What's So Spiritual about Fasting?
by David K. Bernard
Podcast recording (no venue stated in the delivered transcript)
Kind: teaching

Source: https://acts238.life/repository/sermons/david-k-bernard--whats-so-spiritual-about-fasting
Published by Acts 2:38 Life from the sermon transcript on that page.
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certainly uh fasting is a Biblical teaching and practice now it's interesting you don't have a command in the New Testament fast it's just assumed The Sermon on the Mount Jesus says win you fast so he's assuming Believers are going to fast he doesn't have to tell them uh and then he gives guidelines you know don't boast in your fasting don't make a public show don't tell people you're fasting don't go around with a mournful expression and unkempt appearance so everybody will ask what's wrong with you you're suffering so much but because you're not fasting for show you're not fasting to prove you're spiritual you're fasting for a spiritual purpose so while there's so there's no specific statement of how often you should fast or anything like that and I would say people that look at fasting to earn favors with God that's a wrong approach that's not the purpose of fasting we don't fast to earn salvation to earn blessings or to earn points with God we don't fast so that God has to do something God doesn't have to do anything I don't care how much we fast or pray and nor is fasting a mechanical thing like a vending machine you push enough buttons you put enough money in you get the answer you want if you're fasting for those reasons that's a mistaken approach all of God's blessings are by grace and all of our prayers should be in accordance with the will of God we shouldn't try to manipulate God if it's not the will of God we shouldn't want it our prayer should be to align to God's will not to convince God to do our will so but what the but obviously throughout the Bible there are examples of facts fasting there are instructions about fasting so it is a significant practice here's what I think fasting really is it's a way of establishing spiritual priorities and spiritual discipline you see it's fundamental to human nature the Instinct for self-preservation and uh so so if we're hungry you know our our mind our body is geared towards I gotta have something to eat and of course uh eventually if we don't drink water we're gonna die if we don't eat food we're gonna die so it's a necessity when we fast what we're doing is we're saying I'm setting aside temporarily my physical necessity because I have a greater spiritual need and I'm disciplining my physical desires because I'm trying to train my body and my mind you should do the will of God regardless of your physical desires so the the aspect of spiritual discipline is that if we can learn to control our physical hunger then we can learn to control the lust of the flesh and the idea of spiritual priority if we can set aside even our most basic needs for a moment to see God then that will increase our faith and increase our ability to to hear from God to be sensitive to God if we can set aside all distracting calls even from our own body will be more sensitive to the call of God now for that to be fulfilled I think it must be a meaningful fast normally in the in the Bible fasting is either no water or food or at least no food now the the so-called Daniel Fast I'm not against anybody who will make any commitment or sacrifice or discipline actually I think in Daniel's case he was just avoiding eating unclean food it wasn't really what we think of as a fast in that sense and I am a little concerned about people who have um you know you know that uh will say okay I'm going to fast from food but not liquids and then they use the blender or the the food processor to drink you know pretty much full amount of calories but just drinking it you know so you're kind of playing games with yourself there now I would so I would say normally um you should fast from food completely if it's extended fast or if you have physical limitations then maybe it needs to be moderated in some way and as long as it's a meaningful commitment in your life to God I think I think God accepts that the purpose is spiritual discipline and spiritual desire spiritual priorities one thing I did in at various times we do various things but my most normal thing is uh if you're working and have a heavy schedule it's hard to go without food for a long time or unless you're gonna willing to set aside time for praying fasting which is a legitimate thing but an easy way to have a regular fast once a week would be to eat dinner one night say like Wednesday night and then fast until the next dinner Thursday night so it's approximately 24 hours but yet you're pretty much able to function that day and do a regular schedule but you're fasting one day a week or another practice might be once a quarter to take two three four days and just block that out I do think having a regular schedule of one day a week or several days a quarter or the pastor may call certain times a year and I think the beginning of the year is a great time because that's a normal time to focus on spiritual priorities I do think a regular schedule is because it's all about discipline so having a regular schedule helps you maintain that discipline um and and so I think again you shouldn't advertise it or glorify it and you should use sound medical principles good medical advice if you go on extended fast you should break that wean yourself off of that fast gradually so we're not saying to to harm your body but as a intermittent fasting can actually be good it can be healthy for your body to purge your body but our primary purpose is not health benefits our primary purposes is to focus on the Lord and I think prayer and fasting needs to be coupled with prayer so part of the the fasting helps you establish your spiritual priority and helps you deny the flesh but you need the positive side of seeking actively seeking God so if you're not praying fasting can actually be a detrimental thing I do think in some sense fasting opens you up to this spiritual world so if you do it for the wrong reason for Pride or you're not really praying well then it can actually open you to a negative spiritual influence that could be bad for you there are some people who are worse off after a fast because they've opened themselves to the spiritual realm in a negative way and they've allowed Pride to grow in your their heart so I think fasting has to be done for the right reason and certainly there's a time for a corporate fast the Bible has examples of that and often the pastor will call the church to corporate fasting and maybe he will ask different people to take different days so they'll have an extended time or maybe he'll ask everybody to take one or more days and I always as a pastor would when I would do that I would say you know do what you can and if medically or physically you're not able doing as much as others we'll just do what you can and God will honor that and uh and I would usually have a flexible time and I would usually ask them to spend a little extra time in prayer maybe the time you save not eating maybe you can spend that extra time in prayer and I have found that if if fasting is a regular practice in your life I do believe it's beneficial for for your spiritual discipline and seeking after God and certainly this is a great time of year if you didn't if you haven't practiced fasting prior to this hey January is a great time to start some new habits and Institute that regular discipline and if you're not used to it the first day can be agonizing but actually by the second or third day it the hugger seems to diminish so just you just have to be tough and push your way through it and normally I think it's okay to have water and breath mints