By Daniel Dangoor
“sin is crouching at your door; it desires to have you, but you must master it.” (Genesis 4:7)
In the Garden of God, Adam was given an order to govern over all things (Genesis 1:26). In Christ we are given the same order, but now with an immutable authority, Christ’s (Revelations 1:6). Fasting, at first stance has nothing to do with not eating, nor has it any standing in purging. You and I have the calling of being masters, of being lords, that is why our King is called King of kings and Lord of lords. We are the kings, we are the lords, but to exercise our dominion as kings, as Celestial Citizens, as ambassadors of the Kingdom, we must first take dominion of our own lives.
A man had a sheep and a lion. He fed the lion daily, but he would keep his sheep without food for seven days at a time. I tell you that even if the sheep never died, it would never be stronger than the lion. Sounds simple? Now replace lion with the word flesh and sheep with spirit! We feed our flesh daily , and in some cases, hourly. For our spirit, we wait till Sunday so that we can get spoon fed milk. The strength we give our flesh is not only that of food and drink, but also that which comes by doing things which please our flesh (even if they are not sinful) such as, watching TV, reading a good book, or hanging out with friends. We must understand that if we feed our flesh more than we feed our spirit we will not be masters of our flesh, rather our desires become our masters and we cannot help but serve our desires. When it comes to making a decision that involves a choice to either please our Father or please our flesh, unfortunately, we end up bowing to our master, the flesh.
Fasting is the Secret of Kings. It is where Kings learn to take dominion of their desires. It is where they tell their flesh: “You shall not command me; I shall tell you what you can and cannot do”. How is a King supposed to take authority over demons if he cannot take authority over his stomach; if he cannot take authority over his eyes? Fasting is about giving up the flesh’s desires and satisfying the spirit’s desire. Notice that your spirit has a desire, and its desire is the same as the Spirit of God’s desire because as we have been regenerated in Christ so has been your spiritual will, too.
Let us take domain over our lives and over the spirit realm we have been sent to dwell in. Let us establish the Kingdom by being kings. Let us fast to tame our flesh, and let us feed our spirit.
Sidharth has talked about prayer, and we shall deal with spiritual food, but in this teaching we shall learn to take domain over our flesh, so that we don’t fall into sin.
God bless, be Kings.
Excellent article, Daniel! I am going to fast very soon! My heart agrees with you wholely!
Love Sid
It’s interesting to think about our conflicting desires. The spiritual ones can be so easy to ignore or misunderstand.
Thanks Daniel!! This truth of taking over the dominion is something new for me. Now i know many fastings that I took was just starving
Praise God that His teachings set His disciples free.
Thanks for your post, Daniel. Through fasting, we are actually agreeing to God’s purpose in our lives, and it is His will, that we learn to master our flesh, gain dominion over our lives, so that we lead it as per the will of the Spirit of God, that dwells in us. Amen!
Good one Daniel, we often end up feeding the wrong one, we realize only when the grace is shower on us to know the truth.
As sid said I would love to fast soon.
This is an excellent article. You paint it so clearly, and easy to understand.
blessings
This is one of the best teachings on fasting I’ve ever heard/read. For some reason I’ve never thought of it as a vehicle to learn how to reign as kings.
It was always fast in order to draw closer to the Lord or get an answer to prayer etc. which are good motives but this opens up a whole new kingdom thought process and goal. Good teaching thanks for spending time in prayer and study and sharing this.
Good message this is defiantly where i’m lacking in my spirtual life.
a very good read. I have read Celebration of discipline by Richard Foster. I totally “got” fasting then and I am surprised that our local churches are not making this a priority in our lives.
m blessed… A completely different view point from the fasting i know… I have really worked on this & its come so true. thanks Daniel.
I have never looked at fasting from quite that point of view before. Thank you for the insight, I have certainly been struggling with my flesh of late. I am going to take your advice and start a fast tomorrow morning.