WHY DO WE FAST?
Fasting is a willing abstinence from food for a period of time. It is one of the most abused and least used of all the practices of Jesus. Yet for millennia, it was a core practice of apprenticeship. We live in a culture not only of food, but of excess, luxury, and addiction. For so many of us, the desires of our body have come to hold power over us. In the battle with our “flesh,” we have become its slave, not its master.
PRACTICE FASTING
Below are two recommended practices for Fasting to be done individually or in Community Groups. We recommend you work through it with your community, a small group triad, a weekly meal with friends or neighbors, your roommates, whatever works. Get a group of people, set a time each week to share a meal, then talk and pray for about an hour. Transformation happens in community.
Starve the Flesh and Feed the Spirit // Fasting is an ancient discipline to break the power of the flesh–our desires, sins, and cravings–and to feed on the Holy Spirit.
Fasting as Prayer // In fasting, the great hunger of the heart and mind for answered prayer permeates the body itself.
RECOMMENDED OPTIONAL LISTENING
Below are optional recommended messages on fasting, both from Frontier & trusted speakers, including: How do you fast if you’ve had an unhealthy relationship with food? Listen to a conversation on eating disorders, body image, and Jesus’ call to health and wholeness. In this talk, they interview a woman who has overcome an eating disorder in her own life and hear how she interacts with fasting now.
RECOMMENDED OPTIONAL READING
