What is a Blessing Fast? (Lane)

When Daniel went on a fast for God’s will to come to pass, the only things he put in his mouth were fruits and veggies — you know, the stuff that’s good for you. We call it a Daniel Fast. I’m suggesting we go on a Blessing Fast, so the only things that come out of our mouths are those words that are good for us and for others. Read on to see what I’m proposing.

Recently, I attended a private political rally in the rather large and gracious home of a Jewish couple, which several hundred Jewish people attended, from “black hats” (ultra orthodox) to secular and in between. Quite a diverse group, but all Jews. Each one was there as part of the Jewish community in our city. I thought my heart would burst, first of all for the love I felt for my people being with so many of them at once (I spend more time with Christians than Jews generally). I wished I could have talked with every one of them. The orthodox are outwardly noticeable and obviously want to know and to please God. A number of keepahs (yarmalkes) covered the heads of otherwise normally dressed men. That’s a statement about their identity as the people of God. The rest were well dressed in normal attire. There was a warmth among them, a congeniality, and the comfort that exists among family. I felt like I was home.

The speaker, a senator who shall remain nameless, shared among other things that there are more Christian Zionists in this country than Zionist Jews, meaning the Christians who support Israel outnumber the Jewish population in America. That’s quite a statistic. There was a rousing round of applause of recognition and appreciation of the Christians who are standing with Israel — a move toward “one new people” (Eph 2:14-15) with the same agenda, at least in this regard.

As this meeting was prior to the election, the guests’ main concern and questions to the Senator were: How are the two potential presidents planning to relate to Israel? What are their respective positions toward Israel and their commitment to defending and supporting Israel? The counterpart to those questions was how is each potential president planning on dealing with the Iranian leader’s threat to wipe Israel off the map? Every Jew knows that Israel’s existence is paramount and absolutely required for the continued well-being for the Jewish people. Today, anti-Semitism is higher in Europe than it was just before WWII, resulting in thousands of Jewish people moving to Israel. Israel matters! What these Jews want and what many Christians who support Israel want is a president who views the existence of Israel and a Jewish Jerusalem as being significant to our national destiny, and in concert with God’s plan for the world.

We can choose to vote for a president based on many issues and preferences, but what are God’s issues and His preferences? What will He bless? Once again, we quote God’s words to Abraham which extend to his progeny, “I will bless those who bless you and I will curse those who curse you,” (Gen 12:3). If you believe the Bible to be true, then that sentence must be true also. So how can you bless Israel and avoid cursing her or aligning yourself with those who do? For one thing, you have to decide what a curse is. A curse is anything that’s not a blessing. It’s really that simple. It’s an either/or matter. Yeshua said, “He who is not with Me is against Me and he who does not gather with Me, scatters” (Luke 11:23). He saw it as that simple also. You’re either “with” God or you’re not. This makes it easier to sift through all the rhetoric.

So then, if we’re not with Israel in the preservation of the land God promised to them forever, we’re against them and to be against Israel is to be against God. If we believe God’s Word is His truth, we must see things as He does and we must be unalterably for Israel. These folks at the meeting wanted to know plainly, will these men commit to protecting Israel and not making pacts, be they secret or overt, with her enemies. Israel is not a campaign issue that is mentioned very often, but it sure was important to these folks, and I know according to God’s Word that it’s important to Him. America’s destiny will be greatly determined by her support or lack of support for Israel or siding with those who curse her. It is, I believe, the single most crucial issue for our country today. I know of no more decisive matter for our national well-being. (If you have doubts about this, please see Sid’s interview with John McTernan.)

We hear so much talk, so many opinions and so many issues, I’m wondering if we who seek to follow God, don’t need to be re-sensitized to the difference between blessings and curses. (We do live in a society that calls good evil and evil good — see Isaiah 5:20 — so folks could be somewhat confused.) God’s whole relationship with Abraham was based on God blessing him and his progeny. We know that through Yeshua, God extended the blessings of Abraham to Gentiles who chose to follow Him through His Son Yeshua, so that in time, there would be a tikkun ha olam, a restoration of the world. In the meantime, we either align our lives with God and His people, or we don’t. Accordingly, if we have surrendered our lives to God, and are committed to following His ways, we become people of God’s blessings, to receive them as well as to bless others.

So I have a question for you (I’m finally getting to what the title of this article is about): What if there is no neutral ground, so that when we speak to or about others, we are speaking either blessings OR curses? I’d like to suggest this is reality. There aren’t really any shades of gray. To God, it’s one or the other. He didn’t give us other options. There are no “Yeah, but…s” in Torah which is where sin is defined. Even our self-talk is one or the other.

We really don’t know what America or the world is about to go through. We only know we seem to be on a rapidly increasing course toward change. Some are optimistic, others are not. Some see blessings on the horizon, others have grave concerns. I believe what God said about Abraham is about to be the plumbline for life and destiny. God said with regard to His choice of Abraham, “Abraham will surely become a great and mighty nation and in him all the nations of the earth will be blessed… For I have chosen him, in order that he may command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the Lord by doing righteousness and justice, in order that the Lord may bring upon Abraham (and his children) what He has spoken about him” (Genesis 18:18, 19).

The promises and blessings of God, it appears, are conditional upon how we regard righteousness and justice. And how we teach the same to our children (please see Deut. 4:10.) in our homes and in our schools. Righteousness is about relationship with God; justice is about relationship with one another. If we disregard God’s Word and His ways, if we turn from valuing righteousness and the reverential fear of God, if we no longer love God with all our hearts, souls, minds and strength (Deut 6:5) as this nation has in the past in our Judeo-Christian ethic, then justice will be corrupted and injustice will gain an increasing foothold. It is happening already. God presented Abraham with the issues of righteousness and justice in the beginning and I believe God may be saying that those will be the very issues to divide the world before Messiah sets His feet upon Mt. Zion in a blaze of righteous glory.

Whether the world becomes brighter or darker on our watch, as the people of God, Jewish or non-Jewish, we ought to side with God about what He says about us and about what we are to have influence over. We need to think like Kingdom-of-God people, with the collective “mind of Messiah” (1 Cor. 2:16) God spoke prophetically to Israel through Isaiah and said, “As for Me, this is My covenant with them, says the Lord: My Spirit which is upon you, and My words which I have put in your mouth, shall not depart from your mouth, nor from the mouth of your offspring, nor from the mouth of your offspring’s offspring, says the Lord, from now and forever. Arise, shine; for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord has risen upon you. For behold, darkness will cover the earth, and deep darkness the peoples; But the Lord will rise upon you, and His glory will appear upon you” (Isaiah 59:21-60:2). It applies by extension as well to those who have entered into covenant to follow the God of Abraham through Messiah Yeshua. What is His glory that will be upon us? Righteousness and blessings!

To me those words apply not only to those in Israel to whom Isaiah declared it, but to their children and to our children. What we teach our children determines destiny. What shall we teach them? God’s ways of righteousness and justice and of blessing. God gave a covenant of blessings to Abraham. He later gave Israel a brit hadashah, a new covenant, which He spoke through the prophet Jeremiah: “Behold, days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah…. This is the covenant which I will make with the house of Israel after those days, declares the Lord; I will put My Torah (law) within them, and on their heart I will write it; and I will be their God and they shall be My people” (Jeremiah 31:31, 33).

So for those of us for whom God has put His Torah on our hearts, these words must apply: “You shall be holy for I am holy” (Leviticus 11:45). And part of being holy is to bless! So I’d like to propose that we all go on a Blessing Fast. You know, like a Daniel fast when you eat only fruits and veggies but we would be speaking only that which is good healthy wholesome words. We could go on a Blessing Fast and fill our mouths only with good stuff, with blessings. We commit to speaking only blessings. Even when we’re alone, we can speak the blessings of God out loud to and about ourselves personally or our loved ones. Read through scripture and find blessing verses. Agree with God’s blessings for His people.

But our primary concern right now in this fast should be our nation. I believe speaking blessings over America is an act of powerful intercession for our country. What we speak out about our country right now could turn matters to God’s will. So instead of fretting the issues, or rehashing them over and over, or listening to opinion after opinion, or hoping for change that helps, or dreading change that doesn’t, declaring in the Spirit in agreement with God what He wants for His people will accomplish much. There is a vast remnant in this country who seek the Lord with all their hearts. But even if you’re from another country and reading this, we’ll take your blessings, or you can bless your own country and people and be a blessing there. Blessings work anywhere!

Here’s an example of how I might speak out blessings:

Lord, I join my voice to all the other blessers out there. We together bless every person who seeks the Lord, that they will be wise and discerning, that their families will be loving and forgiving, that their children will be respectful and feel safe, loved and secure because of their wise and loving parents. We bless each family with safety and goodness that will characterize their home lives. We send blessings to those who don’t know or seek the Lord because there are no real blessings apart from God. We bless them with salvation, with the restraining power of the Spirit of God to keep them from evil. I bless my friends and family; I bless their relationships, their jobs, their finances, their minds, their bodies, their futures, their values. Lord, I bless my friends with the peaceful fruit of righteousness, in Yeshua’s name.

Together with all the other blessers, I bless America with wise and godly leaders, with men and women whose motives are pure and for the country and not for ambitious or selfish motives. We pray the blessings of God upon the man who will be our(or is) president and for his vice-president, that hearts will be turned to support them and uphold them and release blessings to them daily and not cast aspersions against them. We bless the people that our nation will move into the next step of our destiny of being a blessed nation and a nation that blesses. We bless our senators and congressman, our judges, our mayors and all in public office, that wisdom, integrity, honesty and purity of heart will be their greatest motivations in making their decisions. Bless us abundantly so that righteousness and justice are at home in our nation and in the earth because “Righteousness and justice are the foundation of Your throne; Lovingkindness and truth go before You” (Psalm 89:14). Go before us and bless us with Your lovingkindness and truth.

I join my heart to others to declare God’s blessings of economic favor and prosperity, that industry would flourish and that we would be satisfied and blessed by the work of our hands individually and as a nation. We ask for the blessings of wisdom and discernment for our foreign policy, that we may be a blessing to other nations while doing what will bless our own internal affairs. We thank You for giving to us the blessings of angels that protect our people, our land, our military overseas, our police force and Home Land Security at home to keep evil and danger far from us. We declare that America will be a blessed land because we will be a righteous people and we will recognize the difference between good and evil and we will not be a people who call good evil or evil good, but will see and hear and assess things with the discernment of the HOLY Spirit.

We ask for blessings upon those in our society who seek to do harm to others so that they can think clearly and come to their senses and realize that goodness can be theirs. Bless those, Lord, most in need of blessings. Provide goodness and warmth and love and caring for those who are in desperate need. Bless those who have suffered deprivation emotionally or physically, Lord, so that they can become good and productive citizens. Bless them, Lord, with new understanding of what life can be for them as You bless them further with people who will help them in practical ways and come to see themselves as blessed people. Show each of us how we can bless others. Open our eyes to see those in need around us so we can be a blessing to them in their need.

Bless us with the mind of Messiah, with eyes to see your Kingdom, with the heart of God, with the joy, peace and righteousness of Your Spirit, Lord, and bless us with freedom from self-consciousness or fear so we are free to share all You’re giving to us and showing to us of Your Kingdom ways at this time. Let the blessings of Your kingdom pour forth upon America, so we will bless the world with light. We turn our preoccupation with darkness and concerns over it to believing You to turn on Kingdom light so the darkness will flee. We bless You most of all, Lord, for all Your goodness to us, day after day after day. May our new awareness of Your blessings bring us closer to You and to each other, to know You as Your co-workers in spreading the goodness of the Kingdom of God to America and to the world. Amen!

I had such a good time doing that, I got carried away. You still there with me? Whether this comes to the whole nation or a remnant of those who are His, He will restore us to godliness and He will protect us and defend us and provide for us and bring our children into righteousness. It’s all in what you say. “Death and life are in the power of the tongue” (Prov 18:21). And Moses said, “I have set before you life and death, the blessing and the curse. So choose life in order that you may live, you and your descendants” (Deut 30:19).

Choose life! Choose to be a blessing and to bless others. It will not only be a fountain of goodness to you, it will affect your family as well. A person of blessings affects generations to come. You’ve heard of generational curses? Well, generational blessings are more powerful because God is more powerful than the devil! Call for the blessings of your past generations to come to bear upon you and your family in this generation, in Yeshua’s name. Pray for the blessings that have been America’s strength to be manifested in our country again. Sing the national anthem. Thank God that this is the “sweet land of liberty” and that we are “the home of the brave and land of the free.”

We know what fasting and prayer will do. But fasting and praise can be even more powerful.

So how about it? Can I hear a few thousand Amens on this one? Thousands of people read this website each week. How many actually read my articles I don’t know but enough to make a “Fasting Difference.” What do you say we begin to agree with God that He is good and He is Lord over America? If you’re one of those people who think America has passed the point of blessing, consider Nineveh (See Jonah 3 & 4). God is never deaf to the cries of people of repentance and faith. Let’s give Him praise and let Him know that we trust Him to bless our President so that he will accomplish His will in this time in prophetic history. There has been at least one prophecy from a credible prophet that declared that the man who comes into office will come into a greater relationship with God than he had before. That would be good for any President. For that matter, for any of us as well. Let’s pray that blessing upon him.

And while we’re at it, during these few days, how about we say hello to people we might not ordinarily speak to. Smile at them and bless them. I do that kind of regularly anyway. You’ll be amazed, if you don’t do it now, what wonderful responses you get from people when you simply smile at them and say, “God bless you,” or “Blessings upon you,” or just “Blessings!” They know you mean from God. There’s something in almost everyone that responds to that. I’ve watched countenances change when I’ve greeted someone, or thanked them and added the blessing. Say hello, say goodbye and add a “God bless you.”

Maybe this will be such a blessing to you that you’ll never want to stop being a blesser and a blessing! Maybe we can keep it going and become a people of blessings and faith as a way of life. God is a blesser and He blesses the righteous and the unrighteous all the time. So we don’t have to withhold blessings from anyone because we’re not sure they deserve it. Who really deserves the goodness of God anyway? “Freely you received, freely give!” (Matthew 10:8). I love that verse. It has so many applications. What have you freely received from God that you can give to others?

Oh sure, not everyone will think it’s a good idea. But most will. You might even make a friend. But let me tell you, you will be the one who is blessed the most. We do reap what we sow, right? Sow blessings and you’ll be blessed. You will be so blessed you’ll wonder why you didn’t do this before. You have no idea how many attitudes you can change by blessing someone, one person at a time. Maybe it’ll be contagious and they’ll pass it on. It starts with you and me.

If you feel so moved to join in this Blessing Fast, perhaps you have others who would want to join in to whom you could send this or drop them an email and refer them to www.SidRoth.org and the “Articles and More” section to read this. The more people the bigger, higher, and wider the blessing. So please keep it moving and let’s see what God will do with our Blessing Fast as intercession for our country.

And finally, how about we also bless the Jewish people around the world and bless Israel. God has already told us He would bless those who bless them (Gen 12:3). Let’s pray that America will be an instrument for blessings for Jerusalem as His Word says to “Pray for the peace of Jerusalem. May they prosper who love you” (Psalm 122:6). May America, and you, be blessed with the prosperity that comes from blessing Jerusalem, and from being a person of blessings.