 |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
Part
of Biblical History
Not only for individuals but for communities and whole nations.
To hear from God
Acts 13
1 In the church at Antioch there were prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon
called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen (who had been brought up with Herod the
tetrarch) and Saul. 2 While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy
Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I
have called them." 3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their
hands on them and sent them off.
2 Chronicles 20
1 After this, the Moabites and Ammonites with some of the Meunites came to make
war on Jehoshaphat. 2 Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, "A vast army is
coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Sea. It is already in
Hazazon Tamar" (that is, En Gedi). 3 Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire
of the LORD, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. 4 The people of Judah came
together to seek help from the LORD; indeed, they came from every town in Judah
to seek him.
To Accompany Prayer and Commissioned Elders
Acts 14
18 Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing
to them. 19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and won the crowd over.
They stoned Paul and dragged him outside the city, thinking he was dead. 20 But
after the disciples had gathered around him, he got up and went back into the
city. The next day he and Barnabas left for Derbe. 21 They preached the good news
in that city and won a large number of disciples. Then they returned to Lystra,
Iconium and Antioch, 22 strengthening the disciples and encouraging them to remain
true to the faith. "We must go through many hardships to enter the kingdom
of God," they said. 23 Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each
church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they
had put their trust.
Ezra 8
21 There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves
before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all
our possessions. 22 I was ashamed to ask the king for soldiers and horsemen to
protect us from enemies on the road, because we had told the king, "The gracious
hand of our God is on everyone who looks to him, but his great anger is against
all who forsake him." 23 So we fasted and petitioned our God about this,
and he answered our prayer. Not a guarantee
Psalm 35 9 Then my soul will rejoice in the LORD and delight in his salvation.
10 My whole being will exclaim, "Who is like you, O LORD? You rescue the
poor from those too strong for them, the poor and needy from those who rob them."
11 Ruthless witnesses come forward; they question me on things I know nothing
about. 12 They repay me evil for good and leave my soul forlorn. 13 Yet when they
were ill, I put on sackcloth and humbled myself with fasting. When my prayers
returned to me unanswered, 14 I went about mourning as though for my friend or
brother. I bowed my head in grief as though weeping for my mother. 15 But when
I stumbled, they gathered in glee; attackers gathered against me when I was unaware.
They slandered me without ceasing. 16 Like the ungodly they maliciously mocked
[1] ; they gnashed their teeth at me. To get something to happen:
Not for our benefit
Matthew 6
16 "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure
their faces to show men they are fasting. I tell you the truth, they have received
their reward in full. 17 But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your
face, 18 so that it will not be obvious to men that you are fasting, but only
to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret,
will reward you.
Esther 4:1
When Mordecai learned of all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on sackcloth
and ashes, and went out into the city, wailing loudly and bitterly. 2 But he went
only as far as the king's gate, because no one clothed in sackcloth was allowed
to enter it. 3 In every province to which the edict and order of the king came,
there was great mourning among the Jews, with fasting, weeping and wailing. Many
lay in sackcloth and ashes. 4 When Esther's maids and eunuchs came and told her
about Mordecai, she was in great distress. She sent clothes for him to put on
instead of his sackcloth, but he would not accept them. 5 Then Esther summoned
Hathach, one of the king's eunuchs assigned to attend her, and ordered him to
find out what was troubling Mordecai and why. 6 So Hathach went out to Mordecai
in the open square of the city in front of the king's gate. 7 Mordecai told him
everything that had happened to him, including the exact amount of money Haman
had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews. 8
He also gave him a copy of the text of the edict for their annihilation, which
had been published in Susa, to show to Esther and explain it to her, and he told
him to urge her to go into the king's presence to beg for mercy and plead with
him for her people. 9 Hathach went back and reported to Esther what Mordecai had
said. 10 Then she instructed him to say to Mordecai, 11 "All the king's officials
and the people of the royal provinces know that for any man or woman who approaches
the king in the inner court without being summoned the king has but one law: that
he be put to death. The only exception to this is for the king to extend the gold
scepter to him and spare his life. But thirty days have passed since I was called
to go to the king." 12 When Esther's words were reported to Mordecai, 13
he sent back this answer: "Do not think that because you are in the king's
house you alone of all the Jews will escape. 14 For if you remain silent at this
time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you
and your father's family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to
royal position for such a time as this?" 15 Then Esther sent this reply to
Mordecai: 16 "Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast
for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maids will
fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against
the law. And if I perish, I perish." 17 So Mordecai went away and carried
out all of Esther's instructions.
For Righteousness and Justice
Isaiah 58
1 "Shout it aloud, do not hold back. Raise your voice like a trumpet. Declare
to my people their rebellion and to the house of Jacob their sins. 2 For day after
day they seek me out; they seem eager to know my ways, as if they were a nation
that does what is right and has not forsaken the commands of its God. They ask
me for just decisions and seem eager for God to come near them. 3 `Why have we
fasted,' they say, `and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and
you have not noticed?' "Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please
and exploit all your workers. 4 Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and
in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and
expect your voice to be heard on high. 5 Is this the kind of fast I have chosen,
only a day for a man to humble himself? Is it only for bowing one's head like
a reed and for lying on sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day
acceptable to the LORD? 6 "Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen:
to loose the chains of injustice and untie the cords of the yoke, to set the oppressed
free and break every yoke? 7 Is it not to share your food with the hungry and
to provide the poor wanderer with shelter-- when you see the naked, to clothe
him, and not to turn away from your own flesh and blood? 8 Then your light will
break forth like the dawn, and your healing will quickly appear; then your righteousness
will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard. 9 Then
you will call, and the LORD will answer; you will cry for help, and he will say:
Here am I. "If you do away with the yoke of oppression, with the pointing
finger and malicious talk, 10 and if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry
and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness,
and your night will become like the noonday. 11 The LORD will guide you always;
he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame.
You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.
12 Your people will rebuild the ancient ruins and will raise up the age-old foundations;
you will be called Repairer of Broken Walls, Restorer of Streets with Dwellings.
13 "If you keep your feet from breaking the Sabbath and from doing as you
please on my holy day, if you call the Sabbath a delight and the LORD's holy day
honorable, and if you honor it by not going your own way and not doing as you
please or speaking idle words, 14 then you will find your joy in the LORD, and
I will cause you to ride on the heights of the land and to feast on the inheritance
of your father Jacob." The mouth of the LORD has spoken.
Zechariah 7
1 In the fourth year of King Darius, the word of the LORD came to Zechariah on
the fourth day of the ninth month, the month of Kislev. 2 The people of Bethel
had sent Sharezer and Regem-Melech, together with their men, to entreat the LORD
3 by asking the priests of the house of the LORD Almighty and the prophets, "Should
I mourn and fast in the fifth month, as I have done for so many years?" 4
Then the word of the LORD Almighty came to me: 5 "Ask all the people of the
land and the priests, `When you fasted and mourned in the fifth and seventh months
for the past seventy years, was it really for me that you fasted? 6 And when you
were eating and drinking, were you not just feasting for yourselves? 7 Are these
not the words the LORD proclaimed through the earlier prophets when Jerusalem
and its surrounding towns were at rest and prosperous, and the Negev and the western
foothills were settled?'" 8 And the word of the LORD came again to Zechariah:
9 "This is what the LORD Almighty says: `Administer true justice; show mercy
and compassion to one another. 10 Do not oppress the widow or the fatherless,
the alien or the poor. In your hearts do not think evil of each other.' 11 "But
they refused to pay attention; stubbornly they turned their backs and stopped
up their ears. 12 They made their hearts as hard as flint and would not listen
to the law or to the words that the LORD Almighty had sent by his Spirit through
the earlier prophets. So the LORD Almighty was very angry. 13 "`When I called,
they did not listen; so when they called, I would not listen,' says the LORD Almighty.
14 `I scattered them with a whirlwind among all the nations, where they were strangers.
The land was left so desolate behind them that no one could come or go. This is
how they made the pleasant land desolate."
There are Times for it:
Matthew 9
9 As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector's
booth. "Follow me," he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him.
10 While Jesus was having dinner at Matthew's house, many tax collectors and "sinners"
came and ate with him and his disciples. 11 When the Pharisees saw this, they
asked his disciples, "Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and `sinners'?"
12 On hearing this, Jesus said, "It is not the healthy who need a doctor,
but the sick. 13 But go and learn what this means: `I desire mercy, not sacrifice.'
[1] For I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners." 14 Then John's
disciples came and asked him, "How is it that we and the Pharisees fast,
but your disciples do not fast?" 15 Jesus answered, "How can the guests
of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom
will be taken from them; then they will fast. |
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
