If fasting feels like a mysterious topic or a burden that is too heavy to carry, you’re not alone. Many, myself included, have struggled to find a home in this discipline. On the other side of fasting though, is a joy and clarity which most certainly cannot be obtained any other way.

Fasting has its roots deep in the Old Testament, with various fasts instituted and one annual fast required of all Jewish people. As Jesus is teaching, he makes the assumption that his disciples and future Christians would continue this tradition of fasting.

Matthew 6:16–18

[16] “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. (ESV)

Jesus demands that we not make ourselves the hero of our own fasting. Some in that time would make it obvious they were fasting by smearing ash on their face - not unlike that one person we all know who seems to brag about all they do for God or others. Jesus said when we fast, we are to make it look like it doesn't bother us, because the reason we fast isn’t for the people around us. We fast for our Father in Heaven.

The practice of fasting is a practice in self-denial. Taking the things our body craves and saying that we will put those away, in pursuit of reaching closer for God.

As we begin 21 Days of Prayer, many will choose to fast and you may want to consider the same. Fasting is the conscious choice to abstain from something (usually food) in order to draw closer to God. While not all fasts must be food-fasts, that is always the fasts the Bible refers to and the one that seems to grab our attention the most. There may be medical reasons for which you cannot participate in a food-fast, you may want to consider finding something else you depend on and find how you can remove that from your life for a time.

“Prayer is the one hand which we grasp the invisible; fasting, the other, with which we let loose and cast away the visible.” Andrew Murray

Fasting reminds us of our dependence.

By giving up something on which we typically depend, it shows us that we do not truly need it. What we do need is God to sustain us. There’s an idiom attributed to Benjamin Franklin comes to my mind often, that has special application for when we consider fasting “Well done is better than well said.” We find it easy to say “all I need is Jesus” or when we sing songs like “I need You” - but fasting truly puts us in a situation to depend on God.

“If there is no element of [self-denial] in our lives, if we give free rein to the desires of the flesh (taking care of course to keep within the limits of what seems permissible to the world), we shall find it hard to train for the service of Christ. When the flesh is satisfied it is hard to pray with cheerfulness or to devote oneself to a life of service which calls for much self-renunciation. So the Christian needs to observe a strict exterior discipline.” Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Fasting focuses our attention.

Fasting creates a metronome in our life that demands we focus our attention on God. Every moment you feel your appetite stirring, you will be reminded “I am focused on God right now, not my appetite.”

We are no more to think “What should I like to do?” but “What would the Living One have me do?” From An Anthology of George MacDonald

Our focus is transferred from our own will to asking what God’s will is.

Fasting teaches us contentment.

The secret to contentment is not having more, but wanting less. Fasting teaches us to want less and with that our appetite for God can grow.

“Fasting can also simplify the compulsive, distracting, grasping nature of our appetites.” Tilden H. Edwards

Once our appetites for the things of this life are lessened, we may truly grasp what Jesus would have us see. Finding contentment in Christ is being fully submission to his will for our life. Once we are changed by him, may we never return to the previous version of ourselves.

As we start the 21 Days of Prayer, God may be asking you to give up something in exchange for a higher dependence, level of focus and more contentment in Him. As you prepare to hear from Him, create a little space for him to speak where you can listen. Then as you prepare for your fast, know that you’re not alone!