It’s the first of the year and lots of people are starting the year out with a fast. If you haven’t gotten started, please know that it’s never too late to begin! What we do at the start of the year helps to set the tone for the rest of the year. It puts a precedent in place for a purposeful and productive year with God leading every step!
When Jesus speaks of fasting, He doesn’t say “If you fast”, He says “When you fast”. This clues us in that fasting should definitely be a part of our life. In Hebrews 12:1 we are called to let things go. So often we ask the Lord to take things from us, when He is wanting to see us make that move and let go of those very things! James 4:8 says “come close to God and He will come near to you”. Jeremiah 29:13 says “If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me”. The Lord is always close but His desire is for us to desire Him. He wants us to seek Him, to press into Him! Fasting is how we can do this.
Think of fasting as removing something that is sitting between you and God. His location in relation to you has not changed, but your view is obstructed or your hands are full. Fasting is a way of taking that thing out of the equation. Once that thing is out of the way your vision can refocus on what matters. Him.
In the natural we are driven by our appetite. Our body needs fuel, it sends signals to our brain through hunger pains, and when we feel those pains we are immediately motivated to find nourishment. A lot of times we don’t even need those hunger cues, we know the hunger will come if we skip a meal, so before we feel the first signs of discomfort we begin preparing food. This hunger in the natural is just a copy of spiritual hunger. We must be cautious to keep ourselves fed daily by the Word of God. The enemy will try to offer you a steady diet of the world. Things that seem to fill you up but Spiritually, our appetite grows the more we eat. We call it the Great Paradox; you’ll so full you can’t stand it and also so hungry you don’t know what to do with yourself!
You can fast food, you can fast social media, you can even fast busyness by refusing to make unnecessary plans with others for a period of time. While fasting, be careful not to fast one distraction and replace it with another. For example, if you’ve decided to give up TV for 21 days, don’t spend your evenings mindlessly scrolling Facebook and Tiktok. Replace that time with time spent in the presence of God. Hold your heart up to His gaze. Ask Him to inspect it and reveal to you anything He wants to change or take out. Use this time to fall deeper into your First Love, Jesus!
Fasting can help us find focus and see victory during life’s battles like the Israelites in Colossians 20. Fasting can help us remain steadfast in our relationship with Christ through rough conditions, just like Daniel in the book of Daniel. Another tip we can take from Daniel is living a fasted life. As a believer there are many things we are called to fast permanently like bad mindsets and sin. Jesus also lived a fasted life. He did it better than anyone! Study the life of Jesus to see how you can live fasted each day.
We are praying for your success during this time of fasting. If you have any questions about fasting give us a call or drop by the church office! We will partner with you in prayer as you seek God like never before!
