Fasting is a spiritual discipline God offers us as a way to connect more closely and intimately with Him. It’s an opportunity to show him how serious we truly are about this issue in our life. So try adding fasting to the ways you connect with God and watch how that hunger in your stomach turns your senses towards complete dependance on Him.
From Feasting to Fasting
Last week we looked at the Spiritual Discipline of Celebration, and I have to tell you Michelle and I ran with that this weekend! We hosted her family for a double birthday party for two nieces, one turning 4 and the other turning 5. We sang and had gifts and laughed a lot, and we thanked God for the gift of family time.
At the heart of that 24-hour celebration was the food. We FEASTED! There was so much delicious food at every meal that many times someone said, “I’m stuffed!” It was a beautiful picture of what celebrating God’s goodness to us should look like.
Today we’re examining the flip side of that coin – occasions when celebration with others includes fasting. Sometimes, to connect with God privately, we can abstain from food through fasting.
I’m sure most of you know at least a little bit about what it means to fast. It has nothing to do with accomplishing something quickly. Fasting means to abstain from something, usually food. The meal we call ”breakfast” has that name because it breaks the 12-hour fast since the last meal. The common new diet trend of intermittent fasting means that you pick intervals of time to not eat, often skipping meals to try to help your body burn more calories.
I find it humorous that most young people probably have heard of intermittent fasting but have no idea what biblical fasting is. In our society we are so concerned with dieting and curbing our out-of-control eating and our bulging waistlines that we try to give up eating in order to be healthier and look better. For most people, the purpose of fasting is 100% physical. We fail to see the spiritual value fasting can add to our lives. When you give up a bit of your comfort, not to lose a few pounds but to gain a deeper connection with the God you depend on, fasting can be a spiritual discipline that super-charges your relationship with God.
Biblical Examples and Purposes for Fasting
Fasting shows up in the bible early and often. Unlike practices in America today, it is never for physical health but always for one’s spiritual health. Biblical fasting, at its root, is abstinence for a spiritual purpose.
Let’s look at when and why people practiced the discipline of fasting in the Bible.
Obedience
The first biblical practice of fasting occurred when God gave Moses the law with all its commands and stipulations. The command to fast for a day is included in the instructions for one of the main annual festivals.
Leviticus 16:29-30 – This is to be a lasting ordinance for you: On the tenth day of the seventh month you must deny yourselves and not do any work—whether native-born or a foreigner residing among you – 30 because on this day atonement will be made for you, to cleanse you.
Notice that the word “fasting” does not appear in this text. It is, however, indicated by the phrase “deny yourselves.” We aren’t used to denying ourselves anything anymore. That’s why so many people struggle with addictions and finances and parenting and relationships. We don’t want to say “no” to ourselves, but we see here that self-denial is at the heart of God’s command that His people fast on this Day of Atonement. On the day God is wiping the slate clean of all their sins – all the times they DIDN’T DENY THEMSELVES – He wants them to deny themselves for one day and recognize the significance of this work He is doing for them.
This wasn’t the only time the Israelites were commanded to fast. After their return from exile in Babylon, we see in Zechariah 8:19 that they were instructed to fast at four other annual festivals throughout the year. Tradition tells us each of these occasions was tied to a disaster in Israel’s history.
Petition
The most common reason for fasting today is the same as David’s was when he begged God to respond to an urgent need. David had taken Uriah’s wife as his wife and then sent Uriah off to die in battle. God stuck the child born to Uriah’s wife and David, and the child became very ill. David responded with prayer and fasting:
2 Samuel 12:16 – David pleaded with God for the child. He fasted and spent the nights lying in sackcloth on the ground.
Guidance
At other times people turned to God for direction and fasted as they looked for His divine guidance. One of Israel’s kings, when he learns two nations have joined together and are coming to attack him, calls for a fast:
2 Chronicles 20:2-4 – 2 Some people came and told Jehoshaphat, “A vast army is coming against you from Edom. . . . Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the Lord, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. 4 The people of Judah came together to seek help from the Lord; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him.
Confession
The prophet Daniel, in exile in Babylon, knows the captivity has been predicted to last 70 years. He fasts as he confesses the sins of the nation:
Daniel 9:3-5 – So I turned to the Lord God and pleaded with him in prayer and petition, in fasting, and in sackcloth and ashes. 4 I prayed to the Lord my God and confessed: “Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and keep his commandments, 5 we have sinned and done wrong.
Grief
After many years in exile in Babylon, Nehemiah hears a report that Jerusalem lies in ruins with no wall. The city is a laughingstock to all the surrounding nations. In his grief, Nehemiah fasts and prays:
Nehemiah 1:4 – When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.
Submission
Some years after Nehemiah’s time, when Ezra is about to lead a remnant of Israelites from Babylon back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, he first decides to call a corporate fast of all the people:
Ezra 8:21 – 21 There, by the Ahava Canal, I proclaimed a fast, so that we might humble ourselves before our God and ask him for a safe journey for us and our children, with all our possessions.
How Jesus Changes Fasting (A Little Bit)
Nowhere in the New Testament does Jesus command His followers to fast. Since we live in a New Covenant, sealed with the blood of Jesus, the command to fast on the Day of Atonement or any other festival day no longer applies to us. Our sin has been dealt with once and for all by Jesus on the cross.
HOWEVER, that does not mean Jesus throws fasting by the wayside. In fact, at one time Jesus and His disciples are asked why they never fast and why Jesus never has set an example of fasting for us in His early life.
Matthew 9:14-15 – Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” 15 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
Jesus answers: “While I’m here, it’s time to celebrate and feast; but when I leave, then they will return to fasting.”
That’s exactly what we see as the story of the early church continues. After Jesus ascends to heaven, His followers return to the practice of fasting. In one passage we see that it was both practiced regularly and done again in response to God’s direction:
Acts 13:2-3 –While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.
When you read church history, you will find that fasting until 3 p.m. was regularly practiced every Wednesday and Friday for the first 300 years after Jesus – up until the time of Constantine. It was an important spiritual discipline for many followers of Jesus.
Lessons About Fasting – What do we learn in all this?
1. Fasting is no longer commanded. You’re not sinning if you don’t fast. Like the other spiritual disciplines, this is not an obedience issue, but a blessing opportunity.
2. Fasting IS expected. No, Jesus did not fast with His disciples; yet when He spoke of fasting in His famous Sermon on the Mount, He said, “When you fast.”. . . .
3. Fasting intensifies prayer. We see prayer and fasting tied together in all our examples because fasting without prayer is just a weight-loss exercise. In fasting, we give up one of our body’s basic needs. It’s as though we are telling God, “Help, or I’ll die.” When David fasted for his son’s life, his servants were concerned about his own health. With that attitude, I guarantee your prayers will be focused and intense.
4. Fasting points to our dependence. In our modern culture we are accustomed to having clean water at the tap and food in the refrigerator. We don’t worry about getting enough rain to produce crops to feed our families and survive the winter. In our new independence we have forgotten that we truly are dependent on God for everything. Fasting reminds us of that connection. Ezra fasted before making the long journey back to Jerusalem because he didn’t have GPS or gas stations every 10 miles along the way. He knew he was dependent on God for the success of his journey.
5. Fasting teaches us sacrifice. In our comfort-driven society, we don’t often sacrifice anything for other people, let alone for God. As a result, we grow selfish and self-centered. Yet we say we want to be like Jesus, who sacrificed EVERYTHING for us. Fasting trains us to live a life of sacrifice for righteousness. The simple act of giving up a meal or a day’s worth of meals can expand our love for others.
How Not to Fast
If you decide you want to try fasting, I encourage you to make sure you are doing so with the right heart attitude. Fasting has been an incredible benefit for many saints through the millennia. It has inspired deeper faith and built stronger character. It has also had its abuses, and I don’t want you to fall into those abuses. For instance:
- Fasting for weight loss may help you take off pounds, but understand that you can’t have one eye on God and the other eye on the bathroom scale. If you want spiritual breakthrough, stop hoping for an added physical benefit and truly seek spiritual renewal.
- One group of Christians who fast regularly show us a good example of how to do it all wrong. I don’t believe God is honored when people give up red meat on Fridays during Lent only to get wasted at the fish fry at the town tavern! If your fasting is simply ritual or routine but isn’t drawing you closer to God, then you are wasting your efforts.
- Some people see fasting as leverage they can use to make sure God answers their prayers the way they want. They may not live their lives at all how God wants, but if they fast they expect God owes them something. It happens today and it happened long ago. God spoke to the issue through the prophet Isaiah:
- Isaiah 58:3-4 – “Why have we fasted,” they say, “and you have not seen it? Why have we humbled ourselves, and you have not noticed?” Yet on the day of your fasting, you do as you please and exploit all your workers. Your fasting ends in quarreling and strife, and in striking each other with wicked fists. You cannot fast as you do today and expect your voice to be heard on high.
- In all these abuses of fasting, we see that what God wants from our fasting is simply a heart that desires to be closer to Him. He wants a heart willing to deny itself earthly pleasures – a heart that wants God’s best. God wants a heart that mourns over sin and grieves over evil and loss, just like His heart mourns and grieves. He wants a heart that submits to the ways and will of God and wants to be led even more directly by Him.
Conclusion
In what area of your life do you need breakthrough? Do you have a need for which you have no options left and must recognize your total dependence on God for an answer? Where do you desperately need guidance and wisdom? What sin do you constantly struggle with that you must confess and receive God’s strength to overcome? What grief requires you to sit with God, apart from food, to let it go once and for all?
If one of these questions strikes at the core of your heart today, then maybe God is inviting you to try fasting and to test Him and see what happens.
I must add one caveat. For some of you, skipping a meal is a health risk. If that’s you, then don’t fast from food. Remember: fasting is abstaining from SOMETHING. Yes, it usually is food, but you could choose to abstain from any number of things and use that additional time in your life to connect with God in prayer. It might be television or social media or maybe your specific favorite food. If you feel called to fast, but abstaining from food is not an option for you, then choose an alternative. God will still meet you in your submission to Him.
Fasting is yet another spiritual discipline God offers us as a way to connect more closely and intimately with Him. It’s an opportunity to show Him how serious we truly are about this issue in our lives. If you try fasting, allow the hunger in your stomach to turn your senses toward complete dependence on God.
Matthew 5:6 – Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.
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