Fast

Fasting means denying yourself something on which you depend.  It’s practiced throughout the Bible.  God’s most fervent followers partook in this discipline, most often in times of great need. Most all of us are presently in great need of something.  We need the pandemic to end.  We need to view one another as equals.  We need financial security.  We need anxiety to cease.  We need peace. The purpose of fasting is to create a deeper dependence upon our Creator.  Rather than turning to creation – that from which you are fasting – you turn to your God.  Through fasting, you deepen your intimacy with Jesus.  You press on toward a more potent prayer life.  You pray with pure and powerful faith.  And you see God’s answers to your prayers. Most often, people fast from food, but one can fast from anything.  Consider what you turn to for comfort to help you decide from what you should fast. Should you fast from television?  Perhaps.  What might happen if you turn off the TV for a day, and turn to the Lord instead?  Could he comfort you in places you haven’t yet turned over to him? What about social media?  Are you feeding your mind with others’ tirades, anger, bitterness, or bad news?  What if you turn away from social media and turn to the great Comforter? Or alcohol?  Do you use alcohol to numb feelings that only your Father can highlight, help, and heal?  Our Daddy wants us to take our feelings to Him, the only One who can restore our souls.    Remember, when we accompany fasting with feasting on God’s Word, we are inviting him into places we may not have known we were withholding from his grace.  When properly used, prayer and fasting are like two fists delivering counterpunches to the evil one’s punches of anxiety. Combine fasting and feasting – the consummate antidote to anxiety.