THE TRUE FAST

Congratulations! If you made it this far, welcome to 2023! January is over just like that! As many people do in the New Year they declare ‘new year, new me!’ Resolutions are set, vision board parties are in high gear and churches left right and centre call for a time of fasting. For the past couple of years, I have committed January to seek God through prayer and fasting.

This year would present an interesting challenge because you see, I had my second baby two months ago. I am nursing and so skipping food was not an option- but God works in mysterious ways. I came across the 40-day sugar fast. The basic gist of it is you give up all sugar, mostly the artificial kind. I cut out juice, soda, biscuits, cakes, ice cream, bread; I stopped sugaring my tea and went a step further and abstained from honey as well. My craving for sweetness would be sourced from fruit. This seems easy, but I dare you to try it. I began to see how sugar and sugary treats were such an addiction, a quick way to make myself feel better that lasted for a short while, which would cause me to binge on more of it.

As is the instruction with most fasts you are advised to pray, and read the Word when you start to feel the overwhelming need to give in to your craving, whatever it might be. Every day that I knocked off encouraged me greatly and I thought my brief account of this fast might do the same for you.

First things first, why do we fast?                                   

I believe that the various reasons can be summed up into two- for preparation and revelation

I am reminded of the story of Esther -how she asked all of Israel to pray and fast for 3 days before she went to see the King and plead for the lives of the Israelites. In the New Testament after Jesus’ baptism, the Holy Spirit led him into the wilderness where he fasted for 40 days. It is after this fast that He officially began his ministry.

Concerning revelation, I am reminded of the Old Testament in Daniel 10:1-3 where it says in verse 1 ‘ a thing was revealed unto Daniel’. In Matthew 17:21, the disciples asked why they could not cast out a demon. Christ responded ‘this type is only cast out by prayer and fasting.’

Secondly, how do we fast?

For someone who has never fasted before, it might sound intimidating. I started fasting in high school as part of the Christian Union Committee. If memory serves me correctly we would skip Tuesday lunch to pray together. We would pray for our school, the administration, the students, the church body and anything else the Lord would have us pray about. Were we on fire all the time? Nope, sometimes we’d get distracted during prayer by hunger or pending assignments or any other thing that our teenage mind was contending with at the time. However, I want to believe that God honoured that season, our hearts were in the right place but we needed time to mature in the faith.

That weekly practice is what eventually led me to do longer fasts-three days, a week, then two and now my constant 21-day fast. I recently learnt that I hadn’t been diligent in consecrating myself during the fast. The simplest way to explain it is, you don’t go about life as normal-you need to guard your environment- the kind of stuff you watch, read, listen to has to be supporting your fast.  You can’t spend an hour in prayer and watch Netflix for the next two hours. You don’t take part in unwholesome banter or gossip and you might want to give certain places such as the club or the pub a wide berth. Giving social media a break at this time will also be of great benefit.

You have responsibilities to work and obligations to family and those close to you, so when you do fast Jesus outlines how you should operate in Matthew 6:16-18. This is not a time to show off your struggle but to commune intimately with God.

Lastly, what do you achieve from a fast?

Fasting doesn’t just benefit the spirit but the body as well- which explains the craze behind intermittent fasting. Your body will feel weaker but it will be stronger, having had the time to be rid of toxins that harm your organs, slow your energy and clouds your mind.

However, the spiritual benefits for me far outweigh the physical. This fast I can confess has been the hardest yet- I came in with a list of prayer points that I wanted to tackle but learned that this fast was about doing some deep internal work. At first, I fought the new direction that God was leading me in but I had to let go of the thinking that I was the only one who could tackle those needs in prayer.

My biggest takeaway is this, you don’t fast for God to show him what a great Christian you are, you fast to learn how to depend fully on God in the good and bad times.

I am not sure where you are in your spiritual journey but urge you to consider a fast and as you do, trust in God instead of your expected outcome.