Fasting

 I had a summer when I was on staff for a Junior High camp that I decided to fast every Wednesday for 24 hours each time. I still had water, juice and coffee. I just didn't eat any solid food in that time. My intention was to make my prayers stronger for the youth I was working with. There was one guy in particular named Greg that I knew needed lots of prayer. He was very reserved. He did start to open up and come out of his shell more. One time I went 3 days in fasting. By the 3rd day I felt incredibly weak. It was a very interesting experience. I think partly I went 3 days just to see if I could do it. You do get a bit of an ego boost when fasting, just that you can actually do it. If you are feeling insecure for any reason, that can make you feel better about yourself. 

The main reason to fast is to teach yourself to appreciate things more. It's easy to start to take food for granted, or any blessing from God. When you deprive yourself of food for a long period, you appreciate it a LOT more after that. Just something simple like food becomes like winning the gold medal in the Olympics after fasting for a period of time. :)

There are about 150 verses in the Bible about fasting. Clearly it is something that God feels is important. It is not just some random theological subject. It could be said, it is a very central aspect to worshipping God or being obedient to God. 

Here is the most important reason to fast: 

1 Corinthians 9:27 

I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

Paul wrote half of the New Testament and he was worried about being disqualified? That is pretty amazing. And how did he say he could prevent this? By disciplining his body and keeping it under control. The greatest way to learn self-control for any area of life is by fasting. Your stomach should not master you. You should master your stomach. 

Matthew 6:16-18 

“When you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you."

The point of all this is that you aren't fasting for others, you are doing it for God, to show that you take your faith seriously. Part of the Christian faith is dying to yourself and letting God live through you. The best way to die to yourself is to fast. 

Isaiah 58:3-7 

 Behold, in the day of your fast you seek your own pleasure, and oppress all your workers. Behold, you fast only to quarrel and to fight and to hit with a wicked fist. Fasting like yours this day will not make your voice to be heard on high.

This implies that if you fast the right way, God will be more inclined to hear your voice. Maybe I'll fast tomorrow. :) When you fast, it doesn't give you an excuse to fight with others. It can make you more inclined to be fiesty because being hungry isn't fun. Actually it can be fun just because it's different, but it can make you grumpy. The key is to still be loving even when you are fasting. 

Joel 2:12 

“Yet even now,” declares the Lord, “return to me with all your heart, with fasting, with weeping, and with mourning."

One reason to fast is if there is something that you need to confess. It can be a kind of contrition, or making it up to God. Granted Jesus' death paid for all our sins, but God still likes to see that we really are sorry about our sins sometimes. Fasting is one way to show that. 

Matthew 4:1

"For forty days, being tempted by the devil. Jesus ate nothing during those days. And when they were ended, he was hungry."

Before Jesus began his entire ministry he fasted for 40 days. I think he just did that to show he was a total rock star. Good job Jesus. :) If he could handle 40 days, I'm sure you could handle a day or two. The Bible doesn't really say Why Jesus fasted for 40 days. Even though he was perfect and he was God, he still might have needed to die to himself. In his ministry it was all about other people. He was constantly teaching others or healing others. This time of fasting probably helped him to be more other-focused rather then self-focused. 

Matthew 4:4 

But Jesus answered Satan and said, “It is written, “‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”

A big reason to fast is so that you can stop thinking about food for a period of time. Then you focus just on God for that time rather then food. If you think about it, a constant thought can be "What should I eat next?" Fasting helps you take a break from that annoying ongoing question. :) I always get annoyed when I'm hungry again when it seems like I just ate. I don't know about you, but it can be great to take a break from the non stop eating madness. 

More verses on fasting. Please read. :)

Ezra 8:23 

So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.

Psalm 35:13 

But I, when they were sick— I wore sackcloth; I afflicted myself with fasting; I prayed with head bowed on my chest.

Acts 13:2 

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.”

Luke 18:12 

I fast twice a week; I give tithes of all that I get.

Luke 2:37 

And then as a widow until she was eighty-four. She did not depart from the temple, worshiping with fasting and prayer night and day.

Ezra 8:21-23 

Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. 

Esther 4:16 

“Go, gather all the Jews to be found in Susa, and hold a fast on my behalf, and do not eat or drink for three days, night or day. I and my young women will also fast as you do. Then I will go talk to the king, though it is against the law."

Acts 13:3 

Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

Daniel 9:3 

Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.

Exodus 34:28 

So Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

Acts 9:9 

And for three days Saul was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

Judges 20:26 

Then all the people of Israel, the whole army, went up and came to Bethel and wept. They sat there before the Lord and fasted that day until evening, and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings before the Lord.

Mark 9:29 

And he said to them, “This kind of demon cannot be driven out by anything but prayer and fasting.”

Ezra 8:21 

Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods.

Joel 1:14 

Consecrate a fast; call a solemn assembly. Gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land to the house of the Lord your God, and cry out to the Lord.

Isaiah 58:6-7

“Is not this the fast that I choose: to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the straps of the yoke, to let the oppressed go free, and to break every yoke? Is it not to share your bread with the hungry and bring the homeless poor into your house; when you see the naked, to cover him, and not to hide yourself from your own flesh?

Zechariah 7:5 

“Say to all the people of the land and the priests, When you fasted and mourned in the fifth month and in the seventh, for these seventy years, was it for me that you fasted?

Jonah 3:5-10

And the people of Nineveh believed God for the first time. They called for a fast and put on sackcloth, from the greatest of them to the least of them. The word reached the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, removed his robe, covered himself with sackcloth, and sat in ashes. And he issued a proclamation and published through Nineveh, “By the decree of the king and his nobles: Let neither man nor beast, herd nor flock, taste anything. Let them not feed or drink water, but let man and beast be covered with sackcloth, and let them call out mightily to God. Let everyone turn from his evil way and from the violence that is in his hands. Who knows? God may turn and relent and turn from his fierce anger, so that we may not perish."

Nehemiah 9:1 

Now on the twenty-fourth day of this month the people of Israel were assembled with fasting and in sackcloth, and with earth on their heads.

1 Samuel 7:6 

So they gathered at Mizpah and drew water and poured it out before the Lord and fasted on that day and said there, “We have sinned against the Lord.” And Samuel judged the people of Israel at Mizpah.

Daniel 10:2-3

"In those days I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks." 

This is when Daniel had incredible visions about the end times. 

Mark 2:18-20

Now John's disciples and the Pharisees were fasting. And people came and said to Jesus, “Why do John's disciples and the disciples of the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast in that day."

Thank you for reading. Now go fast and be blessed. :)