I remember the first time I fasted. My church youth group was raising funds to take part in the 30-Hour Famine to help hungry children. I was 13 and had rarely (if ever) missed a meal in my life, so I was rather fearful, scared that the long hours would drag on endlessly.
But as with most spiritual disciplines, that fast taught me something about God and about myself. Some friends and I were engaged in a Bible study during the fast and we were studying Acts 13 when the Apostle Paul and Barnabas were sent out on one of their missionary journeys.
“While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, ‘Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.’ So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off” (Acts 13:2-3).
The leader then asked, “What do you think the purpose of fasting was for these disciples of Jesus?
It was then that I realized something: fasting prepares us for hardship.
It is more of a gift than a lack of something, because, through denying ourselves a basic need, we are inclining our hearts to seek God and to recognize the need that we have had for Him all along, but which we so easily drown out through the busyness of life and taking for granted access to food and other necessities.
Fasting is an ancient spiritual discipline, as seen in the passage in Acts. In an article for Relevant Magazine titled “Does Fasting Even Matter Anymore?” author Levi Carter also gives the biblical examples of Moses and Jesus himself.
“Jesus and Moses began their earthly ministries by spending 40 days alone in the wilderness with God,” writes Carter.
Fasting can seem like a lost practice today–perhaps something not relevant to our Christian faith in the modern world, but as long as we are tempted to fill our lives with other things that tend to crowd Christ out, there will be a need for such spiritual disciplines as fasting … read more