Fasting is a weapon used to respond to the present and future attacks of the evil one.
Scripture reading
Esther 4 (NLT)
1When Mordecai learned about all that had been done, he tore his clothes, put on burlap and ashes, and went out into the city, crying with a loud and bitter wail.
2He went as far as the gate of the palace, for no one was allowed to enter the palace gate while wearing clothes of mourning.
3And as news of the king’s decree reached all the provinces, there was great mourning among the Jews. They fasted, wept, and wailed, and many people lay in burlap and ashes.
4When Queen Esther’s maids and eunuchs came and told her about Mordecai, she was deeply distressed. She sent clothing to him to replace the burlap, but he refused it.
5Then Esther sent for Hathach, one of the king’s eunuchs who had been appointed as her attendant. She ordered him to go to Mordecai and find out what was troubling him and why he was in mourning.
6So Hathach went out to Mordecai in the square in front of the palace gate.
7Mordecai told him the whole story, including the exact amount of money Haman had promised to pay into the royal treasury for the destruction of the Jews.
8Mordecai gave Hathach a copy of the decree issued in Susa that called for the death of all Jews. He asked Hathach to show it to Esther and explain the situation to her. He also asked Hathach to direct her to go to the king to beg for mercy and plead for her people.
9So Hathach returned to Esther with Mordecai’s message.
10Then Esther told Hathach to go back and relay this message to Mordecai:
11“All the king’s officials and even the people in the provinces know that anyone who appears before the king in his inner court without being invited is doomed to die unless the king holds out his gold scepter. And the king has not called for me to come to him for thirty days.”
12So Hathach gave Esther’s message to Mordecai.
13Mordecai sent this reply to Esther: “Don’t think for a moment that because you’re in the palace you will escape when all other Jews are killed.
14If you keep quiet at a time like this, deliverance and relief for the Jews will arise from some other place, but you and your relatives will die. Who knows if perhaps you were made queen for just such a time as this?”
15Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai:
16“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.”
17So Mordecai went away and did everything as Esther had ordered him.
Key passages
Isaiah 58:6, 8 — “Is not this the kind of fasting I have chosen…then your righteousness will go before you, and the glory of the LORD will be your rear guard.”
Esther 4:15 — “Go, gather together all the Jews who are in Susa, and fast for me. Do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my attendants will fast as you do. When this is done, I will go to the king, even though it is against the law. And if I perish, I perish.”
Fasting thought
“When the devil, the foe and the tyrant, sees a man bearing this weapon [fasting], he is straightway frightened and he recollects and considers that defeat which he suffered in the wilderness at the hands of the Savior; at once his strength is shattered and the very sight of this weapon, given us by our Commander-in-Chief, burns him.” Isaac of Syria
Prayer
Father in heaven, Lord Almighty, today through my fast I seek to be better prepared for the spiritual battles that I am engaged in. I choose to stand firm in you. I choose to live my life by the truth of God and not by the lies of the enemy. I choose to live righteously and not selfishly. I choose to live by faith and not by sight, extinguishing every attack from the enemy. I choose to live by the power of the Word of God. In the strong name of Jesus my Lord I pray. Amen.
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