David Diga Hernandez - 10 Benefits of Prayer and Fasting

So before I show you the 10 benefits of prayer and fasting, I want to encourage you that if you haven’t made prayer and fasting a regular part of your walk with God, I encourage you to do so. If you make prayer and fasting a regular part of your Christian discipline, you’ll begin to see these benefits and more. The 10 benefits I’m going to give you aren’t the only benefits of prayer and fasting; these are just the ones I’m listing for you right now. So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at number one: the benefit of fasting. Number one is repentance. Fasting aids you in repentance. Look at what the Scripture says in 1 Samuel 7:3-6: «Then Samuel said to all the people of Israel, 'If you want to return to the Lord with all your hearts, get rid of your foreign gods and your images of Ashtaroth. Turn your hearts to the Lord and obey Him alone. Then He will rescue you from the Philistines.' So the Israelites got rid of their images of Baal and Ashtaroth and worshiped only the Lord. Then Samuel told them, 'Gather all of Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray to the Lord for you.' So they gathered at Mizpah, and in a great ceremony drew water from a well and poured it out before the Lord. They also went without food all day and confessed that they had sinned against the Lord.» That’s 1 Samuel 7:3-6.

Now, let me make this perfectly clear: you should never pray or fast to punish yourself. Punishing yourself or inflicting pain upon yourself does not please God. Yes, God can be glorified in our pain and in our suffering, but self-harm, self-punishment, and self-hatred are religious ideas. We don’t gain the forgiveness of God by punishing ourselves; we gain the forgiveness of God because of what Jesus did on the cross. When it comes to prayer and fasting, let’s not have this mindset, the mindset that says the more I suffer while praying and fasting, the more God is pleased with me. That is just religious thinking. Still, we can’t escape this Old Testament truth: when people would repent, their repentance was often accompanied by fasting. There’s no commandment in the New Testament for the New Testament believer to fast while repenting, but it does provide us with benefits still.

Now, here’s how that looks for the New Testament believer in a practical sense. Let’s say that for several weeks—two or three weeks—you’ve fallen into an old temptation; you are giving in to an old habit, or maybe there is some character flaw that you allowed to dominate your life. During those two or three weeks that you were yielding to that temptation and surrendering to the flesh, you were strengthening the flesh and weakening the influence of the spirit man over your life. So, when you repent and fast, it’s like you’re resetting things in the spirit. You are putting the flesh back under subjection, weakening its cravings, desires, and ability to dominate your life. It’s as if you’re saying to the flesh, «Okay, I let you have a little too much leeway for the past several weeks; now I’m going to put you into subjection,» and it increases spiritual influence over your life. So in that way, fasting can benefit us during repentance.

Number two: clarity. Acts 13:2 says this: «One day, as these men were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Appoint Barnabas and Saul for the special work to which I have called them.'» Notice that it was while they were praying and fasting that they received instruction from the Holy Spirit. When you fast and pray, there’s something about it that enables you to hear more clearly in the spiritual realm or more easily recognize the voice of God in the spirit. Fasting weakens the flesh, and whatever weakens the flesh strengthens my spirit. Again, it’s not about self-punishment; it’s not about starving yourself, and I don’t recommend fasting in an unhealthy way. But it is true that when you fast and pray, you bring about spiritual clarity.

Number three: ministry establishment. Acts 14:23 says this: «Paul and Barnabas also appointed elders in every church with prayer and fasting. They turned the elders over to the care of the Lord in whom they had put their trust.» So whenever you’re about to establish a ministry, begin a new work, or even appoint someone into a leadership role or team position, it’s recommended that you accompany this decision with prayer and fasting. There’s something about praying and fasting that helps solidify that spiritual foundation when you’re beginning a new work or appointing someone into ministry.

Number four: favor. Esther 4:16 says, «Go and gather together all the Jews of Susa and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. My maids and I will do the same, and then though it is against the law, I will go in to see the king. If I must die, I must die.» Esther was about to present herself to the king in order to speak on behalf of the Israelites, and when she did that, she was actually violating the law. But she prayed and fasted, asking others to pray and fast, that there might be favor on her selfless decision. So prayer and fasting can bring forth the favor of God.

Number five: Healing. Psalm chapter 35, verses 13 through 14 say this: «Yet when they were ill, I grieved for them; I denied myself by fasting for them.» Now, in this case, the psalmist writes, «But my prayers returned unanswered.» I was saddened as though they were my friends and family, as if I were grieving for my own mother. Second Samuel, chapter 12, verse 16 says, «David pleaded with God for the child; he fasted and went into his house and spent the nights lying on the ground.» This was when David’s child was dying; he fasted for his child. So here, in Psalm 35 and Second Samuel 12, we see that fasting was used as a means to pray for healing. When you pray persistently, it is a consistent strike against the circumstance; but when you fast and pray, you add more weight behind each strike. Thus, fasting and praying can help to bring forth healing.

Number six: Spiritual preparation. Matthew, chapter 4, verses 1 through 4 say this: «Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he then became hungry. The tempter came and said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.' But he answered and said, 'It is written, man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'» Here we see that Jesus went into a season of fasting before stepping into the destiny that God had for him. Now, I know I mentioned ministry establishment, which was a bit more specific, but here I’m talking more broadly about spiritual preparation. Spiritual preparation is needed not just for ministry, but when you’re beginning a new job, when you’re about to take a test at school, when you’re starting a new educational path, or when you’re entering into marriage. When you’re about to make a major business decision or expecting a child, you can fast and pray to prepare yourself spiritually for what lies ahead.

Number seven: Learning dependence on God. Again, I reference back to Matthew, chapter 4, verses 1 through 4. We just read it, and it’s a powerful context because I will use it a couple of times here. When Jesus went into the wilderness, he spoke those powerful words: «Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.» In other words, I’m relying upon the Lord. I’m leaving food out of the equation, at least just for a little while. Again, don’t be unhealthy in your approach to fasting, but Jesus chose to rely upon God’s power. And when you fast, it teaches you dependence on God for strength.

Number eight: Practice for temptation. Referencing again Matthew, chapter 4, verses 1 through 4, we know that when Jesus was hanging upon the cross, many taunted him. What did they say to him when they tried to get him to come down? They said, «If you are the Son of God, come down from there. If you are the Son of God, come off of the cross.» Now, don’t those words sound familiar? Let’s read them again. Jesus was told, «If you are the Son of God, come off the cross.» Where did he receive the practice for that? Matthew, chapter 4, verses 1 through 4. Let’s look at it again: «Then Jesus was led up by the Holy Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After he had fasted 40 days and 40 nights, he then became hungry. The tempter came and said to him, 'If you are the Son of God, command that these stones become bread.'» Do you realize that the wilderness was practice for the temptation to come off the cross? During that season of fasting, Jesus was practicing how to overcome temptation, saying no to the flesh. Now, we understand he was God in the flesh, but still, he modeled this for you and me. Sometimes when people fast and pray and break that fast, they feel guilty. You may say, «I’m going to fast for the next three days,» and then on day two, maybe you forgot you were fasting, grabbed something by impulse, ate it, and then felt guilty. Some people have asked me, «Is breaking your fast a sin?» Well, not necessarily. It’s a spiritual discipline you should practice, but it’s not necessarily a sin to break a fast—not the act itself. What’s interesting here is that fasting gives you somewhat of a temptation simulator. Think about how much practice it takes to show patience while you’re incredibly hungry, to show love and kindness while you’re exhausted from not having eaten. You see, fasting is a temptation simulator, and when you break that fast, you can rest assured that you just broke the fast; you failed in the simulation, yes, but it doesn’t necessarily have real-world consequences. Now, if you learn to subject the flesh during times of fasting, it teaches you how to deny impulse. It teaches you how to say no, even though the cravings are strong. It teaches you to keep an alert mind even when you’re exhausted. If you can overcome temptation during the fast, you’re better prepared to resist actual temptation that comes at you in everyday life.

Number nine: You can fast for protection. As Ezra, chapter 8, verse 21 says, «There, by the canal, I proclaimed a fast so that we might humble ourselves before God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions.»

Finally, number 10: you can see an increase in spiritual authority that brings deliverance. Now let me be very clear here; the authority we have in the Spirit is already ours. When I talk about an increase in authority, I’m not talking about you receiving more of the power of the Holy Spirit; I’m talking about you having access to that power, which you’ve already obtained. It’s kind of like a debit card and a bank account. If you lose your debit card, it doesn’t mean your account is empty; it means that you just need to renew your access to it. In the same way, we have spiritual authority to command forces of darkness, but sometimes, because of the way we live, we’re not necessarily accessing that authority. But look at what happened in Matthew chapter 17, verses 19-21: Then the disciples came to Jesus privately and said, «Why could we not drive it out?» And he said to them, «Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there, ' and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you. But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.» Jesus was specifically talking about a certain level of demonic power that only came out through prayer and fasting. What does that tell me? It tells me that when I fast and pray, it does something for my access to spiritual authority, and I possess some type of power that, though I have it in the Spirit, I wouldn’t have had access to it without the act of praying and fasting. Praying and fasting disconnect you from the earthly and take you deeper into the heavenly Father.