The Bryce Crawford Podcast - What Is Biblical Fasting? (EP 52)

Episode Date: November 11, 2024

In this video, Bryce talks about what biblical fasting is. Filmed By; Josh Rodriguez @whitehorse.studios MERCH👉 https://www.jesusinthestreet.com subscribe for more! Sow Into My Ministry One-Time or Monthly! Visit 👉 https://www.equipnet.org/missionaries/bcrawford   (all donations are tax deductible) Download Our FREE Bible Plan https://growinfaith.readytoconnect.com/join-the-one-year-bible-challenge (https://growinfaith.readytoconnect.com/join-the-one-year-bible-challenge) follow me on other platforms! Podcast Instagram 👉https://instagram.com/brycecrawfordpodcast Personal Instagram 👉 https://instagram.com/brycecrawford Merch Instagram 👉 https://instagram.com/ilovejesus Tiktok (main) 👉https://www.tiktok.com/@brycecrawford Tiktok (2nd) 👉 https://www.tiktok.com/@adventuresofbryce Snapchat https://snapchat.com/add/brycecraww Twitter 👉 https://twitter.com/ibrycecrawford #christianity #christian #Jesus #BryceCrawford #christiantiktok #christianvid eos #holyspirit #Jesusheals #viral #christianvideo #venicebeach #evangelism

What's going on, guys. Welcome back to another episode of the Bryce Crawford podcast. I'm Bryce, and in today's episode, we're going to be talking about fasting. What is the biblical view of fasting? Why should we fast? What happens when we fast? It's going to be an amazing episode. This is something I've been learning and trying to implement more into my life as a Christian. But before we get into it, I want to give a big thank you guys, first of all, because for a week, we were the number one podcast on religion and spirituality on Spotify and America. That is huge. Thank you guys so much for listening to us. If you guys are listening to us, if you guys listen to us on Spotify. It means a world.

Thank you guys so much. I've got two quick announcements for you guys. First announcement is the whole month of November. Our website, Jesus in the street.com, is completely discounted. We're going to be dropping new stuff. We've got flags dropping this Thursday, or the flags might already be out by the time this comes out. We got so many things. Price cuts all of November in December.

We've got bigger discounts going Black Friday through Cyber Monday. And the whole month of November, we've got a giveaway going on. So you can win AirPods and Xbox. or a PS5. And all you have to do is you can enter for free. You literally just got to go to Jesus in the street.com and put your email in the website. And then you get a free entry.

And then on top of that, every $10 that you spend on the website, you get an extra five entries into the giveaway. We're giving away AirPods, Xbox, and PS5. It's going to be insane. So go to Jesus in the street.com, get some merch, put your email in, get submitted into the giveaway. And then the second thing I wanted to announce

is that the whole month of December, we're going to be dropping a podcast every day from December 1st to December 24th. Last year, we did a Luke series where I broke down each chapter of Luke every day until Christmas Eve so that you would have read the whole book of Luke. But we did it in a minute and 30 seconds. This year, we're going to be creating podcasts every day that give a verse by verse breakdown of the book of Luke so that from December 1st to December 24th, if you follow along,

you will have read the whole book of Luke by Christmas Eve. It's going to be amazing. And if you want to download a PDF that just tracks with you, go to Jesus. in the street.org, which is our ministry website, and go download the Luke PDF so that you guys can print it out and follow along for yourselves. It's going to be amazing. The Luke series was so powerful last year. We had four million people engaged with it. And so I'm excited to see this year, the people don't want to stick with it and do a verse by verse breakdown. It's going to be amazing. But let's talk about fasting. Let's talk about what fasting is and how we can apply to our daily lives. Fasting is

something that I've seen drastically transform my life. And, you know, the basic definition of fasting is saying no to some form of worldliness or harmful fleshly indulgence. So you'll see a lot of people, especially around the time of Lent, people are like, oh, I'm going to fast from chocolate because I got a sweet tooth, or I'm going to fast from coffee because I've got a coffee addiction, or I'm going to fast from this, or I'm going to fast from that. You know, a lot of people fast in generality. Some people fast from their phone, social media,

because things are starting to become idols in their lives. And I think that's great. That's a beautiful thing. I believe that we should truly fast from things that are starting to take over the throne our heart. But what a biblical fast is is to go without food for the purpose to seek God earnestly in prayer. So fasting, yes, is saying no to some form of worldliness or flesh they desire, but a biblical fast is strictly saying no to food for the purpose of seeking God in intimacy and through prayer. And so why would we just go without food? What does that exactly mean? We're going to talk about

scripture, but fasting is God's appointed way for us to cry out to him in special and specific needs. I mean, in Matthew 7, Jesus says, ask, seek, knock. And I truly believe that this scripture goes hand in hand with fasting, because when we starve ourselves physically of food, it actually sharpens our mental focus into what we're fasting for. And so we begin to hyper fixate on Jesus, who he is in his character. There's no distractions, because I'm going to be real. Glutney is the one sin in today's day and age that we just don't talk about much.

That is like a hidden killer, a silent killer. Like we idolize food way too much. And this isn't always about the idolatry of food. But when we starve ourselves physically for the sake of seeking God intimately, it just does something in the spiritual realm. And it sharpens our focus on God's character and our relationship with him intimately. And it's so powerful. And we should resort to fasting out of a deep sense of our weakness and a need to seek God in a more heartfelt manner.

I mean, this is like a beautiful picture of true surrender. I mean, fasting is so specific. You know, so many people nowadays, they're like, oh, I don't need to fast. This is an Old Testament thing. No, no, no. I mean, the Old Testament, it did happen a lot, but I mean, Jesus Christ calls us to a life fasting. Look at Jesus in Matthew chapter 4.

When Jesus Christ is fasting for 40 days, what is he doing? He's fasting for 40 days in the purpose of seeking God in solitude. Through prayer and fasting, Jesus Christ grew in relationship with God, the Father on earth. And so even Jesus Christ lived a lifestyle of fasting. But what are reasons to fast? Why should someone fast? Well, the Bible shows us that people fast for national emergencies, deliverance from danger, protection, help in sickness, special guidance,

humbling ourselves before God, seeking deliverance for the oppressed and seeking revelation from God. And you actually see these things all throughout the Old Testament. On the day of atonement, the Levites would literally fast as a sign of human. humility and repentance from Israel. So the Levites would come together and they would fast in a humble heart posture before the Lord and out of a repentant heart before the Lord. And so we see even in the Old Testament on the Day of Atonement, they would fast.

We see this in Leviticus. They would fast on behalf of humility and repentance for Israel. Moses fasted 80 days on Mount Sinai to receive divine revelation about the Ten Commandments and to spend time with God. So Moses himself fasts for 80 days straight on the mount and receives divine revelation from God. So you may be someone that is fasting on behalf of revelation from God. Whenever we fast, it sharpens our mind into the spiritual realm and we actually get to access the mind and wisdom of God because we are so hyper fixated on intimacy with them because we are starving ourselves physically. And then when you look at that passage in Leviticus where it talks about the day of atonement fast,

but that was out of a heart of repentance. man sometimes when we confess our sins we need to fast to overcome temptation sometimes man sometimes temptation is so strong and we need to starve ourselves physically to seek god in such a deep spiritual intimate way that it does something in the spiritual realm to actually just rebuke the temptation coming our way daniel does a partial fast we see to receive revelation on aspects of israel's future how do we apply that today's life man if you're in need of a decision man i don't know which job offer to take. I don't know what to do after high school. I don't know what to do with our life. Whenever we fast, we're actually putting decisions in the hands of the Lord and saying,

God, I'm starving myself physically again to seek you intimately in a spiritual form to ask you for a specific answer about a specific area in my life. Because we're saying, God, the situation's in your hands. I put it into your hands. I can make a decision out of my flesh, but I really want to hear your voice specifically on a situation. God, while I'm fasting, I'm not going to stop fasting. you give me an answer. Daniel did a partial fast to receive revelation about the aspects of Israel's future. Then you look at someone like Hannah in the Old Testament who was barren and desperate for a kid. She fasts what happens? She has a child named Samuel. If you don't know who Samuel is, Samuel's a prominent leader and figure of the Old Testament. And the reason that she got to have Samuel was because

she sought God out of a fast. She says, hey, listen, the physical world, my barren self, the physical world says I'm barren and I can't have a child but God I believe you're greater than what the physical world can say about me so I'm going to seek you in a fast to see if a child is something that you have in store for me and who do we get we get Samuel a prominent old testament figure Esther called for a fast among the Jews to prevent their impending destruction from the government at the time that is fasting for a national emergency and right now as we're filming this podcast it's election day and we're about to find out the results of an election and some people are putting their faith and trust in the Republican Party or in the Democratic Party.

But if we really care about the outcome of our country, we would seek the Lord in fasting and prayer and saying, God, regardless of the outcome, you stand on the throne, Jesus, you reign. But man, God, I'm going to seek you in fasting and prayer that if it be your will, this be the outcome of an election, a national emergency, a heart posture of prayer. And outside of emergencies, like, we don't need to just treat God, treat fasting the way that a lot of people treat fair, I mean prayer. We don't need to treat fasting the way a lot of people treat. treat prayer and that's if, oh, we only do it in case we need something. Like sure, we fast on behalf of

things, but I believe that the Bible is calling us into a lifestyle of fasting. Like, man, if we really care about someone, if we really care about a situation, if we really care about God's opinion, we'll turn the plate down. We'll actually starve ourselves physically and say, God, look, I'm down to turn the plate down. I'm down to turn the fork down to hear your voice and see what you have to say. I want to know you deeper on an intimate level, God, and I need to hear your voice. We must learn to fast and live it as a lifestyle of prayer. God also received Nineveh's fast when they were literally wicked. Jonah goes to Nineveh, he preaches the gospel and they fast on behalf of their wickedness and God receives their repentant heart out of a fast. And then Jesus fasted in preparation for

his public ministry and to conquer the devil's temptations. Jesus' number one defense in his fast for 40 days was his prayer and intimate time with Jesus through the scriptures. He quotes scripture and he quotes, he quotes scripture, and through his fast, he was able to overcome temptation. And Jesus actually calls us in Matthew 26. He tells the disciples, pray lest you fall into temptation. So we see a big correlation between fasting and prayer. Fasting and prayer is a deadly combo to overcome temptation. Because when you're praying, you're in direct communication with the eternal one. And fasting starves ourselves physically so that we sharpen our focus spiritually and say, God, I need to hear your voice. God, I'm relying on you. I'm not relying on food. I'm not relying on my own circumstances.

I'm not relying on my own strength. God, I'm relying on you. So why should we fast today? Those are examples in the Bible of what fasted and why people should fast. But why should you and I fast today? It humbles ourselves before God as we see in Psalm 69 and Psalm 35. Man, so many people, the number one sin that happened in the garden, the number one sin people struggle with today that they don't know is pride. We oftentimes think we know it all. There are two moments where where I think in my faith journey, I know everything. But in reality, I don't. I need to rely on Jesus Christ.

And we hear his voice more clear when we fast. And if we fast, we humble ourselves and say, God, I'm not trying to do us. I'm not trying to make a decision out of my flesh. I'm not trying to make a decision without consulting you. God, I just need to hear your voice. God, I just love you. God, I've got this friend.

He's struggling. And I just want to fast on behalf of him. You know, our battle's not against flesh and blood. So, man, God, I'm just fasting on behalf of my friend. we need to humble ourselves. We need to humble ourselves. Luke 2 shows us that fasting is worship. It's a part of our life to God.

I mean, this is a lifestyle. It's an act of worship because we're saying, God, I'm doing this for you. Man, no one fasts for themselves. I mean, sure, nowadays you've got someone like Joe Rogan or people that talk about the benefits of fasting. But from the Christian perspective, or just in generality,

no one genuinely wants to not eat. No one genuinely wants to starve themselves. So fasting is a form of worship. It's a part of the Christian life. In Matthew chapter 4, fasting can be an expression of sorrow and repentance to God. See, me, God, I'm sorry. Like, I need you. Or if you're struggling with sin areas, fasting is saying, God, give me clarity and strategy to conquer this temptation.

Fasting is the Holy Spirit's vision, guide, and empowerment in our lives. as we see in Acts 13. And then it's to seek deliverance for the oppressed. In Isaiah 586 we see. Man, you can fast on behalf of your friends. See breakthrough. A lot of people want to see breakthrough for their friends. Want to see breakthrough in a sin area of your life.

I want to see breakthrough in your family's situation in your parents' marriage and your relationship. Fast. It does something in the spiritual realm. Now, when fasting look, I have a major warning for fasting. I want you to avoid these two things when you fast. Spiritual pride and legalism.

Spiritual pride can sneak in when fasting because you might think you're better than other Christians because not a lot of people fast. And that is not what we do. If you fall into spiritual pride because you think you're better than yourself and your chest gets big, which is like, oh, I fast and not a lot of Christians fast, you're the Pharisee now. And the goal of fasting is actually to live a lifestyle of fasting that encourages other people to fast. not turn them away from the heart of the father. We need to encourage other people to fast. And the second is legalism.

This isn't something that we necessarily do to get something in return from God. We're not fasting as like God's a genie in a bottle like, okay, if I fast, God's going to do X, Y, and Z for me. No, we do this out of a heart of purity. We do this out of a heart of humility. We do this out of a heart of love. The same reason we read the Bible,

same reason we pray, the same reason when that we listen to the commandments of Jesus Christ, is not because we get something in return. is because we love him. We do this out of a heart from purity. So avoid legalism. Avoid it is like this thing. It's like a transaction with God.

It's not. I mean, we just do this out of a heart of love. So what is the proper approach to fasting? It's under the Lord. It's something we do for him, for his glory, to seek him out, depth or deepen our intimacy with him, and grow in relationship with him,

with the intention to glorify God and whatever the result of the fast may be. you may be fasting for something and you might not get the answer you were fasting for. And if that's the case, we have to trust that the reason that you didn't get the response that you want is because God is protecting us from something or wasn't in God's will. Our heart posture in the fast should not be, God, give this to me now because I'm fasting, but saying, look, God, listen, I'm starving myself physically because I'm trying to seek you Jesus in this area of my life. And I pray that it be this outcome. I'm seeking you out for this outcome, but I pray that the outcome and the result of this fast may be in your will, God.

And that should be our heart posture of the fast. And I really pray that fasting is something that you guys get to do today. Because I thought for a long time, in all my life, I thought that fasting was just some ancient ritual that people did in the Old Testament. I thought it was kind of whack, to be honest with you. But this year, we've really tried to challenge ourselves with fasting in our ministry, and we've seen God do something in amazing ways. We did a five-day water fast before the Marty Grawebent that we went to

and filmed Street Evangelism at. And what it did in the spiritual realm was insane. People were getting healed left and right. Drug dealers were getting encountered. It was amazing. We fasted three days before the Satanic temple and saw God do amazing things in people's lives. I mean, the first night we were there. I truly believed that this was because of the fast.

People were flocking to us. I've never had a moment where I went out to share Jesus with people. And people just came up to me without me saying anything and immediately started a conversation with Jesus. I mean, people were coming up to me and being like, yeah, I'm so broken. my heart is gone, I'm lost, I've lost everything, I don't know what to do. And I would be like, oh my goodness, why did that happen? Because of the fast. Something happens in the spiritual realm when we fast.

So fasting has genuinely changed my walk as a Christian. And I pray that you guys be transformed by fasting. Jesus, I thank you for this day. God, I thank you for my friends watching and listening to this. God, I just pray that fasting may become a lifestyle. Fasting may not be forgotten, God. Fasting is not some ancient ritual that you've just buried in the Bible. But God, you call us to a lifestyle of fasting.

If we care about our intimate relationship with you, if we care about the outcomes of situations, inviting you into decisions, God, and even care about our friends who are being oppressed by the devil and the sinfulness of the world, God, that we would just fast and seek you out. God, I thank you that fasting is an opportunity for us to seek you in deeper intimacy. God, I thank you, I bless you, and I just bless everyone watching and listen to this, God, and I just pray that fasting may become a part of their lifestyle, and they will be able to grow in deeper intimacy with you, God, through fasting and prayer. Jesus name. Amen. Guys, thank you so much for watching and listening to this episode.

If you guys love the podcast, follow us on all platforms, Spotify, YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Bryce Crawford podcast. Guys, be ready for the December Luke series. It's going to be amazing. A podcast today, December 1st through December 24th, go to Jesus in the street.org to download the PDF, go to Jesus in the street.com to access all the discounts on the merch all of November. Love you guys. See you guys in the next video.