Living the Kingdom Way - Why Fast?
Fasting is voluntarily going without food — or any other regularly enjoyed, a good gift from God — for the sake of some spiritual purpose. It is markedly counter-cultural in global societies.
Jesus doesn’t say “if,” but “when you fast” (Matt 6:16). And He doesn’t say His followers might fast, but “they will” (Matt. 9:15). Fasting is for this world, for stretching our hearts to get fresh air beyond the pain and trouble around us. And it is for the battle against the sin and weakness inside us. We express our discontent with our sinful selves and our longing for more of Christ.
We fast in this life because we believe in the life to come. We don’t have to get it all here and now because we have a promise that we will have it all in the coming age. We fast from what we can see and taste because we have tasted and seen the goodness of the invisible and infinite God — and are desperately hungry for more of Him.
21 Days of Prayer is inextricably linked with our vision
Without a purpose and plan, it’s not Christian fasting; it’s just going hungry. Our purpose and plan for the Global Teen Challenge 21 Days of Prayer & Fasting is linked to our vision to Put Hope Within Reach of Every Addict in the world. We are asking God in these 21 days for additional passion for addicts and new and additional means of reaching them with the Gospel.
Jesus and Fasting
"And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry" (Matt. 4:2). If Moses had fasted forty days and forty nights with no water or food (Deut. 9:18), it is likely that Jesus' forty-day fast was without water as well. In John's gospel, we see Jesus fasting during the walk to Samaria, but accepting water from the woman at the well (John 4:7, 32). God's people have fasted in both of these ways, and even creatively approached fasting using the Old Testament account from the prophet Daniel on the self-imposed diet the faithful youth kept to in the king's court (Dan. 1:11-12). In our day, disciples of Jesus have also offered other ways to perform acts of abstinence in a season of seeking God. These stem from Jesus' fasts, the original examples of how the beloved Son spent time with His Father without food, and with or without water.
Benefits and Love
The mystery of the benefits of fasting was revealed in one statement Jesus told his disciples when they faced a demon they could not cast out of a child, "...This kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting" (Matt. 17:21). How are the benefits applied to the real-life circumstances we face? We really don't know what brings the efficacy.
How does fasting impact the spiritual?
There is much we can't explain about the "how," but we can go to another statement that guides us into the "why" of fasting. Jesus said, "If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word..." (John 14:23). And we are brought back to the issue of trust. The love of God has compelled us to love Him in return, and in loving, to obey Him as best we see the Old and New Testaments indicate the way of the kingdom.