Reason for fasting?

[Donibm]

True.  Fasting while in sin, or comfort (especially sin), takes away from the effectiveness.

 

Like, if I fast, but I'm arguing with my wife, murmuring against my boss, watching violent TV full of bloodshed or curse words ... then my fasting is not fruitful.  Might as well be a mere "diet".

[Tazcontrol]

When I was growing up we used to fast during lent season. It was to cleanse  your body and repent of your sins so that you could be made clean when taking the communion offering.

[Sunflower]

Woah

I have a situation I'm battling with, and for the past few days I keep hearing "3 days" in my head... I don't know what it means but I get the sense it has to do with fasting... I have been persevering in prayer, but I'm not sure about fasting... I've never fasted in my entire life!

[OakWood]

I did a fast once before I became a Christian. I intend to do one again sometime but this time with prayer etc. I did four days, no food, only water. It's not too difficult but the first day I found really hard.

[Maui Ice]

I've only ever fasted once in my life and it was as a middle-schooler our Youth Group did a 30-hour famine. It of course was new to me at the time but we were able to focus our time that weekend on God. Songs, missionaries, prayer requests, volunteer work to help the less fortunate. It was a great way to spend time devoting our resources to God and putting aside the thought of food fulfilling our bodies as we let Christ be the Bread of Life for us and fill us up with our hunger for Him.

[Love is alive]

Fasting is done to deny self (by denying food we are denying our own needs or self and focusing on the will of God) and it is also done to get clarity to the mind concerning the will of God. I have done it and did not eat but did drink, however, I have never done the fasting of the book of Esther in which I fasted without food or drink.

[ADisciple]

This thread has helped me better understand Isaiah 58.

 

It's my understanding that fasting isn't just about denying onesself ...

 

If you abstain from food for 3 days (for example), then you are to take that food you would have eaten and give it to someone who is truly starving. If you go clothes shopping for yourself more than you should and you want to "fast" from that ... than go and buy clothing for that family down the street who are wearing rags.

 

Love your neighbor as you love yourself = one of 2 commandments that Jesus gave us.

 

By giving up something (fasting) ... and giving that something to someone else who truly needs it ... I think that is the point of Isaiah 58 ... and the point of fasting in general.

 

A lot of Christians use Lent as a time to give up something during the Lenten season ... but fasting should be a year-round endevour.  This is something I need to work on myself.

[enoob57]

I have been seeking different ways that I can strengthen myself as a Christian and fasting comes to mind. I know fasting should be kept between the person fasting and God but is there a particular scripture on why fasting is done? I am thinking it is to strengthen ourselves by humbling ourselves, but I'm really not sure.

It is understood always by the greatest example set before us that of Our Lord...

Right after His baptism at the start of His ministry of the cross. Knowing He had put aside

His attributes As God -> so As Man He took His Spirit (The Holy Spirit) with full reliance

upon the moment by moment supply of righteousness into the wilderness of this world now given

over to satan to battle the most basic question of all questions 'what is life truly about?'...

The Spirit of God both Father and Holy Spirit initiating all strength and reason into The Son,

As Man, takes Him to the point of death by starvation; and in this this very teetering edge allows

satan to come to Him and with all that satan has as arsenal (things of this life and ordinances)

satan plies his trade to the Perfect Lamb of God- the temptations. The directives we see in Jesus'

Life Was His Word and in That Word Was Life Lived out in this very important scenario as example

to us all-> if we are to truly understand what truly born again into a living hope 'IS' it is here:

Our lives are not about (I learned this approach from Joe)^{thank you loved one!}

Matt 6:31-33

31 Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink?

or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? 32 (For after all these things do the Gentiles

seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

33 But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things

shall be added unto you.

KJV

Bottom line-> Life came From God not the ordinance of food and In Life we are to be foundationed!

So that when we eat it is given directly from the Hand of God for that witness and we fast to

remember this most significance of order ordained by example of Jesus so to deliver us from the

error of darkness in our minds...

Nor is it about requiring proof more than what God has given in His Word... satan requiring

of God proof that He 'IS' God by forcing Him to force His Father charge of angels to deliver!

Matt 4:7

7 Jesus said to him, "It is written again, 'You shall not tempt the Lord your God.'"

Matt 12:39-40

39 But he answered and said unto them, An evil and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign;

and there shall no sign be given to it, but the sign of the prophet Jonas: 40 For as Jonas was

three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and

three nights in the heart of the earth.

John 8:44

44 Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer

from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh

a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it.

KJV

Nor is it about the pride of life or what others think or who's who but only God and we His created.

Matt 4:10

10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship

the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.

KJV

As this is the element of the fast and the depth is the heart that seeks first God with all that is

within its ability >realizing completely< the need Of God The Holy Spirit to make it so... thus we

are transformed to be able to start the work of God within ourselves Delivering His Word By His Spirit

unto a world that we want nothing that it contains but only the souls that respond and are born again...

Love, Steven

[Diatheosis]

The hardest thing in fasting to begin with is the habit of eating in the mental sense. Once the fasting has been done a couple of times, it will become much easier since the mind already knows the pattern. Hunger itself will pass, even when not fasting you can find that to be true. After a while the feeling of hunger if not satisfied will decrease.

 

The thing is to get enough nutrition to gain some physical strength. My longest time was fasting for two week basically with water only, herbal teas were consumed in the beginning, with water in which I added Himalaya salt and sugar in its natural form. But in the last days when the body and the mind had already gotten familiar with the concept, water alone was sufficient. But it is of great importance to drink.

 

As for the spiritual aspect, it sure releases much time and energy for being with God since eating and food are not concern. It can be described as a very euphoric feeling. I found it very natural to be with God and feel His presence during this period of time. In fact, I would have preferred to continue longer since it felt so good.

 

It's about being more present in spirit than in the flesh. Jesus went on fasting too for those 40 days to be with God only.

 

But do it with joy, and if possible when you have time on your own. I was working in a kinder garden for the first days of that particular fasting period. 

[AGTG]

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Edited May 9, 2020 by AGTG