Fasting...

Scripture:
John 5:35-47
Acts 13:1-3

I remember as a teenager I participated in a weekend fast.  It lasted only 24 hours.  The youth group stayed up most of the night playing games, talking, praying, and studying God’s word.  Looking back it was a wonderful experience.  So why do I not fast more often?  This has been one area I have struggled with the most.  For whatever reason I seem to never fast.  Yet it is vital in building our relationship with God.  Throughout the Bible you find people fasting for various reasons.  Daniel fasted as part of a means to seek God.  The early Church fasted and prayed in order to seek God’s guidance.  People today fast all the time in order to grow closer to God.

What is so important about fasting?  One aspect is that it clears the mind and body of distractions.  When we fast we are becoming more focused on God.  Fasting is denying ourselves of something in order that we can focus more on God.  It becomes a time of spiritual growth.  By fasting we shift our attentions from worldly things to Godly things.  I know someone who went to the North Georgia Mountains to camp for a weekend.  He was alone and spent the time fasting and praying.  He only drank water and juice for the entire weekend.  His experience was beyond anything else.    Food is not the only thing we can fast.  We can also fast from television, from sex, from games, from our favorite sport or activity, or from anything that can or does distract you from God.  Anything that brings your focus on God is a good thing.  Anything we can do to draw closer to Him should be a high priority in our lives.  When was the last time you fasted?  When was the last time you shifted your focus from earthly things to Godly things…  My challenge to all of us is to make time to stop and focus on God.  What do you need to deny yourself in order to focus more on God?