Kingdom Mindset: Matthew 6:16-18
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CIT: Fasting is an often ignored spiritual practice, but it is vital for our spiritual health
CIT: Fasting is an often ignored spiritual practice, but it is vital for our spiritual health
What is fasting
How not to fast
How to fast
Why we fast
What is fasting?
What is fasting?
Purposefully going without something to focus on spiritual matters.
This is normally food
Matthew 4:2 “And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.”
But can also be other things that we have
Social Media
Secular Music
Phone
Video Games
The purpose of this is to remove specific distractions in our lives so that we can focus on spiritual matters
We will go further in depth on this in a moment
How not to fast
How not to fast
Focused on yourself
When we fast we are naturally uncomfortable because we are removing things from our lives that bring us comfort.
If we fast and are focused on our hunger more than God, or what we are missing on our phones more than God then we are fasting incorrectly.
To be seen
When we fast, if we are making a big deal out of our fasting, in that we show our hunger pains, or we talk about how you aren’t listening to any secular music right now to focus on God. Then you are fasting incorrectly.
We don’t fast to get more attention, we fast to get more of God.
How to fast
How to fast
Focused on God
While we are fasting, Jesus tells us anoint our head and wash our face, meaning that we are to have a clean outward appearance even if we are hungry or desiring our phones.
So when you are fasting and you feel hunger pains, or you begin to become hangry that is when fasting takes its effect. You have to tryst in God to keep you from having a sinful attitude when you are hangry. And when you are focused on God transforming your heart and mind in the midst of fasting then you will be fasting correctly
Why we fast
Why we fast
To build our faith in God’s provision
Matthew 6:25-26 ““Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air: they neither sow nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not of more value than they?”
To kill idols in our lives
When I was in high school some of my friends in my student ministry wanted to start fasting every other Sunday. I turned down this opportunity because I was so focused on gaining weight for football that I didn’t want to miss eating one day every other week. Football had become an idol in my life so much so that I was unwilling to engage in a wonderful spiritual practice so that I could be more focused on a sport I no longer play.
When I had just graduated high school I became convicted of the music that I was listening to. So, in order to break my bad habit of allowing the secular music I listened to shape my thoughts I fasted from secular music for a year. This music fast helped me break free from the bad habits I had formed in my music tastes, and it also gave me a deeper appreciation for corporate and personal worhsip.
“Be killing sin or it will be killing you” - John Owen
To fuel our longing for Christ’s return
Matthew 9:14-15 “Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast.”
The disciples didn’t fast while Jesus was with them, but after he has ascended we fast because it causes us to long for his return and for the wedding feast of the lamb even more!
Conclusion
Conclusion
So the question I have for you tonight is simply this, what do you need to fast from? Are you willing to let go of comfort in order to have a deeper relationship with Jesus? As we sing this final song think about what God may be calling you to let go of for a time so that you can focus on him more.