7 Benefits of the bridegroom Fast – Mike Bickle Page 17
7 BENEFITS OF THE BRIDEGROOM FAST
I. The paradox of fasting
A. There is a new paradigm of fasting. Fasting enlarges the heart through encountering the beauty of a bridegroom God.
B. Rewards of the fasting touched heart; we position ourselves before the grace of God to enlarge our capacity to receive at the heart level. The rewards are primarily internal.
"so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.” (Matthew 6:18)
C. Desire is the key idea in understanding the bridegroom fast. It is the primary focus of our heart to enlarge desire or to encounter His desire.
D. Not only is there the impartation of new desires but also there is the removal or diminishing of sinful desires.
E. The Bridegroom fast is one of enjoyment. The Bridegroom fast is a pursuit of pleasure and enjoyment as you read the word. It is a fast that releases joy or enjoyment.
F. The result of the bridegroom fast is that we grow to love fasting.
II. 7 benefits to the bridegroom fast
A. It tenderizes and sensitizes the human heart to freely receive more of God.
1. This is the fast John the Baptist focused on for the enlargement of his heart in God. The scripture says very clearly that John did no miracles.
"For he will be great in the sight of the Lord, and shall drink neither wine nor strong drink. He will also be filled with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's womb. (Luke 1:15)
"He was the burning and shining lamp, and you were willing for a time to rejoice in his light. (John 5:35)
B. It illuminates the mind with the Spirit of revelation
"And they said to one another, "Did not our heart burn within us while He talked with us on the road, and while He opened the Scriptures to us?" (Luke 24:32 )
1. God opens the realm of secrets to us…John 1:20…
"The secret of the LORD is with those who fear Him, and He will show them His covenant." (Psalm 25:14 )
"But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. (1 Corinthians 2:10)
"All things that the Father has are Mine. Therefore I said that He will take of Mine and declare it to you. (John 16:15)
C. It enlarges our emotions
"But to the Son He says: "Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; a scepter of righteousness is the scepter of Your Kingdom." (Hebrews 1:8)
2. David talked about this in Psalm 69:7-10. He talked about zeal for His house consuming him. He relates it to fasting and to his brothers and friends misunderstanding him.
"Because for Your sake I have borne reproach; shame has covered my face. I have become a stranger to my brothers, and an alien to my mother's children; Because zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me. When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, that became my reproach." (Psalm 69:7-10)
"Then His disciples remembered that it was written, "Zeal for Your house has eaten Me up." (John 2:17)
"But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her." (Luke 10:42)
"One thing I have desired of the LORD, that will I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD, and to inquire in His temple." (Psalm 27:4)
"Therefore when Jesus perceived that they were about to come and take Him by force to make Him king, He departed again to the mountain by Himself alone." (John 6:15)
D. The bridegroom fast strengthens a deep sense of our spiritual identity
1. When you hear His voice you are happy to be a voice
"He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices greatly because of the bridegroom's voice. Therefore this joy of mine is fulfilled. (John 3:29)
b. He had an inward tranquility, joy and gladness unrelated to having honor in the nation. The nation said, "John is demonized."
"For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say, `He has a demon.' (Matthew 11:18)
3. He must increase and I must decrease
Beloved that is a serious thing. He gives his final word in scripture in John 3:29, "I have heard the voice of the bridegroom and I am filled with joy."
4. When we hear the voice of a bridegroom it changes what we want. What we fear losing also changes.
III. REVIEW: four benefits/rewards of the bridegroom fast
A. To tenderize or sensitize our hearts to experience more of God's desire for us.
B. To illumine our minds with revelation of God’s beauty and secrets of His heart.
C. To enlarge our emotions to receive zeal for righteousness.
D. To strengthen the deep sense of our spiritual identity: knowing how God sees me.
IV. Our body, soul and spirit are integrated together
V. when our physical appetites are out of rhythm with the Holy Spirit our spiritual capacity to enjoy God diminishes.
A. Engaging in sinful physical appetites defiles our body.
B. Overindulging in legitimate physical appetites.
C. Neglecting God's physical health principles depletes our energies negatively.
VI. Dethroning the false god of overindulgence in the church
"many…are the enemies of the cross of Christ: whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame-- who set their mind on earthly things…we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body," (Philippians 3:17-21)
A. This false god of overindulgence of physical appetites undermines the cross. The Western church is inundated with this reality. Their god is their belly.
B. Food, a God ordained blessing, has been exploited by demonic powers and many worship at its shrine in idolatry.
C. The city of Sodom is a Biblical example of this.
"this was the iniquity of…Sodom: She…had pride, fullness of food …abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy." (Ezekiel 16:49)
D. The God of food - Numbers 11 is a powerful exposé on the God of food and it’s operation in the generation of the Exodus out of Egypt.
"the mixed multitude…yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: "Who will give us meat to eat? We remember the fish…we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and the garlic…now our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!" (Numbers 11:4-6)
1. They yielded to craving of the physical appetite, crying out for a change of diet, tastier food.This seems harmless,neutral in our culture.They complain to God that their beings are dried up because they have only manna to eat.
2. In the church in the Western world our beings have dried up in reality because we have refused the invitation of the Spirit to a fasted lifestyle. It is exactly the opposite from what the Israelites claimed.
E. The Western church today is like the Israelites in Numbers 11. They didn’t fear starvation. They desired tasty food. It was related to pleasure through food.
VII. Spiritual appetites in God’s plan
A. God built the physical appetites this way so that He could bring us forth as voluntary lovers, so we could choose to walk according to our spiritual appetites.
B. My response is the call to fast. I began to answer the call to the fasted lifestyle by the grace of God in January 1997. I run into new dynamics of how entrenched I am in this god of food throughout my life.
C. God wants to free His church from this primary dominion of our physical appetite
VIII. God’s gift of grace empowered fasting
A. Grace empowered fasting is God's gift to dethrone this false god
B. The false god of food resists fasting and prayer.
1. In John the Baptist's day that spirit was operating as in every generation. "For John came neither eating nor drinking, and they say,`He has a demon.' (Matthew 11:18)
2. David refers to this in Psalm 69. Familiar relationships became hostile to him because of his zeal for the house of God. Fasting is in the same verse.
"for Your sake I have borne reproach…(becoming)a stranger to my brothers… an alien to my mother's children…zeal for Your house has eaten me up, and the reproaches of those who reproach You have fallen on me. When I wept and chastened my soul with fasting, that became my reproach." (Psalm 69:7-10)
C. We worship before the god of food. If you question that, take away food and the measure of the anger is the measure of the worship.
D. Do not underestimate the power of this false god in the Western church. The church today feels fine without much or consistent fasting. Yet the preaching is powerless, the altars are empty, there is little evangelism. No one is afraid to associate with the church like in the book of Acts. Spiritual dullness marks our lives in God. We are trapped in bondage to pleasure, entertainment and recreation.
E. God’s answer for the church is fasting.
IX. prepares the human spirit to encounter God (Benefit 6)
Fasting is designed to remove barriers and hindrances to prayer without ceasing. It prepares us to commune with and to encounter God in dramatic ways.
X. spiritual warfare on several levels, especially to protect God's anointed in special seasons of power (benefit 7)
A. In seasons, there is an increase of the power of God and the counterattack as well. Fasting is a form of spiritual warfare. It also tears down strongholds of the mind.
B. The end time church is going to be free from the god of food. She is going to come up out of the wilderness leaning on her beloved.
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