5 Fasting in My Life

When I was pastor of a Full Gospel church in East Texas, I was preparing to go one fall to a Bible conference. The Spirit of God said to me, "Fast the next two days, because they're going to ask you to pray for the sick at the meeting." I laughed and said,

5 Fasting in My Life

When I was pastor of a Full Gospel church in East Texas, I was preparing to go one fall to a Bible conference. The Spirit of God said to me, "Fast the next two days, because they're going to ask you to pray for the sick at the meeting." I laughed and said,
"Why, dear Lord, if they do that, it'll be a real switch, because they've got hundreds of preachers. They've never asked me to pray or testify, much less pray for the sick. That couldn't be right." Then I got to thinking about it. I knew I didn't think that up myself. I didn't really want to fast. (Sometimes we ask, "Can that be God? Is it the devil? Just who is talking to me?" We've got to learn to evaluate these things.) I knew it couldn't be the flesh, because the flesh doesn't want to fast. And it couldn't be the devil. The devil wouldn't encourage you to fast in moderation; however, he might encourage you to go too far and break your body down. (I know of a pastor who went on a long fast, didn't drink any water, broke his body down, and died as a result of it. His idea of fasting was entirely wrong. He thought he was going to move God.) You're not going to move God. He doesn't move. He's already prone to do certain things, and He's going to do them just as soon as you get in contact with Him and let Him. The next day I went to the Bible conference. As I sat down, the presbyter was speaking and was ready to turn the meeting over to the district superintendent. It was in their hands to do the preaching that morning. The presbyter said, "I saw Brother Hagin come in and I didn't ask anybody, but the Lord has been dealing with me to have him hold a healing service tonight. We don't want to intrude on any of the services, so we'll start early. We'll give him at least an hour or more to minister to the sick." That's the same thing the Spirit had said to me 120 miles away. "Fast the next two days because they're going to ask you to minister to the sick at the Bible conference." The Lord did manifest Himself through me. Fasting made me more sensitive. It didn't change God; God was in the healing business before I fasted, while I was fasting, and after I got through fasting. It didn't prepare God any— it prepared me. It helped my spirit become more sensitive to His Spirit so His Spirit could manifest Himself through me.

The Fasted Life When I first went out in the field ministry, I set aside two days a week—Tuesday and Thursday—for my fast days. I wasn't led of the Lord to do it; I just fasted two days a week. I fasted 24 hours, because that was the way Israel did it. I took the extra time that I would have been eating to pray. Remember, fasting will not do you much good if you're not going to spend extra time praying, waiting on God. I made the greatest spiritual strides yet in my ministry during that time of fasting two days a week. I shut myself up in my church and spent many hours praying. I said to my wife, "I know when we eat. If I don't come out to eat, don't send the children after me. You'll know I'm going to skip that meal." I did quite a bit of fasting. I also did quite a bit of praying, and I spent that extra time in the Word of God. And often—because the church was next door—I got up and went over in the night to pray while everyone else was asleep. One night I prayed all night long. Many nights I prayed nearly all night long. I spent time fellowshipping with God, waiting on Him, walking up and down the aisles praying. (There was enough light from the streetlight shining through the windows that I didn't have to turn the lights on.) It wasn't just the fasting; it was the extra time I took to wait on God and spend time in His Word that did something for me spiritually. Fasting will help keep the flesh under and make you more sensitive to the Holy Spirit. Singers know this principle. If they eat a big meal and try to come out and sing, they are bogged down. Preachers know that. That's the reason we don't like to eat before we preach. If we do, we find we are uncomfortable and not so spiritually sensitive. After several years of fasting two days a week, the Lord said to me, "I would be more pleased if you would live a fasted life. I said, "What do you mean, a fasted life?" He said, “Never eat all you want. Keep your appetite under. That's all a fast is going to do anyway, keep the body under.” Do you know that is harder than fasting? I changed. Inever had any more days of fasting. I never set any times of fasting unless the Spirit of God spoke to me. And I made greater spiritual strides living the fasted life. Much of the time I ate only one meal a day while I was in meetings. (I still do that much of the time.) I noticed that healings came more easily when I did this. When it came to laying hands on people to receive the Holy Spirit, I wouldn't eat at all. If we'd run into a hard spot and things weren't happening like I thought they should, I'd fast by drinking a little juice. If I needed more strength physically, I'd start eating, but I never ate all I wanted. I started having more results because I more or less constantly lived the fasted life. One time I went to Kansas City to hold a meeting. When I got there, the pastor said, "Brother Hagin, something has arisen and I've got to be out of town part of this week. You go ahead and run the meeting to suit you and I'll be back toward the end of the week." I preached Sunday night. Monday morning we had a Bible lesson at 10 a.m. Monday night I preached. Tuesday morning I preached (I usually carried two services a day). Tuesday night I preached. This was the third day. One of the deacons said to me, "Brother Hagin, how do you like the restaurant at the motel?" I stopped and said, "You know what? I never thought about it. I haven't eaten since I've been here. I forgot it." Then I said, "That restaurant is closed down. There is a sign there that says 'Closed.'" He said, "Oh, we intended for you to eat there. What have you been doing about eating?" I said, "I never thought about eating until you mentioned it." When he said something about eating, I got hungry. Until then, I had been so taken up with spiritual things I hadn't thought anything about it. (Incidentally, I ate every day from then on.) For three weeks of meetings, those were the only three days I didn't eat. I wasn't fasting; I just never thought about eating. It never dawned on me to eat. When I did begin eating, I still had just one meal a day. What I'm trying to say is there are no iron-clad rules.