Dear beloved: In Esther 4:16 Queen Esther issued an order to Mordecai to have all the Jews of Susa pray and fast for her. v16 "Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa, and pray for me; do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my maidens also will fast in the same way. And thus I will go in to the king, which is not according to the law, and if I perish, I perish." Esther was motivated by an urgency that moved her to act boldly and decisively to risk her own life in exchange for the life of her people.
The Holy Spirit will burden you with a desire to fast, and it will be a burden for others, for your family or nation, for the salvation of the lost, or for your own deliverance. Answer the call when it comes, for with it comes great blessings and victory. Jesus talked about fasting in Matthew 9:14, Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, "Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but Your disciples do not fast?" v15 And Jesus said to them, "The attendants of the bridegroom cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast." The Bridegroom is gone away now, and so it is our opportunity to seek the Bridegroom through fasting.
Isaiah 58:8 says this about the victory in fasting, v8 Then your light will break out like the dawn, And your recovery will speedily spring forth; And your righteousness will go before you; The glory of the Lord will be your rear guard. v9 Then you will call, and the Lord will answer; YOu will cry, and He will say, "Here I am."
Several years ago I did a three day Esther fast, crying out for the deliverance of my children and grandchildren. At the end of the three days the Lord gave me an awesome dream. In the dream I was kneeling beside a mountain stream up in the Rocky Mountains, dipping from the stream with a large dipper. I had my head tilted back and was pouring the water down my throat, enjoying the cold refeshing all the way down into every cell of my body. The Lord was showing me through the fast that He would be my everlasting stream, a river of living water welling up into eternal life. (John 4:14) He was showing me that if I put my faith and hope in Him I would never thirst again. Isaiah 58:11 And the Lord will continually guide you, And satisfy your desire in scorched places, and give strength to your bones; And you will be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water whose waters never fail. Beloved, seek the Lord this day through prayer and fasting, become the everlasting spring that He promises you can be. God bless you this day as you seek the source of all waters, in Christ, Jim
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