Fasting is Lit

“HOWEVER, THIS KIND DOES NOT GO OUT EXCEPT BY PRAYER AND FASTING…”

What’s up ya’ll, I’m back at it again on my blogging grind (that’s “Hello, I’m back”, if you missed it). I wanted to talk to ya’ll about fasting because, one, I’m fasting right now so it’s kind of on the brain, and two, nobody ever seems to talk about it, and I think that should change, so I figured I’d start and maybe others would follow.

I’ll start by saying that I’ve had quite a bit of experience with fasting throughout the years. The church I used to go to as a kid would always fast for the first 21 days of the year, and my family got on board with that when I was around 7 or 8 and has been doing it ever since. Since I was so young, rather than giving up meals, I gave up things like TV and sugar. Looking back on it now, I kind of feel like that was more painful; I remember having to look at the ingredients lists of all my snacks to see if they contained refined sugar (almost all of them did). At least when you fast meals there isn’t the chance that you might get that food you really want, only to have your hopes dashed because someone thought that everything needed high fructose corn syrup in it…

Anyway, as time has gone on, I’ve resented fasting less and less, to the point where this year, I was actually really looking forward to the 21 days, and I’m planning on adding fasting to my tool-belt of spiritual things to do regularly, not just in extreme situations. And I know that might seem kind of crazy to some of you, so I want to take the time to talk a little about my experience with it and why it’s such a great thing.

First, in western society, it is incredibly easy to pick up a few idols in your life. They’re literally everywhere around here. Anything that is higher on your list of importance than God fits into this idol category. Now, in the past, whenever people described idols in this way, I always examined my life in an abstract fashion and quickly came to the conclusion that nothing could possibly be more important to me than God! But let’s not be so abstract here; if God was like, “Yo, Netflix is of the devil, never watch anything on it again”, how hard would it be for you to give that up? I know it would be pretty darn tough for me…

To make things tougher, we don’t live in a culture that believes in giving things up. Everything about society encourages you to go after what you desire for in your flesh. whether it be sinful or not. The force behind the very concept of consumerism is the mantra, “Do what you want.” And all of that is like a gym for your flesh, making it super swole while your spirit man is in the corner like, “Yo, how about we go to the secret place with God sometime soon?” And eventually you end up like Paul in Romans 7:15-20; you start to realize how thirsty you are for the things of God, but every time you feel that urge to go be with Him, your super strong flesh comes in and is like, “No! YouTube! Instagram! Food!” And if you let this go on long enough, your flesh starts saying other things like, “Alcohol! Pornography! Drugs!”

“For all that the world can offer us — the gratification of our flesh, the allurement of the things of this world, and the obsession with status and importance — none of these things come from the Father but from the world.”

— 1 John 2:16 TPT

Now, I don’t know about you guys, but I’d rather kick around a super weak flesh than have to battle a super strong flesh all the time. And one really great way to weaken your flesh is to practice denying it. That’s exactly what fasting is. If you pick the things that you love to do the most (aside from the things of God), and lay them down for a period (or even permanently), it allows you to break those old habits and put everything in your life in its proper place, with God at the top. And contrary to what the enemy (and your flesh) would have you believe, this feels really, really good. The ultimate desire of our hearts is to be in right standing with God, and to be loved by Him and to lavish Him with love in return. When the desires of our flesh get in the way of us fulfilling this purpose, nothing feels right. It’s like having a stuffed up nose and trying to eat a delicious dinner; it should be great, but it tastes of nothing. All joy and fulfillment in life come from your Father, and you get it just by being in His presence.

To make things even better, aside from destroying your flesh, fasting really increases your spiritual sensitivity, and it builds your faith! I feel like on my average day to day, I’m surrounded by so much noise that drowns out that still, small voice. So when I fast, and I give up eating and Netflix, and devote that time instead to being with God, His voice seems to come through so much clearer and easier. Everything lines up and I feel like my life is once again in its proper balance.

So let’s shake off the lie that fasting is this awful thing that we have to do. Fasting is really a wonderful thing that we get to do. It’s a privilege. And that isn’t just something that you say afterwards, looking back on it. Even in the midst of it, it’s enjoyable! I think it should most certainly be a part of the lifestyle of a healthy believer. So if you’ve never done it, or you have but it’s been a while, or heck, even if you fast all the time but this stirred you up to go at it again, get at it! If you’re new to it, you don’t have to jump in gun’s blazing (although if you are that radical, by all means, go ahead, you sound like my kind of person). You can start small! Everybody’s different, so pray about what God would have you give up, and for how long (pro tip: it’s usually the things you absolutely don’t want to give up. Funny how these things work). Remember, you do reap what you sow, so why not go hard and see what the Lord will do? We don’t have time to put things off until later anymore; you could still be saying “I’ll do it tomorrow” twenty years from now, and be no closer to the place that God wants to get you. So if you’re at all convicted by this, don’t put it off, and don’t waste your time kicking yourself either, God is still pleased with you. Just take the opportunity and start running!

Love you guys!

- Kaleb