The Fast God Chose: Presence, Posture, and the Power of Consecration
At Abiding Church, we are a people sustained by God’s Presence. This doesn’t change with circumstances. Out of that Presence, a clarion call has risen among us: set apart these days for fasting and prayer. Not as a stunt, not to twist God’s arm, but to quiet the noise, crucify the flesh, and hear what the Spirit is saying as we cross into the Jewish New Year on September 22 (5786) and prepare for our first public service on September 28.
Will you join us for this time of fasting and prayer?
To add clarity, fasting is food (yes, actually abstaining from food), and consecration is paired to bring the flesh under submission fully. It looks like shutting the door to distractions, stepping away from doom scrolling, turning off the shows, and setting aside hours (even days) to minister to the Lord. Some will take a Daniel Fast. Others may go with water only for a set period. Still others will mix days of fasting with specific consecration rhythms. The form isn’t the focus; the posture is.
Why are we fasting?
Isaiah opens the conversation about fasting with a hard question:
“‘Why have we fasted,’ they say, ‘and You have not seen?
Why have we afflicted our souls, and You take no notice?’” (Isaiah 58:3 NKJV)
Israel was “doing the thing” but missing the heart. On the day of their fast, they were seeking their own pleasure, exploiting workers, and fueling strife. God exposes the motive: performance over posture, ritual over righteousness.
If we fast to get our way, to win an argument, or to polish spiritual optics, we might gain attention, but not heaven’s.
Fasting isn’t me pulling on God to get him to do what I want; it’s God pulling me into His flow. It’s not moving His hand; it’s uncapping my heart. Picture a bottle upside down over your life: the promises are already being poured out, but the lid is tight. Fasting unscrews that cap so what’s been released in heaven can begin to pour, unrestricted, into your life.
The fast God chose
“Is this not the fast that I have chosen,” the Lord says, “to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo heavy burdens, to let the oppressed go free, and that you break every yoke?” (Isaiah 58:6–7)
God’s kind of fast loosens dark bondage, breaks heavy yokes, sets captives free, feeds the hungry, clothes the naked, and welcomes the displaced. It’s hands in the dirt and eyes on the poor. It’s washing feet when you’d rather be seen. It’s choosing obedience over optics.
Testimony from Michael Belcher:
I’ve watched the Lord lead us through this kind of fast. On May 4 in Newton, Illinois, I obeyed a strategic nudge: a Victory Walk around the town square with a shofar, declaring the Lordship of Jesus and breaking agreement with spiritual oppression the community had endured, even after a “witches’ walk” months earlier. God didn’t ask us to perform; He asked us to obey, because obedience, in fasting, shakes invisible walls.
When we fast God’s way
“Then your light shall break forth like the morning, your healing shall spring forth speedily… the glory of the Lord shall be your rear guard” (Isaiah 58:8–9).
Alignment unlocks acceleration. When motives are purified and our hands move in mercy:
Healing comes swiftly.
Protection surrounds us.
Breakthrough pierces the fog. The Light breaks through darkness, not just around us but through us.
Testimony from Ryan Cole:
Recently, on the way to the airport, our Uber driver, a Muslim man from Pakistan, asked, “Why are you so bright?” He didn’t know our names, our message, or our mission. He felt the Presence before he heard the words. By the time we hit the terminal road, tears streamed down his face, one hand on the wheel and one lifted in surrender. He parked, raised both hands, and we prayed. He told us his best friend (and business partner) is a Christian who has been sharing Jesus with him. That day, God sent another witness. That’s what consecration does: it makes Presence tangible. People may debate theology; they do not argue easily with a life lit by God.
Repairers of the breach
“If you extend your soul to the hungry and satisfy the afflicted soul… the Lord will guide you continually… You shall be like a watered garden… Those from among you shall build the old waste places… and you shall be called, Repairer of the Breach” (Isaiah 58:10–12).
God’s promises don’t stop at our relief; they flow toward rebuilding. Fasting reorders our inner world so we can partner with God to repair what’s broken in families, neighborhoods, and cities. As we fast God’s way, He turns afflicted places into watered gardens, drought into guidance, and rubble into foundations for many generations.
This is why, at Abiding Church, our mission during public services isn’t to put on a show or dilute the gospel for the uncommitted. We expect God to draw hungry, often disenfranchised believers who have received Jesus yet lack a revelation of His Kingdom. We will equip them to abide, to carry Presence, and to rebuild. Evangelism will continue and we will gather from house to house, but the public services will be another opportunity where the saints are formed, not entertained.
Bread in the Fire
At the last supper, Jesus called Himself the living bread. Bread is stretched and folded, then rested; then it is stretched and folded again. Finally, it must go into the fire to become what it was always meant to be. Fasting is that stretch. Consecration is that fold. Trials are that oven where Presence meets pressure and transforms dough into bread for others.
If you’re under pressure, don’t despise it. The Lord won’t leave you in the fire; He knows precisely when to pull you out. And when He does, you won’t be raw dough, you’ll be nourishment for a hungry world. Remember: His yoke is easy and His burden is light. When your ground gets wider and harder to plow, He doesn’t remove the assignment; He gives you His yoke so you can finish the field.
A call for now
We are moving toward Rosh Hashanah (the Feast of Trumpets), a prophetic jumpstart on the Gregorian year ahead. It’s time to “peel our ears open” to the Lord. Fasting won’t make God speak; it will clear the static so you can hear what he’s already been trying to get you to hear. It won’t manipulate outcomes; it will align you with the One who already reigns.
Here’s my invitation:
Choose a real fast (food-based in some form).
Pair it with intentional consecration, closing the doors to digital noise and opening the Scriptures.
Replace meals with ministering to the Lord: worship, waiting, the Word, and intercession. Don’t just get through it; meet Him in it.
Aim your obedience outward: serve, give, reconcile, share the gospel. Let your fast loosen someone else’s chains.
Expect God’s light, healing, protection, guidance, and rebuilding, not as trophies, but as the fruit of alignment.
We’ll walk this path together. And on September 28, when we gather for our first public service! If you haven’t already, visit AbidingChurchSC.org now and let us know you’re coming.
“Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the Lord will do wonders among you.” (Joshua 3:5)
Lord, here we are. Empty us of performance. Fill us with Presence. Choose our fast, cleanse our motives, loosen the bonds, break every yoke, and make us repairers of the breach. And as we cross this threshold into a new year, let Your light break forth like morning, through us.