The #1 Question I am asked about fasting is:
What should I eat?
Fasting is a spiritual discipline which all believers are called to do. Jesus not only said that we would fast, but He also explained that the time for fasting would be "when the bridegroom is taken from them; then they will fast" (Matthew 6:16; 9:15).
As believers, ours is a spiritual life - a life our Lord deposited within us when we first wed our hearts to Him and trusted Him as Savior. Our Heavenly Father's primary concern is for the interior life - our moral well-being - and He made provision for us through the sacrificial and atoning death of His Son, Jesus Christ, to put to death those natural fleshly cravings, and He gave us the gift of His indwelling Holy Spirit, to stir up a new hunger within us - a spiritual hunger - which will only be satisfied with spiritual food (Romans 8:9-10).
This hunger was placed there by God for our benefit - our old nature has been put to death, and we have been given a new nature that longs after God. Our old sinful desires have been replaced with new spiritual fervor for Jesus Christ. This new hunger comes with a promise of fulfillment: "Blessed are those who hunger and thirst after righteousness, for they will be filled" (Matthew 5:6).
Fasting is a natural spiritual response in a believers' life to this new hunger which will only be satisfied with Jesus Christ. Just as our belly growls when we are physically hungry, so also the Spirit within us groans for spiritual food; and just as our physical cravings increase all the more when we feed them with worldly pleasures, likewise our spiritual appetite will increase the more we feed it with spiritual things. The greatest battle we face as believers is the one which wars between the appetite of the old flesh and the appetite of our new spiritual nature. Fasting is unlikely weapon in God's arsenal which will give us the victory we need over this battle of the flesh.
When we fast our focus is to be on our spiritual life. When we respond with faith and trust to the Spirit's prompting to fast, He will transform the physical concerns we have for "what we will eat and what we will drink" into a deeper spiritual concern for the Body of Christ. The new life we have been given is a gift from God and we should feed and care for this new life just as we would our own body, but even more so because we are vital members of the even greater Body of Christ. We should be concerned for the health of the Body as a whole, and desire to do our part to be a healthy, functioning member of that Body. Fasting empties us of those concerns of the flesh and of self, and fills us with more of His abundant spiritual life - which will not only satisfy and strengthen us personally, but also bless the entire Body corporately. We need to be feeding the spiritual life within with the only food that will satisfy - Jesus Christ! He is the Bread of Life - He is all that we need!
What should we eat when we fast?
The spiritual food the Lord has given us to feed and nourish us -
His Holy Word
"I am the bread of life.
He who comes to Me will never go hungry,
and he who believes in Me will never be thirsty"
" I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink His blood,
you have no life in you...
Just as the living Father sent Me and I live because of the Father,
so the one who feeds on Me will live because of Me"
(John 6:35, 57)
"Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled."
(Matthew 5:6).
Click HERE For Fasting 101 - A Biblical Overview of Fasting
Pray and ask the Lord how He would have you fast during these 40 Holy days.
He may simply ask you to fast your schedule so that you can spend time in His Word and in prayer these 40 Holy days.
"My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is made perfect in weakness."
(2 Corinthians 12:9)
Trumpet and Torch Ministries was birthed for the purpose of providing spiritual food for believers "when they fast." The prayer and fasting devotional journeys this ministry provides are written in a divinely-inspired spiritual meal-by-spiritual meal format to guide believers daily in the discipline of fasting to help them develop a lifestyle of dependence upon the Lord and discover a depth of intimacy with Jesus Christ they have never known before. The first 40 day journey, EAT at the Table of the King will lead you step-by-step through this divine discipline if you have never fasted before. HOLY is written as a prayer journey to awaken that spiritual hunger from within.
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