Fasting and Feasting

Matthew 13:22-23

The seed falling among the thorns refers to someone who hears the word, but the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, making it unfruitful. But the seed falling on good soil refers to someone who hears the word and understands it. This is the one who produces a crop, yielding a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown.”

We see fasting in scripture:

strengthening prayer (Ezra 8:23; Joel 2:13; Acts 13:3)

seeking God’s guidance (Judg 20:26; Acts 14:23)

expressing grief (1 Sam 31:13; 2 Sam 1:11–12)

seeking deliverance or protection (2 Chron 20:3–4; Ezra 8:21–23)

expressing repentance and returning to God (1 Sam 7:6; Jonah 3:5–8)

humbling oneself before God (1 Kings 21:27–29; Psalm 35:13)

ministering to the needs of others (Isaiah 58:3–7)

overcoming temptation and dedicating yourself to God (Matt 4:1–11)

expressing love and worship to God (Luke 2:37)

seeking God’s intervention and salvation for others (2 Sam 12, Neh 1, Esther 4, Dan 9)

Fasting and feasting: by denying ourselves lesser pleasures, we seek to grow deeper hunger for the greatest pleasure, God Himself.

-There is no ONE way to fast prescribed in the Word.

- Jesus fasted, led by the Holy Spirit. (Matt 4:1-2)

- Jesus speaks of us fasting. (Matt 6:16)

- The early Church fasted. (Acts 13,14)

- The Bible mentions temporarily abstaining from food, drink, sex, and entertainment

- Scripture mentions fasts from one day in length (Judges 20:26) to 40 days

-Fasting is not a transaction. 

Fasting doesn’t earn answers, it sharpens faith… Fasting puts hunger into our prayers—it is prayer with the body. -Piper 

Fasting is more than time management.

In fasting, our bodies teach our souls greater hunger, and our souls teach our bodies that joy in God surpasses the pleasures of the world.

Psalm 63:1, 5, 8

God, You are my God; earnestly I seek You; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and exhausted land where there is no water... My soul is satisfied as with rich and fatty food, And my mouth offers praises with joyful lips… My soul clings to You; Your right hand takes hold of me.

John 6:35

Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Matthew 9:14-15

Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” 15 Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.

Philippians 3:18-20

For many… are the enemies of the cross of Christ, 19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame, who have their minds on earthly things. 20 For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ… 

Jeremiah 15:16

When your words came, I ate them; they were my joy and my heart’s delight, for I bear your name, Lord God Almighty.

Fasting and feasting: by denying ourselves lesser pleasures, we seek to grow deeper hunger for the greatest pleasure, God Himself!