Fasting Helps You Appreciate God's Grace, See His Glory & Pray

Troy Conrad
Troy Conrad

The joy of a simple life is the greatest satisfaction.

"Paul and Barnabas appointed elders for them in each church and, with prayer and fasting, committed them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust." (Acts 14:23)

Every Wednesday I fast and every Friday I abstain from eating until dinner. You won't believe some of the looks people give me when I tell them.

I started decades ago when a small group of my congregation wanted to learn more about fasting. Now, I've never been known to skip a meal, and when they asked me, I didn't have a clue what to say. And I told them so. I had no experience doing it. I didn't know what the benefits were or even why the Bible talked about it so much.

But I soon found that when you search the scriptures, fasting has always been a major part of religious life. It's something Jesus practiced and even confirmed for His followers. And yet, it's something that we, as Modern Day Protestants have seemed to have lost.

The founding fathers of many of our modern denominations fasted. And believed so much in fasting that they wanted Christians to fast as well. John Wesley (Methodist) so believed in fasting that for many years he fasted twice a week. On Wednesday and Fridays. He always fasted at least once a week. In fact, he received so many blessings from fasting that he wanted to make it a requirement that all of his pastors fasted at least once a week.

"So what's the big deal about fasting?" you may ask. (And I did as well.)

It's an answer that my small group and I were determined to find. So we fasted. We agreed upon Wednesdays. The first few weeks were horrible. Our fast times were from midnight Tuesday to midnight Wednesday. And there were many a night I stayed up waiting for the clock to hit 12:01.

But slowly, we started to learn that fasting brought with it a clarity of mind that we normally didn't experience. When our stomachs started to growl, we decided to try to stop what we were doing and pray.

And when we prayed, we started to see God working in our lives more. Suddenly, random coincidences opened up to be the work of the Holy Spirit. Passages of scripture took on new meanings. And, to a person, we felt closer to God.

When I moved to a new church, I continued the practice. But I also took on another aspect of fasting.

I started to tempt myself.

As a part of one of my fast days, I read where Satan tempted Jesus while He fasted with food. And suddenly I realized that a whole part of the benefits of fasting is learning to resist temptation.

So I volunteered to cook for our church on Wednesday nights. I'd make chicken pot pies, chicken and dumplings, spaghetti and meatballs, enchiladas and well, just all kinds of comfort foods that would leave your mouth watering. When I first started to cook, it was so hard. As you cook, one of the things you do is to taste the food to make sure the seasoning is right. When I realized that I was unconsciously tasting the food, breaking my fast, I was heart-broken. But also more resolved.

And over the years, I've learned that resisting temptation isn't as easy as I thought it would be. But, an important part of being made perfect in Christ is learning to resist temptation.

And that's been another wonderful benefit of fasting. It helps you to appreciate the grace of God. (I mean that very literally because temptation is, after all, temptation.) It opens your minds to better receive the Holy Spirit. It encourages you to pray more and to see God's glory in ways you've never seen before.

If you've never thought about fasting before, I encourage you to give it a try. But don't do it alone. Find a group who will do it with you. Pray for each other and pick out scriptures to read together.

I promise you, you won't believe the blessings you'll receive.

PASTOR TROY CONRAD IS MINISTER OF FARMINGTON UNITED METHODIST CHURCH. EMAIL: [email protected].

Editorial on 09/28/2016