Compilation on Fasting

Back in Feb I gave a talk on fasting which I learned a lot from. I wanted to record and share what I learned because I greatly increased my understanding and appreciation for fasting by compiling everything I could find from the scriptures and prophet’s talks. No longer will my main thoughts on fasting be going without food!

What is the History of Fasting?

· We don’t know exactly the circumstances under which fasting originated in ancient times. We do know it was associated with serious heartfelt sorrow for sin, mourning, and other occasions of strong emotion.

· We know Moses and Elijah, before Christ’s time, fasted to communicate w/ God.

· Public fasts were held for deaths of Saul & Jonathan and for assistance w/ wars.

· Jesus taught in His Sermon on the Mount that we “should be not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance,” in other words be sincere. He fasted 40 days and 40 nights

· BOM prophets fasted too. Nephi fasted to give thanks. Sons of Mosiah had great success for 14 years of missionary work with Lamanites – they had much prayer and fasting so they had the spirit and taught w/ power and authority of God.

· After Christ’s time things were corrupted. You could be excommunicated for not fasting when ecclesiastical rule said to.

· The earliest members of this church fasted in secret when they needed close communion with HF. Prophet JS received revelation recorded in DC about fasting. DC 59: 13-14.

· Fasting did not become a regular thing in the church until after the Kirtland Temple was built and then they did it on the first Thursday of every month.

· Then finally in Nauvoo, they started fasting to provide for the poor like we do today.

· As the church grew, fasting on Thursdays caused a lot of people to miss work or close their shops to attend fast and testimony meeting so they First Presidency officially made “Fast Day” be the first Sunday of every month starting in Dec 1896.

· Members may fast any time they have a need, but the First Sunday is when we have a Fast and Testimony meeting and donate a fast offering for the poor and needy.

How Should We Fast?

· We don’t eat or drink for 24 hours or “even to even”- which means going without 2 meals. So if we eat dinner on Saturday night, we would not eat or drink again until the evening meal on Sunday.

· Sincere prayer at the beginning and end. If not we are just going hungry! Be cheerful, don’t do it to impress others and don’t advertise your fast!

· All those who are physically able should fast.

· Children after they turn 8, should be encouraged to fast. Gospel Principles: “If we teach our children to fast, they will develop the spiritual strength to overcome greater temptations later in their lives!”

· Take the Sacrament.

· Strengthen ourselves and others by bearing testimony.

· Give a generous fast offering of at least the cost of the 2 meals that your family did not eat.

I always forget this part of fasting – that we are doing it to help people who are in need. We are making ourselves feel hungry and what it is to want which is just a small taste of how some people who need our help might feel. I never thought of that it is GOOD for us to feel hungry on Fast Sunday!

Elder Joseph B. Wirthlin said, “When we fast, brethren and sisters, we feel hunger. And for a short time, we literally put ourselves in the position of the hungry and the needy. As we do so, we have greater understanding of the deprivations they might feel. When we give to the bishop an offering to relieve the suffering we not only do something sublime for others, but we do something wonderful for ourselves as well. King Benjamin taught that as we give of our substance to the poor, we retain “a remission of our sins from day to day.“

So how much should we pay in fast offerings? Elder Wirthlin said, “My brothers and sisters, the measure of our offering to bless the poor is a measure of our gratitude to our HF. Will we, who have been blessed so abundantly, turn our backs on those who need our help? Paying a generous fast offering is a measure of our willingness to consecrate ourselves to relieve the suffering of others.

Elder Marion G. Romney said, “Be liberal in your giving, that you yourselves may grow. Don’t give just for the benefit of the poor, but give for your own welfare. Give enough so that you can give yourself into the Kingdom of God through consecrating of your means and your time.”

“I believe the most practical way to protect one’s self and family against economic need is to make liberal contributions for the support to the Lord’s poor according to the law of the Gospel. I am not promising you riches, but I am telling you that this is the most practical way to protect yourselves and families from actual need.”

What if everyone in the world observed the law of the fast and paid a fast offering? President Hinckley said if they did “the hungry would be fed, the naked clothed, the homeless sheltered. Our burden of taxes would be lightened. The giver would not suffer but would be blessed by this small abstinence. A new measure of concern and unselfishness would grow in the hearts of people everywhere. Can anyone doubt the divine wisdom that created this program which has blessed the people of this church as well as many who are not members of this church?”

So Why Do We Fast and What are the Different Purposes?

1- To draw near to God

2- To worship God

3- To overcome weaknesses

4- To overcome problems

5- For help/guidance for others (Mosiah 27: 22-23)

6- To come to know the truth of things (Alma 5:46 & Elder Lavulo)

7- To help others embrace the truth (sons of Mosiah to the Lamanites)

8- For comfort in times of sorrow and mourning (Alma 28:4-6)

9- To help us become humble

10- To feel closer to HF (Helaman 3:35)

11- To get in tune with God

12- To set aside temporal things to enjoy higher qualities of the spiritual

13- To express gratitude for Him.

WOW! 13 purposes to fast, that I collected out of church literature. I never knew you could do it for each of those personal reasons. And even to just express GRATITUDE. I wish I knew that before because there has been a few times when Luke and I will ask each other what we should fast for and we can’t think of anything anyone or ourselves needs. It’s not just for needs! Just fast to be humble or to say thank you or to get closer to God. So cool!!!

What Blessings Come From Fasting?

1- It’s good for our bodies – improved health.

2- Helps our minds be more active.

3- We feel at peace.

4- Get spiritual guidance.

5- Improves our lives.

6- Adds to our strength against temptation.

7- Helps us live other gospel principles because we are closer to the Lord ex: stop smoking

8- Gain strength of character.

9- Learn to control appetites and passions.

10- We prove to ourselves we have self-control so we are a little stronger.

11- Develop our faith = greater spiritual power like Alma and sons of Mosiah.

12- Increases the power of your words – missionary work and patriarchal blessings

13- Our homes our filled with peace.

14- Our spirit is energized.

15- We get courage.

16- We get confidence.

17- Helps us with our families, work, and callings.

18- Lightens our hearts and we have joy.

19- Prepares us for times of adversity

20- We better understand the needs of those less fortunate.

21- Opens the window of Heaven.

That is 21 specific blessings that can occur when we fast. I don’t know about you but I want my home to be filled with peace and I want my words to be more powerful. I want to be stronger against sin and adversity. I want to be healthier and have an active mind and energized spirit.

After researching this talk I think fasting is so cool. It is such a cool tool that we can use in the way that we all personally need it. And no longer will the hunger bother me because I will remember it is just a taste of what other who need my help feel. I challenge all of us to fast with real purpose to be glad to fast and to give as generously as you can , even in times when you have less, keep your offering the same and I know you will be blessed. We have always paid our tithing and fast offerings even when it was hard and we have always been taken care of. Even in this time of not having a job – we are going to be okay. I gained peace and faith and courage because of my recent fast.

Isaiah testified of the blessings that come when we fast: "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward. Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. . . . If thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noonday: and the Lord shall guide thee continually, and satisfy thy soul in drought, and make fat thy bones: and thou shalt be like a watered garden, and like a spring of water, whose waters fail not" (Isaiah 58:8–11).