It is sobering to realize that the very first statement Jesus made about fasting dealt with the question of motive (Matt 6:16-18). To use good things to our own ends is always the sign of false religion. How easy it is to take something like fasting and try to use it to get God to do what we want. At times there is such stress upon the blessing and benefits of fasting that we would be empted to believe that with a little fast we could have the world, including God, eating out of our hands.
Fasting must forever center on God. It must be God-initiated and God-ordained. Like the prophetess Anna, we need to be “worshipping and fasting” (Luke 2:37). Every other purpose must be subservient to God. Like the apostolic band at Antioch, “fasting” and “worshiping the Lord” must be said in the same breath (Acts 13:2). Charles Spurgeon writes, “Our seasons of fasting and prayer at the Tabernacle have been high days indeed; never has Heaven’s gate stood wider; never have our hearts been nearer the central Glory.”
God questioned the people in Zechariah’s day, “When ye fasted…did ye at all fast unto me, even to me?” (Zech 7:5). If our fasting is not unto God, we have failed. Physical benefits, success in prayer, the enduing with power, spiritual insights—these must never replace God as the center of our fasting. John Wesley declares, “First, let fasting be done unto the Lord with our eye singly fixed on Him. Let our intention herein be this, and this alone, to glorify our Father which is in Heaven…” That is the only way we will be saved from loving the blessing more than the Blesser.
Once the primary purpose of fasting is firmly fixed in our hearts, we are at liberty to understand that there are also secondary purposes in fasting. More than any other Discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us. This is a wonderful benefit to the true disciple who longs to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. We cover up what is inside us with food and other good things, but in fasting these things surface. If pride controls us, it will be revealed almost immediately. David writes, “I humble my soul with fasting.” (Ps. 69:10). Anger, bitterness, jealousy, strife, fear—if they are in us, they will surface during fasting. At first we rationalize that our anger is due to our hunger; then we will realize that we are angry because we have the spirit of anger within us. We can rejoice in this knowledge because we know that healing is available through Jesus.
Fasting reminds us that we are sustained “by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God” (Matt 4:4). Food does not sustain us; God sustains us. IN Christ, “All things hold together” (Col 1:17). Therefore, in experiences of fasting we are not so much abstaining from food as we are feasting on the word of God. FASTING IS FEASTING! When the disciples brought lunch to Jesus, assuming he was starving, he declared, “I have food to eat of which you do not know…My food is to do the will of him who sent me, and to accomplish his work (John 4:32, 34).
Fasting helps us keep our balance in life. How easily we begin to allow nonessentials to take precedence in our lives. How quickly we crave things we do not need until they enslave us. Our human cravings and desires are like rivers that tend to overflow their banks; fasting helps keep them in their proper channels. Discipline brings freedom. In this, as in all matters, we can expect God to reward those who diligently seek Him.
