This Is The Fast - By Bert Clenndenon

In the first five verses of Isaiah 58, the prophet describes a people who appear very sincere toward God. They are religious, they fast, and they seek God daily. But God doesn't seem to notice. "Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge?"

The prophet answers, "Behold, ye fast for strife and debate." The people were fasting to make their voices heard. Through religious efforts they were trying to make God sit up and notice. They wanted God to accept what He had already rejected--the old nature and its ways.

This controversy is central to the Bible. It pits religion against God. Religion does things. It goes to great lengths in an effort to make a holy God accept what He has already rejected. Religious people build themselves an empire and try to force God in on it, like the people of Babel. I have watched such efforts in the Pentecostal world, especially in the building up of celebrities and in efforts to raise money to build things God didn't instigate.

If God didn't give the vision, then He is not interested, no matter how good it looks, how beautiful it may be, or even how much it may help the poor. If it isn't a vision of God--if it isn't unto Jesus--then it has no place in the economy of God.

In verse six, the prophet says, "Is this not the fast that I have chosen? To loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?"

God's fast doesn't exalt the self but brings freedom from self. He wants to break the yoke of the carnal nature and destroy the "house devil," as Samuel Rutherford calls it. We must exalt His nature and diminish our own.

"I cannot use you as long as you want me to make something of you. There is nothing good in you. Only when you lay down yourself can I touch you," God says. A true fast will break the carnal nature and release the spiritual man from the bondage of flesh.

In his commentaries on this passage, Adam Clark, a contemporary of Wesley, relates Isaiah's words to Paul's message in Romans 7: "When I want to do good, evil is present within me. What I don't want to do I find myself doing, and what I want to do I just never seem to get around to doing. Oh wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of this death?"

According to Adam Clark, Paul is alluding to a method the Romans used to put a man to death. They would chain a corpse to the criminal and make him eat with it, sleep with it, and endure it until he died from its putrefying stench. Paul is saying that what that corpse is to the living man, so flesh is to the spiritual man. We are dealing with death.

The fast that God has chosen will kill the flesh. Everything that has life demands food to keep it alive. If you don't feed your dog he will grow weak and eventually die. When we fast or deny food to our flesh, we weaken it; at the same time we pray and feed the spiritual man, letting him rise up and gain the ascendancy. We put down the old man. We lift up the new.

This kind of fasting opens up a whole new attitude of unselfishness, as we see in verse seven, where bread is dealt to the hungry and the poor are brought into our houses. The verse ends with God telling us not to hide from our own flesh. When our prayer and fast is pleasing to God, we don't hide behind a facade or pretense. We look at our flesh and deal honestly with it. We quit worrying about looking good, which frees us up to give unselfishly to others.

We are always struggling, trying to make things happen, when what we need to do is take the knife to our selfish efforts and wait on God. The religious flesh that sits on a pew every Sunday morning is no better than Sodomite flesh. All flesh is hated by God. As others have noted, we preach the wrong side of the message--we preach the things that revival will bring instead of dealing with the things that will bring revival: repentance, restitution, and restoration to Christ. If we would just deal honestly with our selfish selves, God would take care of the rest. We don't have to beg a river to flow, and Jesus promised that out of our innermost being will flow rivers of living water.

When we practice verses six and seven, the glory of verse eight follows: "Then shall thy light break forth as the morning." That "then" is critical. Then and only then--when the fast has loosed the bands of wickedness--will the light break forth. John said that in Jesus is life, and that life is the light of men. The light in verse eight is the light that comes from the life of Jesus. When I get Clenndenon out of the way, then God's life will be seen in me. It will break forth as the morning.

Jesus said in Matthew to "let your light so shine." My English teacher would say the main verb of that sentence is "let." That's what it's all about. Let your light shine.

When the light breaks forth, things begin to happen: "thine health shall spring forth speedily: and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the glory of the Lord shall be thy rereward." I believe in healing, but this verse is not talking about individual healing. When the living water begins to flow, God will heal the church. Then the glory of the Lord will be our rereward. "Rereward" means to be gathered up--the glory of the Lord will surround us and gather us up so that men will see God instead of us. We are not here just to preach the truth; we are here to bring God Himself to others.

Verses 9-10: "Then shalt thou call, and the Lord shall answer; thou shalt cry, and he shall say, Here I am. If thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the finger, and speaking vanity; And if thou draw out thy soul to the hungry, and satisfy the afflicted soul; then shall thy light rise in obscurity, and thy darkness be as the noon day."

We need to take away the yoke of "speaking vanity." When we listen to the prosperity crowd and try to use God for a ladder to self actualization, our prayers are an abomination. But when we walk in the Spirit and in Christ's life, then the Lord will answer. He will say, "Here I am."

We are never richer than when we're in the place of answered prayer. I believe that's what David meant when he talked about "deep calling to deep." The Spirit of God within us issues forth and touches God Almighty. "When you call, I will answer. When you cry, I will say 'Here I am.'" There is no one so wealthy as the one who lives in the place of answered prayer.

My wife and I had been married two years when our first child was born. Even though I was from a family of seven children, I knew nothing about raising kids. It shocked me that my son didn't know me. I picked him up and walked him around and he cried. I said to his mother, "What's wrong with him?" She answered, "Nothing. He just doesn't like strangers." I gave him to her and he grew quiet. He was happy to be with someone familiar.

My wife would wake me in the middle of the night because she heard him breathing differently. The slightest groan brought her to his crib. While I slept soundly, she perceived the slightest change. She and the baby were one.

We had read that mothers should talk to their babies while carrying them. I would come in and my wife would be singing to the boy. She had established a relationship before he was even born.

But that baby was in the loins of God a billion years before he was birthed here, and the slightest groan would bring God to his side as well. When that nature of God in me cries out, God is bound to answer, just like a mother with her new baby. I can tell you, our boy still calls his mother frequently, still talking to her after forty-some years. He has his own kids, but he's still talking to his mother.

Our relationship with God should be that rich and that important to us. If we're walking in the Spirit as we're told in verses six and seven, then our slightest cry will bring an answer. But we must come as we are. We can't come pretending anything. We can't come pushing the Ishmael nature. We come open, with hearts bare, before the One who knows us entirely.

The promises that follow in verses 10 through 12 reveal the sweetness of knowing God intimately. Our darkness shall be as the noon day. Our very darkest time will be better than our best time before we came to know the Lord. "And the Lord shall guide thee continually." As David says, the steps of a good man are ordered of the Lord. There is nothing so wonderful as arriving in a place and knowing that God brought us there. Too often we try to lead God instead of following Him.

In 1954, having just embarked on ministry, my wife and I were trying to hold a revival in a little church in Eagle Lake, Texas, with about twelve people who even the poor call poor. We had read, "If you seek me early you will find me," and we were getting up at five o'clock each morning to talk to God. One morning God gave me the word "Saigon." I didn't know what it was. It wasn't until later that the U.S. entered the Vietnam War and people learned Saigon was the capital of South Vietnam. We looked it up, however, and knew God was calling us to that place.

We didn't know what to do. We had no money and knew no one. The poor people of that little church certainly couldn't send us. For 14 years I walked with that burden. Finally in 1968 we arrived in Saigon, Vietnam. When the plane hit the ground we knew we were home. We weren't late, for we got there in God's time.

We first went to the Army chaplains. They laughed us to scorn. So I knew God was leading us to other channels. I put my little girl on one corner with tracts and I went to another corner to witness to American service men. When we returned to the hotel, a Vietnamese man sat in the lobby reading a newspaper. When he saw me coming he jumped up and grabbed my hand. "I've been looking for you for seven years," he said.

Naturally I was surprised. "I never heard of you. Why are you looking for me?" I asked.

"You are a preacher."

"Yes sir, I am a preacher."

He said, "I am a colonel in the South Vietnamese Army, the head of the war college--the equivalent of your West Point. When America got in the war they sent me to America to learn your military. While there I was born again in an Oral Roberts meeting in Florida. I was burdened for my people, knowing they were lost and had nothing but religion--Buddhism and Romanism--to turn to. Seven years ago, in 1961, I had been fasting many days. I saw a vision of a man with a Bible in his hand, and God said, 'This man will bring revival to your country.' You are that man. I know you are."

God did give us revival. During the next seven years we saw Pentecost come to that part of the world for the first time in 4,000 years.

Once we held a meeting in one of Vietnam's old, what they called evangelical, churches. But it was dead--no one was being saved. People heard Americans were coming and packed the place. You can put a whole lot more Vietnamese in a building than you can Americans. It got so hot it felt like a sauna bath. My wife and I were about the only saved ones in the place. She was sitting on the front seat and I was in the office with the pastor.

The pastor had a deep indention in his scalp. The North Vietnamese had beat him and left him for dead. But he survived and made it down to the south. He said, "I am a drug addict. I have been made one from the horrifying pains in my head. Nothing will stop them. For 14 years I have suffered, and whatever doctors give me I will take to stop it."

God said to me, "Put your hands on his head. Fourteen years of torment is fixing to end." I laid my hands on him and in the name of God he was healed. Then he was saved.

When we came out, an old man looked up at the platform and immediately began to sob. I preached for nearly two hours because I was preaching through an interpreter, and the man sobbed the whole time. When I gave the invitation, nearly all came to give their hearts to Christ. Since only my wife and I were there to deal with them, we were another hour leading the lost to repentance. The old man was still sobbing--so loud that it sometimes disturbed the service.

In Vietnam everyone must shake the preacher's hand before leaving. I went to the back with the preacher, and the old man stood in line, still weeping. When he got to me I said, "Sir, when I came in you started crying and have continued ever since. Why?" And through my interpreter he told me this story:

"Five years ago I was in my house, fasting and praying like Hannah, asking God to please send revival to this poor troubled land. God said to me, 'You will not die until you see the man who will bring revival.' When you walked out, that same voice said to me, 'Look closely. That is the man who will bring revival.'"

The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord. The Lord will guide us continually when we kill the flesh and open our spirits to Him.

A short time later the old man died. But he saw the revival he was promised.

We went home for a rest and were preparing to drive to Houston to return to Vietnam. I was in St. Elizabeth's Hospital on the sixth floor, having just made the rounds. I went to push the elevator button and a voice said to me, "Don't ride this elevator. Go down that west wing and walk down." I went to push the button again and the voice spoke again, so I turned and began to walk.

After a little way I met two ladies. When they saw me they came running. I didn't know them, but they got on each side and said, "Thank God we finally found you. She is in the last room. The whole hospital is upset. They were going to operate on her this morning."

I didn't know who "her" was, but the ladies said this "her" wouldn't let anyone touch her "until Brother Clenndenon gets here." I learned later the patient didn't even know I was back in the States from Vietnam.

I went through the door and saw a man sitting in a chair. He used to be foreman of the Allen Shivers ranch in Texas. His wife was deaf, and God had healed her in a camp meeting and wonderfully saved her. But he never would repent. He loved me and let me hunt on the ranch, but he would not come to repentance. When I walked through that door, however, he fell out of his chair and cried: "God, please save me. Have mercy on my soul."

After praying with him I went over to his wife's bed and found out she had a cancerous tumor behind her ear. I laid hands on her, and I am telling you the glory came into that room. She made the doctors examine her and was found totally healed of the cancer.

I had to leave to get to Houston to catch my flight, but as I started for the elevator I remembered the voice said to walk down the steps. I thought, "There is no telling on this earth what I am going to find down those steps." I remember like yesterday the experience I had walking into the staircase. On the first step the Lord said, "If you will let me, Son, I will tell you where to place every foot. I will guide you continually." God will never guide your flesh, but if you walk in the Spirit, He will guide you. He told me He would heal all the sick He wanted to heal. He would save all the people He wanted to save. I didn't need to struggle. I just needed to walk with Him.

I was in England four years ago walking along the North Sea where Hudson Taylor walked. He has always been a favorite of mine. I said to my wife, "Hudson Taylor walked here. The waters and sand have long removed his footprints, but it was right here that God said to him, 'If you will walk with me in England, I will walk with you in China.'"

The scriptures teach that when the Lord walks with us, even in drought our souls will be satisfied. We all know how terrible a drought can be. Everything dies. Israel went through a drought so devastating that people began to eat their own children. We can have spiritual drought as well. Paul says when there is a drought in the church, the children begin to eat each other, biting and devouring. Nothing is as horrible as a spiritual drought, where there is no move of God. But the Word teaches that even in drought our souls will be satisfied. If the church doesn't follow in His footsteps, we as individuals can still go. Our souls will find all the living water they need as we walk in intimacy with our Lord.

God is not the God of a religious organization. He is the God of me. He lives in me. We are the Holy of Holies, the tent of God. We must keep that relationship. We must keep feeding the new man and starving the old. No matter what others do, we must fast and pray with our spirits, setting aside the pride and vanity of religious observance.

God's fast is a way to deal with the old-man nature. It's not a bargaining tool. It's not a point of pride. If we fast for 40 days, God owes us nothing. Repentance doesn't change God; it changes us. We are the ones who need dealing with, and God has promised that if we keep our relationship right, He will be there.

The disciples of John came to Jesus and said, "John's disciples are fasting all the time, but yours never fast." Jesus answered, "They won't fast as long as the bridegroom is with them. But when the bridegroom is gone, they will fast." A few verses later Jesus tells His disciples, "I will never leave you." Based on that statement, there is never a need to fast. But what He was saying in practical fact, I believe, is that when a distance comes between us and our Lord, when the flesh creeps in and starts choking our spirits, then we have a way to restore the relationship. We can fast and kill the flesh and bring renewal and strength to the spirit.

Before I was saved I had no desire to go to church or read the Word. I never wanted to pray. If we find our desires to do those things falling off, we know our spirits are suffocating. We know we are separating from our God. Isaiah says, "This is the fast I have chosen." God wants to loose the bands of wickedness, to free us from the flesh, to break every yoke. He wants us free to love and follow Him.

Mr. Finney, the great evangelist, said, "I have learned that when I preach and people are not moved by what I say, I am just talking out of what I know. So I separate myself for three to five days, and when I come back, it is no longer I but Christ." This is the fast God has chosen. This is the living water He wants running through us. When that river flows, people will be saved and healed.