"And when they were come to the multitude, there came to him a certain man, kneeling down to him, and saying, Lord, have mercy on my son: for he is lunatick, and sore vexed: for ofttimes he falleth into the fire, and oft into the water. And I brought him to thy disciples, and they could not cure him. Then Jesus answered and said, O faithless and perverse generation, how long shall I be with you? how long shall I suffer you? bring him hither to me. 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." Matthew 17:14-21 (KJV)
Look around, our country is in much need of fasting. There are demons of every kind plaguing our society. Economic turmoil, sickness, drug addiction, poverty, homelessness and the like. These are the kind that need fasting and prayer. Chapter 58 of Isaiah gives us the answer.
In our society, there is much talk about fasting to lose weight. Some even go to the extreme by tying prolonged fasting to the wreck of their health. This was not the kind of fasting Jesus was suggesting. Many of us are like the political and religious leaders in Biblical times – we miss the true purpose of the fast. They fasted sometimes to the excess, but they fasted to show how righteous they were and to gain power over their adversaries. When they didn’t get what they wanted, they cried to the Lord, “Wherefore have we fasted … and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge?” Isaiah 58:3 (KJV)
They blamed the Lord for not heeding their fasts.
The Lord chastened them for fasting for strife and debate and to smite with the fist of wickedness, and He tells them, “Ye shall not fast as ye do this day, to make your voice to be heard on high.” Isaiah 58:4 (KJV)
In plain language, the Lord would not listen and respond to their kind of fasting. He explains what kind of fast He expects from them. It is not a day for man to “afflict his soul” or to “bow down his head as a bulrush, and to spread sackcloth and ashes under him.” Isaiah 58:5 (KJV)
It is not a time to go without food and be miserable all day. There are better reasons for going without food.
A true fast is designed to “loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke.” Isaiah 58:6 (KJV)
The fast, if done the Lord’s way, will break addictions, cure financial bondage, heal broken families and spare nations from disaster. It will bring peace in times of war and will soften hearts to the plight of the poor.
A proper fast isn’t just going without food for a time.
“Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh?” Isaiah 58:7 (KJV)
If our fast is only a fad diet of abstinence, we are concerned only with ourselves. We may lose weight, but the other great blessing will be lost. When we fast, if we allow ourselves to think of others, we realize that there are people in the world who feel hunger every day. They are not just in third-world countries; they are often our next-door neighbors. In our hungry condition, we may feel a need to reach out to them with compassion. We can give to a local charity or find someone to bless with our plenty. That is what the Lord sees as a true fast.
Then come the blessings of the fast.
“Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy reward.” Isaiah 58:8 (KJV)
The Lord will fill our souls with light and happiness as bright as the morning sun after a dark night. Our health will come to us speedily, and we will be known as a righteous people, and the Lord will be our guard.
Not only that, He promises, “Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am.” Isaiah 58:9 (KJV)
There is a quid pro quo.
“If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity.” Isaiah 58:9 (KJV)
We must put away our pride and stop pointing fingers of scorn at our neighbors.
“And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday.” Isaiah 58:10 (KJV)
If we satisfy the afflicted soul, which could be our own, through prayer, then our light, or our mind, will be as bright as the noonday sun.
“And the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not.” Isaiah 58:11 (KJV)
The Lord will be our guide, and our health and prosperity will be as a garden with plenty of water.
“And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many generations; and thou shalt be called, The repairer of the breach, The restorer of paths to dwell in.” Isaiah 58:12 (KJV)
The Lord will help us fix what is broken in our lives and our country. He will save our land and freedoms for future generations. He will restore traditions that bring happiness and peace.
There is another rule for a true fast that will bring promises.
“If thou turn away thy foot from the sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day; and call the sabbath a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable; and shalt honour him, not doing thine own ways, nor finding thine own pleasure, nor speaking thine own words.” Isaiah 58:13 (KJV)
In short, the Sabbath day must once again become sacred. We must stop doing the things that bring our own pleasure on His holy day and begin doing the things that will please Him.
“Then shalt thou delight thyself in the Lord; and I will cause thee to ride upon the high places of the earth, and feed thee with the heritage of Jacob thy father: for the mouth of the Lord hath spoken it.” Isaiah 58:14 (KJV)
The Lord’s promises are sure. As we fast in His way, we will find that He will keep His commitments and will make our lives much better than we can make for ourselves.
The Lord expects fasting and prayer to be a sacrifice of humility and charity. Why? He wants us to be aware of the needs of others. He wants unity, a Zion people, not a people who seek their own individual aggrandizement or entertainment. He wants one people, under God.
He said, “If ye are not one, ye are not mine.” Doctrine and Covenants 38:27
He cannot make a Zion people through intermittent fasting to lose weight or gain better health for selfish reasons. Although intermittent fasting may do that, He has prescribed the law of the fast to be done in a certain way for certain specific reasons. He is our Father and He wants the best for us.
He has promised, “If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.” 2 Chronicles 7:14 (KJV)
If we feel that our land, our homes or our hearts still need healing, we have been given the prescription. We can’t do it any other way. We must hearken to the words of Isaiah and turn to the Lord fast and pray in His prescribed manner, and He will bless us as He promised.
