21-Day-Fast Devotional - Day 17: Fasting
Fasting
written by Pastor Debbie Schwartz
“Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.’”
Matthew 4:4
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled.”
Matthew 5:6
After several hours of exercise on the pickleball courts, I sometimes return home and want to clear the cabinets and empty the refrigerator! If I’m not careful, I can consume empty calories within minutes. I want to satisfy my cravings without giving much thought to the calorie count, or lack of nutritional value.
When we think of fasting it is often with dread. No one likes to feel hunger pangs. And yes, that is part of fasting---denying our flesh, the pleasure that comes from consuming food. We think of fasting as what we are giving up. In a similar way, we fill our souls with things that lack “Spiritual Nutrition.” Instead, we need to transfer those cravings of the flesh, to cravings for more time in God’s Word and presence through fasting. FASTING is really, FEASTING on God’s goodness. Let’s think of ways to receive spiritual nourishment by hungering and thirsting for more that Jesus has to offer us.
Here is a Reflection/Exercise:
Instead of breakfast, wake up determined to meet with God by reading the word. Find a passage and don’t just read it through but meditate on it.
For the next mealtime, take the same passage and try to find cross-references, parallel passages, and the ‘scarlet thread’. Spend some time committing some of these words to memory. Pray according to the word you’ve been feasting on.
For the evening meal, feed on the Word by listening to the same passage, in context with the entire chapter or even the entire book if it is a short one.
Check back here, on the Christ Fellowship blog every morning at 6:30am, where that day’s devotional will be posted. Feel free to share, repost, and send the devotional to anyone you feel might benefit from it. And feel free to leave a comment on the blog post sharing what God has shown you that day through your fasting and the devotional.