I remember I once had a young adult believer come up to me after a worship event saying “I read my bible, I pray, I go to Church, but I’m still not on fire for God like I want. What should I do?” I asked if he did any fasting, and he said no. I suggested some regular disciplines of fasting. He reached out to me a short time later thanking me because His hunger for God and boldness in ministry had gone to another level after he began fasting consistently. Fasting is a gift from God, and in this article I explore four surprising truths about fasting from the Scriptures.
Our Gut is Our Heart
Did you know that the Bible actually has a lot to say about food?
God’s first law for humanity was related to food. Eve and Adam ate the forbidden fruit, and sin entered the world through improper eating. Worship in the Mosaic tabernacle (the old covenant) involved offering your food to God as burnt offerings. The Hebrew people would celebrate God with annual feasts that involved extended periods of either eating or fasting. Food was always involved.
Then Jesus shows up and his first miracle involves wine. This happens only after he hadn’t eaten for forty days. Before going to the cross, he initiated the New Covenant with a meal. One of the major sacraments of the Church involves the bread and wine of communion. Jesus Himself is called the bread. God’s word is called our daily bread. Gluttony is one of the seven deadly sins. We are told to taste and see that God is good. The culmination of this age of history is going to be a wedding feast after Jesus’ return. The meal after the wedding ceremony is usually everyone’s favorite part of the wedding celebration anyway, because it involves food!
But wait. There’s more! The Hebrew idea of the “heart” (the seat of our emotions and desires) was actually not the cardiovascular organ in our chest but the digestive organs in our bellies — our bowels. This is why, in John 7:38, some translations use the word “heart” and others say “belly.” Jesus promised rivers of His Spirit would flow out of our belly/heart. Even though they had a primitive understanding of anatomy, they instinctively knew that we feel things in our “guts.” In Hebrew thought, it’s actually more than 18 inches from our heads to our hearts.
Maybe one reason God was concerned with what His people would eat (or not eat) is because it so profoundly impacted their “hearts”. When Jesus says we should love God with all of our “hearts,” He is implying that we should hunger for and be satisfied in God in the place of our deepest longings and cravings. Food is a big deal.
Scientists have now discovered that your stomach and digestive organs essentially act as a “second brain” and communicate with the brain in your head. We have 100 million neurons in our gut. Our emotional and mental health is deeply related to our gut health.
‘For instance when we experience “butterflies in the stomach”, this really is the brain in the stomach talking to the brain in your head. As we get nervous or fearful, blood gets diverted from our gut to our muscles and this is the stomach’s way of protesting.’
Source
Maybe this is why God puts such an emphasis on food in Scriptures. Perhaps this is why some of the most important spiritual disciplines include eating and not eating. Fasting will probably always be somewhat mysterious, but, if our “heart” is actually our belly, then this might help us understand how fasting can profoundly affect our hearts.
To clarify, when I refer to fasting, I’m thinking of the biblical idea of taking a break from food for spiritual purposes. There are modified diets (such as the Daniel fast), taking breaks from social media, etc. I’m fine if we call these breaks or modifications “fasts”, but the pure sense of fasting involves not eating any food for a period of time. When we hear fasting we should think about not eating.
As we take a deeper look at the Bible passages that specifically address fasting, we will discover four surprising truths:
- Fasting Regularly is Normal Christianity
- Fasting Accesses what Jesus Died to Give
- Fasting Expresses and Cultivates Hunger for Jesus
- Fasting Increases our Faith for Ministry and Miracles
1) Fasting Regularly is Normal Christianity
The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) is Jesus’ foundational teaching on the kingdom of God. This was essentially his Christianity 101 class. In this broader teaching, Jesus considered fasting a normal part of what it meant to be a follower of God. He included fasting along with other accepted Christian disciplines such as prayer and giving to the needy (Matthew 6:1-18).
In this passage Jesus was correcting the hypocrisy and legalism of the Jewish people in that day and age. He begins by correcting their approach to giving with “when you give to the needy…” (Matthew 6:2). He then offers a correction to hypocritical prayer by saying “when you pray…” (Matthew 6:5). Note that He says “when” and not “if.” Jesus’ assumption here is that followers of God are going to be giving and praying. He does not even need to encourage them to do it. He is simply correcting their approach. After teaching on giving and prayer, he gives his third correction in the series:
“Moreover, when you fast…”
Matthew 6:16
When you fast. Giving. Prayer. Fasting. Christianity 101. History indicates that the early Church continued the practice of devout Jews to fast two days per week (see Luke 18:12). The Church at Antioch “ministered to the Lord and fasted” (Acts 13:2). Contrast that with western evangelicalism.
Many western Christians have never heard a sermon on fasting. Many have never tried fasting as a way to worship and pursue God. And even fewer practice it as a regular spiritual discipline like the early church. Yet Jesus seems to indicate that it should be just as normal as prayer or giving. No one believes that Christians should only give or pray sporadically. Most Christians rightly believe that we should pray daily and give regularly from our paychecks. Jesus teaches us that fasting should be a regular Christian activity too.
The minority of Christians who do fast tend to do so when their church has a special season of fasting & prayer or in a time of crisis. Seasons of corporate fasting and prayer are fantastic; and fasting is actually a biblical response to crisis (Joel 2:12). However, as AW Tozer said, “The fall of man has created a perpetual crisis.” We are not only to fast in times of intensified crisis, but to embrace fasting as a lifestyle, until Christ returns.
2) Fasting Accesses What Jesus Died to Give
The greatest reward the Father gives those who fast is Himself. God is the reward. He is the One who ultimately satisfies our souls. When Jesus discourages hypocritical prayer and fasting in Matthew 6, he is drawing a line between those who find their reward in people’s approval or those who find their reward from the Father’s approval.
“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
Matthew 6:16-18
We are to fast “in secret” (Matthew 6:18) before God himself. Fasting must be an expression of our hunger for God, our desire to love God and our willingness to obey Him. Fasting should be Godward. The prophetess Anna “worshiped [or served] God with fasting” (Luke 2:37). Fasting is an expression of our worship and ministry to the Lord, right along with praise and prayer.
Fasting “in secret” does not mean that we can not let anyone know that we are fasting. It does mean we should try to be discrete and not draw attention to ourselves. Jesus is primarily dealing with motivations and principles more than setting rigid rules. Why we are fasting is the important issue to Jesus here.
Fasting to please men is a religious (in a bad sense) approach to fasting. It’s not true, biblical fasting. If you’re fasting to seem super spiritual to others or to try to earn God’s love or to punish yourself for your sins, then you’re missing the point. God’s grace is a free gift to us. Jesus died and rose again to set us free from sin and restore us to relationship with God. Fasting doesn’t earn what Jesus already paid for on the cross. When we put our faith in Christ, we are clothed in the righteousness of Christ. It’s not our merit (fasting or anything else) that justifies us before God, it’s the merit of Christ.
In light of the Gospel, fasting falls into the category of activities that Bible teachers call “means of grace.” There are certain biblical ways that God chooses to release his grace and power to His people. Prayer, Bible reading, baptism, church, serving others, communion, etc. can all be seens as means of grace. It’s not that doing these things earns God’s grace, but it’s that doing these things accesses His grace. A child opening a gift isn’t earning the gift by the act of unwrapping. It is just the only proper way to accept the free gift. You have to (get to!) unwrap it to receive it. Fasting and other spiritual disciplines are how we unwrap the gift of God’s grace and power in our lives. Fasting doesn’t change God, it changes us.
3) Fasting Expresses and Cultivates Hunger for Jesus
In Jesus’ first teaching on fasting He focuses on fasting with the view that God is our Father. In Jesus’ second teaching on fasting, he focuses on fasting with the view that He is our Bridegroom. Jesus is using terms like “Bridegroom” and “Father” that are intimate, familial, relational words. This is because fasting is connected deeply to our love for God and our intimate relationship with Him. The longing that comes from love for Jesus is what we call spiritual hunger. Fasting is related to our hunger because it’s connected to our love (remember that the Hebrew people believed that one’s “heart” is actually their gut).
Here’s what Jesus said:
Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast often, but Your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast.
Matthew 9:14-15
Jesus was criticized that his disciples did not fast. His rebuttal was that they would fast after he was “taken away from them.” Jesus’ point is this: if He is with His people in fullness, there is no need to fast. However, when he is away (in heaven, as he is now), then His disciples would fast. This is another clear indication that true Christians will continue in regular fasting until the second coming of Christ.
The idea that Christ is the bridegroom and the Church is the bride is used at other times in relation to the return of Jesus (see Matthew 25:1-13). Fasting is a way that we as the Bride of Christ anticipate, hasten (2 Peter 3:12) and prepare for the Lord’s return. The prophetess Anna speaks to us again here. She was faithful as she “served God with fastings and prayers night and day” (Luke 2:36) until the first coming of Christ. Anna is a prophetic picture of the end-times Church. Just as she prayed and fasted day & night for the coming Messiah, so will the Bride pray & fast, day & night preceding Christ’s second coming.
The tension of the “already” and “not yet” of God’s presence creates a yearning inside of believers. We as Christians have the Holy Spirit with us, yet we long for the physical return of Jesus and the consummation of His kingdom. The Spirit is the downpayment (the “ guarantee of our inheritance”, Ephesians 1:13-14), but we want the full payment. The Holy Spirit is like an engagement ring, and we are anticipating the ceremony. Like a bride awaiting her wedding day, we can’t wait for Jesus to descend to Earth and culminate what He began in His first coming. Jesus knew that we would feel that tension and he describes it as “mourning.”
“Can the friends of the bridegroom mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them?”
Matthew 9:15
The fasting Bride aches for more of Jesus. In some ways, it hurts. When we obey Jesus’ invitation to fast, we begin to touch that deep hunger in our hearts for God. And that hunger makes us want to fast, which makes us more hungry. Fasting both expresses and cultivates our hunger. This perpetual longing that is carried in the hearts of those who embrace a fasted lifestyle is actually a normal heart posture for Christians. The betrothed Bride of Christ is to be lovesick. Hunger should be our default mode.
The reality is that we have limited capacity, and it is only as we empty ourselves through fasting that we can be filled with God and experience true satisfaction. We can only be deeply satisfied if we first awaken deep hunger through fasting. C.S. Lewis touches on this point:
“It would seem that our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
C.S. Lewis
In one sense fasting “satisfies” us as we experience more of God’s presence, revelation from Scripture, and a sense of deep intimacy with the Lord. In another sense, fasting makes us unsatisfied. As the old song says, “the more I find You, the more I want You.” This is the cry of a lovesick Bride. AW Tozer says, “To have found God and still to pursue Him is the soul’s paradox of love.”
4) Fasting Gives us Faith for Ministry and Miracles
I believe fasting is a “secret weapon” of many spiritual giants in Christian history. Every time I’ve gotten “behind the scenes” of ministries and movements that have a profound impact for God’s kingdom, I’ve discovered that most of the key leaders fast regularly and speak in tongues a lot. For the apostolic leaders I have gotten to see, it’s not their strength, but their weakness that makes them great. Their humility makes room for God’s power to flow through them.
There is a relationship between effective and powerful ministry to others and the faith developed through the disciplines of fasting and prayer. Jesus fasted 40 days before beginning his ministry (Matthew 4:1-11). The apostle Paul indicated fasting was one of the marks of his apostolic ministry (2 Corinthians 6:5). The early church leaders and saints throughout Christian history valued and practiced fasting. Many missionaries who successfully took the Gospel into unreached people groups fasted and prayed.
How does this work? What are the connections between powerful ministry efforts, miracles, apostolic power and fasting? I believe the answer is faith.
Let’s notice one more story in the New Testament about fasting. In Matthew 17, an epilpetic boy is brought to Jesus for healing, because the disciples were not able to heal him. After a harsh rebuke for his disciples, Jesus cast a demon out of the boy, and he was healed.
The disciples asked Jesus privately why they could not cast the demon out. Jesus answers directly:
So Jesus said to them, “Because of your unbelief; for assuredly, I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
Matthew 17:20-21
Jesus said it was their unbelief and lack of faith that hindered their ability to walk in the power needed to heal the suffering boy. Yet Jesus also says that “this kind” of demon does not come out except by prayer and fasting. So what was the issue? Was it a lack of faith or a lack of prayer and fasting?
We can infer, because Jesus knew what he was talking about, that prayer and fasting is what gave Jesus the faith to deliver and heal the boy. Jesus had the faith to cast out a demon when the disciples were unable to, and he credits the source of this faith to prayer and fasting. It was not prayer and fasting that released the power to heal and deliver, it was faith. But the faith was cultivated through prayer and fasting!
It is important to note that Jesus did not start fasting when he was approached with the demonized boy, but He was able to deliver him immediately. Jesus did not call a fast, wait a few days and then come back to deal with the situation. The author makes a point to note that the boy was cured “from that very hour.” (verse 18). Jesus must have been engaged in a lifestyle of regular fasting and prayer, probably following the traditional two days per week. This meant he was ready and full of faith when the situation arose. His disciples were obviously not fasting regularly (Matthew 9:14) and not prepared for the challenge.
Fasting humbles us, reveals our weakness, and therefore builds our faith in and dependence on God.
This story reveals an amazing benefit of fasting. Fasting humbles us, reveals our weakness, and therefore builds our faith in and dependence on God. Increased faith allows us to work in more powerful, effective and anointed ministry. It is not that fasting and prayer makes us confident and arrogant in ourselves. Rather, it exposes our need, and causes us to rely more deeply on God for everything. This deep reliance is what we call faith.
These four biblical truths help us to realize how important this often neglected spiritual discipline can be in the life of a believer and the strength of the Church. Can you imagine the corporate hunger and release of greater power that would come upon God’s people if we all committed to fasting one day each week? Especially for those who are in prosperous, western nations, I believe our intentional restraint in regular fasting is vital to keep our spiritual fervor and avoid the lull of the spirit of this age that comes with our relatively easy lives.
Fasting reminds us that we are weak and desperately need God. And it comes with the added rewards of deeper intimacy with the Father, heightened revelation from Scripture, an increase of prophetic dreams and a greater faith for miraculous ministry. If we want our hearts to burn for God, maybe we need to consider what’s happening in our guts.