Email

Bookmark

Print

Uncovering Fasting

Setting Aside Food, to Feast on God, Fosters Intimacy With Him

Denying ourselves. We do it to wriggle into a wedding dress or swimsuit. We do it as we train for an athletic event. We'll go without to achieve a promotion. We'll put our own desires aside when a close friend has a need. When our child has the flu, we drop everything. But when fasting is the subject, denying ourselves feels too uncomfortable. We rarely consider practicing this spiritual discipline.

If we do pause to think about it, we usually stop at our objections: I'll get sick. Don't I need three square meals daily? Isn't denial fanatical?

Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, supported fasting. Plato and Aristotle, respected philosophers, practiced it. Spiritual leaders - John Calvin, Charles Wesley and John Knox - knew the value of this discipline. Something drew them beyond their objections.

Fasting Defined
"The essence of a fast is self-denial in order to direct the thoughts to God," said Charles E. Wolfe in a published sermon. "Traditionally this has been the decision not to eat food for a certain length of time so that hunger will remind us of God."

A few render a broader definition, advocating voluntarily refraining from television, people, sleep or sexual relations.

However we choose to define it, this spiritual discipline is worth exploring. Fasting fosters intimacy with God.

"Fasting confirms our utter dependence upon God by finding in Him a source of sustenance beyond food," said Dallas Willard in The Spirit of the Disciplines. "Fasting unto our Lord is therefore feasting - feasting on Him and on doing His will."

Feasting on God rivets our attention on Him. Time and concentration normally directed toward meal planning, preparation and consumption is freed up to focus on Him. As we seek God, the reality of His presence heightens. Our hunger reveals our attachment to food and other things that control us. As we humbly come to grips with the cross God surfaces in our lives, we hear Him more clearly.

Physical and Mental Benefits
Since our spirit and bodies are interconnected, the benefits go beyond the spiritual realm. Weight loss, cleansing our bodies of toxins and a sense of physical well-being come from giving our body a temporary vacation from digestion.

"Fasting is a natural physiological process," said nutritionist Dr. Julio C Ruibal. "From both the scriptural and the scientific point of view, we can have confidence that fasting is not harmful, but rather beneficial when properly carried out."

Fasting even renders clarity of mind. "[Fasting] imparts a degree of acuteness to the understanding," said Samuel Miller in Fasting, "of vigor to the imagination and of activity and promptness to the memory, which are not experienced in other circumstances."

Examples of Fasting
Beyond these benefits, the Bible portrays examples of fasting. The most common occurrences were for personal or public repentance, seeking God and seeking His help. The nation of Israel fasted annually on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur) as part of atoning for their sins. Zechariah mentioned four public fasts commemorating the fall of Jerusalem. Besides regularly proclaimed fast days, individuals and groups denied themselves food when a need arose.

Nehemiah, David, Jesus, Anna, Paul and Barnabas participated in normal fasts, abstaining from all food but not water. Daniel entered into a partial fast, restricting his diet without total abstention. Queen Esther partook of an absolute fast, avoiding all food and water for three days. Moses and Elijah experienced supernatural fasts, eating no bread and drinking no water for 40 days and nights. Some fasts were private in nature and some public - calling a particular group or nation to join together in a time of need.

Motives Matter Most
What matters more than the duration or the type of fast is the heart behind it. The prophet Isaiah rebuked the house of Jacob for going through the outward motions of fasting without sincerity. The fast that pleases God stems from pure living and leads us beyond ourselves.

Jesus re-emphasized motives in Matthew chapter six. He told the disciples and the multitude not to draw attention to their fasting like the Pharisees did. When - not if - they fasted, God was the one who would see and reward them.

Fasting Comes Full Circle
The early Christian church followed Christ's example. But rules later set forth by church authorities and the extreme self-mortification practiced by ascetics during the Middle Ages quelled this strong emphasis on voluntary denial.

The Reformation swung the pendulum still further away from the rigorous self-discipline until eventually private religious fasting went by the wayside and public fasts were proclaimed only in times of crisis. Henry VIII abolished all official fasts except for Lent.

Near the end of the 19th century, public fasting went out of fashion. Today, few disciplines go so radically against the flesh mainstream of our society. "In a culture where the landscape is dotted with shrines to the Golden Arches and an assortment of Pizza Temples," said Richard J. Foster in Celebration of Discipline, "fasting seems out of place, out of step with the times."

Yet the historical pendulum is swinging back toward the middle as fasting gains attention in combination with prayer for revival.

Why Not Try it?
"Fasting is important, more important perhaps, than many of us have supposed," said Arthur Wallis in God's Chosen Fast. "When exercised with a pure heart and a right motive, fasting may provide us with a key to unlock doors where other keys have failed; a window opening up new horizons in the unseen world; a spiritual weapon of God's provision, mighty to the pulling down of strongholds."

Spiritual greats denied themselves food in order to seek God. Biblical examples abound with answers to fasters' pleas. Benefits beckon us to try this discipline.

Why not skip a meal and direct your hunger toward God? Intimacy with Him awaits.

Related Reading:
A home grown ministry
Discover the Spirit-Filled life
Need advice? Ask us.

This article appeared originally in the "Worldwide Challenge," Campus Crusade for Christ's award-winning magazine. Visit the Worldwide Challenge website by clicking here .