Free Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough: A Guide to Nine Biblical Fasts by Elmer L. Towns Page B

book of Judges tells how God’s people kept rejecting Him and turning to idols. Each time, the Lord punished Israel by allowing the surrounding nations to attack and defeat them. And each time they were defeated, the Israelites turned back to the Lord and begged for His help. Finally, in answer to their prayers, God sent special leaders called judges, who restored the people to righteousness, enabling them to defeat theirenemies. Typically, Israel would follow the Lord as long as the ruling judge lived. But when he died, they would again reject the Lord, repeating the cycle again and again. Each judge led a few tribes at the most; however, none of the judges brought the entire nation together. Israel was a confederation of loosely bound family tribes. They did not have a king, and “everyone did what they thought was right” (Judg. 21:25,
CEV
).
    God called Samuel as a young boy to lead the nation of Israel. Before he grew into manhood, Israel sinned by using the Ark of the Covenant as a “good luck charm” to lead the people into battle. For this affront, God allowed the Philistines to defeat Israel. The enemy slaughtered many Israelite soldiers, and took the Ark of the Covenant as a captured prize. The Philistines used their position to oppress God’s people, and each year they returned to extract heavy taxes from the defeated Israelites.
    Samuel was a prophet, priest and the last judge to lead Israel before the nation chose a king and became a monarchy. Samuel united the nation by bringing revival to the people. He inspired Israel’s army to fight against her enemies, who were raiding the nation.
    Samuel initiated a nationwide revival through fasting, among other spiritual disciplines. Therefore, the Samuel Fast is portrayed here as a fast for revival and evangelism. It is described in a threefold perspective: pre-fast preparation, the actual fast itself and the post-fast results.
P RE -F AST P REPARATION
    Samuel did not introduce the fast for revival to Israel without requiring serious preparation. He required that the people put away the foreign gods they had accumulated and commit themselves wholly to God. In the same way, the Samuel Fast today requires specific preparation.
    Recognize Your Bondage
    Before revival comes we must recognize the source of our bondage to sin that hinders revival. Some people are in bondage to sinful habits and specific sins. Others are under demonic influences, while some are in bondage to their memories and their pasts. Whatever the need for revival, we must first recognize our bondages and the debilitating influences those bondages have on our lives.
    I tell my students preparing for ministry, “You can’t get people saved until you get them lost.” Until a person knows (1) he or she is a sinner, (2) sin will cast him or her into hell, (3) there is no salvation other than in Christ (see Acts 4:12) and (4) being saved is his or her greatest need, that person can’t be motivated to be saved.
    As the saying goes, “You can lead a horse to water, but you can’t make it drink.” But if you get the horse thirsty by putting salt on its tongue, when you lead it to water, it will drink.
    The solution to any problem begins with the recognition of need. In 1978 I distributed food during a famine in Haiti, where I saw emaciated children who were too weak to eat. What perplexed me was that many children who were starving had no desire to eat. They were at the point of death. The very physical conditions that were killing them were also masking their needs. Until people know they need food, they will not eat to gain strength. In the same way, until people know they need revival, they will not seek the Lord of the harvest who will “pour Himself on His people.”
    Fortunately, when Samuel called Israel to revival, the people recognized their bondages. They cried out, “Do not stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that he may rescue us” (1 Sam. 7:8,
NIV
). The people had come to a