Sharpen Your Affections with Fasting

“Fasting has fallen on hard times,” but it is an irreplaceable spiritual opportunity to draw near to God. There is no substitute for the gains in God that you’ll make through fasting. If you’ve never fasted before, read this practical and biblical article, and then take a leap of faith. You won’t regret it.

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The following are excerpts from an article written by David Mathis from desiringgod.org.

Fasting is an exceptional measure, designed to channel and express our desire for God and our holy discontent in a fallen world. It is for those not satisfied with the status quo. For those who want more of God’s grace. For those who feel truly desperate for God. …

That burn in your gut, that rolling fire in your belly, demanding that you feed it more food, signals game time for fasting as a means of grace. Only as we voluntarily embrace the pain of an empty stomach do we see how much we’ve allowed our belly to be our god (Philippians 3:19).

And in that gnawing ache of growing hunger is the engine of fasting, generating the reminder to bend our longings for food Godward and inspire intensified longings for Jesus. Fasting, says Piper, is the physical exclamation point at the end of the sentence, “This much, O God, I want you!” (Hunger for God, 25–26). …

Fasting, like the gospel, isn’t for the self-sufficient and those who feel they have it all together. It’s for the poor in spirit. It’s for those who mourn. For the meek. For those who hunger and thirst for righteousness. In other words, fasting is for Christians.

It is a desperate measure, for desperate times, among those who know themselves desperate for God.

Read the full article here: http://www.desiringgod.org/articles/sharpen-your-affections-with-fasting

Editor's Note: This article was first shared in August 2017.