As we battle spiritually for each other's souls, we would like to introduce you to another part of prayer. We would like to introduce you to fasting along with prayer. Fasting intensifies prayer in that we focus and direct our attention to God and aren't as distracted by life and culture. It reminds us during the day of fasting that we bring our whole body as well as our spirit under subjection to God. Fasting does not change God's view of our prayers but it does change our view of God, making us totally humble before God and seeking His will and listening for His instruction.

When we fast we choose a time to abstain from something so we can humble ourselves and concentrate on God's will and direction. A fast can be for one meal or it can be for 24 hours or more under certain circumstances. There are some that cannot fast from food because of medical reasons or because food is needed for medications. You could then fast from another distraction in our lives, such as media (TV, radio, news papers, music, etc). To have the house totally quiet as you pray and work gives you the chance to think and listen to God, pray and concentrate on his voice.

"...train yourself to be godly. For physical training is of some value, but godliness has value for all things, holding promise for both the present life and the life to come." (1 Timothy 4:7,8)

Choose a day that you can fast and seek God. This is not by any means a requirement but an invitation.

Today when the very idea of fasting is introduced, most Christians are skeptical for at least two reasons:

It runs against how we normally live. While we may see some who starve themselves as gutsy and well-intentioned and sometimes even heroic (e.g., Gandhi), by and large we see fasting as ignorant or pointless. After all, our whole culture is based on getting all you can get, not depriving yourself! Gratifying every desire is the essence of success and happiness. We love Japanese cars because of what they do for us. We love McDonalds because they know we deserve a break...and the shrimp is available as "all you can eat!" Any suggestion that we are to deny ourselves is a contradiction of everything we see on television, study for and work for. Our whole life is geared from infancy to "get" and yet Jesus talks about fasting. Ludicrous!!

We reject it on religious grounds. For many years it was because Catholics talked about it (though they hadn't practiced it for years) that Protestants had to be against it. But it was more than that, like the lady in Mexico City walking on her bare knees on cobblestone, hoping to secure a blessing from God. So fasting has been perceived as rather bizarre self-inflicted pain that will somehow earn favor with God and we rightly reject that!! The Christian life is not earned and we don't get God's attention by inflicting pain on ourselves. We aren't holier if we starve to death.

But just because the discipline of fasting has been abused and just because it flies in the face of our consumer society, dare we dismiss it? In Matthew 4:1-2 we read, "Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the desert to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry" Some say that it was because Jesus was weakened from fasting that He was more susceptible or vulnerable to Satan. I think Jesus fasted so he would be prepared, and strong enough to meet Satan and resist his temptation. If that's true, see how it fits with "growing in grace," with disciplines that equip us and prepare us to be more like Christ?

I want to come back to that idea later, but for now look with me at:

Matthew 6:2      "When you give alms..."
Matthew 6:5      "When you pray..."
Matthew 6:16    "Whenever you fast..."

Did Jesus expect that His followers would give help to others? Yes! Pray? Yes! Fast?? In Matthew 9:14-15 we read, "Then John's disciples came and asked him, 'How is it that we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?' 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.' " Did Jesus expect that after He was physically gone that His followers would fast? Yes! (Cf. Acts 13:2-3 & Acts 14:23.)

While fasting is nowhere commanded in the New Testament, it is assumed - assumed that God's people would follow the example of our Lord and all those before Him. But even if I accept that Jesus and many others from Moses to the present practiced fasting, and that Jesus expected His followers to practice it, I still ask why? What's the point of it?

There are some examples of fasting for the wrong reason (e.g., Pharisees who fasted to be lauded for their piety.) But in every good example of fasting in the Bible it is connected with prayer! There are over twenty examples and calls for God's people to fast and pray. As I went through the Scripture, example-by-example, I found that though prayer is called for in every circumstance of life, fasting was called for in unusual situations. Fasting was done in the context of a crisis to be met or a decision to be made.

See an example in II Chronicles 20:2, 3-6, 12-13: "Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, 'A vast army is coming against you from Edom, from the other side of the Sea. It is already in Hazazon Tamar' (that is, En Gedi). Alarmed, Jehoshaphat resolved to inquire of the LORD, and he proclaimed a fast for all Judah. The people of Judah came together to seek help from the LORD; indeed, they came from every town in Judah to seek him. Then Jehoshaphat stood up in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem at the temple of the LORD in the front of the new courtyard and said: 'O LORD, God of our fathers, are you not the God who is in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. Power and might are in your hand, and no one can withstand you.... See how they are repaying us by coming to drive us out of the possession you gave us as an inheritance. O our God, will you not judge them? For we have no power to face this vast army that is attacking us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are upon you.' All the men of Judah, with their wives and children and little ones, stood there before the LORD."

What's the point of fasting? Well clearly it is not just to get hungry. Fasting was for the purpose of focusing one's whole attention on God. Puritan, Matthew Barker writing in 1674 wrote, "A religious fast is the devotion of the whole person to a solemn extraordinary attendance upon God in a particular time set apart for that purpose." Whether it was Jehoshaphat in II Chronicles, Esther as she was about to plead for her people, Daniel as he sought the Lord's answer to the future of his people, the citizens of Ninevah as they anticipated God's judgment or David as he feared the death of his child, the issue was so serious and their hearts so burdened that they took extraordinary measures to get alone with God-and focus all their attention on Him.

But why fast, won't prayer alone do that? We are whole people, spirit and body. We may intend to pray but unless we can get our bodies to cooperate, our prayers are greatly hindered. To grow in our ability to pray we must learn how to control our bodies and minds. Our minds flit from one idea to another and our bodies grow restless. We must learn how to discipline our minds and bodies, make them act as we want them to, and not just let them do whatever they want. Fasting is just one form of abstinence that we may properly use to increasingly bring our bodies under control.

My experience, limited as it is, is that in my first attempts at fasting with prayer, I thought more about food than God. But I am assured that, with practice that changes. Because we are body as well as spirit, the Bible stresses that prayer is not just a mental exercise, our whole body is called on to get involved. So we speak our prayers, we bow our heads, bend our knees, lift our hands, and/or lay prostrate on the ground, all to bring our whole self into the experience of meeting with God, waiting upon Him, seeking His answer to our need. Likewise fasting is a way to bring our whole self into the experience of meeting with God.

Jesus has called us to a different way of life than we have lived before. And to live that life, He calls us to take His yoke upon us and learn from Him. One aspect of that yoke is, I believe, fasting and prayer, the kind of self-controlled attention to God that allows us to pray, as we need to pray. Do we want to grow in grace? Then I believe fasting is a part of that growth process, it is a discipline or exercise unto godliness. Are you facing a big decision this week? Is there a crisis in which you are involved? Will you fast and pray as our Lord did?

Excerpts from the sermon "Fasting I" given by Dr. Jerry Nelson on March 11, 1990. You may view the whole text of Fasting I. You may also view the text of Fasting II given on March 18, 1990.