At the beginning of each year, thousands of ministers accompanied by millions of Christians initiate the New Year with a united call to fast – choosing to submit their bodies, souls and spirits to the discipline of fasting. The prophet Isaiah gives one of the strongest defenses for a chosen fast and explains the marvelous results that follow a special time of consecration through fasting( please read Isaiah 58:5-9).
In the early days of the Pentecostal movement, fasting was a common expression of both a commitment to draw closer to God and a desire to see the convicting power of God released upon the unsaved and unbeliever. I have personally known of men, such as Dr. T. L. Lowery, who were led to fast for forty days. On the thirtieth day I saw him munching on ice and drinking water to hydrate his body. I was also present at the Alabama Church of God Camp Meeting in Bessemer under the old metal tabernacle on the fortieth day of his fast, when he was asked to preach. He was so weak he gripped the pulpit to stand on his feet. About 10 minutes into his message, suddenly, like a bolt of lightning igniting a tree, the power of God struck him and he began preaching with a loud voice and boldness. As T. L. shook under God’ s power, the Holy Spirit flung a blanket of God’ s glory over the entire crowd of about 4,000! The power of God fell. It seemed that everyone near him, especially on the platform, began to fall under God’ s power. It was a memorable moment and a life-changing experience for all of us“ young preachers,” who desired for God to bump us up to a new level of ministry. When Dr. Lowery was asked by church leaders why he felt the need to fast forty days, he replied,“ There is a place in God that I have not gotten to yet and I am hungry to find it and experience it!”
My own father, Fred Stone, was a man of fervent prayer and fasting. When I share with youth that my dad saw at least 16 people totally healed of cancer the last ten years of his ministry, they often ask,“ What was his secret to see these types of miracles?” The answer is threefold. First, Dad had compassion when he saw the sick and afflicted – meaning his heart was moved with pity for them and his compassion connected him to their need with the remedy that Christ was the healer. Second, there are two spiritual gifts that Paul the Apostle identified as the“ Gifts of healing and working of miracles”( 1Cor. 12:7-10). Dad earnestly desired these gifts to manifest through his ministry in order to bring deliverance to the hurting. I personally witnessed these gifts in operation at specific times when dad would minister. Third, dad was a man of fasting. Though he suffered with diabetes, especially the last ten years of his life, he would fast for days before going to a church to minister even in his mid-seventies! While this may not have been wisdom on his part according to his doctors, his spirit burned within him to see God demonstrate His power for the hurting. When asked why he could pray for the sick and thousands receive healing while he still suffered from diabetes, he replied:
“ I don’ t have the answer. But I do know that Elisha received a double portion of the anointing of Elijah and when Elisha died his bones raised a dead man. Yet we are informed that Elisha died of a sickness. How can a man with such inward anointing die of sickness? It is a mystery so I let God take care of the things I don’ t understand …”
The three significant keys Dad used to impart God’ s grace of healing to those seeking this grace of God for their bodies, mind and inner spirits were compassion, the gifts of the Spirit and sharpened faith through fasting.
Temptation During a Fast
When Christ was directed by the Holy Spirit into the Judean Wilderness for forty days to encounter the temptations of Satan, we assume that Satan arrived with this mental assault after the forty days. His attacks were designed to make Jesus question his identity as the Son of God(“ If you be the son of God” – Matt. 4:3-11). However, Luke penned that Christ was
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