Fasting

What spoke to me today was the exchange between Jesus and the Pharisees (and the disciples of John) as to why they fast but the disciples of Jesus do not fast (which is also told in Matthew 9:14-15 and Luke 5:33-35).

Mark 2:18And the disciples of John and of the Pharisees used to fast: and they come and say unto him, Why do the disciples of John and of the Pharisees fast, but thy disciples fast not? 19And Jesus said unto them, Can the children of the bridechamber fast, while the bridegroom is with them? as long as they have the bridegroom with them, they cannot fast. 20But the days will come, when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days.

On this passage of scripture, we are fasting continuously for Jesus is not physically here with us to answer our questions. Fasting is only mentioned a couple other times in the Gospels (Matthew 4:2, 6:16-18, 15:32, 17:21, Mark 8:3, 9:29, Luke 2:37, 18:12). Matthew 4:2 is Jesus fasting for 40 days and 40 nights before being tempted by the devil. Matthew 15:32 and Mark 8:3 are about Jesus feeding the multitudes of followers before sending them away. Luke 18:12 is from Jesus’ parable about the prayers of the Pharisee and the publican and more specifically from the pharisee’s prayer. But in the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus does not say “if you fast….” but “When you fast…”

Matthew 6:16Moreover 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. 17But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; 18That 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.

Paul only mentions fasting twice. 1st in 1st Corinthians 7:5 (“5Defraud ye not one the other, except it be with consent for a time, that ye may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again, that Satan tempt you not for your incontinency.”) and again in 2nd Corinthians 6:5 (“3Giving no offence in any thing, that the ministry be not blamed: 4But in all things approving ourselves as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflictions, in necessities, in distresses, 5In stripes, in imprisonments, in tumults, in labours, in watchings, in fastings; 6By pureness, by knowledge, by longsuffering, by kindness, by the Holy Ghost, by love unfeigned, 7By the word of truth, by the power of God, by the armour of righteousness on the right hand and on the left, 8By honour and dishonour, by evil report and good report: as deceivers, and yet true; 9As unknown, and yet well known; as dying, and, behold, we live; as chastened, and not killed; 10As sorrowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet making many rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.”). Jesus assumes we will fast. Paul assumes will we fast. We are not given instructions on how we should fast, how often or how long. Fasting is a lost discipline for most churches and people. Most churches don’t talk about fasting, don’t discuss it and don’t practice it. But fasting is an extremely beneficial discipline. We live in a world that despises fasting. Fasting is self-discipline, it is imposing self-control in your life. The more self-control we have, the easier it is for us to follow God’s will for our lives because we are no longer letting the world control us. Fasting can give us strength to do what is right. But just abstaining from food isn’t enough, we have to have prayer in there, we have to have God’s word involved. We need to be listening to Him so we are doing what He wants us to be doing.

But I do want to throw this in, remember you limitations when it comes to fasting. Set a time limit for your fasts and stick with that limit. And if you feel yourself focusing more on the fast and find it difficult praying, it might be good to break the fast and meditate and pray about what you just experience.

Have a wonderful and blessed day with the Lord.