fasting (part 1)

Last week i wrote about prayer (you can read it below). But we’ve been seeking Christ with a little something more than prayer, haven’t we? We’ve been praying and fasting for Clayton’s healing. And i’ve had the same questions about Fasting as i did about Prayer: Why should we fast? Does it add anything extra to my prayer, or is God somehow happier with fasting than He is with just prayer without fasting? What’s so special about it? And if my prayers are somehow better when i fast, then how often should i fast? And what exactly is fasting? Is it the same for me to give up a TV show as it is for me to give up a meal?

These questions have echoed in my head a lot this month, so i looked into it. i asked around to a few different believers, i asked God to give me wisdom about it, and also searched how fasting was done in the Bible. i’d like to share with you what i’ve learned and have come to believe. 

First of all, a parable:

"This is Remax...You'd like to buy which property?!"

Life in Christ is like $100billion hidden in the wall of an old house. One day a man happened to find it! So he hid it again, and then in his excitement went and sold everything he had and bought that old house, property and all! (see Matthew 13:44)

Can you imagine finding something so valuable, so rare that you’re willing to forfeit everything else you have just to get that one thing? Sure it seems unlikely that you’ll ever find $100billion – let alone $5! – in an old house. But think about it; don’t you have things in your life that are like that, or that you imagine will be like that if it ever came up? It seems worthless or common to outsiders, but you know its hidden worth. Most of us live out this principle all the time, or we know someone who does:

-A kid who loves to ride his bike, but finds a bike that puts all others to shame. So he runs home to sell all his things – including the bike he already has – just to get the best one.

-A guy finds the girl of his dreams, so he gives up chasing any other girl just so he can be with this one, because she’s the one he was looking for.

-A dad who’s not rich but owns a ‘70’s model Corvette Stingray as an heirloom. When his daughter tells him she wants more than anything to be a doctor, he gladly sells the car to pay for her med-school. 

-The owner of a construction company who became super rich by his business, but finds it boring, unfulfilling, and meaningless. Then he goes on a mission trip to one of the poorest places in Mexico and discovers the excitement of building homes for orphans and widows, so in his Joy he sells his company, moves his family to Mexico, and uses every last peso build good homes for the needy (i know a guy & family who really did this).

These stories, in a nutshell, tell the Gospel of Jesus Christ. A person desires God more than anything else, so they just let go of the rest to gain Him.

It’s simple, it’s beautiful, and it’s perfect. It’s Jesus’ Kingdom. It’s the kind of sacrifice that doesn’t seem like much of a sacrifice in light of the reward. Difficult? Usually.  Painful? Of course! Worth it? Every time.

We are now entering the eye of the needle.

It’s the kind of life Jesus was calling the young man to after he asked the Master what he should do to gain Eternal Life. Jesus said, “Sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you’ll have treasure in Heaven. Then come, follow me” (Matthew 19:16-30). The young man just walked away, saddened, because he was rich. BUT it’s also the same life Zacchaeus the crooked tax collector found when he left his “good” to gain Jesus’ best. Upon receiving salvation, Zacchaeus proclaimed, “Look, Lord! Right here and now i give half of my possessions to the poor, and if i have cheated anybody out of anything, i will pay back four times the amount!” (Luke 19:1-10) He had simply found something so valuable that nothing else mattered. Nothing.

The crazy thing is, once we find this Life in Christ and actually sell out to Him, He leads us to keep sacrificing the rest of our lives – continually giving up our good to get His best. Some call it a Sacrificial Lifestyle. You can see traces of it when you remember how Christ has helped you do the right thing during tough times. You remember those times, right? Can’t you trace the sacrifices that God has called you to make as you’ve walked with Him? Think about them. Go on, right now, and remember the Holy sacrifices God led you to – those times you sold all you had because you wanted to buy the house with the hidden fortune. Remember? They were tough. They broke you, and sometimes confused you. They made other people look at you and say, “Are you crazy?!” You questioned whether or not it was worth it. But if you were walking by faith and those sacrifices were for Christ, then they were probably some of the best times of your life too! They caused you to Trust Christ more than you thought possible. i know this has been true for me. The pain just made me want to bury my tear-soaked face deep into my Father’s chest. Remember those times of intimacy with the Master? Through all the toughness He comforted and matured you. In your brokenness He held you together. For the confusion He gave you Peace. Amid the doubters and haters, He gave you grace and humility. And this is exactly why Scripture encourages us to endure – not avoid or run away from – hardships (Hebrews 12:7); to consider it pure Joy when we face a variety of trials (James 1:2); to rejoice when we participate in the sufferings of Christ (1 Peter 4:13). Do you see? These pains are a cheap payment compared to what we receive when His Glory is revealed.

And this, in essence, is Fasting. Fasting, as depicted in the Bible, is when a believer voluntarily abstains from food for spiritual purposes. Do what?! “Abstains from food”, meaning “doesn’t eat”? Yep. The believer shows they want God more than they want food, so they gladly sacrifice it to seek Him, despite the hunger pains.

i’m not talking about a diet, and we don’t Fast just to show people that we’re “Holy” or strong; God forbid that. We Fast because we’re hungrier for God than for food. It’s another way the disciple of Christ says, “Lord, this food isn't my life; You Are my Life."

Now i’ve talked a lot about sacrifices, and perhaps you've thought of the kind we believers make all the time for God, from Fasting to tithing to taking time to read your Bible, etc. So let me be clear about something: for a disciple of Christ, Fasting isn’t the sacrifice; Fasting helps remind me that i am the sacrifice. When we push aside the plate, we tangibly show God that our whole lives are His – not just a meal or a day or a possession or an amount – but everything.

Christ leads us into a Sacrificial Lifestyle. But that doesn’t mean we give Him things He doesn’t already own (as if God really needs us – HA!). As followers of Christ He already owns all our stuff; we literally own nothing. Literally. Nothing. Think about it. You don’t really own anything. Everything you have was given to you to watch over, and God has the right to take it as quickly as He gave it because it’s His. We get impatient when people take “our” time; we feel stingy when “our” food gets eaten; we want to be happy in “our” jobs; always forgetting that every single thing you have, right down to your haircut and the laces on your shoes and your current inhale/exhale and the minutes you’ve been sitting there at the computer, is an extravagant gift from God. You don’t sacrifice anything for God; you are the sacrifice, and you’re Alive to worship Him.

Don't overdo it.

Fasting, therefore, positions us to receive Christ’s Power by emptying us of our own power. In other words, we're seeking to be weak so that He can be strong. It makes our prayer more intense only because we get more intense about Him. Fasting doesn’t make us more Holy or our prayers more powerful, but rather just makes us seek God with more intensity so He can pour His Power and Holiness into us. It’s one of the best ways to sell all we have so we can buy the house with the fortune hidden inside. 

So even if what i’ve written is all fine and good, there are still a lot of questions, namely What does the Bible say about Fasting? That’ll come in part 2. For now, stay faithful to Pray and Fast for Clayton’s healing from cancer, asking that God will use Clay’s ongoing testimony to bring Christ Glory! Don’t forget to abstain from food on your designated day to Fast, and ask God to give you a bigger appetite for Him than for food!

prayer.

Something i’ve been wondering since we’ve been praying for Clay: Why do we have to pray before God moves? He’s all-powerful and He loves us, so why doesn’t He just help when we need Him most? And when we pray, how much do we have to pray until God answers our prayers? If He’s listening to us, shouldn’t asking Him once be enough – why must we pray the same prayers over and over?

My buddy Ryland has a baby daughter named Jubilee. Maybe you’ve met her: she’s usually content, she’s easily one of the most beautiful babies around, and she’s not scared of too many things (e.g. she doesn’t shy from my dogs even though they’re bigger than her). Jubilee is one year old this month, so she’s not really talking yet (she speaks in "baby English") but she has been learning to walk. You’ve seen it before, right? As soon as she learns to crawl you can’t keep her in the same place. Always on the move since there’s such a big world to discover. And slowly she’s starting to invent better uses for her legs and feet. She’s learned new techniques for standing up: first crawl over to the coffee table, then grab it, then pull…and…standing! It takes work, but never enough to drain her energy. And for fun, Ryland likes to stand her up just so she can practice standing; he stands behind her as she holds his fingers just so she can practice walking. He knows that soon she’ll muster the courage to put one foot ahead of the other by herself. In time, like all healthy babies, she’ll get so good at standing on her own that she’ll release the fingers she once required to keep her steady, she’ll brave out one foot at a time, and then triumphantly…she’ll fall on her butt. 

"Our Father, Who art in Heaven..."

Somehow we smile just as big at the fall as the actual steps. We smile because the fall shows that she and her dad want the same thing, yet she still needs him to make it happen.

And Jubilee will always need Ryland’s steady hand, no matter which “first steps” she’s taking. As a little girl she’ll need him to tuck her in and call her a Princess so she knows her worth and beauty. At the same time – even on the same days she’s called Princess – she’ll need his discipline and correction to humble her and teach her obedience. When she’s afraid she’ll need his courage so she learns not to quit. When she’s hurt she’ll need his hug to teach her security. When she’s lazy she’ll need his intensity to strengthen her. When she’s curious she’ll need his words so she can grow wise. Her dependence on him doesn’t make her weak, it makes her whole.

It’s a dance they’ll share their whole lives no matter how old she gets, and its purpose is, of course, her Freedom. Ryland doesn’t want to raise a puppet, mindless and manipulated, unable to move without his force. He wants a relationship. He wants a daughter. He wants her dependence to further build her personality. He loves to release his hand to watch her use her first steps to return to him. And this will never change as long as she is his daughter. He wants her Freedom. 

So it is with prayer.

Then again, some status symbols will live forever...

Matthew 18:1-20 begins with the disciples looking to Jesus for status symbols. You know status symbols, right? They’re the things we often use to make us feel more important than someone else, or inferior to someone else, or they help us fit in. They’re what surprise us if we were to see a billionaire in an expensive suit get out of a limo at a 7-11 to buy a Slurpee and Doritos. They’re what keep us joking about rich celebrities while avoiding honest conversations about the thousands of kids in Asia and Africa who die each day from starvation for fear that we might be seen as “boring” or “preachy.” Status symbols help us rank strangers as “better off” or “worse off” than ourselves depending on how we feel about our own status.We use status symbols all the time.

And the disciples used them too; they came to Jesus and asked, “Who is the greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven?” It’s a fair question considering that Jesus had been telling everyone that “the Kingdom is near,” and considering that no kingdom is without its ruling class, and since He recruited them then shouldn’t they get to be the rulers? And if they were going to rule in His Kingdom, they couldn’t all be in charge; there had to be a hierarchy, some way to keep track of status. Right?

Jesus used a status symbol that must have disappointed them. He asked for a little child to stand among them and said, “I tell you the truth, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.”

Jesus knew and preached better than anyone else that the reputation and character of a child is directly linked to the child’s father, and vice versa. i imagine He’d heard people say of a wild child, “i wonder who his parents are?!” Or heard it said of a violent man, “i’d hate to be that guy’s son!” But i'm also sure He enjoyed watching the excitement of a boy offer some ragged, pretty artwork to his mom, and her gracious response; or the nobility of a father protecting his daughter from bullies when she came crying to him. In that simplicity, in that dependence, in that Freedom experienced only by children, Jesus said, “Change, and be like that.”

Read the whole passage in Matthew 18:1-20. Notice that it’s only after He teaches them to be like children, but still in response to the disciples’ question about status, that He teaches them of prayer, “If two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there am I with them.” (vv 19-20)

So earlier i asked, “Why do we have to pray before God moves?” 

Because He knows that our only Freedom is to Depend on Him. 

Too good to be true?

If we recognize that our true status is humble like a child’s, then it’s only natural to ask for Him to feed us and thank Him when He does, to crave His wisdom when we don’t know the answer, to invoke His power when an enemy attacks. How good would your child’s words be if, after you taught him to talk, he babbled to everyone else all day but only spoke to you at meals, or maybe a few words before falling asleep? God’s joy is in children who use their words to keep talking to Him, a glad Father who savors each after-school story and humble request. Infrequent prayer – or no prayer at all – is like a spoiled child unwilling to say “Please” and “Thankyou,” yet still expecting a pat on the head and a cookie. Only the son who has gained his father’s character is worthy of his father’s Freedom.

So as we pray for Clay, let's use the Freedom we have in Christ to put ourselves in his shoes, praying as fervently and persistently as if you had Histiocytic Sarcoma. Pray as though he were your son, and the only way you could save his life was to Depend on your Father and ask Him for help. And just as a child can't let something happen to her friend without crying to her mom about it, don’t let a day pass without praying fervently for him to God. 

If it’s your day to call Clay, encourage him with words you’d want to hear in his spot. 

If it’s your day to fast, then let the hunger pains remind you all the more of your purpose in fasting: that you, like Clay, need God to be your Dad.