In the first part of our study, Faith-Part 1, we learned that our faith is so important to God that He has wrapped our spiritual life and all his promises in it. We also learned that when we have little faith, the first thing we can do is to pray for God to increase it.
Although its meaning has been broadened in modern times, to fast has traditionally meant to abstain from all or certain foods. In fact, the words “to fast” come from a Hebrew word which means to cover the mouth. Two other words, “inna napso”, meaning "to afflict the soul," also refer to fasting.
In the first part of this study, Fasting-Part 1, we looked at the history of fasting in the Bible and discussed some of the reasons Christians and Jews have fasted through the ages. In this part, we will continue to look at additional reasons.
Many of our readers are too young to remember the Spanish Civil War in the late 1930’s. During this war supporters of the rebel forces formed a clandestine subversive organization which worked within Madrid, then enemy territory, to help their own political and military causes. One rebel general named the subversive group The Fifth Column. Today, this term remains a picturesque addition to our vocabulary, meaning an enemy working secretly from within.
In the first part of this study we showed the totally helpless condition unsaved man finds himself in. In this part, we show God’s solution to the problem.