Fasting
Fasting is an interesting topic to discuss in today’s culture. Spiritually speaking it seems that fasting isn’t something that we want to participate in unless we can modify what a fast is to include anything we think we need a break from. However, in the health and wellness arena fasting is an area that has gone through a resurgence for potential health benefits of intermittent fasting.
The church seems to be missing out on the benefits of fasting. Not of the intermittent fasting trend going on right now but of actually fasting for spiritual reasons. The spiritual benefits to fasting are tremendous and can have a massive impact on our spiritual lives and on our churches. So that is what we are going to look at today: the benefits of fasting for spiritual reasons.
Fasting can boost our prayers. We see this amplifying power of combining prayer and fasting when the apostles couldn’t cast out a demon. They come to Jesus and ask why they couldn’t cast out this demon. Jesus responds by telling them that this kind of demon only comes out with prayer and fasting. This event occurs in Matthew 17 but we see throughout scripture that prayer is often accompanied with fasting.
Fasting can help us in our fight with temptation. It is no secret that temptation is lingering everywhere to trip us up and cause us to mess up. Saying no to the desire to eat in service to God helps strengthen our resolve when we are faced with the temptation to do something that we know isn’t beneficial.
Finally, fasting reinforces our dependence on God. In a world where “our daily bread” for the next week is probably sitting on your counter right now it can be hard to remember that this is a blessing from God and not because of our own abilities. When we give up a couple of meals and rely on God for the strength ot make it through a day without food we are reminded of how important his provision is as well as how dependant we really are.
So my challenge to you today is to fast. Take a day and skip lunch but don’t do it just to do it. Take some of that time you would spend eating lunch praying and seeking God. Use your bodies reminders that you have skipped a meal to express your dependance on God and you need for his provision.
