Fasting is the act of taking something out of your ordinary to have a space that needs to be filled with something else. Physically missing something makes it easier to remember to commune with the Father. The reason times of fasting are so powerful is because we are creating a space. A space for Jesus to speak, convict, call, move and for miracles to happen. When we draw near to God he draws near to us, “For he satisfies the longing soul, and the hungry soul he fills with good things” (Psalm 107:9). God is just waiting for us to make time for him.
I think so often the church complicates fasting, making it a bigger deal than it ought to be. It is just a simple act of making more time for God. In Matthew 6 Jesus is telling the church not to flaunt fasting in a prideful way. Fasting is a time between you and God. A deep time to reprioritize what we truly need. Commonly fasting is not eating food but you can fast from anything. God will often ask us to take things away we put higher then Him.
Fasting food is a great time to connect with the Lord because being physically hungry can be a picture of how our spiritual hunger should be. How we should want the Lord is represented many times as food or drink in the Bible. The Beatitudes reference this in Matthew 5:6 “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” Earthy food will never solve our hunger.
When Jesus goes into the mountains to fast for forty days and was tempted by the devil, he taught us that food is not what sustains us. “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). Food fasting teaches us that food isn’t what gives us life but God is. John 6:35 says, “I am the bread of life; whoever comes to me shall not hunger, and whoever believes in me shall never thirst.” Fasting is so powerful because food and the need for food is such a tangible thing we understand. Fasting teaches us that we need to run after Jesus more than we run after food, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give to you. For on him God the Father has set his seal” (John 6:27).
I think fasting should become more of our normal because it connects us to the father so intentionally. Lately I have been worrying about missing out on the fullness of God and looking back and being regretful, so I have been studying the hunger for God. Fasting and understanding physical hunger really teaches us and shows us how much we should run after Jesus. God is our sustainer, provider and everything. I would encourage you to make fasting apart of your rhythm to connect with the Father more intentionally.
