Fasting: Purposeful, Powerful and Active

“Then Esther told them to reply to Mordecai, ‘Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go to the king, though it is against the law, and if I perish, I perish.’” -Esther 4:15-16

Let us not look upon our fasting today as a passive waiting or a hiding in our own little safe haven or cave, seeing our fasting as a private matter designed for private things. No, let us look upon our dependence on the Lord and fast with our own and the world’s perishing in the balance. Esther sought the Lord through fasting for survival both for her and her people. Her fasting was not passive, but active and courageous, seeking God and nothing else in order to face the king, in order to change the path of an edict that would destroy her people.

Mordecai, her cousin, encouraged and challenged her regarding her situation and fears:

“Do not think to yourself that in the king’s palace you will escape any more than all the other Jews. For if you keep silent at this time, relief and deliverance will rise for the Jews from another place, but you and your father’s house will perish. And who knows whether you have not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?” – Esther 4:13-14

From what are you trying to escape? For what has God called you away from silence to bring His relief and deliverance? Have you been called for such a time as this – this exact situation where you find yourself, these circumstances where God has guided you?

Use fasting to step out and be used as God’s weapon to bring the kingdom to the world, to bring faith to the masses. A life in Christ spent fasting for kingdom purposes is a weapon – a missional, purposeful, powerful tool that will save lives and transform people and communities.

Let us seek God in this way, with confidence and great humility, leaning into all the challenges and obstacles hindering God’s purposes that they may be dismantled and destroyed. 

Kevin Collins