Why Should A Christian Fast?
Fasting makes us more permeable to Divine realities and more sensitive to Divine communications.
Fasting reminds us to be grateful to God for His providence and provision. The understanding is that we would recognize fasting as a habit of grace, a gift from God which He has given to His people in order for us to have a greater and heightened awareness for the things of God.
Fasting is a biblical way to truly humble yourself in the sight of God. It enables the Holy Spirit to reveal your true spiritual condition, resulting in brokenness, repentance, and a transformed life.
Fasting is essentially giving up food (or something else) for a period of time in order to focus your thoughts on God. While fasting, many people read the Bible, pray, or worship.
Fasting is a temporary renunciation of something that is in itself good, like food, in order to intensify our expression of need for something greater – namely, God and his work in our lives.
Fasting is not an end unto itself, but a means of focusing our minds and bodies for a spiritual reason.
Fasting was an expected discipline in both the Old and New Testament eras. … Fasting is a biblical way to truly humble yourself in the sight of God.
• It enables the Holy Spirit to reveal your true spiritual condition, resulting in brokenness, repentance, and a transformed life.
Fasting is an important part of the Christian life. Right alongside prayer, fasting is how we grow closer to our great God. We celebrate Jesus’ victory over death here on earth but look forward to the immensity of His presence upon His return.
Let’s look at some scriptures about fasting…
1 Corinthians 9:27 English Standard Version
27 But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.
Daniel 9:3 English Standard Version
3 Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes.
Ezra 8:21-23 English Standard Version
21 Then I proclaimed a fast there, at the river Ahava, that we might humble ourselves before our God, to seek from him a safe journey for ourselves, our children, and all our goods. 22 For I was ashamed to ask the king for a band of soldiers and horsemen to protect us against the enemy on our way, since we had told the king, “The hand of our God is for good on all who seek him, and the power of his wrath is against all who forsake him.” 23 So we fasted and implored our God for this, and he listened to our entreaty.
– Jesus fasted to acknowledge His dependence and to gain spiritual strength through reliance on the Holy Spirit and God’s Word. He did this before He began His public ministry.
Matthew 4:1-2 King James Version
4 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
Matthew 6:16-18 King James Version
16 Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.
17 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face;
18 That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly.
Acts 13:3 King James Version
3 And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.
Exodus 34:28 English Standard Version
28 So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.[a]
Luke 2:37 King James Version
37 And she was a widow of about fourscore and four years, which departed not from the temple, but served God with fastings and prayers night and day.
Christian fasting is unique among all the fasting of the world – it is unique in that it expresses more than longing for Christ or hunger for Christ’s presence – it is a hunger that is rooted in and based on an already present experienced reality of Christ in history and in our hearts.
Let us pray:
Dear Lord,
We Praise You for this day, and Your purpose for it. God, when we yearn to be close to You, to hear You clearly, remind us of the obedient pursuit of fasting and prayer. Clear our heart of all clutter threatening to throw us off focus and drift from Your will for our lives. Thank You for Jesus, Father. For sending Your one and only Son to earth, and to die on the cross sacrificially for us. Let us love You with all we are, glorify and worship You through fasting, prayer, and the everyday choices we make with each day You bless us with. Give us the strength and perseverance to walk through jubilant times and somber ones, all in a way that brings honor to Your name.
In Jesus’ powerful Name we pray, Amen.
The Message Bearer
Cornelius Bella
corneliusbella 
Dear Cornelius, Thanks for your article. I believe in fasting also, as a normal part of being in a relationship with the great King of Kings. Currently, I am fasting for wisdom for personal questions, and the peace of the election cycle ending November 3, 2020 in my home state of Minnesota and in the United States. If you are led, please consider lifting us up in your prayers. I don’t yet fully understand why, but for some reason this is a place in the throes of a massive spiritual battle. The wrongful death of George Floyd and destructive aftermath is just the tip of the iceberg. We need to address the spiritual root judgments and separations with our Father that are spilling over and manifesting as acts of cultural revolution, and political and spiritual judgments and separations. Please consider that the Lord will embolden the faith of the Church here, and cause us to stand for His Kingdom in humility. As believers, we get to be the “glue” of society because we have tasted the Lord’s favor and forgiveness to all people, at all times; everywhere. In mourning and repentance, JD Orvis Pray ThroughHistory
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