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.
1 Then Jesus was led up to the wilderness by the Spirit, to be tempted by the Devil,2 and having fasted forty days and forty nights, afterwards he did hunger.
20 And Jesus said to them, 'Through your want of faith; for verily I say to you, if you may have faith as a grain of mustard, you shall say to this mount, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove, and nothing shall be impossible to you,21 and this kind does not go forth except in prayer and fasting.'
16 'And when you may fast, be you not as the hypocrites, of sour countenances, for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear to men fasting; verily I say to you, that they have their reward.17 'But you, fasting, anoint your head, and wash your face,18 that you may not appear to men fasting, but to your Father whois in secret, and your Father, who is seeing in secret, shall reward you openly.
16 'And when you may fast, be you not as the hypocrites, of sour countenances, for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear to men fasting; verily I say to you, that they have their reward.
17 'But you, fasting, anoint your head, and wash your face,18 that you may not appear to men fasting, but to your Father whois in secret, and your Father, who is seeing in secret, shall reward you openly.
2 forty days being tempted by the Devil, and he did not eat anything in those days, and they having been ended, he afterward hungered,
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.
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.
A igreja primitiva
Os apóstolos jejuavam antes de decisões importantes. O jejum acompanhava a consagração de líderes e o envio de missionários.
2 and in their ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Separate you to me both Barnabas and Saul to the work to which I have called them,'
2 and in their ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Separate you to me both Barnabas and Saul to the work to which I have called them,'
2 and in their ministering to the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, 'Separate you to me both Barnabas and Saul to the work to which I have called them,'3 then having fasted, and having prayed, and having laid the hands on them, they sent them away.
3 then having fasted, and having prayed, and having laid the hands on them, they sent them away.
3 then having fasted, and having prayed, and having laid the hands on them, they sent them away.
23 and having appointed to them by vote elders in every assembly, having prayed with fastings, they commended them to the Lord in whom they had believed.
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.
37 and she is a widow of about eighty-four years, who did depart not from the temple, with fasts and supplications serving, night and day,
33 And they said unto him, 'Therefore do the disciples of John fast often, and make supplications -- in like manner also those of the Pharisees -- but yours do eat and drink?'34 And he said unto them, 'Are you able to make the sons of the bride-chamber -- in the bridegroom being with them -- to fast?35 but days will come, and, when the bridegroom may be taken away from them, then they shall fast in those days.'
28 And he having come into the house, his disciples were questioning him by himself -- 'Why were we not able to cast it forth?'29 And he said to them, 'This kind is able to come forth with nothing except with prayer and fasting.'
29 And he said to them, 'This kind is able to come forth with nothing except with prayer and fasting.'
27 in laboriousness and painfulness, in watchings many times, in hunger and thirst, in fastings many times, in cold and nakedness;