October 22

Accountability day is different today ... I am asking that you give me a day next week when you will fast for at least one meal. Read today’s blog for more information on fasting.

“After fasting forty days and forty nights.”

There are two extremes regarding the Christian life. The first extreme overemphasizes our role and minimizes God’s role. This position emphasizes knowledge, rules, moral codes, do-lists, rededication efforts, and human activities and virtually ignores the ministry of the Holy Spirit. The second extreme overemphasizes God’s role and minimizes our role. This position is characterized by a let-go-and-let-God passivity. It stresses experience, the supernatural, and the person of the Holy Spirit and downplays the human element.

Our Bible reading team wants to strike a Biblical balance of both dependence and discipline. On the dependence side we realize that we can do nothing apart from Christ, and I mean nothing. On the discipline side we realize there is no growth in the Christian life apart from discipline and self-control. Those who are waiting for God to make them holy are simply waiting.

The Christian life takes on a whole new dynamic when we combine both of these realities. I would like to challenge everyone to set aside one day of the upcoming week to practice the historic discipline of fasting. If Jesus practiced this discipline, how much more necessary is it in our lives?

The goal of the historic disciplines is never an end in themselves but a means to the end of knowing, loving and trusting God more. Our daily choices shape our habits, and our habits shape our character. Our character, in turn guides the decisions we make in times of stress, temptation, and adversity. In this way, we show that delicate balance between relying on God and working out our salvation with fear and trembling.

Spiritual disciplines are good servants but poor masters; they are useful means but inadequate ends.

So how does someone practice fasting in 2010? Fasting is simply the absence of physical nourishment for the purpose of spiritual sustenance. There are five primary reasons why people fasted in the Bible, each of which represents a different life-context and situation for the child of God:

1. To seek God intensely when there is a great or urgent need.
2. To develop a deeper intimacy with God.
3. To seek God for revival and the special anointing of the Holy Spirit.
4. To bring deliverance to those in bondage, whether spiritual, emotional, sexual, chemical, or any other kind of bondage or spiritual oppression.
5. To seek God’s wisdom and guidance.

Clearly, fasting can have significant health implications for an individual. I urge thoughtful caution before beginning a fast. Many should seek a physician’s counsel. For some, health considerations may permit participation in a partial fast only, if at all, especially if prescription medications are being taken or a chronic condition exists. Good stewardship of the physical care of our bodies is a clear biblical mandate.

I invite you to take a step of faith and join me in a fast next week. Drink plenty of water or other fluids during that time. Fasting is a private experience. However, if you live with other people, in kindness, you may wish to inform them of your decision to fast. I will be fasting on Monday, October 25th. This means I will eat a meal on Sunday night and not eat food until Monday night at dinner. The purpose of my fast will be to draw close to our Lord. If you want to join me Monday that would be fantastic but if that day does not work for you, pick any day next week. You might want to start out just fasting one meal. But the challenge is to use the disciple of fasting to draw closer to our Lord. Join me in this great discipline.