43 On Fasting

 

Copyright © 2024 Michael A Brown

‘When you fast…’ (Matt. 6:16)

‘…and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.’ (Matt. 6:18)

The subject of fasting was touched upon briefly in chapter 6, but, because it is an important spiritual discipline that is all too often neglected in church life, it deserves and needs a chapter all to itself.  Fasting is a subject that is not always dealt with in teaching or discipleship at the local church level, and many believers, particularly in the West, either do not practise it at all or do so only rarely, and so fail to appreciate it for the powerful spiritual tool that it is when used regularly.  Jonathan Edwards affirmed this when he said:

‘One thing more I would mention concerning fasting and prayer, wherein I think there has been a neglect in ministers; and that is that although they recommend and much insist on the duty of secret prayer, in their preaching; so little is said about secret fasting.’^[1] (underlining my own for emphasis).

My wife was recently (at the time of writing) on an extended fast of forty days, and, during this time, she visited a believer in our local area.  This lady had been in church for decades and was now well into her old age.  She knew that my wife was on this fast and confessed to her that she had never fasted once in her entire life!

However, as I said in chapter 6, if we are to grow in the spiritual life as we should, it is important for us to learn to live and walk as Jesus did, in his total life.  The regular practice of spiritual disciplines, including fasting, was the source of the inner peace, strength and spiritual power that Jesus needed in order to live and minister in the world of his day.  This oft-neglected discipline of fasting was regularly practised by believers in the Bible, and Jesus assumed that his followers would also learn to practise it in their lives: he said, ‘When you fast…’ rather than ‘If you fast…’ (Matt. 6:16).

Scripture highlights the importance and power of fasting by relating several examples of occasions when people fasted.  For example, Queen Esther and the Jewish community in Susa fasted for three days and nights, praying for God to deliver his people (Est. 4:15-16).  Jesus himself fasted for forty days and nights before he began his ministry (Matt. 4:2).  The church leaders in Antioch also fasted in order to spend time worshipping and waiting on God together (Acts 13:1-3).

Similarly, there have been many figures in the history of the Church who practised regular, lifestyle fasting.  John Wesley, the founder of the Methodist movement, expected his preachers to fast twice a week.  David Brainerd, a well-known American missionary who ministered among the native Americans of his land, recorded in his Diary that he regularly set aside days (often once a week) for fasting and prayer in his ministry.  John Hyde, an American missionary to India and better known as ‘Praying Hyde,’ often spent extended periods of time in fasting and prayer.

What is fasting?

A good definition of fasting might be: ‘The choice to stay away from non-essentials for a set period of time in order to focus on what is essential.’  There are various forms of fasting: we can fast from food (and perhaps also from water for short periods); from watching television, going on-line and playing with computer games or hand-held devices (in order to quieten our mind from noise and distractions); from being with other people (in order to be on our own with God); from sexual relations with our spouse for a time (in order to concentrate on prayer, 1 Cor. 7:5); from sleeping for a few hours (in order to pray during the night; this is called ‘watching’), and so on.  Of these, fasting from food is perhaps the most obvious and well-known form.

As believers, we practise fasting primarily in order that we can focus on our spiritual life, on prayer and on seeking God (particularly if we have a need to get answers to specific prayers).  As a by-product, it helps us to not get too wrapped up in ourselves and our material comforts, and it also helps us to keep our bodily appetites in check.  Fasting for a time from hand-held devices and social media helps us to not become psychologically addicted to them.

It is important to understand that in fasting we are not simply keeping religious traditions.  In Isaiah 58:2-9, God told the Israelites that he did not think very much of their religious fasting, and he corrected their perceptions of it.  The Pharisees in Jesus’ day fasted twice a week (Luke 18:11-12) and yet many of them did it hypocritically (Matt. 6:16).  Furthermore, in fasting neither are we attempting to manipulate God into doing something for us.  God cannot be manipulated.

The primary principle in fasting is that it enables us to get away from all distractions and to focus on our spiritual life and on specific prayers.  It brings our body and its carnal appetites into subjection to the Holy Spirit within us, and this then gives our prayers a greater penetrative power, enabling the Holy Spirit to break through and overcome Satan’s power:

‘you have overcome…, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world.’ (1 John 4:4)

Some of the main benefits of fasting

Fasting is not an easy discipline to learn, yet it yields many benefits to those who would practise it.

It helps us to develop self-control and thereby discipline our bodily appetites.  It is a medically verified fact that fasting for short periods of time is beneficial for our physical health.  During a fasting period, our bodies break down stored fats (using them for energy) and they also remove the toxins that have accumulated within us over time.

When combined with solitude and prayer, fasting strengthens our spiritual life.  It helps us to concentrate on our relationship with God and to focus our desires and prayer requests.

As a result of this, it helps us to become more spiritually sensitive to the Lord and brings about a greater power in our life to combat and overcome the forces of Satan.

The regular practice of fasting enables us to become more equipped to carry the spiritual burdens involved in God’s work.

There are occasions recorded in Scripture when corporate prayer and fasting yielded answers to prayer, that prayer alone without fasting did not yield (see Judges 20:18,23,26; 2 Chron. 20:3-4ff; Mark 9:29).  It is essential that we come to understand a simple truth about spiritual life, vis. that some breakthroughs will only come about through prayer combined with fasting.  This suggests that the practice of fasting plays a key role in seeing God work, in bringing victories and in seeing Satan defeated.  Situations that have not previously seemed to change through prayer alone, may well change as a result of prayer and fasting.

Some advice on the practice of fasting

There is no ‘one size fits all’ approach to fasting.  Some believers prefer to fast only occasionally, while others do it regularly as a lifestyle, often on a weekly basis.  Some people fast completely from food, while others fast only partially by taking small amounts of food at intervals during the fasting period.  Some do short total fasts from both food and water (but not normally going for more than three days without water).  Some people do regular but short fasts, for one mealtime or for one day only, while others develop the habit of doing longer fasts for several days.  Some begin their fast when they get up in the morning, others begin perhaps after lunch.  Some people’s working life may perhaps put limits on the length of time they can spend fasting.

With experience, we can develop our own personal pattern of fasting with which we feel comfortable.  We can fast as individuals on our own, and we can also perhaps fast together corporately as a church, as we seek God for answers to specific issues.

Yonggi Cho, pastor of the largest church in the world, in South Korea, normally teaches believers to fast as a lifestyle, as an essential part of their own personal walk with God.  He starts by training them first how to fast for three days, and then, having learned this, they can go on and learn how to fast for longer periods of time, such as seven or ten days.  The use of Prayer Mountain in Seoul is devoted specifically to those who wish to set time apart in order to pray, fast and seek God.^[2]

So, in the beginning, it is better to begin with short fasts and to slowly train yourself up into doing longer fasts, rather than simply trying to jump into the deep end of doing longer fasts straight away which might be foolhardy.  It does take time to learn the practice of fasting.  So, perhaps begin by missing one meal, then two, then go for a whole day without food, and so on.  It is also probably wise to talk to someone in your church who practises fasting, so that you can benefit from their advice.  If you have any kind of ongoing medical condition or are on medicines of any sort, it is important that you seek the advice of your doctor before you embark on fasting.  It is also important to balance fasting with your working life, as fasting for longer periods can be tiring.

Perhaps the most difficult thing to overcome is our natural desire for food.  Many believers confess to having had struggles in this area when first beginning to practise fasting.  Perhaps the smell of food was too tempting, or, going without breakfast was easy, but missing lunch as well was simply too hard…  Our physical comfort and appetites may at times get the better of our desire to pray and seek God.  I am sure that many of us can relate personally to the following record of the first experience that Rees Howells, the well-known man of prayer, had of fasting:

‘God began to deal with a simple appetite in Rees Howells – the love of food.  It was at a time when he had a great burden for a certain convention, which was being disrupted by assaults of the enemy.  The Lord called him to a day of prayer and fasting, which was something new to him.  Used, as he was, to a comfortable home and four good meals a day, it came as a shock to realize that it meant no dinner, and he was agitating about it.  And would it only happen once?  Supposing God asked him to do it every day!

When midday came he was on his knees in his bedroom, but there was no prayer that next hour.  “I didn’t know such a lust was in me,” he said afterwards.  “My agitation was the proof of the grip it had on me.  If the thing had no power over me, why did I argue about it?”

At one o’clock his mother called him, and he told her he wasn’t taking lunch.  But she called again, as a mother would, and urged, “It won’t take you long to have it.”  The goodly aroma from downstairs was too much for him, and down he came…’

Afterwards he confessed his disobedience and got to grips with obeying God’s call to begin regularly fasting his lunch, getting victory in this area.  He later recorded the following:

‘The moment I got victory in it, it wasn’t a very big thing to do…  It is while you still want a thing that you can’t get your mind off it...’^[3]

Going without food may well cause natural feelings of discomfort, mild headaches and perhaps even nausea during the first 24 hours, but after this time these symptoms wear off as our bodies adjust to the fast.  Perseverance begins to train our bodies and, with regular practice over a period of a few weeks, our new pattern of fasting gets established and the whole thing becomes much easier. Sometimes, when we are particularly burdened to pray, we may lose our appetite for a time and fasting comes naturally.  In extended fasts, we may sometimes find ourselves becoming irritable through tiredness, especially if we have continued on with a normal daily working pattern, so we may need to ensure that we take some extra rest when we need it.

Be aware of spiritual backlash

When we begin to fast and therefore focus on seeking the Lord, meditating on Scripture and praying for specific things, not only is God aware of what we are doing, but Satan also becomes aware.  He will invariably attempt to thwart our desires to gain ground for the kingdom of God, by attacking what we are doing.  It is interesting that when Daniel prayed and fasted for 21 days (Dan. 10:2-3), Satanic forces tried to prevent an answer coming until the end of his fast (Dan. 10:12-13).

So when we pray and fast, we may experience spiritual backlash.  This can take a multitude of different forms, such as provoking niggles in our relationship with another person, or sparking off issues which may bring up past hurts; provoking changes in the attitudes and behaviour of another person towards us, or attacking the physical health of someone close to us, and so on.

When such things happen to us during a time of fasting, they can perhaps discourage us from continuing in the fast.  At such times, it is important to realize that we are in a spiritual warfare (see Eph. 6:10-18) and to determine to continue in what we are doing, rather than caving in under the pressure and giving up.  Through grace and perseverance, relational issues can be sorted through, healing can come, and Satan’s forces can be overcome.  God can bring about victories in our own life, our family, our church and our town.  Our heavenly Father, who sees what is done in secret, will indeed reward us openly (Matt. 6:18).

Coming off a fast

When we have come to the end of our fasting period, it is wise to come off it gradually by eating only small amounts of food in the beginning, until our body gets used to taking food in again.  During the fast, our stomach will have shrunk in size and our body’s metabolism will have adjusted to living without regular food intake.  We may be tempted to binge eat when we come off our fast, but this may lead only to our putting on weight in undesirable ways as our body stores it away.  So over the first 2-3 days after the fast has ended, we should start with small amounts of food and then gradually go back to eating a normal amount over the next few days.  If available, watermelon is a very good way of starting to eat again after a fast.

 

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[1] Jonathan Edwards, quoted in Hunger for God, John Piper, p.111.

[2] Cho, Paul Y., Prayer: Key to Revival, Word Publishing: Berkhamsted, UK, 1985, pp.103,106.

[3] Taken from Rees Howells: Intercessor, Chapter 8 “The Tramps,” by Norman Grubb, First Paperback Edition, Cambridge, UK: The Lutterworth Press, 1973, pp.58-59.  Quoted by permission of The Lutterworth Press.