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Who should Fast?
Fasting is alien to many of us in this generation and it has become far easier to give our money than to go without our food. Richard Foster comments that, “In a culture where the landscape is dotted with shrines to the golden arches and an assortment of pizza temples, fasting seems out of place, out of step with the times.” Yet Jesus assumes that it will be part our normal Christian lives. He says in Matthew 6, “When you fast….” Notice the “When”. His assumption is that the church will carry on the ancient Jewish practice of regular fasting as part of our worship and devotion to God. As we flick through the pages of scripture and of church history we see that fasting should be part of ordinary Christian life especially at times of difficulty for the community of faith.
What is Fasting?
Paul Y Cho defines fasting as the “...voluntary and deliberate abstinence from food for the purpose of concentrated prayer”. Sometimes this is a complete abstinence (Matthew 4:2) and at other times partial (Daniel 10:3), but always with our hearts and minds fixed upon the Lord, Zechariah 7:5ff. Our suggestion is to take a day a week for fasting but you don’t need to stop there, as we see throughout scripture people fast from one day up to forty.
Why should you Fast?
Jesus says we must be pure in our motives when we fast, the aim of our fast is to come into the presence of the Father, to give him glory. It is to bring us closer to the Father and must always be accompanied by praise and worship. Once we have that in our heads and hearts then we will see break through in other areas. In Matthew 6 Jesus comments that his disciples should not look sombre when they fast, but should get on with normal life. That is a good indication of what fasting is for; it is relationship building with the Father, not to show how spiritual we are. Dallas Willard says that fasting is one of the most important Christian disciplines; he comments that, “In fasting, we learn how to suffer happily as we feast on God.” As we fast we become closer to Him, we hear his voice and are able to be the people He calls us to be.
Will fasting work?
Fasting for those who are sick then is primarily about our relationship with the Lord and secondarily about our friends who are ill. We see in scripture that those who fast on a regular basis and as individuals and as a community see God move in miraculous ways. Consider Moses, Jehoshaphat, Elijah, Ezra, Esther, Daniel, Jesus, Paul: they fasted and saw incredible signs and wonders as a result.
What do you do when you are Fasting?
Find a good day, we are trying to set aside Thursdays but if that does not work for you then choose another day. Choose your own schedule, “breakfast to breakfast” or “dinner to dinner” both work well. Use the time during the fast when you would normally be eating for prayer, worship and to bring those who are sick before Him.
Who can fast?
This is for the people of God; it won’t do you any harm* and will do you and our Church community a lot of good. Why not consider fasting as a family, with the children taking part in a Daniel 10 fast (abstaining from luxury items) and the grown ups going without food.
If you want to read more on the subject then check out Richard Foster ‘Celebration of Discipline’, Paul Y Cho ‘Prayer: Key to Revival’ and Dallas Willard ‘The Spirit of the Disciplines’.
*pregnant women, diabetics and children should not partake in a full fast, but a Daniel 10 fast is open to everyone