Spiritual fattening through physical fasting

water into cup

Physical fasting is the launching pad for spiritual fattening. There are many who would love to be spiritually fat but cannot stop from physical feasting. The Psalmist, listing some benefits of the anointing uttered these words, 'But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil...They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing.' (Psalm 92: 10, 14). See the connection between fresh anointing oil with flourishing and fatness. The Hebrew word for 'fat' is 'dashen' meaning to be rich and fertile. Flourishing in Hebrew is 'ra'anan' meaning to be green and leafy.

To be spiritually fat means that you are expressing the anointing and can impart it in the lives of others. It means that when people leave your presence they have had an encounter with God and are satisfied. Have you ever been to a church service, convention or see an evangelist with your expectation level high but only to come home disappointed? Certainly! Why? Because the person who ministered was lean spiritually. As a minister, are you spiritually lean or spiritually fat? 

In the world, people who are rich feast a lot physically and are deficient spiritually. When it comes to the things of God, those who will have great spiritual feast must be those who physically fast. I love this Scripture from the mouth of Paul, 'For which cause we faint not; but though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.'(2 Corinthians 4:16) Fasting is deliberately weakening the flesh to strengthen the spirit. David uttered these powerful thoughts to us in his Psalm to God,

O God, thou art my God; early will I seek thee: my soul thirsteth for thee, my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty land, where no water is;  To see thy power and thy glory, so as I have seen thee in the sanctuary.

Psalm 63:1-2

If you want to see God's power and glory, you must seek him. David said to God, 'Early will I seek you, my soul and my flesh long for you.' Fasting is seeking God causing your soul to feast upon him. Denial of the flesh is the renewal of the spirit. Physical leanness will provoke spiritual fitness. Paul told us to 'present our bodies as a living sacrifice' and we know when God accepted sacrifices, he honored it by fire. When we fast, we are presenting our bodies as living sacrifices and God will honor your sacrifice with His fire. If you must get fatter spiritually then you must engage more in fasting. As ministers, it is your responsibility, that when you leave a place that you do so with impact. To spiritually impact people, you must be spiritually fat. Be a lightweight physically and you will be a heavyweight spiritually.

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