Luke 4:1-2 (ESV)
1 And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the
Jordan and was led by the Spirit in the wilderness 2 for forty days, being
tempted by the devil. And he ate nothing during those days. And when they were
ended, he was hungry
I battle with dry mouth syndrome and many times I find I
just don’t want to eat. On the flip
side, I need to eat, and I have a tendency to get hangry if I don’t (hangry =
hungry + angry)! With that info, you can probably deduce that fasting isn’t
exactly my favorite part of the Christian life. However, I think that God
intended fasting to be just that—a denial of our temporal pleasure to reset our
appetite for what is most satisfying: God.
Fasting is a necessity in the life of a believer, but many
Christians have a misunderstanding about what fasting is and what it
accomplishes. It’s actually a very simple concept that can profoundly affect
our lives.
Many view fasting as some kind of devotional currency they
can use to get what they want from God. That’s fake news. At its core, fasting
is about bringing the prayer of “less of me and more of you” to life. Fasting
is about the denial of self, the shifting of priorities, and the acknowledgment
of what it means to hunger not just for mere morsels of food but for the
life-changing presence God. It is a resolute course of action anointed by His
Spirit, not by our will.
When was the last time you fasted?
Dear Lord, we pray that we would set our minds completely on
You. When we fast help us to have our hearts and minds on You. In the Name of
Jesus, Amen.
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