BIBLICAL FASTING

Jesus assumed His disciples would fast and immediately addressed their motives. They were to avoid disfiguring their faces so others would notice. Their Father saw what happened in secret. Matthew 6:16 through 18. Biblical fasting ordinarily involves abstaining from food for a time in connection with seeking God. Setting aside media or entertainment can also help us pray, but those useful acts of self denial shouldn't erase what the biblical accounts mean by fasting. Esther called for a fast before approaching the king. Daniel mourned and abstained from pleasant food while seeking understanding. The church in Acts 13 ministered to the Lord and fasted before sending Barnabas and Saul. None of those accounts makes fasting a technique for forcing God's hand. Isaiah 58 confronts people who fasted while mistreating workers, quarreling, and neglecting the afflicted. Their religious observance couldn't excuse the conduct God had already condemned. That chapter connects genuine devotion with loosening oppression, feeding the hungry, and caring for people in need. The extraordinary fasts recorded for Moses and Jesus shouldn't be turned into a required competition among believers. Their accounts describe particular events in God's work. Fasting gives up a meal; it doesn't purchase an answer. Prayer remains an appeal to the Lord whose wisdom and mercy we depend on. The conduct surrounding the fast should reflect the God we say we are seeking. #MoreJoyMinistries