By Sidharth Mohandas

Are you facing problems and sins in your life that makes you say…“Why does it seem as though the Lord is not for me? Why doesn’t God help at the time of trial or temptation? Doesn’t the victory belong to the Lord?”. Probably you have been bound with some addiction or it may be some problem that keeps repeating itself in cycle. You’ve tried and tried but you have failed. If this is you, read on…

The Israelites faced something similar. In the book of Judges Chapter 20 we read of an inner conflict between two tribes. An awful crime was committed by a group of men from the tribe of Benjamin [they raped a Levites' concubine and she died]. The other Israelites heard of this and went up asking the Benjamites to surrender these men who did this wicked thing. However, the Benjamites came together to fight against the Israelites. Now we find the Israelites inquiring of God twice, “Who of us shall go against the Benjamites?” And God asked Judah to go up and battle against them. Scripture tells us that the Israelites were defeated hopelessly the first time. So they approached the Lord again and then went for the battle again, sadly history repeats itself. Wasn’t it God’s will for them to win the battle? Have you faced something like this and wondered… “Isn’t the Word of God supposed to work for me?”. The Israelites go for battle the third time… and you know what? They won… But what was different from the last battle and the first two? Scripture tells us that “They fasted that day until evening…” [Judges 20: 26b]. They went beyond the physical battle into the spiritual realm and broke the stronghold through fasting.

According to Jewish tradition, every Jew was to fast on the Day of Atonement [Yom Kippur]. Referring to this the writer of Leviticus tells us, This is a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourself [fast] and not do any work… because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you. [Leviticus 16:29-30]. Therefore through fasting we are “denying self” or “afflicting our souls”. Denying self or afflicting our souls is so hard most of the time- i.e. saying no to our thoughts, not being led by our feelings or emotions and giving up our will for His. Fasting thus renders power to us to master the tyranny of self.

I encourage you to fast today. If you need any help, feel free to ask me and I will respond to you as soon as I can.