Jejum e oração
Jejum e oração são disciplinas espirituais que andam juntas. Jesus jejuou, os apóstolos jejuaram, e a Bíblia ensina que o jejum fortalece a oração e nos aproxima do coração de Deus.
O exemplo de Jesus
Jesus jejuou quarenta dias no deserto antes de iniciar seu ministério. Ele ensinou que certas coisas só acontecem com oração e jejum.
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and nights, he was hungry.
"Because you don’t trust enough," Jesus told them. "I tell you, even if your trust was as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it would move. Nothing would be impossible for you."
When you fast, don’t be like the hypocrites who put on sad faces and make themselves look terrible so that everyone can see they’re fasting. I tell you the truth, they already have their reward. Instead, when you fast, wash your face and look smart, so that people won’t see you’re fasting, and your unseen Father who sees what happens in private will reward you.
When you fast, don’t be like the hypocrites who put on sad faces and make themselves look terrible so that everyone can see they’re fasting. I tell you the truth, they already have their reward.
Instead, when you fast, wash your face and look smart, so that people won’t see you’re fasting, and your unseen Father who sees what happens in private will reward you.
where he was tempted by the devil for forty days. He didn’t eat anything during that whole time, so at the end he was starving.
O jejum nas Escrituras
Ao longo da Bíblia, grandes homens e mulheres de fé jejuaram em momentos decisivos — buscando a Deus com urgência e devoção.
Moses spent forty days and forty nights there with the Lord without eating bread or drinking water. He wrote down on the tablets the words of the agreement, the Ten Commandments.
So I turned to the Lord God in prayer. I fasted and wore sackcloth and ashes, and I pleaded with him in prayer to act.
I ate no fine food. No meat or wine passed my lips. I used no perfumed oils until those three weeks were over.
I ate no fine food. No meat or wine passed my lips. I used no perfumed oils until those three weeks were over.
"Have all the Jews in Susa meet together and fast for me. Don’t eat or drink anything for three days and nights. I and my girls will also fast. After that, I will go to the king, even though it’s against the law, and if I die, I die."
When I heard the news, I sat down, weeping and mourning for days, fasting and praying to the God of heaven.
At the Ahava Canal I called for a fast so we could confess our sins before God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, along with all our possessions.
So we fasted and asked God to protect us, and he answered our prayers.
So we fasted and asked God to protect us, and he answered our prayers.
David pleaded with God on behalf of the boy. He fasted, went to his bedroom, and spent the night lying in sackcloth on the ground.
The people of Nineveh believed in God. They announced a fast, and all of them, from the greatest to the least, put on sackcloth.
When the news of what was happening reached the king of Nineveh he came down from his throne, took off his robe, put on sackcloth, and sat in ashes. Then the king and the nobles issued a proclamation throughout Nineveh: "No person, no animal, no herd, and no flock, shall eat or drink anything. Every person and every animal is to wear sackcloth. Everyone is to pray sincerely to God, give up the evil things they do, and stop using violence. Who knows? God may change his mind and relent. He may decide not to destroy us in his fierce anger."
God saw what they had done—that they had given up their evil ways—so he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.
O jejum que Deus escolheu
Isaías revela o jejum que agrada a Deus: soltar as cadeias da injustiça, libertar os oprimidos e repartir o pão com o faminto.
"Didn’t you see that we fasted?" they ask. "Didn’t you notice how we denied ourselves?"
That’s because whenever you fast you still do whatever you want, and you treat your workers badly. Can’t you see that when you’re fasting you quarrel and argue, and end up having a vicious fistfight? When you fast like this you can’t expect your prayers to be heard on high! Is this the kind of fast I want when people act out their humility by bowing their heads down like a reed and by lying around in sackcloth and ashes? Is that what you call a fast, a day the Lord appreciates? No, this is the fast I want: set free those who have been unjustly imprisoned, untie the cords of the yoke used to burden people, set free those who are oppressed, and get rid of every form of abuse.
No, this is the fast I want: set free those who have been unjustly imprisoned, untie the cords of the yoke used to burden people, set free those who are oppressed, and get rid of every form of abuse.
"Yet even now," says the Lord, "Come back to me while there is still time. Come to me with all your heart, with fasting and prayer.
"Yet even now," says the Lord, "Come back to me while there is still time. Come to me with all your heart, with fasting and prayer.
Proclaim a fast; call a sacred assembly. Have the elders and all people of the land gather in the Temple, and cry out to your God, to the Lord.
A igreja primitiva
Os apóstolos jejuavam antes de decisões importantes. O jejum acompanhava a consagração de líderes e o envio de missionários.
While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart Barnabas and Saul to do the work I’ve called them to."
While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart Barnabas and Saul to do the work I’ve called them to."
While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart Barnabas and Saul to do the work I’ve called them to." After they had fasted, prayed, and placed their hands on them in blessing, they sent them on their way.
After they had fasted, prayed, and placed their hands on them in blessing, they sent them on their way.
After they had fasted, prayed, and placed their hands on them in blessing, they sent them on their way.
After they had appointed elders for every church, and had prayed and fasted with them, Paul and Barnabas left them in the Lord’s care, the one that they trusted in.
Praticando o jejum
Quando jejuares, unge a cabeça e lava o rosto. O jejum é entre você e Deus — não para impressionar os homens, mas para buscar ao Senhor.
and then she had been widowed. She was eighty-four years old. She spent her time at the Temple in worship, fasting and praying.
"Well, John’s disciples often fast and pray, and the Pharisees' disciples do so as well. But your disciples don’t—they go on eating and drinking," they told him.
"Should the groomsmen fast while the bridegroom is with them?" Jesus asked. "No—but the time is coming when the bridegroom will be taken away from them. Then they can fast."
Later, when Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him in private, "Why couldn’t we drive the evil spirit out?"
"This kind can’t be driven out except by prayer," Jesus told them.
"This kind can’t be driven out except by prayer," Jesus told them.
I have faced hard labor and struggles, many sleepless nights, hunger and thirst, often going without food, cold, without enough clothing to keep warm.
But when they were sick, I put on clothes of sackcloth in sympathy. I denied myself through fasting. May my prayer for them return to bless me too.