Fasting & Praying - Why & How?Sýnishorn

Jesus is our perfect example 😇 

Today, I’m going to talk with you about a subject few enjoy bringing up...fasting! For years, I had wrongly believed that it was surely good for others but not for me. I even had a medical excuse not to fast!

There are many heroes of the faith who fasted in different ways (Esther’s fast, Daniel’s, Elijah’s, etc.) But for me, Jesus is the perfect example when it comes to fasting.

We read in the Bible in Luke 4:1-2, “Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan River. He was led by the Spirit in the wilderness, where he was tempted by the devil for forty days. Jesus ate nothing all that time and became very hungry.”

After He was water baptized by John the Baptist, Jesus was “full of the Holy Spirit.” Yet, it’s only after He fasted in the desert for 40 days that He was “filled with the Holy Spirit’s power” (verse 14), which is even greater and more exciting! 

Jesus had a habit of praying, of going to a special place to seek His Father. He loved, for example, the Mount of Olives.

What is your special place? Your refuge where you take time with your Father?

The Greek word for “habit” is “ethos,” which can be translated, “rite, ritual, custom.”

Jesus had put good habits into place in His spiritual life: in the morning, while the disciples were quite often still sleeping, He prayed alone. He received the strength to live a full day in which He would heal many sick people, teach, stand firm against the Pharisees, etc. 

Our spirits, souls, and bodies are intimately connected. And learning to discipline our bodies through fasting will have an effect on the discipline of our souls.

By the way, doesn’t the word “discipline” come from the word “disciple”? If we are disciples of Christ, then let’s follow His example!

When we fast to seek the Lord, His strength is made perfect in our weakness. When we fast, we feel weaker, but we’re allowing God’s grace to be revealed. Our souls are strengthened, and the Lord helps us to enter into a higher dimension of revelation and glory. What if you started with a meal or even one day? Like Tiffany wrote to me, “I fasted for the first time thanks to ‘A Miracle Every Day,’ and, for the first time, I felt God speaking to me.”

Thanks for existing!
Eric Célérier

P.S. The texts of this reading come from the daily email A Miracle Every Day. If you want to receive an email every day, I invite you to subscribe to A Miracle Every Day . By subscribing, you will receive an E-book!