Elmer L. Towns - Fasting for Financial Breakthrough

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elmer L. Towns is vice president and dean of the School of
Religion at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia, where he
teaches the 2,000-member Pastor's Sunday School class at
Thomas Road Baptist Church. He is a Gold Medallion Award
winning author whose books include Fasting for Spiritual
Breakthrough, My Father's Names, What's Right with the Church and
The Daniel Fast for Spiritual Breakthrough. Elmer Towns and his
wife, Ruth, have three grown children.

AUTHOR NOTE

Reading this book by itself will give you a narrow view of fasting, and you might walk away thinking that fasting is simply a means to get things like money. Although it is true that fasting is a powerful way to effect breakthrough in financial problems, the primary purpose of prayer and fasting is to know God. Fasting is not about foodit's about meditation, reflection upon the Scriptures and communion with God. If you are just beginning to explore the area of fasting and prayer as a part of your life and you would like a broader perspective on this vital issue, you may want to read my book Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough for a balanced and comprehensive view.

In addition, I want to stress that not everyone should fast from physical food. If you have one of the approximately 30 physical pathologies that require food, you would harm your health if you fasted. God would not have you harm yourself physicallythat's asceticism. Before attempting extensive fasting, consult your physician.

ALSO BY

ELMER L. TOWNS

11 Innovations in the Local Church
(Elmer Towns, Ed Stetzer and Warren Bird)

How to Pray When You Don't Know What to Say

Fasting for Spiritual Breakthrough:
A Guide to Nine Biblical Fasts

Praying the Lord's Prayer for
Spiritual Breakthrough

What Every Sunday School
Teacher Should Know:
24 Secrets that Can Help You Change Lives

The Beginner's Guide to Fasting

The Daniel Fast for Spiritual Breakthrough

What's Right with the Church

CHAPTER 1

FASTING AND PRAYER FOR FINANCIAL INTERVENTION

I was shocked when I picked up the phone to hear someone say, You dirty dog! Not many people greet one another over the phone that way. Although I didn't know the exact identity of the caller, I could tell from the chuckle that accompanied his unusual greeting that it was one of my friends. With a laugh, I demanded, Who is this? Identify yourself.

This is your good friend Ron Phillips, the caller answered. I'm at the Southern Baptist Convention, but I'm not going to the sessions and I'm not in the halls talking to my pastor buddies. I'm stuck in this hotel room reading your book. I just can't put it down. He then told me that God was speaking to him about leading his church into the spiritual discipline of fasting.

ONE CHURCH'S EXPERIENCE OF FASTING

Some time earlier I had sent Ron a typed copy of the manuscript for my book on fasting and asked for his critique. In addition to telling me he couldn't put the manuscript down, he said, You must come to my church to speak. You messed up my enjoyment of the convention, so now you've got to come teach my people about fasting.

We agreed on a mutually convenient date for the speaking engagement and then he told me, I'll have 800 people there for an all-day Saturday seminar, because we must learn about fasting. That was a bold claim, since his church averaged 1,200 in attendance, and 800 was a very large percentage of his congregationbut he was so sure the people would respond. As it turned out, his estimate was a bit optimistic. Only 154 members of the Central Baptist Church congregation attended the seminar. We later wondered if we had scared many away by asking them to fast that day for the first time.

Despite the smaller-than-expected turnout, the seminar went well. I taught from 8:00 A.M. to 3:00 P.M. and was ready to close when Ron jumped up to ask everyone present to volunteer to fast and pray one day each month for revival in the church. He even appointed one of the women to be the prayer coordinator. A team of 123 prayer intercessors promised to begin that very day to fast and pray for revival.

When I first got to the church, they had just finished a Sunday-through-Wednesday evangelistic conference. Twelve people came forward for salvation, re-dedication and church membershipnot much in results for a three-day conference. But the church didn't have much spiritual poweryet.

A few months later, the church announced a one-week outreach event. Because they had fasted and prayed, the power of God was demonstrated and the revival continued for an extra week. Communal fasting and prayer had worked! A total of 998 people made spiritual decisions; worship attendance jumped by 401 that week; Sunday School attendance increased by 257. The offerings that month were $500,000 more than what had been offered the same month in the previous year. Sound incredible? Not when God is involved. And maybe what God did for them, He will also do for you!

The church soon took on a new spirituality and prospered. When attendance reached 3,500 weekly, the church faced several decisions. Would they expand the present auditorium or build a new one? If they were to build a new one, what type of auditorium would they build and where on their property would they build it? To answer these and other pressing questions, Pastor Phillips called for a churchwide 40-day fast so that everyone could pray and become part of the decision. But he didn't ask for everyone to fast in the same way. He knew most members couldn't fast completely for 40 days, so he asked the people to fast according to what they felt they were able to do (technically, this is called a partial fast). He suggested these options as examples of different types of fasts:

Give up one or two meals a day and pray during those mealtimes.

Give up meat.

Fast every other day.

Give up television and spend that time in prayer.

Give up weekly sports and spend that time in prayer.

Give up all desserts, snacks and sweets.

Join the pastoral staff on a 40-day juice fast.

Each person was asked to enter at least one fast at his or her level of availability and understanding. All were fasting for God's guidance regarding the building expansion and revival of the church. At the end of the fast, Pastor Phillips said, The greatest result of our 40-day fast was not the tangible answers we were seeking. Our greatest result was the spiritual growth of our members. People took steps of faith they had never attempted before. They trusted God at a level we had never experienced.

Can you ask God for big things in the same way as the people of Central Baptist Church did? If your answer is no, it may be that you have a faith problem. Often people have trouble asking God for money or trusting him for big things, because they simply don't have the faith.

When the disciples were faced with a miracle they couldn't understand, Jesus challenged them with this statement: Have faith in God. For assuredly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, Be removed and be cast into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that those things he says will be done, he will have whatever he says (Mark 11:2223). If we have faith, we can say to our money problem Be removed, and we will have our answer.