The Power Of Fasting

The first person that I met personally that told me of a Second Comforter experience, was a woman that I had met while I was serving a mission.  Judy told me of a lady that she knew who had fasted and prayed every Sabbath for five years before the Saviour showed Himself to her.  I believe that Judy was talking about her own experience and I was very happy to finally meet someone who knew God was real.  I felt so much less alone.  She was a wonderful lady who was raising wonderful children up to the Lord. 

I really needed her witness.  I was so often surrounded by people who just went through the motions, but didn’t really believe that God was real; practicing a form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.  And I was starting to question if I had really even had heard the voice of God, or seen visions, or experienced any miraculous events, or if it were just all in my head.  But this beloved Sister’s witness re-inspired me that our Heavenly Father was indeed real, and that He is alive and working for the salvation of His children.  This experience prompted me to keep moving forward for my own Second Comforter experience. 

But this is not all; they had given themselves to much prayer, and fasting; therefore they had the spirit of prophecy, and the spirit of revelation, and when they taught, they taught with power and authority of God. 

I related this story to someone, who seemed to get quite annoyed with me and he replied that, ‘there must have been something more.  It couldn’t have been just fasting that qualified the lady for a visit from the Saviour.’  And he is correct. 

Fasting is a very powerful tool.  It helps us draw nourishment from Heaven to feed our souls.  With this spiritual nourishment we grow and progress toward our Heavenly Parents, toward our full potential.  But fasting is not the end all and be all.  It is not a magic formula that just automatically endows us with “power from on High”, but it is a magnifier of what is already in our hearts.  We cannot expect just to fast and pray and the Lord will appear to us in His full Glory for that reason alone, but we must bring our hearts into tune with His.  We must become like Him.  Our heart must become like His heart.  It is our hearts that matter most! 

Fasting magnifies what is truly in our hearts.  Therefore, when we fast, we should use the utmost caution to only want the Father’s will, to only want good and holy things, to only feel pure compassion and holy emotions, to keep our minds pure and focused on the works of the Saviour, to only speak and communicate things that will encourage people to become like our Heavenly Parents, to only do the works of the Saviour during our fasts, nothing else. 

It wasn’t the fact that Judy fasted every Sabbath for five years that qualified her for the Second Comforter.  It was the fact that she brought her heart into tune with the heart of the Saviour.  Fasting for five years only magnified and grew what was already in her heart. 

The thing is, Judy’s experience is Judy’s experience.  It was what was needed for her.  She listened to the promptings of the Holy Ghost and the directions of the Spirit of God, and that is what led her to her Saviour.  And it is the same for every person.  Go to God yourself, directly, in person.  Approach Him with full confidence, and ask Him to put you on the path to see your Saviour with your own eyes.  Then follow the promptings of the Holy Spirit precisely, and, by and by, you will see your Saviour. 

.