What's this fasting all about?

It seems my BLOGs have taken an apologetic turn, more often than not. It is natural, I suppose, as I have been teaching apologetics in our local church (in our teen class) and doing a lot of personal study in the subject, besides. I will still be doing apologetic leaning articles but hopefully do more pastoral types on a regular basis. That begs the question, of course, what do I mean by pastoral? By pastoral, I mean, I want to concentrate on certain areas that all Christians deal with, namely; living our faith, what the Bible says to us, evangelism, and, yes, apologetics (dealing with arguments and disagreements of our faith). So, in this BLOG article, I will deal with an issue brought to me by a young Christian, recently, who had no clue of a particular subject, or even how we as Christians live it in our lives.

The subject I was presented with was fasting. Let’s explore the subject of fasting from a few perspectives; Biblical, practical, and devotional. First, what is the Biblical teaching on fasting? Isaiah gives a good starting place, (58: 6) “Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke?” So, in this verse we see some Biblical reasons to fast, namely; because of sin (it could be ours or someone else’s), a burden that weighs on us, oppressive circumstances, and breaking a yoke. The first three seem pretty easy to understand (we will explore them, all) while the last one, the yoke, is a little more confusing. What exactly is the idea of the “yoke” about? We’ll start with the last part of the verse, first.

BREAKING YOKES?

The NLT translates the last part of that verse as, “remove the chains that bind people.” This seems to help our modern mind, a little. It still begs the question, what chains? The word in the Hebrew was the word for an ‘ox bow’, which was the ‘yoke’ that you bound the oxen to the plow to work. They were bound to do the work they were ‘chained’ to, so to speak. In this, we see a great truth, Paul addresses, (Romans 6:16) “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” This of course is sin, though the yoke could be something not necessarily sinful, too. It is the idea of being bound by anything. It could be sin, life circumstances, and/or things you have no control over (so to speak). For example, say you are the child of divorced parents; this can be a chain (yoke) that binds your life, and ultimately your marriage. Fasting would be a proper way to overcome the chain that binds you.

OUR SINS

Isaiah mentions, “loose the bands of wickedness,” in the first part of our verse. This is clearly talking about the sins that are binding us, to reference back to the yoke, in our daily walk. When have you fasted over your sin(s)? I’d be surprised that it would make double digit percentages of Christians that have fasted over this Yet, Isaiah is talking about the sins in our lives as a useful reason to fast. Referencing back to Romans 6, Paul said, (vs. 18) “Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.” Clearly Paul is not referencing fasting, in the context of these verses, but it is fair to say fasting could help to free us from sin, which can be a hindrance, (Hebrews 12:1) “Wherefore seeing we also are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.”

BURDENS

Isaiah also reference burdens as a reason to fast. I think this is the majority reason, most people fast. We find ourselves burdened with a problem, or often, we find ourselves faced with a decision that is heavily weighing us down. This is where many Christians find themselves struggling with how God works. I’m not one who believes God is interested in what color shoes you where today (at least in most circumstances), so there is not a need to ‘seek’ God’s direction for what to wear. BUT, there are definitely times when we should seek God’s direction in a decision. AS an example, in Acts 13:1-3 we read, “Now there were in the church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers; as Barnabas, and Simeon that was called Niger, and Lucius of Cyrene, and Manaen, which had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. 3 And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away.” Fasting is a way to find the voice of God in our lives as we seek to follow the direction He would have us go.

OPPRESSION

Finally, in reference to Isaiah’s verse, fasting should be used to deal with the “oppressed.” The disciples found themselves unable to dispatch a demon, as they had seemed to easily do before. Jesus said to them, (Matthew 17:21) “Howbeit this kind goeth not out but by prayer and fasting.” There are situations and circumstances that fasting is the best way to deal with them. As Jesus indicated here, there are times that prayer AND fasting are the only way to deal with an oppressive thing. Too often, believers find themselves burdened and instead of getting serious with God they allow the burden to weigh them down and are overcome with anguish and sorrow. Prayer is always appropriate. Here we are saying it should be emphasized that sometimes it takes prayer AND fasting; Jesus said prayer was not enough, in certain cases.

PRACTICAL ADVICE

Now, from a practical stand point, how do we fast? Obviously, by definition fasting is not eating food (and not drinking, either). Some have suggested we can fast from certain activities, such as; TV, Social Media, and other things. There is Biblical evidence for this (1 Corinthians 7:5). But generally speaking, when we fast we should not eat and/or drink, to be Biblically precise. Daniel actually even talked about fasting from ‘certain’ types of food, (Daniel 10:3-ESV) “I ate no delicacies, no meat or wine entered my mouth, nor did I anoint myself at all, for the full three weeks.” I think as a practical word of advice, starting small, maybe sunup to sundown or a few hours at a time, is a good way to start. I would also advise to eliminate TV and Social Media in fasting, too. When fasting, I’ve advised young believers to drink water, plenty of it, but eliminate beverages, such as; sugary types and things that are drunk for the taste, as opposed to the nutritional value. If you are serious, fasting will get you in the right frame of mind. Jesus dealt with the ‘how’ of fasting, here, Matthew 6:16-18 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”

FASTING AS ROUTINE

Lastly, we will talk about fasting in respect to it as a devotional or common practice. Fasting is not something I would suggest you do as a matter of ‘routine’. Fasting is not commanded in scripture as a NT believer’s requirements, such as baptism and communion (taking the Lord’s Supper) are. Fasting should BE PRACTICED by followers of Christ, but not as a daily, weekly, or even monthly ‘thing’. There is plenty of references to fasting, as we have indicated in this article, as something the early church did and was encouraged by Jesus to practice. He stated, in response to the question why his disciples didn’t fast, (Matthew 9: 14-15 ESV) “Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” 15 And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”” Obviously fasting is something that a Christian can benefit from, but the danger is letting your devotion to it to cause a loss of its significance. Fasting should be done to meet a need and get serious with God, not to glorify self or be a religious practice.

SUMMARY

In summary, fasting is a good practice, not a commanded one, or at least in the frequency. Fasting is one of the oldest religious practices known to man, and yet, today few Christians practice or have ever done it once. I’m not advocating a call to fasting, though this seems Biblical as well (Joel 1:14 and 2:15, for example), but I am suggesting that for your own spiritual growth, fasting may be an activity you could find some much needed growth from. I implore you to do some studying on the subject and see if it doesn’t lead you to an appreciation for the idea. Maybe pray and fast about it.

#fasting #bible #pastoral