The Practice of Fasting
How, exactly, should we fast if we choose to do so?
Verse of the Day
“No, this is the kind of fasting I want: Free those who are wrongly imprisoned; lighten the burden of those who work for you. Let the oppressed go free, and remove the chains that bind people.”
Today’s Devotional
Yesterday we began looking at the discipline of fasting. Today we continue that. We are going to start with some logistics. How, in actual practice, do we fast?
Richard Foster suggests starting slowly. He recommends that once a week or so, we do a 24-hour fast, which means we miss two meals. For instance, I would eat dinner tonight, and then not eat again until dinner tomorrow night. The first few times I do this, he says I should include fresh juices. After doing this 24-hour fast a few times, then one would move to a full 24-hour fast, during which time only water would be consumed. If further progression is desired, the next step would be a full day fast. In this, one would eat dinner, not eat any food the following day, and then resume eating the next day at your “break-fast” meal. (Have you ever noticed that even our name for the first meal of the day assumes that we are fasting?) During times of fasting, Foster gives this advice: “Outwardly you will be performing the regular duties of your day, but inwardly you will be in prayer and adoration, song, and worship.”
What do we do when we have hunger pangs during our fast? Foster gives this advice, which I find humorous and it hits a little too close to home: “That is not real hunger, your stomach has been trained through years of conditioning to give signals of hunger at certain hours. In many ways the stomach is like a spoiled child, and a spoiled child does not need indulgence, but needs discipline.” He suggests drinking more water, saying a prayer, and going on about your day. “While the human body can survive only a short time without air or water, it can go many days before starvation begins.”
Are we required to fast as practicing, believing Christians? In short, the answer is no. Foster says, “There are simply no biblical laws that command regular fasting. Our freedom in the gospel, however, does not mean license; it means opportunity. Since there are no laws to bind us, we are free to fast on any day.”
In Matthew 6:16-18, Jesus says, “when you fast”. He seems to make the assumption that people will fast, and is giving instruction on how to do it properly. This does not mean that it is commanded that we do so, but it does seem interesting that Jesus assumes that we WILL fast. We see further evidence of this in Matthew 9:14-15, when Jesus says “then they will fast”, pointing to a time on earth when Jesus is not physically with us.
Are there other kinds of fasting? There are many types of fasting, but the biblical example seems to always revolve around food. When our church asked us to fast, most of the people I talked to did not abstain from food. Some chose to refrain from all screens, some from specific things (like ESPN), some from social media. In non-food fasting, the point is to remove something we will miss, which will remind us of God and help us to go to Him more often than we would otherwise.
In any kind of fasting, the purpose, point, and focus should always be God Himself. Tomorrow we will discuss the spiritual aspects of fasting. For today, let’s consider what we could abstain from, food and otherwise, that we would miss that would lead us more fully into the presence of God.
Journal Prompts
Answer only the questions that seem relevant to you today.
What are your thoughts about fasting? Are you willing to try it?
What could you remove from your life for 24 hours that you would miss? Would it be food, screens, social media, or something else?
How could you use fasting as a means of seeking God?