by groundhog91

Created on: November 03, 2011   Last Updated: November 10, 2011

Mark 9:28-29 …”And when he was come into the house, his disciples asked him privately, why could not we cast him out? And he said unto them, this kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting”...

We hear Jesus giving us an admonition when it comes to fasting, not as a carnal exercise, but rather as a spiritual weapon that can be used when dealing with devil spirits.

Before we go any further, we cannot consider fasting as anything other than a physical discipline, however, let’s consider why Jesus told His disciples this, and consider carefully why fasting was even mentioned in the first place. The disciples asked an interesting question, “Why could not we cast him out”? The answer to this question is written all through the New Testament, but in order to focus in on the idea of fasting as a “spiritual discipline”, we need to answer the question through Jesus’ own words.

We hear Jesus teaching in John 15:5, and it reads …” I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do (nothing)”... Here we find Jesus saying the word “nothing” again, particularly when it comes to His disciples in regards to their own personal abilities. The discipline of acknowledging this truth is the very reason the word fasting, along with prayer, came into play in Jesus’ answer, when speaking about the casting out of devil spirits from the populace.

Apostle Paul later on expands on this idea in 2 Corinthians 10:3-5, and it reads …” For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh: For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal (i.e. eating and drinking), but mighty through God to the pulling down of strongholds; Casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ”…

Here we can get a little clearer picture as to why fasting is even included in the mix when it comes to this warfare we are waging against the devil and his angels. We have spiritual weapons, but Satan does also, and the greatest weapon that he uses from his arsenal is the “pride of life”. The discipline of combating this problem of pride, of the which we are all subject to, is to first and foremost acknowledge that we as human individuals in the flesh can do absolutely nothing about it on our own, and this is when the word fasting comes into play. We discipline ourselves to deny any thought that would raise its ugly head against this truth that God has already given us. The act of fasting as a spiritual discipline is a constant denying to our own personal self all of these lofty imaginations about our abilities. This is how we can consider what is truly that spiritual discipline of fasting that keeps the devil spirits at bay.

 Spiritual fasting is like this, in that a person refrains his or herself from taking action to help God out in any matter of circumstance. The reason Jesus coupled it with prayer is because if there is anyone who can do something about it, it would be God who we are praying to in Jesus’ name.

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