Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing.“ (John 15:4,5)

We in the West usually have enough food – rather too much to satisfy our daily needs.  We focus on fancy foods, cooking special meals, entertaining even for business purposes, gathering around food with family and friends, and therefore never even think of lack and a discipline around food.  If we are aware of nutrition and diet to keep ourselves healthy and slim, it is a struggle to stay within the limits and we blunder on to some sort of victory.  

To submit food and our relationship with food to the Lord is a good thing.

It is a well-known fact that people eat themselves into many illnesses and that a change in diet is very difficult to settle into.  The cultural traditions around food are not helpful.  People gather around expected dishes and to enjoy themselves without it, is not easy.

We all need to subject food and the place it has in our lives to the authority of Jesus in order to regain the spiritual authority that we want and need.  Spiritual authority is super important to rule over our bad habits and the working of evil in and around us.

Adam and Eve ate themselves out of the will of God AND out of his Presence.  They had to hide from all the wonder and magnificence that they enjoyed in a perfect world, just because of something they ate.

We expect to have enough, to enjoy and to become part of a tradition by eating, whether it is our own culture or an adopted culture of eating and drinking.  It can be our downfall.  We have to regain rule and never relinquish it.

We think first and foremost of sexual sins when we read about Sodom and Gomorrah, but in Ezekiel (16:49-50) we read the following:

Look, this was the iniquity of your sister Sodom: She and her daughter had pride, fullness of food, and abundance of idleness; neither did she strengthen the hand of the poor and needy. And they were haughty and committed abomination before Me; therefore I took them away as I saw fit.

Pride, fullness of food and an abundance of idleness without concern for the needy.  Pride is a lack of prayer, fullness of food and laziness are the foundation of gluttony, the sin of over-indulgence and therefore a lack of fasting to focus on God.  Indifference to the poor is a lack of giving.   The lack of all three these spiritual disciplines led to judgment (the consequence of sin) and ultimate destruction.  

Food ruled in the birthright story of Esau, when he “sold” his birthright for a speedy satisfaction of hunger.  Every person might be guilty of this sequence of events.  Pride and the attitude of entitlement that his brother should immediately provide for him, made him dull to the importance of the spiritual reward awaiting him just by being born first.  His sin was not so much the eating, but the dullness of awareness, the disregard of and lack of appreciation for the blessing directed his way.  He dealt with it in a superficial manner; frivolously and foolishly gave it away. The Bible says he despised his birthright. (Genesis 25:34)  Such a serious accusation just for food?

Entitlement is defined as a grotesque feeling of I deserve or I ought to have.  It is a ludicrous, outrageous, monstrous demand on being served and assisted.

Are there spiritual blessings designated to us that we do not see or regard while eating our hunger away?  The fear of hunger is something to submit and suppress on a regular basis.  The Word is full of promises to us, the daughters of the Most High.  Are we aware of them and do we go about obtaining them in a serious, focussed manner?

…looking carefully lest anyone fall short of the grace of God; lest any root of bitterness springing up cause trouble, and by this many become defiled; lest there be any fornicator or profane person like Esau, who for one morsel of food sold his birthright. For you know that afterward, when he wanted to inherit the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no place for repentance, though he sought it diligently with tears.  (Hebrews 12:15-17)

Eating has the dual function – totally opposite of each other.  We eat to be filled up with God – gratefulness at every meal and Communion and we eat to dull our senses for the promises of God, thoughtlessly eating ourselves into spiritual weakness.

In the desert, symbolic the place of protection and provision, God provided for the people of Israel in every possible way.  Their clothes and shoes did not wear out and their bodies were healthy with the food He provided.  Still they yearned for the food of Egypt. (Numbers 11:4-7)

God flooded them with their desire until they could not take it anymore and died.  The place is called: the Graves of Lusters (Kibroth Hattaavah – Numbers 11:34 – graves of gluttony)  Food kept them out of the Promised Land.

Do not relinquish authority in your life to food.  Take the authority that you need to thrive spiritually, back with fasting.

This applies to food but also any other things that keeps you from spiritual victory and inner joy.  I know food is not important to some people.  They are satisfied with a spartan-like pantry.  The Spartans (ancient Greek city) were well-known for their indifference to any kind of luxury and abundance.  They got by on the bare minimum.  

I pray that your love will overflow more and more, and that you will keep on growing in knowledge and understanding [discernment]. For I want you to understand what really matters [excellent, important], so that you may live pure and blameless lives until the day of Christ’s return.  (Philippians 1:9,10)

Love will teach you priorities.  How do we grow in love?  Our love for God makes all the difference.

Success stories

I have not departed from the commandment of His lips;
I have treasured the words of His mouth
More than my necessary food. (Job 23:12)

The Bible does not stop with the goofs and the gluttons – praise the Lord!

We have amazing success stories to draw from, inspiring us to dethrone King Stomach (as Jentezen Franklin say in his book on Fasting – a recommended read). 

Moses received the Ten Commandments during a 40 day fast on Mount Sinai. (Exodus 34:27-28).

When Hamman threatened the Jews with extermination, Esther called her people on a three-day fast.  The course of history was redirected and every evil plan was frustrated and turned to blessing.

Hannah prayed for a child – wept and did not eat. (1 Samuel 1:7)  A course-changing leader was born to direct the people through very turbulent, sinful and evil times, well, much like now.

Other examples are Judah, Ezrah coming out of exile to re-establish worship in Jerusalem, the people of Nineveh after they heard Jonah’s preaching, Nehemiah, David and also Anna in the New Testament, not ever forgetting Jesus after his baptism.

All these were varied in length and method.

Joshua fasted 40 days, Daniel was on a 21-day partial fast.  Paul writes about two – one for three days and one for 14.  Peter fasted three days when he had the dream about the unclean food.

Three types of fasts are mentioned in the Bible – absolute, partial and normal.  Absolute is no food and no water – the people and animals of Nineveh in Jonah 3:7.  A normal fast would include water – plenty. A partial fast is going without certain food and for certain time periods, fasting one or two meals per day for the number of days or weeks that you determine. 

Daniel fasted “the king’s delicacies” for ten days, later 21 days with bread and water – Daniel 10.  Whatever you decide in prayer would be the most effective for you.

If you need to fast for health reasons, do not do it without the Lord.  Make everything about God and your devotion to him.  He does not want you to heal yourself – He is actively involved in our lives.

Therefore do not let your good be spoken of as evil; for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit. 

Do not destroy the work of God for the sake of food. All things indeed are pure, but it is evil for the man who eats with offense.  It is good neither to eat meat nor drink wine nor do anything by which your brother stumbles or is offended or is made weak. (Romans 14:16, 17, 20, 21)

Fasting is a cleansing of the body.  It is up to you to make it a cleansing of the soul too.  Thegoal of fasting should be just that.  It is no use to go through all the motions of not feeling hungry – keeping busy, watching TV just to help the time pass.  The goal should be to free up time for prayer and meditation.

Whatever you do and whatever you decide – dedicate your body and soul to the Lord. The promise is that He is helping you, always.  From my own experience – I cannot do it on my own.  I have to ask for help and consecrate the day or days to Him with conscious focus and awareness of the Word. 

It often happened in fasting about big decisions that the answer came in the Word or in thought within the first hour of prayer.  The rest of the time was a time of praise and worship, expressing gratefulness and ending when the release came – when one asks God to help you decide how and when to end.

It is often recommended to be accountable to someone about fasting to help with perseverance.  According to Matthew 6 it is not something to be done to be seen by people around you.  For me it is a wonderful “secret” that is entered into with the strength and deep awareness of the loving, sympathetic, indwelling Jesus.

Your success and failure can be used against you by the evil one and turned into a stumbling block.  Keep your eyes on Jesus, the Author and Finisher of your faith. (Hebrews 12:2)