Authentic Fasting From James MacDonaldSample

Ignite

Sojourners. Peter addresses the saints, and us, as sojourners. What this means is this is not our home. We are just visitors here. What I currently see is not what I should be fired up about. Why? Because this is not our home or what our hunger should be for. We are to abstain from what Peter describes as “passions” or desires of the flesh. Look at the text. These desires “wage war against your soul.” The idea of abstaining is not forever, or even continually, but for a time. This is an important principle. Anything that would empower me can be set aside for a time to break its enslavement. And that’s what fasting does.

John Piper said, “The absence of our fasting is the measure of our contentment with the absence of Christ.” When we fast, that enslavement is broken and we are freed up to focus our hunger on what we really want.

Fasting not only breaks our enslavement to desires, it can ignite our hunger for God. I repeat; can. It won’t necessarily. You can fast for the wrong reasons. If you fast to lose weight, that won’t ignite anything. Fasting for the wrong reasons can appear to be wise and religious, but as is often the case, we really forsake the biblical teaching on this subject.

Psalm 69:10 says, “When I wept and humbled my soul with fasting, it became my reproach.” And that’s not bad news, that’s good news! When we see ourselves as we really are, we will begin to change. How? By humbling our souls with fasting.

Prayer – Father, I now see what a hold things of this world have upon how I live my life. I am enslaved by things I continue to choose that draw me away from You. Forgive me, Father! Help me not to want anything more than You. Remind me, by Your Holy Spirit to fast when I feel stuck. I want You to be the passion of my life, Lord. In Jesus’ name, Amen.