Fasting - Focuses the Soul
Soul Nurture • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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We’ve started this year a series looking at Soul Nurture -
“Soul Nurture” refers to the intentional care, feeding, and strengthening of a person’s inner life—their mind, emotions, will, and spiritual condition—so they grow healthy, whole, and aligned with God.
So far we’ve looked at how:
The Word feeds the soul
Prayer connects the soul
Worship aligns the soul
Today I want to explore how ‘Fasting focuses the Soul’
Fasting is not about starving the body, but about strengthening the soul.
It’s as our Apostolic Mission states: “Making room to meet Jesus”
As John Piper put it:
“Christian fasting, at its root, is the hunger of a homesickness for God.” — John Piper
It’s all about a relationship and deepening that relationship by investing time in that relationship. When we looked at prayer a couple of weeks ago we said “Prayer was an intimate 2 way communicative relationship with God”. We feed on God, His Word and His presence.
Has anyone ever been lovesick? This is what we are talking about but with respect to God. He becomes everything to us, and as we enjoy Him, our desire for that intimate connection grows to the point where we happily would miss meals, or other activities of life to spend time with Him.
1 As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for you, my God. 2 My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?
1 You, God, are my God, earnestly I seek you; I thirst for you, my whole being longs for you, in a dry and parched land where there is no water.
35 Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
This is why:
Fasting without prayer is starvation.
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Fasting leaves us hungry and prayer - 2 way communication with God fills us up.
It’s as Rob Reimer puts it the heart of the discipline of fasting is to:
“Attend to God’s presence” Rob Reimer
PAUSE:
Let’s just take a moment, rights now: On a scale of 1-10:
How often are you thinking about how you can spend more time enjoying God?
How often do you say no to things which take your time, so you can instead pursue time with God?
On the scale of 1-10, how intimate do you feel in your relationship with God right now?
A final reflection - just take a moment to think about:
What is filling your time and mind more than God?
Richard Foster puts it this way:
“More than any other discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us. This is a wonderful benefit to the true disciple who longs to be transformed into the image of Jesus Christ. We cover up what is inside us with food and other good things, but in fasting these things surface.” Richard Foster
So Fasting exposes:
What we turn to for comfort
What dulls spiritual hunger
What competes for our affection
As I mentioned in a previous talk: “You hunger after what you feed on.”
Fasting reverses the cycle:
Stop feeding the flesh → hunger for God increases
Temporary discomfort → long-term clarity
God is wanting our attention, God wants to speak to us:
Illustration: When the noise stops, you suddenly hear what’s always been there.
Jesus fasted:
After His baptism Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness where He fasted for 40 days and 40 nights. Matthew 4:1-11
2 After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
As John Piper puts it:
Jesus began his ministry with fasting. And he triumphed over his enemy through fasting. And our salvation was accomplished through perseverance by fasting.
John Piper
Jesus prioritised relationship with His Father
35 Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.
16 But Jesus often withdrew to lonely places and prayed.
In Mark 9 there is the story of the disciples trying unsuccessfully to drive out a demon from a young boy. This is after the disciples had been given authority by Jesus to drive out demons Mark 6:7 and had been successfully driving out demons in Mark 6:13.
Yet in verse 18 we read:
18 Jesus rebuked the demon, and it came out of the boy, and he was healed at that moment.
Jesus went on to explain to His disciples why they couldn’t cast out the demon:
21 But this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.
Jesus lived a lifestyle of connection with His heavenly Father through prayer and fasting.
This however, isn’t a magic formula, fasting isn’t a ticked box to greater power and authority.
Fasting doesn’t make God do things, but changes who we are.
Prayer and fasting is about growing a deeper relationship with God, and from knowing God more intimately, and by spending time in His presence and knowing who we are - our identity, as His beloved child, cherished by Him, cleansed by Him, empowered by His life living in us and through us, we are able to then face situations with greater spiritual authority.
Rob Reimer puts it this way:
“Spiritual authority is rooted in identity and expanded in intimacy” Rob Reimer
Fasting is humbling ourselves and saying to God I need you more:
10 I humble myself by fasting…
Bill Bright puts it this way:
“Fasting reduces the power of self so that the Holy Spirit can do a more intense work within us.” Bill Bright
John 15:5 says
5 “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.
Apart from me you can do nothing!
Fasting is about growing an utter dependency on God Himself.
We don’t fast because God is distant. We fast because He is near — and we don’t want anything in the way.
Fasting helps us to become more aware of our own inadequacies and God’s adequacy. Our insufficiency and God’s sufficiency, our inability and God’s capability.
Just think how we could live our lives if they were truly dependent and in tune with God:
Smith Wigglesworth once said:
“Hell begins to tremble, when God’s people begin to fast.” Smith Wigglesworth
8 Move your heart closer and closer to God, and he will come even closer to you. But make sure you cleanse your life, you sinners, and keep your heart pure and stop doubting. 9 Feel the pain of your sin, be sorrowful and weep! Let your joking around be turned into mourning and your joy into deep humiliation. 10 Be willing to be made low before the Lord and he will exalt you!
Like in Psalm 1:3
3 That person is like a tree planted by streams of water, which yields its fruit in season and whose leaf does not wither— whatever they do prospers.
Fasting is planting yourself intentionally by the stream — positioning for life and growth.
So how do we start?
Lent is about to begin next week, I would like to encourage us as a Church to take this as an opportunity to pursue after God. I have put together a sheet to help us think about how we could use this time.
Maybe start with a Soul Fast, from things which take our time - social media, tv
Maybe an evening fast, where we pray during the night, or get up early to pray
Maybe a Selective Fast, like Daniel did for 21 or 10 days, cutting out choice foods like chocolate, puddings, take aways
Or maybe a Food Fast, one-day-a-week during Lent
We are planning a more focussed time during Holy Week, but don’t wait until then, use Lent to start forming healthy rhythms.
The key is: “Fast something that normally feeds you, so you can feed on God.”
