Fasting is one of the most misunderstood, misinterpreted, misused resources that Christians have access to. Over the years, people have viewed fasting as a way to bribe God into doing what they want Him to do. It has been used as a way to take part in spiritual weight loss, a hunger strike against God and any number of other activities that it was never intended to be a part of. Before we can understand what fasting is good for, we should first take a look at what fasting is not.
In addition to not being a holy way to lose weight or a way to force the hand of God, the Bible clearly states that fasting isn’t supposed to be used as a tool to make yourself look holy to people around you.
Matthew 6:16-18 (TPT)
“When you fast, don’t look like those who pretend to be spiritual. They want everyone to know they’re fasting, so they appear in public looking miserable, gloomy, and disheveled. Believe me, they’ve already received their reward in full. When you fast, don’t let it be obvious, but instead, wash your face and groom yourself and realize that your Father in the secret place is the one who is watching all that you do in secret and will continue to reward you openly.”
In the early portion of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus discusses fasting. Under Jewish laws of the day, fasting was a requirement during certain feasts and festivals. However, some of the religious leaders of the time were using their times of fasting as a way to publicize their own holiness. They would go out into public and make sure that they looked bad enough that someone would ask them, “what’s wrong?” This question would open the door for them to talk about how righteous they were and how they had committed themselves to fasting.
The point of fasting is not so other people will know that you’re fasting. In the same way that the point of prayer isn’t so everyone else knows that you’re praying, Jesus encourages fasting to be a private commitment between the Father and one of His children. Obviously, if there are other people in your home, you may have to let them know that you will be skipping dinner. That should be the extent of your discussing it, though. If you’re fasting, there will probably be some physical side effects. You may find yourself feeling weak and even sick. However, God expects us to hide that fact and brush it off as nothing when we’re fasting. It’s not an opportunity to complain about our service to God or a way to highlight our own holiness. Instead, it’s a private covenant between us and God.
So, why should you fast?
Fasting Opens the Door for Revelation
According to God’s Word, He still speaks to His people (John 10:27-28). There are countless Christians who claim to have audibly heard the voice of God. That’s a possibility. However, He can also speak to us through His Word or through another believer. The God of All Creation is not limited when it comes to how He speaks to His people. According to Scripture, fasting is one way that God’s children can get themselves in a position to hear directly from Him. One such example comes from the Book of Daniel.
Daniel 10:2-3 (ESV)
In those days, I, Daniel, was mourning for three weeks. I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks.
During much of Daniel’s life, the Jewish people were in Babylonian captivity. As a part of that captivity, many Israelites abandoned their relationship with God and worshiped the false gods of the Babylonian government. A handful of them insisted on remaining faithful, including Daniel. In order to effectively minister to the Jewish people who were in captivity, Daniel needed a divine revelation from God. Additionally, Daniel needed to hear from God in order to keep himself encouraged.
Daniel recognized that in order to be filled with a revelation from God, he needed to empty himself. It’s the same principle that John the Baptist relied on when he said, “I must decrease so that Christ may increase.” Daniel used fasting as a way to cause his flesh to decrease so that his spirit-man could hear directly from God. It worked, too:
Daniel 10:18-19 (ESV)
Again one having the appearance of a man touched me and strengthened me. And he said, “O man greatly loved, dear not, peace be with you; be strong and of good courage.” As he spoke to me, I was strengthened and said, “Let my lord speak, for you have strengthened me.”
Daniel needed divine revelation and strength from God in order to keep going in the face of constant adversity. Fasting opened the door for God to strengthen him, encourage him and give him a prophetic word to share with the faithful Israelites who were still in Babylonian captivity.
It Pleases God
Ultimately, as God’s children we are expected to take part in activities that please Him. We don’t perform these activities as a way to get God to love us more, that’s impossible. There is nothing that you can say or do to get God to love you more than He does right now. However, church attendance, personal Bible study, prayer and fasting are all activities that we participate in that are pleasing to God.
In the section of Luke’s Gospel that is generally considered the Christmas story, there are a few lines that speak about a woman who we largely overlook when we read the familiar story.
Luke 2:36-37
A prophetess named Anna was also in the temple court that day. She was from the Jewish tribe of Asher and the daughter of Phanuel. Anna was an aged widow who had been married only seven years before her husband passed away. After he died she chose to worship God in the temple continually. For the past eight-four years she had been serving God with night-and-day prayer and fasting.
We don’t know much about Anna, but she was one of the privileged people who got to be a part of Christ’s early life. The Bible tells us that when Mary and Joseph took the baby Jesus into the temple to present him to the priest, Simeon, that Anna came in and “burst forth with a great praise to God for the child” (Luke 2:38). The Bible also tells us that from that day forward, she told everyone in Jerusalem who had been waiting for the Messiah that He had come (Luke 2:38).
Anna got to be used as one of the first Apostles because she had lived a life that was pleasing in the eyes of God. How did she do that? Because she had dedicated herself to “night-and-day prayer and fasting.” Anna allowed fasting to be at the heart of her prayer life. She understood how focusing on her communication with God while neglecting her own fleshly needs and desires would allow her to live a life that pleased God.
When you fast, it pleases God. Anna’s commitment to fasting and prayer allowed her to be where she needed to be in order to be one of the first people to find out about the birth of the Messiah. Because God was so pleased with Anna’s commitment, she was blessed with the privilege to be one of the first people to praise God in His physical presence. She also earned the opportunity to be one of the first people to go out and tell the waiting Jews that the Messiah had come to earth. All because her fasting was pleasing to God.
A Closing Prayer:
God, help me to better understand what fasting is and how it can be beneficial in my spiritual life. Help me to look for opportunities to get closer to You through study, prayer and fasting. Help me to identify opportunities to fast so I can hear directly from You, receive divine revelation and life a life that is pleasing in Your eyes. Submitting my life to You and having You be pleased with the results is my ultimate goal. In the name of Jesus I ask these things, Amen.