Fasting: Cultivating a Hunger for God
Growing up in an evangelical-charismatic church, my only knowledge of Lent was that my friends fasted from TV or video games (usually unsuccessfully). In high school small groups, we’d all go around and say what we were “giving up for Lent,” and then I’d scramble to think of something good.
Many years later, as I discovered a more historically-rooted faith (but didn’t outgrow my own tradition), I began to see the beauty and power of practicing Lent with my church family. But even still, it was years before fasting became a regular part of my Lenten practice. But having returned to regular fasting in the last few years, I’ve discovered a rich spiritual rhythm for all seasons.
What Is Fasting?
Fasting, in a biblical sense, is the elimination of food, for a period of time, to focus our appetite on God and his Kingdom.
Although it’s not a common practice today, fasting is a major theme of the Scriptures—it is referenced 55 times in the Old Testament and 30 times in the New. Moses fasted, Elijah and the prophets fasted, and David’s psalms are often born out of fasting and worship. Jesus fasted 40 days before starting his ministry, and the early church fasted regularly. Author Edward Farrell once wrote:
“Almost everywhere, at all times, fasting has held a place of great importance since it is closely linked with the intimate sense of religion. Perhaps this is the explanation for the demise of fasting in our day. When the sense of God diminishes, fasting disappears.”
Ouch. When the sense of God diminishes, fasting disappears. We need the discipline of fasting.
A quick note, though: For some people, fasting from food is unwise. If you are pregnant, if you are diabetic, or have other health issues, you should talk to your doctor before fasting. If you have a history of disordered eating or a complicated relationship to food, you may choose to fast from something besides food.
Fasting from food, although important and helpful, is not an essential spiritual discipline. It’s not a sign of spiritual maturity. It’s one of many practices that help us connect with God. The food is not the issue; the heart what matters. So, if your health makes fasting from food complicated, whenever you read “fasting” in this guide, just think of something which you can give up for a season, to focus on God.
But for most of us, fasting is a God-given, biblically-founded opportunity to cultivate a hunger for God, purify our hearts, and/or seek God’s help.
3 Main Reasons for Fasting
First, fasting cultivates a hunger for God.
King David, writing Psalm 27, describes a singular goal:
One thing I ask from the Lord,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the Lord
and to seek him in his temple.
For David, the one thing in life that he needed was to be in the presence of God. To see his beauty, to live close to him—all the days of his life. That’s the prayer of a man who is hungry for God. The things of this world have lost their taste; nothing else will satisfy. Just this: the presence of the Almighty God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
The more deeply you pursue God, live into the Way of Jesus, the hungrier you get for more of his presence. John Piper writes in A Hunger for God:
“If you don’t feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great. God did not create you for this. There is an appetite for God. And it can be awakened. I invite you to turn from the dulling effects of food and the dangers of idolatry, and to say, with some simple fast: ‘This much, O God, I want you.’”
Second, fasting purifies our hearts.
We live in a world of abundance and distraction. We throw more food away each day than some people have access to in their day. And we are surrounded by a thousand other comforts and securities and delicacies.
As Mark Sayers has put it in his Portland Sessions, “Fasting is a way to de-secularize our hearts.” We might say the most pressing temptations for us are not the things that are purely wrong—rejecting the faith, drinking into drunkenness, viewing pornography. The biggest temptations for us are far more subtle; they’re things that are good in moderation, but we get too far in—Netflix, social media, caffeine and sugar, shopping.
In fasting, we purify our hearts to keep non-essential things from becoming essential. In fasting, we also discover how much our hearts need to be purified. When we’re hungry, our anger rises to the surface. We’re not angry because we’re hungry; it’s that we normally feel anger or disappointment or discouragement and throw a hamburger on top of it. Richard Foster writes in Celebration of Discipline:
“More than any other discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us. This is a wonderful benefit to the true disciple who longs to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. We cover up what is inside of us with food and other things.”
Finding low-level sins, bringing them before God, turning away, finding freedom from them. That’s a wonderful benefit of fasting. David said, “I humbled my soul with fasting” (Psalm 35:13).
Fasting creates a hunger that can only be filled by God. It reminds us that we can’t live for more than a few weeks without food, a few days without water, a few minutes without air. It reminds us of our need of God. Fasting creates a fresh passion for worship, shows us our need for the support of one another, and reminds us that there are people, all over the world and in our own community, that go hungry every day. Fasting makes us hungry to see our friends, coworkers, neighbors, and family members come to feast on Christ.
Third, fasting supports the seeking of God’s help.
In the Old Testament, the entire people of Israel are told they are going to be killed, but Esther, a godly Jewish woman, calls the people to fast for 3 days, that the people of God might be spared. They do, and after 3 days, the king of Persia agrees to let the Israelites live.
Throughout Acts, there’s a beautiful pattern: Whenever you see a powerful expression of God’s Spirit or an effective outreach to a new city or region or a major step forward in the mission of God, turn back a page, and you’ll see that the disciples were praying and fasting beforehand.
In Acts 9, we’ll see that when Jesus appeared to Saul on the road, Saul spent the next 3 days fasting, prior to talking to anyone else or doing anything. In Acts 10, a godly man named Cornelius was praying and fasting, and he receives a vision from God. In Acts 13, the church at Antioch is worshipping, praying, and fasting, and the Spirit says to them, “Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” In Acts 14, Paul and Barnabas are establishing pastors in each congregation, and all the leaders fasted for a time, and committed the new pastors to the Lord.
These are just a few examples of fasting’s role in seasons of intensified prayer and worship. So, how do we get started?
How to Fast from Food
It’s pretty simple: Just don’t eat for a while. For a defined period of time, eat no calories, drink water only, and devote time several times each day to prayer and worship. Or consider something else that’s very important to you, a good gift from God, but something you can give up for a time to focus your heart on God.
How to Start
Pick a definite period of time and let one or two close friends know you’ll be fasting—not to brag, but so that you can have some support. We recommend starting with a 24 hour fast. Almost always, this is what I do. Eat dinner, not a huge one, smaller is better, then don’t eat anything after dinner. The following day, skip breakfast and lunch. Use that time for prayer and worship (singing along in your home or in your car). Then at dinner time, 24 hours later, eat again.
During the Fast
It’s simple but not easy. I have one small cup of coffee (to prevent headaches) and then eliminate caffeine after that. Some drink hot tea or decaf coffee or some juice. I recommend taking lunch off from work and meetings to take some time for prayer. By mid-afternoon, you may be getting hungry, impatient, or distracted. (Around this time, I start having visions of donuts, dancing and mocking me.) This is when fasting is most powerful. Every time you feel hunger, pray to the Lord: “Make me hungry for you God.” Every time you feel irritable or depressed or anything negative, pray: “Father, thank you for showing me this. Come, Lord Jesus.”
Breaking the Fast
When it’s time to eat again, you want to be smart. If it’s a one-meal fast, you can have a meal like usual. If it’s a 24-hour fast, you want to make your first meal light—mostly fruits and veggies. Your body hasn’t processed food in a day, so you don’t want to dump in heavy calories at once. If you’re breaking a three-day fast or longer, your first meal back should just be a big glass of juice. (Your colon basically shuts off after a few days of fasting, and coming back with juice and fruit for a whole day lets it start working again before you offer it a Big Mac.)
Conclusion
I love the story where Jesus waits at Jacob’s well after a long journey without food, and he talks to the Samaritan woman (John 4). His disciples come back and probably Peter says something like, “We found a food truck; who’s hungry!?”
And Jesus says, “I have food you know nothing about.”
Oh, I love that. I want to be like that. To be able to eat or not eat. To have a lot or to have nothing at all. To watch TV, drink craft beer, and follow social media, or to cut them all out. To have success or to have failure. How? Because I have food the outside world knows nothing about. To be always satisfied with spiritual food.
To return to the earlier quote: “If you don’t feel strong desires for God, it is because you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great. God did not create you for this. There is an appetite for God. And it can be awakened.”
Jeremy Linneman is lead pastor of Trinity Community Church, a church he planted in Columbia, Missouri. Prior to planting Trinity, he was a staff pastor of Sojourn Community Church in Louisville, Kentucky, for seven years. He is author of Life-Giving Groups: “How-To” Grow Healthy, Multiplying Community Groups. Jeremy and his wife, Jessie, have three sons and spend most of their free time outdoors.
