacrifice is what you should be focussing on while you’re fasting.
,,        ,,        Not the fact that you are fasting.

,,        ,,        The longest I’ve fasted for is only three days (my job is very active).
,,        ,,        Hence some of this cell is in brown text
,,        ,,        (i.e. gleaned from Andrew Wommack’s teachings)
,,        ,,        and the rest is not from personal experience.
,,        ,,        So take note.
 
,,        ,,        Having said that, I personally reckon that renewing your mind
,,        ,,        is better than fasting (see rest of this webpage).

 

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Whether it’s fasting, or some other kind of effort:

            Your fasting does not cause the miracle.

            Your fasting only holds you back,
            stops you stopping the miracle,
            stops hindrances within you (i.e. unbelief) within you.

            Only your belief, in the Cross,
            actually causes the miracle.

 

            Your effort is – you doing something.

            The cross is – God having done something:
                       something safely locked in the past,
                       something you merely have to believe.

,                                      Perhaps see earlier section:
,                                      WHAT IS A BELIEVER? WHAT IS THE GOSPEL? , , , ,

 

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FASTING GENERALLY

 

To cause a miracle:
            o    We don’t need our power.
            o    We need only God’s power.

            However, we Christians already have God’s power
            inasmuch as we have God’s Spirit.

Hence prayer & fasting are not about power.
They are about authority.

See earlier section: GOD THE SPIRIT, , , ,

 

We can fast, not only in food, but also in sex:

            1 Cor c7 v2-6:
            People should have loving marriages,
            and refrain from sex only so as to pray,
            though only for a short while.   my abbreviation

            A married couple might fast from married sex:
                 Not because married sex is not holy.  It is holy.
                 But because it’s earthly, like eating,
                 it makes you feel content, ready to rest.
                 It’s not the right feeling to go with praying.

            Hence you might want to avoid food, and sex,
            and other, distractingly earthly, activities,
            for a short while, in order to pray.

 

            Fasting from married sex
            does not have the biological mechanism
            of food fasting.  Perhaps see previous section.


            Instead your heart/spirit is exercising authority
            over your mind and body.

 

.

 

THE NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXT
OF FASTING

 

God’s Spirit went into Jesus
then immediately led him into the wilderness
where he stayed for forty days:
Matt c3 v13 – c4 v11       Mark c1 v9-13       Luke c3 v21-23  & c4 v1-13 
 
While there, God’s Spirit prompted him to:

            o    Fast (eat no food, drink only water).

,                            Jesus was fully God, but also fully human. 
,                            That’s why he needed to fast for so long.

 

            o    Be tempted by Satan
                 so that he could say “No” to Satan.

            o    And, I reckon, pray to God his Father,
                 both talking and hearing.

 

Or, to put it another way:
I reckon Jesus prayed & fasted for forty days
to finish off renewing his mind:

            o    End the earthliness of his life
                 with its earthly priorities:

                             His beliefs:
                                   ever copied, by his heart/spirit,
                                   from his heart/spirit, to his mind,
                             now overriding earthly expectations.

            o    Be alone, away from the world:
                             So that he could hear, clearly,
                             not only Satan, but also his Father.

            o    Be alone, away from the world:
                              So that Satan could not speak to him
                             through family & friends.
,                                               Like Satan later spoke to him
,                                               through Peter.  Matt c16 v16-23   Mark c8 v33 .


            o    Etc.

 

Jesus is one with, and is the image of,
his Father.   John c10 v30    Heb c1 v3 


So Jesus had always had:
      a telepathic connection with his Father,
      and a nearly renewed mind.   Luke c2 v39-52  

      Hence, any Old Testament scripture Jesus hadn’t read, 
      the Father, via the Spirit, would’ve told him about.

      And, any OT scripture the Father thought needed perfecting,
      the Father, via the Spirit, would’ve also told him about:
,         E.G. Old Testament,    ,         ,         ,         New Testament 
,         Deut c24 v1-4    Gen c2 v19-25,     ,         Matt c19 v3-12    Mark c10 v2-12 


So, unlike our minds, Jesus’ mind was nearly renewed
even before he had the Spirit.

In this, Jesus had a head start over us.

Perhaps follow RENEW MIND links
in first cell of later section:
CHANGES A BELIEVER MAKES IN THEMSELVES 
(this link does not open a new tab).

 

Satan tempted Jesus for the whole forty days   Luke c4 v2a,,,,,
(though, presumably, in an intermittent way).

            Near the end of fasting & praying,
            when Jesus was starving,
            Satan tempted him with:
                       Matt c4 v1-11    Luke c4 v1-13:
                       “Create some food.  Do good to yourself.
                        You don’t need the Father
                        (decrease your relationship with him).
                        Act from only the flesh,
                        not from the heart/spirit.”   my abbreviation
            Implying  that the Father is mean spirited, not loving.
            (when in fact, afterwards,
            the Father sent angels, with food, to Jesus).

Other than this fast, Jesus practiced the opposite of fasting.
E.G. He ate just before his trials in the garden of Gethsemane.
                                                                      Matt c26    Mark c14,,,,,

 

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Once our minds are renewed
they no longer need to be stilled by fasting:

            When all of your mind
            is as Jesus’ mind:
                       o    Full of belief.
                       o    Containing no unbelief (doubts) about:
                                   God’s unconditional love for us
                                   and his great knowledge, wisdom, & power,
                       o    Grateful to, and allied to, God.
            then your mind is completely renewed
            and prolonged fasting becomes unnecessary,
            indeed, the mind has become an asset, not a liability.

 

Prolonged fasting became unnecessary as follows:

            During Jesus’ ministry
            the disciples pretty much just watched & learned.
            For they had God’s Spirit (even though only temporarily).
                       Hence fasting was unnecessary.
                       Matt c9 v14-15a     Mark c2 v18-19     Luke c5 v33-34 

            Then, during the nine lonely days, after Jesus had gone,
            but before God’s Spirit had permanently come:
                       Matt c9 v15b     Mark c2 v20     Luke c5 v35: 
                       The disciples felt, desperately,
                       the need to fast.   my abbreviation

            Then, after the disciples had
            permanently received God’s Spirit,
,                                      Having already renewed their minds.
,                                      See first cell of earlier section:
,                                      HOW TO RENEW YOUR MIND: SOME DETAILS.

            such a carnal tool as fasting:
                       the physical – trying to correct – the spiritual,
                       the body – trying to correct – the mind,
            was shown to be unnecessary
            compared to having God’s Spirit & a renewed mind.

 

.

 

Jesus said: 
            Matt c9 v10-17    Mark c2 v1 – c3 v6    Luke c5 v27 – c6 v11:
            A new unshrunk patch
            cannot be sown onto an old shrunk garment.
            New wine cannot ferment
            in used, stretched, brittle, wineskins.   my abbreviation

The above text is in Matt Mark Luke
but not in John.

Jesus’ new commandment is in John (John c13 v34-35)  
but not in Matt Mark Luke.

Hence the above links, Matt Mark Luke,
extend beyond the text.

            I do this so as to reveal that the overall subject is:

                       that Jesus’ new commandment is better than
                       the old commandments

                       indeed, that the entire New Covenant is better than
                       the entire Old Covenant:
                                   Universal personal: Forgiveness,
                                   God’s Spirit, a renewed mind,
                                   blessings & miracles, etc,
                                   are better than:
                                   Jewish national: laws,
                                   sacrifices, punishments,
                                   blessings & miracles, etc.

 

.

 

,                            Perhaps see earlier section:
,                            CONCLUSION: HOW IT ALL WORKS
,                            and its subsection:
,                            THE NEW REPLACES THE OLD, , , , .

 

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PRAYING & FASTING

 

A good prayer would not be:
            the Lord’s Prayer
,                  Perhaps see earlier section:
,                  THE LORD’S PRAYER.


A good prayer may be:
            “Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, etc,”
because it gets your mind off the problem
and onto the answer:

            Twice, in ch3, of his book Ever Increasing Faith,
            Smith Wigglesworth tells of successful healings
            where those praying turned their focus
            from the problem to the answer
            by simply whispering (ever louder) the name ‘Jesus’.

,,        ,,        Perhaps see Mark Hemans’ preaching at the beginning of:
,,        ,,        YouTube: – old Coast Highlights OUTPOURING of the Holy Spirit,
,,        ,,        joy, deliverance, miracles, healing, power:

,,        ,,        from  5m 50s  to  12m 6s.


Prayer is not so much what you say
as where you are:

            You are either on one side of the fence:
                       with your agenda and your needs,
                       talking through the fence to God
                       listening hard to hear him.

            Or you are on the other side of the fence:
                       with God’s agenda and no needs,
                       God hearing your every thought
                       you hearing his every whisper.

Perhaps see fifth & sixth cell (starting  2) The second reason the Father )
of earlier section: WHAT’S WRONG WITH A VISIBLE SOLUTION?.

 

The book of Acts shows that, in the early church:
            The whole church prayed generally.
            Individual Christians prayed generally.

However, as well as praying generally,
individual Christians sometimes prayed briefly
just before they commanded a miracle.
Acts c9 v36-43    Acts c28 v7-8.

,                  See five cells (starting Jesus explains)
,                  in earlier section: WHY GOD’S WORDS HAVE POWER.
,                  and the links within them.
,                  (This link does not open a new tab.)


Before Acts, back in Mark’s gospel,
Jesus said that Christians would find
that, just before doing a miracle,
praying briefly is necessary.
‘Do’ is the verb used in the KJV.  (Though see Acts c3 v12 & v16.) ,,


            Mark c9 v28-29   (full account  Mark c9 v14-29.):
            And when he was come into the house,
            his disciples asked him privately,
                 Why could not we cast him out?
            And he said to them,
                 This kind can come forth by nothing,
                 but by prayer and fasting.   KJV

,                            The last two words are, I reckon, forged.  So I’ve made them very pale grey.
,                            Perhaps see earlier section: BIBLE VERSES THAT I OMIT., ,


               I reckon that, in the above scripture, by: ‘this kind’, 
            Jesus did not mean: ‘this kind of demon’,
            but: ‘this kind of situation’.

            Situations where:
                       the patient is visually & audibly possessed
                       the cancer is visible & large
                       the limb is missing
                       the face is ruined
                       the behaviour is insane & vigorous
                       etc

                        (or indeed, where you are sick
                        and the pain is distracting).

 

            Same account, different gospel:

            Matt c17 v18-21   (full account Matt c17 v14-20):
            And Jesus rebuked the devil;
            and he departed out of him:
            and the child was cured from that very hour.
            Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said,
                  Why could not we cast him out?
            And Jesus said unto them,
                  Because of your unbelief:
                  for verily I say unto you,
                  If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed,
                  ye shall say unto this mountain,
                        Remove hence to yonder place;
                  and it shall remove;
                  and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
                  Howbeit this kind goeth not out
                 but by prayer and fasting.   KJV

,         ,                  I reckon verse 21 is forged – so I’ve greyed it out.
,         ,                  Perhaps see earlier section: BIBLE VERSES THAT I OMIT, , , ,

 

.

 

Having God’s Spirit and a completely renewed mind
means you don’t need to fast.
See sixth cell (starting Prolonged fasting became unnecessary)
of earlier section: THE NEW TESTAMENT CONTEXT OF FASTING.

That the early church fasted,
Acts c10 v30-31    Acts c13 v2-4    Acts c14 v23    1 Cor c7 v5,, ,,
merely shows that they were as imperfect as we are
and/or they were praying about some important issues.

Bear in mind that it’s praying and fasting.
Not commanding and fasting.
            Fasting may be of great help to you
            when praying over a number of days
            (presumably about something important).

If you do fast, bear in mind that:
            It’s the praying that’s primary.
            The fasting ‘merely’ helps the praying.

 

.

 

Praying takes time, especially if you’re also fasting.
Hence pray (and fast) before a need or want arises.

Likewise complete the big task of renewing your mind
before needs or wants arise:
Perhaps follow RENEW MIND links
in first cell of later section:
CHANGES A BELIEVER MAKES IN THEMSELVES 
(this link does not open a new tab).


            Jesus mind was already completely renewed
            so he had no unbelief.
            So he never needed to ‘suddenly fast’ to do a miracle.

            Every time Jesus went ‘AWOL’ to pray
            he didn’t seem to take food with him.
            So I suspect that, after his initial 40 day fast,
            he fasted for those, relatively short, periods of time.

            If so, I suspect that the apostles, later, in Acts,
            lived a similar lifestyle.

            People came to them out of the blue for healing
            so they had no time to fast.
            They still needed to heal people
            even if they’d just had breakfast.

            There’s no record of them postponing or prolonging
            a healing.  They commanded, in Jesus’ name,
            and the person was healed.

 

So I conclude that:

            A completely renewed mind
            needs to maintain itself
            by praying, perhaps with short fasting,
            to counteract
            living in the world the rest of the time.

            As the average Christian cannot help but be
            regularly influenced by the world,
            likewise he/she must also
            regularly retreat from the world
            to be alone with God.

 

            If God tells you to do something
            so antisocial, so unintuitive,
            as to yank a disabled person up, out of their wheelchair,
            declaring that they are healed,
            as your act of faith, Acts c3 v7, 
            then you too will need to have been alone with God.

,                  Perhaps see earlier section: ACTS OF FAITH, , , ,

 

.

 

This is how Smith Wigglesworth lived:

            He was initially a stutterer, a quiet inhibited man.
            But I reckon that his Yorkshire get-to-the-point-ness
            combined with his huge spiritual growth as a Christian
            led him to a lifestyle where he:
                 o    Rarely went more than half an hour
                       without praying or reading the Bible.
                 o    Preached well,
                       inspiring faith in others.

      See: YouTube: – Kenneth Copeland retells
,         ,         ,   Smith Wigglesworth raising a man from the dead.  

,         ,         ,,,,I don’t approve of Kenneth Copeland himself because he loves money.

                 Smith Wigglesworth walked silently past
                 the other mourners.
                 Then he commanded, loudly, three times,
                 for the corpse to rise.
                 Antisocial?  No, logical.

                 Smith knew he would get only sadness
                 and resolve that the dead stay dead
                 from the other mourners.

                 It wouldn’t have been on their minds that it would rise,
                 let alone at the forefront of their minds
                 where it would’ve needed to have been.
,                            Perhaps see earlier section: UNBELIEF
,                            and its subsections.


      See: YouTube: – God's Generals Series - Smith Wigglesworth,
      13m 15s  to:  17m 20s:
                 Smith swung his fist, fast & hard,
                 into the patient’s stomach, killing him.
                 He then ignored the doctor’s legal threats
                  (a doctor who’d seen others, in the prayer line,
                 get healed).
                  Thuggish?  No, logical.

                  Believers who are medical professionals
                 have had a training that is
                 entirely natural, none of it miraculous. 
                  So they often have a huge amount of unbelief.
 
,                            See Andrew Wommack’s 
,                            God wants you well: Why isn’t everyone healed?
,                            from 47mins to 49mins.


,         ,         ,         Scientific knowledge (e.g. medical knowledge):
,         ,         ,         ,         ,         in the mind, next to the mind’s belief,
,         ,         ,         ,         ,         given significance alongside the mind’s belief,
,         ,         ,         ,         ,         so that it counteracts the mind’s belief,
,         ,         ,         constitutes:
,         ,         ,         ,         ,         unbelief,
,         ,         ,         and unbelief hinders the miraculous.

,         ,         ,         Perhaps see earlier section: UNBELIEF
,                            and its subsections.


      In Andrew Wommack’s: Hardness of Heart: The Cure,
      from:  16m 20s   to:  44m 15s,  
                  Smith ignored the ladies’ concerns
                  and the congregation’s rebukes.
                  Arrogant?  No, logical.

                  In his own, apparently unloving, way
                  Smith did
                  what Jesus told all of us to do:
                              be concerned about what God thinks of you,
                             never about what people think of you.
,         ,         ,         ,         ,         Matt c6 v16-18    Luke c18 v9-14   


To conclude:

      to rest:
                 to rely only on God to do the miracles
                 and not to stress & strain,
      and:
                 to never think about what people think of you,
                 only what God thinks of you,
      is a result of:
                 you being alone with God.

 

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Unlike Peter, who, in his human nature,
was a forceful person,
Perhaps see later section:
GOD’S KIND OF LOVE – AGAPE LOVE,
AND MERE NATURAL HUMAN LOVE  
and the section after it.
Smith, in his human nature,
was not. 

            Up until age forty-eight approx:
                       o    Smith stuttered and was shy.
                       o    The only Christian ministry he could manage
                             was to give children pony rides to meetings.
                       o    He retreated at the mere idea of preaching.
 
            It wasn’t until after:
                       persistently seeking God
                       and being baptised in the Holy Spirit,
            that Smith became forceful.

            Though only spiritually forceful. 

 

While a man’s forcefulness is usually earthly,
Smith’s forcefulness was a product of agape love:
            from his own changed self  1 Cor c13 NIV    
            and from God’s Spirit within him.

            When someone asked Smith
            why he hit people when he healed them,
            he replied that he hit the illness.

            Or that he hit the demon behind the illness,
            the demons that were:
                       Encouraging the illness.
                       Discouraging the patient from believing
                       that God would heal them.
                       Even encouraging the patient
                       to accept the illness.

                       That he wasn’t hitting the person.
                       The person just got in the way.

,                  See last three cells  (starting: So, there are occasions)
,                  of earlier section: HOW DEMONS ARE ABLE TO DO THINGS.


            Virtually none of Smith’s patients complained.

 

.

 

            Jesus & the apostles
            did not hit people when they healed them.

            But that does not mean that such methods are demonic.

            They may be part of a passing phase that the church is in,
            an inferior, passing, phase.

,                  Perhaps see earlier section: GOD’S METHODS. ,,,,,

 

            Jesus & the apostles
            did not hit people when they healed them.

            But I’m sure they were still angry inside
            (not a taxing anger, for they knew they were going to win).

                       An anger towards:
                                   absence of the gospel,
                                   absence of belief of the gospel,
                                    wrong doctrine,
                                    people’s sinful ways that kept them trapped,
                                    sickness, lack, demonic oppression,
                                   etc.

                       An anger that is a symptom of:
                                   agape love towards everyone
                                   and a renewed mind.

                       An anger that is not deterred
                       by persecution or martyrdom.

                       Not the usual, selfish, anger.

,                  All blue text copied from several parts of earlier section: ANGER & HATRED. ,,,,,

 

.

 

This site is called ‘How Christianity Works’.

So the principles in it aren’t necessarily ones you apply.
They are principles God’s Spirit applies:

            It usually takes too long, and is unnecessary,
            for you to compute a situation
            so as to know what to do.
            It’s quicker, simpler, and more reliable,
            to listen to, and to obey, God’s Spirit.

            Just believe, and renew your mind.
,                  See first cell of earlier section:
,                  WHAT IS A BELIEVER? WHAT IS THE GOSPEL? , , , , , ,

 

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If you want practical guidance on praying
then I highly recommend Andrew Wommack’s book: A better way to pray.
See earlier section: INTRODUCTION, , , ,

 

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