Fasting Part 5

In preparation for the Easter fast coming up this weekend, I am continuing this series on fasting. I hope it will be informative and encouraging for you and that you will join me and others in abstaining from food following the Good Friday worship service and continuing until after the Easter morning worship service. (Coffee and water are acceptable)

Fasting is a matter of personal priority. It’s a great test to see what’s important to us, and a proving ground for a promise of God.  Jesus said in Mt 6:18, that the Father will “reward openly” those who fast properly! Are we going to believe this promise or not?

In fasting, our soul’s cry trumps the cry of our belly.  Fasting is a way of agreeing with God that our inner man is more important than our outer man. And our inner man is fed when we abstain from physical food for the right reasons.

Recall the Creation account. The body is nothing but dirt, but the soul has value beyond measure because God breathed into the dirt and he (Adam) became a living soul!  So our souls are of much more value than our bodies. Yet our refusal to fast and consequently feed our soul is a testimony about what our true priorities are.

The question for you and I is this. Are we willing to give up sensual gratification for the need and benefit of our souls and the furthering of the kingdom of God for His glory? Are we at all interested in the reward of a loving Father?

Have you ever skipped lunch in order to meet a deadline at work? Why did you do that? You did it because the deadline was more important to you than food itself.

Have you ever skipped a meal while maintaining a bedside vigil by a loved one? Why did you do that? Because that person meant more to you than food itself.

Or have you ever skipped eating for 12 hours in order to have a medical test or procedure done? Why? Because your health was more important to you than food itself!

In light of what God says about fasting, and in light of what He has done for us, and in light of His promised reward, why in the world are we so reluctant to give up food  for just a small window of time for Him?

 Is He less precious than a business deal, or a loved one, or our health? If so, we have our priorities way out of line.

Believe the promise of Jesus found in Mt 6:18 concerning your fast! Discipline yourself to abstain from satisfying your flesh for a set time in order to achieve a greater spiritual goal.

How bad do you want His promised reward? How bad do you want His intervention in your crisis? Do you want it enough to give up breakfast? Lunch? Dinner? All three?

So often, our idea of praying is making demands on God to get us out of our messes. How about instead of demanding we do a little remanding, sending our lunch back to the refrigerator for another day, while we spend some time in prayer!

Seek the reward of God! Don't wait for the messes, but if they come........fast! 

Father, help me to readjust the spiritual priorities in my life.