#WordForTodayDevotional
Friday January 20, 2023
FASTING EXAMPLES (3): ESTHER’S FAST
Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.
Esther 4:16 (KJV)
Just as we have said that fasting according to our Lord Yahushua is to handle “this Kind” situations that comes up from time to time in our lives as we journey on earth. In Matthew 17:21, Yahushua says, “Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” This was exactly the kind of situation that the Jews found themselves in the days of Queen Esther in the Kingdom of Ahasuerus in Shushan. A man by name Haman rose up and because of his ego that appears to be humbled by Mordecai’s behaviour decided not just to end Mordecai but to exterminate the Jewish race from off the face of the earth. It was the days of weeping, mourning and wailing for the Jews all over the kingdom of King Ahasuerus as the edit of Haman in the signatory of the king went forth. It was a dangerous mission that Queen Esther would have to embark on to secure the deliverance of her people the Jews. Then she requested that before “this kind” situation would be dared, three days of fasting and prayer be done to seek the face of Adonai. Three days of fasting of food and water. So many cites this example to embark on fasting without water. Remember that this fast was just for three days. You can go without water for three days, that won’t hurt or harm your body. But the truth is that fasting does not imply not drinking water. Fasting by definition is going without food in order to concentrate on spiritual things. That this folks didn’t drink water for three days does not impart on the seriousness of their fast. The fact is that whether you drink water or no, does not affect the intensity or otherwise of your fast.
