Day 1

Stealing Away to Jesus

What is a Fast? Why should we do one? And how do we do it?

Happy New Year! And this year you’ve decided to start your year off differently—immersed in prayer and fasting. You know your spirit, and perhaps your mind and body as well, needs something. And you realize that going through the same old routines of life won’t get you that something that you need. Then you heard us (okay, you heard me) talk about the proven Christian discipline of fasting. But questions remain, right? What exactly is a fast? Why should I do one? And how do I do it?

These are fair questions. In too many spiritual settings fasting and focused seasons of corporate prayer have become passé among many church traditions in the West. Not only have most of us never enjoyed a season of fasting, not many of us have really heard of it, and certainly it’s not talked about much in our churches. But when we turn our eyes towards Scripture you see God calling His people to intentional moments of prayer and fasting all the time. What’s more fasting is normative in much of the Christian world. Visit an underground house church in China, a mountain church in the hill country of Honduras, or a small evangelical church in Brazil, and you’ll see fasting as commonplace as you and I see a morning devo. Fasting is an essential part of the Christian experience. But why?

In his powerful treatise on the subject, Fasting, Scot McKnight defines the discipline as “…the natural inevitable response of a person to a grievous sacred moment in life.” Much of McKnight’s thesis insists that we’d miss much of the heart of fasting were we to see the discipline merely as a manipulative tool that guarantees results. It is a response to God given the current state of our lives versus the state of life the Lord longs for us. You see fasting is how we respond to God because of what has taken place in our hearts.

We’re at the dawn of the new year. And my question for you is this — How’s your heart my friend? Are you full of joy? Does peace characterize your mindset? Are there weights you are carrying? Realities you are fearing? Relationships you are troubled with? Is there unmet potential? How is your heart? 

In Scripture when God’s people were in a state of life whereby their hearts needed something from the Lord they often committed themselves to a time of fasting. Pulling away from something in their day to day lives (for the ancients this was always food—no Xbox or Social Media to say no to) to get closer to Jesus. The presumption was this—if our hearts need some help, there are likely those things in our lives that we need to turn down so that the voice of God might be turned up. Here are but a few examples of those passages where God reveals the promise of fasting. 

So what is a fast? A fast is a focused period of disciplined prayer enhanced by an abstaining of food or drink, or other daily utilities.

Why should you fast? Fasting is a response to God concerning the things happening in our hearts. Fasting may be an expression of repentance, a quest for godly wisdom and direction, a response to our grief and pain, a response to our communal life together as a church family, and even a response to the chaos of our world in the way of brokenness, poverty, injustice, and so forth. Scripture reveals that fasting facilitates spiritual growth and vitality, fresh perspective and insight from the Lord, and a number of other benefits, including mental, physical, and emotional!

How do you fast? See my ‘best practices’ list below:

1. Prayerfully consider the condition of your heart: Take some time to reflect upon what is going on spiritually with you. Mentally. Relationally. Financially, etc. It will be much easier to decide what your time of fasting looks like when you take inventory of your soul. Think through 2022. What happened? The good? The bad? Think about the coming year? Where does God want you to be? 
2. Prayerfully decide how LONG you will fast: As David Kadish has said, fasting is not for the spiritually elite. It’s for the hurting. It’s best to set a timeline that is commensurate to what your heart needs. Our church family is going for 21 days! But that may be too long for you as a first timer. It may be too short! But given the fact that our entire community is doing this for 21 days you may find that easier to sustain given the common practice we’ll be sharing together.
3. Prayerfully decide WHAT you will fast FROM: All fasting in the Bible is a fasting from food. Nonetheless you know the condition of your heart. Are there some basic day-to-day rhythms that, though in and of themselves not bad things, occasionally impede your spiritual strength? Ours is a world with lots of distractions. And God may be calling you to part ways with some of those distractions for a time. I’ve enjoyed fasts from not only food (I LOVE FOOD) but also social media, fun hobbies or getaways, to replace that time with intentional focus upon Christ and His Word.
4. Prayerfully commit to a fast that is sustainable and healthy: Not everyone can fast from food. Some people need social media to work. You get the picture. However you fast should be something that you can do. God is not looking at the hands, if you will. He’s looking at our hearts. 
5. Prayerfully consider a locus of spiritual nourishment: When you say NO to some things during a fast, you need to find other things you can say YES to. This devotional will have something to focus your heart on each day of the fast and I strongly encourage you to walk with the rest of the congregation through this medium. But you may want to connect your soul to reading through a certain book of the Bible as well, or a devotional book based on Scripture. Perhaps this is the season where you work through an old teaching series from our church, or another bible-believing church. Maybe you enjoy a daily discipline of prayer time and worship. 
6. Prayerfully reflect upon the movement of God’s Spirit in your life: Listen to me—God is going to do SOMETHING in your life during this fast! Make note of it. Share the good news with others. Trust me you’re going to come back to this season often as you move on with your life. Capturing what you learn and discover will be essential not only for you but for others you influence!
7. Prayerfully give yourself some grace: I’m talking to the ‘first timers’ here. We have a responsibility to keep our commitments. Our fasting venture will prove as beneficial as our commitment thereof! And yes we need to be mindful of our planning and processing. For example if God has led you to fast entirely from, say meat, it will not be wise to meet up with the gang at a BBQ buffet! Nonetheless give yourself some grace. The world does not end if you stumble one day. Get back on the wagon and trust God to help you finish well.

After the Civil War, and as freedmen entered the ranks of university and the public square, Americans heard, for the first time, the lyrics of the negro spirituals. One was entitled, “Steal Away to Jesus.” The hymn, captured best (in my humble opinion) by the great Mahalia Jackson and Nat King Cole, celebrated the virtue of doing whatever it takes to get closer and closer to Jesus. This is why we’re fasting. Enjoy this my friend. You’ve got this. I’m praying for ya. And God’s gonna do great things this year. 

Love ya,
Ricky