“So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.” – Ezra 8:23
Throughout the Bible, we see God’s people fasting to focus and strengthen their prayers. They fast to repent and they fast to seek God’s favor. Do you?
While there are no specific biblical commands for Christians to fast, Jesus clearly assumed His followers would. In fact, He gave us instructions about how to fast (Matthew 6:16-18). Nonetheless, in our land of plenty, fasting has largely fallen out of favor amongst Christians. Perhaps that’s why our Gospel influence has been diminishing. We’re living in serious times and serious times call for serious spiritual measures! Perhaps it’s time you incorporated fasting into your spiritual life. After all, the spiritual issues we face individually and collectively are enormous.
God’s people fast to sharpen their prayers, to crucify the flesh and nourish the spirit, to submit to God, and to break the power of our body over our mind and soul. The earnestness of fasting seems to underscore the earnestness of our prayers. And so, God’s people have traditionally fasted when wrestling with difficult questions and decisions. They’ve fasted when they longed to hear from the Lord. They’ve fasted in times of sorrow and repentance for the sins of their nation and for their own sins. They’ve fasted when they have sought the Lord’s favor in a difficult undertaking.
If these sound like things you might want, then it might be time to add fasting to your spiritual toolbox. Perhaps it’s a daylong fast or a fast between certain hours. Perhaps it’s a total fast from all food or a fast from flavorful foods. Perhaps it looks like small portions or only vegetables for awhile. We see fasts like these in various places in the Bible. There are no fixed rules for fasting. For those with medical conditions, there are creative ways to modify or reduce the intake of food for spiritual purposes. For those without medical conditions, it’s generally just a matter of being willing to to let your hunger pangs remind you to pray. If you’re carrying a spiritual burden on your heart today, perhaps you should schedule a personal fast this week to support focused prayer about that matter. #FollowJesus