For people that have never fasted before, many questions arise. Sometimes the questions are broached by church kids who are constantly trying to find a way around the ‘rule’ without breaking the ‘rule’ (the proverbial: “how far is too far…”). The first question for most new converts or church kids who still don’t quite get the concept of fasting always seems to be: “what can I eat or what can I drink during a fast?”
I remember my first fast. I was really excited about it, until 10 o’clock on the first day of the fast. That is when I began to realize that I was going to die, very quickly. I also realized that three days without food was actually going to feel like three centuries. Being a good church kid, I had decided that my 'rule' for a fast was only to drink what could go through a straw. As you might suspect from such a spiritual person, I began contemplating all of the wonderful concoctions I could come up with using a blender (my favorite idea at the time involved a Whopper).
I, like many people often do, was missing the point of a fast. I spent more time trying to fit things through a straw (or trying to find a bigger one) than I did in the presence of God.
I would like to draw your attention to a familiar story in John 6. The popularity of Jesus had reached a climax and thousands of people were following Him to listen to His preaching and see the miracles he was performing. One such day the crowd had followed Him into the wilderness and it became late. There were no restaurants out there and the people were hungry. The disciples found a boy with five loaves and two fish and presented it to Jesus, trying to convince Him to send the crowd home (probably so they could devour it themselves).
To the disciple’s dismay, Jesus took the lunch and fed a crowd that most scholars believe would have exceeded 10,000 people. They liked the miracle so much they decided to camp out in the wilderness instead of going home. In the morning they woke up and searched for Jesus. They were hungry again and looking for an encore of the free “Jesus Buffet”. When they found Jesus, He informed them that the buffet was closed. He declared to them that He was the only thing on the menu saying, “I am the bread of Life!!!” The question now presented to that crowd and to all of us was; am I enough???
Sadly, many of the disciples turned and followed Him no more. Jesus wasn’t enough for them; they were looking for a free buffet, an ATM machine, a personal miracle worker. Jesus had uncovered the real motives of their hearts. Herein lies the lesson for us; when the food is taken away, the motives of the heart are exposed. The things that you don’t even know are in there are brought to the surface.
The Prophet Jeremiah said “the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked, who can know it?” This flows in direct opposition to the message of the world which says “listen to your heart…the heart knows best.” According to the word of God, our heart is very tricky and has hiding skills that we know not of. There are things in our hearts that we just can’t see and fasting is a means of forcing those things to the surface. I like the way Richard Foster put it:
“More than any other spiritual 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 Christ. We cover up what is inside us with food and other good things, but in fasting these things surface…At first we will rationalize that our anger is due to our hunger then we know that we are angry because the spirit of anger is within us. We can rejoice in this knowledge because we know that healing is available through the power of Christ.”
Fasting forces the wickedness of our heart to the surface so that we can confess, repent and allow the Holy Spirit to ‘clean house’ with our hearts.
We need to learn to rely less on bread and more on God Himself. Most decisions in our walk with God come down to the simple question; “will I choose Jesus…or ______?” Fasting is engaging the enemy of our souls over the contest of our hearts, it is a time to discipline ourselves to choose Jesus over bread.
After His forty day fast, Jesus responded to the devil's suggestion that he turn stones into bread, with the simple words, “man shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.” In other words, “Devil, you just don’t get it do you? After all theses centuries you are still so dumb. I may not have put physical food in my mouth these last forty days, but I have not stopped eating from my father’s table. I am sustained by His words.” When you fast-forward from that moment to John 6, Jesus explains, “I am the bread of life.” I am the WORD that the father sent down from heaven to sustain your soul.
I challenge you in this fast to eat and be full of Jesus, the Word of God.
