My brother, my sister, slow down.
You’re rushing into your career, relationship, house, car, and everything else the American Dream promises.
Pursuing purpose without the Spirit of God is a fool’s errand.
We fast to silence our flesh and slow the body’s inevitable decay.
Jesus said:
John 6:63 (NKJV)
63It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life.
You can not live “your best life” outside of God.
Have that six-figure job, fancy car, and trophy spouse, but NONE OF THAT GIVES YOU LIFE.
So, if you want to live, you have to die in the flesh. As the flesh dies, the spirit within emerges more robust and without hindrance.
We fast to tell our flesh you are worthless to me. You profit me absolutely nothing. This flesh can not go where God is, so we must leave it behind to go to God. It’s why Paul taught us:
2 Corinthians 5:8 (NKJV)
8We are confident, yes, well pleased rather to be absent from the body and to be present with the Lord.
In the context of this scripture, death is literal and physical.
The entire point of being a Christian is to die. I hope that does not come as a shock to you. The reason you are BORN AGAIN is because you have DIED BEFORE.
So fasting should be easy for one who has already written their body off.
It teaches us self-discipline and to resist the temptation of the very thing the body needs: food.
It teaches us self-discipline, to resist the temptation of the very thing the flesh lusts after.
1 John 2:16–17 (NKJV)
16For all that is in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—is not of the Father but is of the world.
17And the world is passing away, and the lust of it; but he who does the will of God abides forever.
I’m on the 2nd day of my fast; I haven’t eaten since Sunday. I made up my mind: even if it kills me, I will press after God. I will search for him. I will honor him. I will sacrifice myself upon the Altar of God. I will burn this flesh unto the ground until the only thing that I desire IS GOD.
If you do not fast, you disobey the commandments of God—point blank.
Matthew 6:17–18 (NKJV)
17But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face,
18so that you do not appear to men to be fasting, but to your Father who is in the secret place; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you openly.
Emphasis on WHEN.
I pray you receive these words with a heart of flesh, not stone. I say these to you, not as someone who knows it all but as someone who knows my many mistakes and how I trivialized the things of God. I pray you figure it out much sooner than I did.
In Christ,
O.