Week 9 — Thursday: Fasting: A Practice Of Focus

Isaiah 58:4-7; Acts 13:2-3 

The concept of fasting, from an Old Testament perspective, indicated one’s seriousness about following God and His commandments in a real sense placing prayer in front of everything else, including eating a meal. In Isaiah chapter 58, the prophet warns the people about making fasting a religious work. The true meaning is putting one’s heart and focus wholly on God. In the New Testament, we see believers who needed to make important decisions and truly sought God in prayer and fasting. 

In my life, I’ve had a number of moments where fasting helped me focus solely on hearing God’s will. I’ve also experienced in this season of life how fasting went hand in hand with mourning. Never have I prayed so deeply, with such laser focus, and so intently as I did while my wife was in the hospital on a ventilator. But those times in deep prayer and fasting truly gave me the grace that I needed to accept God’s will concerning the “going home” of my wife. Since that time, the practice of fasting and praying has been very helpful in my recovery from grieving and in understanding what the next chapter of my life may look like. 

The most important thing I can share with you is that our God wants to have a deep, close, intimate relationship with us, and for me, fasting is an integral part of that. 

—CONTRIBUTED BY RICH SASSER, PASTOR OF MEN—

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