Fasting and Spiritual Authority: 2

Many believers associate spiritual authority with intensity of discipline — long fasts, extreme sacrifice, visible endurance. While discipline has value, Scripture and early Christian wisdom are clear on this point:

Authority is not generated by fasting.
Authority is revealed through alignment.

Part 1 established that, after Christ, fasting is no longer about reaching God but about awakening to God’s presence.
Part 2 now asks the next question:

How does fasting relate to spiritual authority?

Authority in Scripture: Where does it actually come from?

Authority in the New Testament does not originate in effort, but in union with Christ.

Jesus says:

• Matthew 28:18
  “All authority is given unto me in heaven and in earth.”

And then:

• Luke 10:19
  “Behold, I give unto you power… over all the power of the enemy.”

Authority is:

• received, not achieved
• delegated, not manufactured

This is foundational. Any theology of fasting that treats it as a source of authority has already drifted.

Why fasting is often confused with authority

The confusion arises because fasting does affect spiritual perception and obedience, both of which are related to authority.

Jesus explains authority this way:

• John 5:19
  “The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do…”

Authority flows from:

• hearing
• seeing
• obeying

Fasting can help remove interference, but it does not create the signal.

The wilderness temptation: fasting reveals authority, it does not produce it

Jesus fasts forty days in the wilderness (Matthew 4), but notice something critical:

• The Father already declared:
  “This is my beloved Son…” (Matthew 3:17)
• Authority was already present before the fast.
• The fast did not make Jesus the Son.
• The fast exposed what kind of Son He was.

Each temptation attacks identity, not discipline:

• “If you are the Son…”
• “If you are the Son…”

Jesus responds from alignment, not effort.

Spiritual authority fails where alignment is missing

This explains one of the most sobering passages in Scripture:

• Acts 19:13–16

The sons of Sceva attempt deliverance using the language of authority without the relationship behind it.

The evil spirit answers:

“Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?”

They had:

• words
• techniques
• Let’s assume this one… possibly fasting? ( for people in our present time)

But no alignment.

Authority recognizes authority.

Early Christian mystics: authority as inner order

The early mystics understood authority not as domination, but as inner coherence.

Evagrius Ponticus taught that a person ruled by passions cannot rule spiritually.

Scripture agrees:

• Proverbs 25:28
  “He that hath no rule over his own spirit is like a city that is broken down.”

Fasting, rightly practiced, restores inner order:

• desires come back under love
• reactions come back under discernment
• the heart becomes single

This is why authority flows easily, not because God gives more power, but because less resistance remains.

Gifts can operate without maturity, but authority cannot

This is a crucial distinction.

Scripture shows gifts operating through immature vessels (1 Corinthians), but authority behaves differently.

• Matthew 7:22–23
  “Many will say to me… did we not prophesy… cast out devils…?
  And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you.”

Authority flows from knowing and being known, not from activity.

Fasting that does not lead to:

• humility
• obedience
• love

will not produce authority, only exhaustion or pride.

What fasting actually does for authority

When practiced in Christ, fasting:

a. Clarifies hearing

• Acts 13:2
  “As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said…”

Fasting creates attentiveness, not power.

b. Aligns the will

• Romans 12:1–2
  “Present your bodies… be transformed by the renewing of your mind…”

Authority flows where the will is yielded.

c. Strengthens obedience

Jesus links authority to obedience directly:

• John 14:21
  “He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them… I will manifest myself to him.”

Manifestation follows obedience, not abstinence.

Authority in the age of the indwelling Christ

Because Christ dwells within:

• Colossians 1:27
  “Christ in you, the hope of glory.”

Authority today is not about:

• striving upward
• breaking through layers
• proving spirituality

It is about agreeing with what is already true.

Fasting helps when it:

• removes distraction
• exposes false dependencies
• quiets competing loyalties

But the authority itself comes from Christ’s lordship, not our hunger.

A mature definition of fasting and authority

Fasting does not give authority.
Fasting removes what contradicts authority.

Authority is not volume, force, or intensity.
It is clarity, obedience, and alignment with love.

This is why the greatest authority in the Gospels looks like:

• gentleness
• discernment
• restraint
• obedience unto death

— all perfectly embodied in Christ.

Conclusion: authority flows from presence

Because the Bridegroom is with us:

• authority is not summoned
• power is not forced
• presence is not earned

Fasting, when rightly understood, becomes:

a tool for alignment,
not a weapon for control.

Or in Jesus’ own words:

• John 15:5
  “Without me ye can do nothing.”

But with Him, authority flows naturally, quietly, unmistakably.