Fast Track.

Then Esther sent this reply to Mordecai: “Go, assemble all the Jews who are found in Susa and fast in my behalf. Don’t eat and don’t drink for three days, night or day. My female attendants and I will also fast in the same way. Afterward I will go to the king, even though it violates the law. If I perish, I perish!” (Esther 4:15-16)

In Arthur Wallis’s classic book God’s Chosen Fast, we are told that a fast such as the one called by Esther was a rare occurrence. The few biblical instances of fasting from all food and drink were either cases of supernatural sustenance (as in the forty-day absolute fasts) or extreme spiritual emergency or upheaval (as in the three-day absolute fasts). According to Wallis, “A crisis of the utmost gravity threatened the whole Jewish race with extermination. Even Esther herself could expect no immunity because she was queen. She called this absolute fast because desperate situations require desperate measures.”

Esther exercised incredible wisdom in her response to Mordecai. Her call for an absolute fast changed the dynamic of her appeal for mercy: rather than merely appealing to King Ahasuerus, she began the process by spending three days in appeal to God, King of all the universe.

It is also important to note that Esther did not act alone. She asked Mordecai to involve every Jewish person in the community, and Esther involved each of her attendants in the three-day fast. After the fast, Esther put on her royal apparel and stood in the inner court of the king.

Why fasting and not prayer? Or, why fasting apart from prayer? The book of Esther does not give a specific answer. But we do have evidence from Christ Himself that prayer and fasting can be engaged as separate entities. In Matthew chapter 6, Jesus outlines various spiritual disciplines. He says, “When you give…”; “When you pray…”; “When you fast…”. (See Matthew 6:1-18) And He tells us that the Father, who sees what we do in secret, will reward us openly. Esther experienced the privilege of having her life spared, and having an opportunity to appeal to King Ahasuerus for the life of her people, because she engaged in fasting.

O Lord, I make appeal to Your grace;
My legitimate needs are tossed aside.
Renouncing food and drink, I seek Your face;
Through fasting I ask You to take Your place.
No devil’s threat can stand where You reside.

Utterly destroy the enemy’s plan:
Make my self-denial Your burning spear,
Pierce through selfish hearts as only You can.
Break the contract between Hell and man;
Cause Your swift deliverance to appear.

Saints of God, are you caught in a spiritual emergency? Reclaim your lost weapon of warfare. Fast. Absolutely.