iBelin

Fasting is abstaining from food.  This is the general definition.  Breakfast is to break the fast of the previous night.  Specific to our purposes, fasting in abstaining from food with a spiritual purpose at heart.  Because fasting is spiritual in nature, when you abstain from food, you should also abstain from behaviors and activities that would distract you from your spiritual goals.

You fast because you are seeking to allow your spirit to become stronger.  Fasting shifts your attention from your flesh to your spirit and allows you to be more attuned to God.  God is a Spirit and we must come to God in spirit and truth (John 4:24 ).  Fasting is effectively shedding your flesh with all it’s whining and complaining and neediness so that you can feed your spirit.  When you spirit becomes stronger, so will your body and your emotions.  Spirit permeates everything there is, so to ignore your spirit is really to disconnect and isolate yourself.  To ignore your spirit is to miss out on the fullness of life.  To ignore your spirit is to ignore yourself.

Your spirit is at your center.  Your spirit is your core.  This is the "secret place of the Most High" the psalmist sings about in Psalm 91 .  Here is where God resides.  Many people seek all over the place for God only to find that the search ends within themselves (John 4:19-24 ).  This is God’s promise to us: God will be with us and in us (John 14:16-17 ).  Fasting helps us to reach our Center.

Click here for Why Fast?

Posted on: November 3rd, 2009 in: fasting, prayer