“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.”

- John Mark Comer

Pushing pause on what you want or need for something you need more.

Pushing pause on what you want or need for more of God. 

Fasting is NOT

Outdated

• A magic code or password to heaven  
  
• Something for perfect or extra-holy people
  
• What makes us holy
  
• For bonus points
  

Matthew 6:16-18

 "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that it will not be obvious to others that you are fasting, but only to your Father, who is unseen; and your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you."

Fasting IS

Pause—changing business as usual.

Physical—a whole-person way to express something

Posture—taking on a new approach or posture for the moment, day, season 

Things we could fast from:

• Food
  
• Phone
  
• Fandom
  

Matthew 9:14-15

Then John’s disciples came and asked him, “How is it that we and the Pharisees fast often, but your disciples do not fast?” Jesus answered, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while he is with them? The time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.

“Not my will…but yours be done.”