When we engage in traditional fasting as a Christian discipline, we’re talking about food; we’re talking about abstaining from eating. When we eat well, we are receiving nutrition from the soil of the earth, and our bodies are blessed; we are momentarily sustained and nourished. So why in the world would we intentionally withhold what our bodies need?
Because what we need most is God.
John 4 recounts Jesus’ interaction with “the woman at the well.” When the woman returns to town to proclaim the good news she has heard, the disciples offer Jesus his lunch, and Jesus replies, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” In fact, it seems Jesus most certainly had no physical food in sight.
I think Jesus was, in fact, physically hungry. But Jesus has a habit of setting aside certain preferences in order to demonstrate true, top priorities. For Jesus, the kingdom of God trumps a full stomach. We could do worse than following his lead. Jesus says, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness” (Matthew 5:6).
Fasting trades on turning our physical hunger pains into a unique kind of spiritual fuel that opens us up to the Holy Spirit performing his renovating work within in a way that will otherwise not happen.
Fasting is powerful, in part, because it hurts. In sacrifice, discipleship accelerates. There is an ancient spiritual discipline of disturbance that is a highway to intimacy with God.
Today we fast and pray individually for a communal revival of the Holy Spirit to break out among us.
Jesus is the eternal bread. Let us feast.
Michael Thornton
Discipleship Pastor