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What do you think -- could there ever be such a thing -- to enjoy and delight in a veritable feast while denying self of food and drink? Until recently I would exclaim that it would be most highly unlikely, and yet there is the possibility of attaining this mindset if one is able to adjust the way they think about fasting. Now let me firstly define what is meant by fasting before we go any further. For the purpose of this article we are talking about a full 24 hours without food or drink, no medications or even a sip of water. Mouth hygiene is fine along with cleaning or brushing your teeth provided you do not swallow any water or mouthwash, or indeed toothpaste for that matter -- remember no eating!
For those who find it a huge struggle and only fast for Atonement once a year we know that we can feel tired, lethargic and weak, yet that is really how the effects are meant to be. We are all weak, physical human beings who need reminding to be humble and teachable by removing pride and all the unwanted character traits that come from carnal human nature. Fasting is designed to humble us. Fasting is good. Fasting is your friend. Fasting removes all vestiges of pride which we know is our enemy. Pride can be like an unwanted visitor invited in at any time via a weak moment when our guard is down. This visitor is not helpful and is even detrimental to our physical and spiritual health, yet it is company -- bad company. Before we realise it we get very comfortable with our visitor to the point they dwell with us and become part of our family, albeit a dysfunctional one instead of being firmly shown the door. Fasting can effectively remove pride and all the damaging side effects of clutter such as anger, hatred, bad attitudes, and evil thoughts that we associate with our Adversary. Fasting can purify us to be more like Christ.
How can we go from the dreaded thought of "Oh no, here we go again, we have to fast for Atonement" and hope we get through it without headaches, dry, itchy throats causing us to cough, nausea and/or vomiting, to thoughts of "I can hardly wait to fast again"? For those who have fasted regularly over the years by monthly fasts or even weekly fasts, I had always thought that these peculiar people (yes, God says this in Deuteronomy 14 and 26 as well as 1 Peter 2) were either a bit strange, had an aversion or strong dislike of eating, or were gluttons for punishment! (That is an oxymoron if ever I saw one). Well now I know, if I am to take a well known and recognised expression from the mouth of the God of the Old Testament, Jesus Christ, when He asked Abraham to sacrifice his son Isaac. Now I know…
The primary thought going through our minds should be that of gaining closeness to God in our preparation instead of trepidation or reluctance. Focus is everything. On average I suppose fasting for me occurred roughly about 4 or 5 times annually. This seemed quite satisfactory to my mind, even rather commendable as my pagan existence never required any sort of fast unless prepping for surgery and this entailed maybe a few hours overnight while sleeping anyway so it didn't really count in the suffering department. It is not the number of days we should have the primary focus on to keep in mind but one thing is for sure, the more we fast the more we have to gain if we have the right mindset. So throw those unproductive thoughts away about how difficult the fast could be and replace these with eagerness, even a healthy touch of excitement. Now before you think isolation in COVID times has scrambled my brains and mixed up major neural pathways, spare a thought for what the Bible says about this matter.
Where I would like to go in scripture is found in Mark 9:14-29 (also in Matthew 17:14-21) which talks about Jesus rebuking an unclean spirit from a young lad who had suffered for most of his life from seizures attributed to demonic possession, causing great harm to himself thereby giving his father much anguish as his son would have most likely been considered incurable and a lost cause. The apostles attempted to cast out the demon but could not and asked Jesus why they were unable to do so. After healing the boy Jesus made the startling comment to those present, which we can read in Mark 9:28-29 "And when He had come into the house, His disciples asked Him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” So He said to them, “This kind can come out by nothing but prayer and fasting.” Food for thought there to meditate on.
So we see fasting and prayer combined is majorly important and holds great power because we obtain this from God. It is God who works through us if we have faith therefore we need to get to the stage of believing any fast we do will go well. I used to fast hoping I would get through it without any strong temptation to drink water in summer or desire hot tea and coffee in winter. I always did manage to do well to complete each fast but came to realise that there was this huge relief once the 24 hours were completed -- for me it was like jumping 24 hurdles in succession thinking at any stage one may be knocked over and I would be left with self hatred for being so weak in failure. Yet God was always patient and gentle with me -- I never experienced more than a controlled thirst, lethargy, and a few times fell asleep in the last couple of hours to wake up eager to see the clock had moved to the point where my eyes were happy. Yet after the fast I had so much more energy and felt cleansed then thought to myself "See, that wasn't so bad after all, you can do this, what were you so worried about?" God has removed all vestiges of fear and concern for me to my surprise and amazement and He can for you.
But now my fasting experience is full of feasting on how magnificent our great God is and my focus has shifted off myself entirely to be placed where it really should be -- on God and knowing by fasting we can become even closer to Him. It seems like happenstance, a happy place to be for which I can take no credit at all for this development. However I know it to be from God as He heard my prayers while experiencing a trial and my mindset was eager to fast as I told Him I knew everything would be wonderful again once I fasted. I truly marvel at this. Listening to the online member sermons on fasting has given me much more of a mature perspective in order to determine beforehand how to fast. To fast without wanting anything except closeness to God has been a huge learning curve for me. Maybe you know of this or maybe you don't but it is a new experience for me. No more fasting with any sort of "maybe I can get through this" attitude or any anxiety, however mild it can be. Fasting with faith is amazing and to think it took over a decade to get to this point! Humans can make things much harder on themselves, but it really is not meant to be this way. Now I know the better way by fully trusting in God. Isaiah 58 is a most interesting and valuable chapter to read about fasting that pleases God.
If you struggle in any way and breathe a collective sigh of relief once your fast is over then just know that this can change to the point where you want to fast over and over again without any hesitation -- that is progress. Perhaps the ideal place to start is by asking God to give you this faith much like the father of the demon possessed child said from the same account in Mark 9 "help my unbelief". This is written in verses 23-24 where Jesus said to him, “If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.” Immediately the father of the child cried out and said with tears, “Lord, I believe; help my unbelief!” And we know that Jesus did indeed help his unbelief and healed his son. What a remarkable account. Imagine being the father and how his life changed because of this experience -- he must have had profound thankfulness, great joy, peace, and extreme relief. It will be interesting to meet him and his son in the future in order to hear about their lives pre and post healing.
This year I am certainly looking forward wholeheartedly to celebrating Atonement without any nervous feelings of fasting. The Day of Atonement is only a few weeks away, starting at sunset on September 15th, so it is best to get busy preparing now for this fast with other fasting especially if you are out of practice. Even if you only squeeze one fast in between now and then it would be most beneficial, and I highly encourage you to do so. When I have worked 6 days a week the Sabbath has been the best time to fast as we are already devoting all of our time to God in thoughts, prayers, study, and attending services. As you might know the Day of Atonement stands for the binding of our enemy, Satan the devil, which is certainly 100% fully pleasing, but now the fasting part of it is just as good for it is our part and combined with heartfelt prayer is more powerful than we may have ever contemplated. Once you experience this type of closeness to God it is something that certainly spurs one on as we become highly motivated and recognise the need to get really serious about fasting more often with the right heart as only the love of the Truth will get us through the time ahead before Christ comes. Let us take perfect advice from the words of Jesus in Matthew 6:16-18 which says "Moreover, when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, with a sad countenance. For they disfigure their faces that they may appear to men to be fasting. Assuredly, I say to you, they have their reward. But you, when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, so 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".