Many of us think of fasting as a spiritual duty to God,
depriving ourselves of food and drink for a period of time in order to prove
our love for Him. While long-suffering is a part of being human and certainly a
part of being Christian, fasting should not be included when we think about
“suffering for Christ.”
On the contrary, fasting is less about what we’re giving up
and much more about what we’re making room for. When we fast, we exchange what
we need to survive for what we need to live—more of God. Here are five
spiritual benefits to fasting:
1) A soul cleansing. How often we forget that our bodies are
the temple of the Lord—especially when deciding what to eat! Fasting is a great
time to remember the spiritual connection we have to our physical bodies.
Without the toxins we put in our bodies, we not only give our bodies a break
from the digestive process, but we also allow our spirits to be detoxed. Fasting is a faith-move, an expectation we
have that God will fill us with His Holy Spirit, just as He promised. But as
Christ told His disciples, “[N]o one pours new wine into old wineskins.
Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins
will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins." By fasting, we
meditate cleanses the soul and makes it new so we can receive the Holy Spirit
and become empowered to live for Christ in a new way.
2) A new desire for God. When we acknowledge through fasting
that we need God to live, and to live more abundantly, we can begin to desire
God in a new way. When we realize we need God more than we need food, we can
start to understand what the Psalmist meant when he wrote, “Like the deer that
pants after water, my soul longs for You.” God, the sustainer of all life,
wants nothing more than a closer connection with us, and through fasting we can
quench that new desire for more of Him in our lives.
3) A deeper praise. Because the body does not have to do the
work of digestion, it has more energy to focus on other things. In the same
vein, since we are not consumed by what we are going to eat next and when, we
have more energy to devote to God. While we’re experiencing a new desire for
Him through fasting, we should also emit a deeper praise as we think about
everything God is to us and all He has done. Once we get caught up in our
desire for God and our praise for His mighty acts, we won’t have time to be
hungry or count down the hours until our fast is over. We’ll be celebrating the
whole time!
4) A sensitivity to God’s voice. The New Testament
prophetess Anna is praised in the book of Luke for being a devoted servant to
God and His temple. Because she regularly fasted and prayed, she was able to
hear the voice of God speak clearly to her the day that Baby Jesus was brought
into her temple to be dedicated. She knew He was the Christ and told everyone
who would listen about His arrival. When we detox the spirit and become
consumed with desire and praise for God, we become sensitive to His voice. Like
Anna, when God speaks to us in the midst of chaos, we’ll still be able to pick
out His voice and know what He wants us to do because we have trained our ear
to hear Him through fasting, prayer, study and praise.
5) A new satisfaction. When you finish your fast, renewed,
full of energy, detoxed, with a new desire, a new praise and a sensitivity to
God’s voice, you’ll find that the absence of food was small in comparison to
what you gained. When Christ’s disciples noticed that He hadn’t eaten all day
and tried to get Him to slow down to eat, Christ said, “I have food to eat that
you know nothing about….My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to
finish His work.”
Physical food never fully satisfies; in a few hours, you’ll
need to eat again. But when you are fed from doing the work of the Lord, you
will find a new satisfaction like you’ve never experienced.
Written by Brooke Obie
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