All About Mormons

Estudo das Escrituras: Jejum

O profeta bíblico Esdras proclamou um jejum para “pedir a Deus” por Sua ajuda.

Ezra 8:21-23,31:

• Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river of Ahava, that we might afflict ourselves before our God, to seek of him a right way for us, and for our little ones, and for all our substance.
• For I was ashamed to require of the king a band of soldiers and horsemen to help us against the enemy in the way: because we had spoken unto the king, saying, The hand of our God is upon all them for good that seek him; but his power and his wrath is against all them that forsake him.
• So we fasted and besought our God for this: and he was intreated of us.
• Then we departed from the river of Ahava on the twelfth day of the first month, to go unto Jerusalem: and the hand of our God was upon us, and he delivered us from the hand of the enemy, and of such as lay in wait by the way.

Ester, a esposa judia de um rei pagão, desejou aliviar alguns dos encargos que haviam sido colocados sobre os ombros de seu povo. Ela decidiu falar com o rei, mas temia que ele iria ficar com raiva. Ester pediu que os judeus jejuassem que Deus iria protegê-la.

Esther 4:16:

• Go, gather together all the Jews that are present in Shushan, and fast ye for me, and neither eat nor drink three days, night or day: I also and my maidens will fast likewise; and so will I go in unto the king, which is not according to the law: and if I perish, I perish.

O salmista bíblico usou o jejum e a oração para ser mais humilde e para receber conforto espiritual.

Psalms 35:13:

• But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom.

O profeta bíblico Daniel também usou o jejum e a oração para pedir a Deus que “a tua ira e o teu furor sejam diminuídos” (vers. 16).

Daniel 9:3-4:

• And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:
• And I prayed unto the LORD my God, and made my confession, and said, O Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;

O povo de Nínive jejuou na esperança de que Deus não iria destruir sua cidade.

Jonah 3:5:

• So the people of Nineveh believed God, and proclaimed a fast, and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them even to the least of them.

No livro bíblico de Joel, Deus ordenou que os antigos israelitas jejuassem.

Joel 2:12:

• Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning:

Jesus Cristo jejuou para comungar com Deus.

Matthew 4:1-2:

• Then was Jesus led up of the spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
• And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.

Jesus também ensinou que o jejum traz bênçãos do céu.

Matthew 6:17-18:

• But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
• That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.

Em outra ocasião, Jesus outra vez ensinou a seus discípulos o mesmo princípio: o jejum, juntamente com a oração e a fé, pode trazer bênçãos.

Matthew 17:19-21:

• Then came the disciples to Jesus apart, and said, Why could not we cast him out?
• And Jesus said unto them, Because of your unbelief: for verily I say unto you, If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible unto you.
• Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.