Authentic Fasting From James MacDonaldSample

Are You Hungry?

Open your Bible to the section at the back that lists words, and look up the words fast, fasted, and fasting. You will be shocked at how frequently the subject of fasting comes up in Scripture. Jesus fasted regularly. He even fasted for forty days and forty nights before He launched into His three-year ministry.

Let’s get a definition in front of us. Fasting: Abstaining from food (and sometimes other things) for measured periods of time, in order to heighten my hunger for the things of God.

We have little hunger for God. Not many people missed a meal this week. But we frequently miss spiritual meals. I mean little hunger in amount, in consistency, and, most of all, in proportion. Which of us would say, “Actually, I have a hunger for God that is proportionate to how awesome He is and what He offers”?

Look at Matthew 5:6 where Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.” When was the last time you were really hungry?

Compare your hunger for God with the hunger of Wilbur Reese, who wrote a book back in 1971 called $3-Worth of God. He said:

"I would like to buy $3-worth of God, please. Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine. I don’t want enough of Him to make me love a black man or pick beets with a migrant worker. I want ecstasy, not transformation. I want the warmth of the womb, not a new birth. I want a pound of the eternal in a paper sack, please. I would like to buy $3-worth of God."

We have little hunger for God. And that is part of why we want other things more than God—we simply aren’t hungry for Him. What do we do about that? Fast.

Prayer – Father, I’m not sure why I don’t hunger for You more than I do. Forgive me. Create in me such a craving for You that I don’t want anything more than You. In Jesus’ name, Amen.