Some Days I Want to Be Amish

Quite simply fasting is going without food for a period of time for spiritual purposes. Right throughout the bible we see people fasting: Moses, David, Elijah, Esther, Jesus and Paul all fasted. Fasting has been an important Christian practice for millennia, yet in the last 150 years its practice has declined. Richard Foster, while researching his chapter on fasting for his book ‘Celebration of Discipline’ said ‘he couldn’t find a single book published on the subject of Christian fasting from 1861 to 1954, a period of almost 100 years.’ Indeed when I preached on this topic at CCM:Withington few weeks ago a couple came to me afterwards and said: ‘we’ve been going to church for the last 30 years and thats the first time we’ve ever heard a heard a sermon on fasting.’

So what’s the big deal about it anyway?

In Mark 2:18-20 Jesus responds to a question about fasting with a wedding illustration. He implies that his disciples don’t fast when he is with them but can fast when he is gone. So we see that fasting is a way of expressing our hunger for God’s presence, it’s a way of crying out to him. It also humbles us (Psalm 35:13), reminds us of our dependence on God and gives us a heightened sense of awareness of what he might be saying to us. (Acts 13:2).

Jesus never commands us that we have to fast but in Matthew 6:16 he starts off some teaching to his disciples by saying: ‘When you fast.’ So he clearly had an expectation that his followers from time to time would fast.

Personally, I have found occasional fasting to be a real help to me in my walk with the Lord. But don’t take my word for it why not give it a go yourself if you haven’t tried it before. In the Bible Jesus never instructs his disciples on the practicalities of how to fast because in their religious society everyone knew how to do it, but this is no longer the case in our society. Most people today have no idea about how to safely fast. So if you are thinking about trying it out for the first time there is some helpful advice on how to do it here. Alternatively check out this recent sermon from CCM:Withington which explains it in more detail.