How Fasting Works

The loss of my job resulted in a sudden catastrophic loss of income and equally sudden loss of popularity among our creditors. Hitherto ‘Mr and Mrs McGregor: Upstanding Citizens of this Parish’; were swiftly became ‘Public Enemy Number One: Scumbags and Reprobates’. Threats from the banks were flying like barroom chairs in a John Wayne movie and we were in direct line of fire.

As days turned to weeks things seemed to go from bad to worse and despite our every effort to deal a straight hand and do everything within our power to repay our creditors and keep them informed of our progress. Our debts were not outrageous, but were beyond our ability to repay so we put our house up for sale and told our creditors that if they could just have a little patience we would repay them in full just as soon as possible.

Suddenly, and totally out of the blue, we received a completely unsolicited offer from an entirely unexpected source of a substantial sum of money, considerably more in fact, than we needed to meet our immediate needs. As you can well imagine, we were extremely grateful and you may be thinking: ‘Lucky so-and-sos!’ But it wasn’t luck. It was miraculous. So what prompted it? In a word: ‘Fasting’, in this case by the third day; which begs the question, ‘How?’

Millions, including most believers, have heard of fasting and many have even tried it. Of those, I imagine most have discovered for themselves that it can be very effect. Fasting works. In fact it’s a very powerful spiritual weapon when combined with faith. There are many books on subject and numerous wonderful testimonies, but what I have found over the years to be somewhat lacking is any effective teaching on why fasting works. This article is written to redress that deficiency and explain what I have learned from personal experience.

Many people of many faiths fast for any number of reasons. By fasting I mean abstinence, usually from food although it can apply more widely. Among Christians fasting is widely practiced and in my experience, often very successfully. Faced with some physical, emotional or spiritual trial or turmoil believers turn to God in prayer, immerse themselves in the Bible and cry out in earnest to God. Some may even perform these things as a form of works to demonstrate sincerity and attract God’s attention or obtain his favour. Yet, if the trial wears on without respite and no light appears at the end of the tunnel of their despair they often turn as a last resort to fasting…then, Bingo! The clouds part, the trial subsides and light returns. What on earth has just happened?

In our case, assailed by severe financial difficulties and with no immediate hope of rescue in sight, we were dead in the water. Despite doing our utmost to honourably discharge every debt our creditors remained intransigently impatient for immediate repayment. They were crying for our blood and we hadn’t any. That’s when I said, ‘Enough!’ and resolved to fast.

There are many different kinds of fast. Some may choose to skip a single meal, others to fast throughout all or part of a day. Still others may abstain from food for several days. Some even abstain from food and water altogether while others eat no food but take fluids. Another type of fast is partial or specific abstinence: avoiding certain types of foods like meats or sweets. Then there are non-dietary fasts in which people abstain from activities such as television or sexual intercourse.

Religious examples would include the annual Hebrew festival of Yom Kippurim or ‘Day of Atonements’ (usually referred to in the singular as Yom Kippur – ‘Day of Atonement’) during which no work is performed and no food or drink are consumed from the previous sunset to the sunset of that day. Muslims fast for a month during the daylight hours of Ramadan. And some Christian denominations observe a form of fasting during Lent, when they abstain from some pleasurable indulgence like chocolate or coffee. There are many other formal fasts, as well as the individual exercise of self-discipline. For example, it was common in Jesus’ day for Pharisees to fast twice a week even though the law did not require it, and many ascetics of other faiths emulate like practise to this day.

The bottom line though, is abstinence: for however long, from whatever thing, for whatever reason; with just one proviso: that it be for a season only. For example, to deny oneself meat for a season is a fast, whereas perpetual abstention is characteristic of a vegetarian or vegan. Similarly, the Torah-observant Jew abstains from pork and shellfish in accordance with the kosher food laws, not because he is fasting. And, while a husband or wife may temporarily fast from sexual intimacy, to do so permanently is celibacy.

Among Christians, fasting is observed for various reasons. Sometimes it is simple tradition, a practice their parents and grandparents observed as been handed down to succeeding generations to become little more than a religious habit. The observance of Lent often falls into this category, although many Christians do observe it with great diligence and reverence. Other believers fast as a penance in order to show due contrition for some wrongdoing. Some might even fast as a form of thanksgiving, doing so out of a heartfelt desire to demonstrate true gratitude to God for some blessing or answered prayer.

Then there are those who fast out of dire necessity. Whether they desire wisdom in making a crucial decision or seek healing for a loved one who is very sick or have received a terminal prognosis by their doctor or, like us, they find themselves in dire financial straits and besieged by creditors. Whatever and the circumstances and however severe, for those concerned they are intractable.

You’ve gone on your knees and prayed yourself hoarse,

You’ve petitioned and pled and cried out.

You’ve stood and confessed and run a straight course,

You’ve rebuked and sent demons in rout.

You’ve sincerely repented and admitted remorse,

You’ve named and you’ve claimed till it hurts.

You’ve read every scripture; you’ve declared every verse,

But if anything now, it seems worse.

Ever been there?

Then why, after you had done all this with no apparent success, did fasting seem to make all the difference? How come fasting works?

Many seem to imagine that fasting impresses God, excites his sympathy or twists his arm in some way, and so use it in one of those ways to try and get what they want. I suspect many of the Pharisees of Jesus’ day held to the first view, because that’s why they observed most of the rituals they did; like their ostentatious praying, washings, and conspicuous alms and offerings. However, Jesus was less than impressed and condemned such outward pretension as hypocrisy and even said that when we fast we should tell no-one by word or deed. For example, in Matthew 6:16-18: ‘And when you fast, do not be like the hypocrites, of a sad face. For they disfigure their faces so that they may appear to men to fast. Truly 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 fast, but to your Father in secret. And your Father who sees in secret shall reward you openly.’

That’s an important principle. If you feel you have to tell everybody about you when you’re fasting, don’t bother. It’s between you and God or else it’s just a form of self-righteous exhibitionism. Jesus even stipulated that we should maintain a normal appearance lest we be indulge the spirit of hint that says: “I’m not telling you I’m fasting, but please ask me why I look so miserable”. That, says Jesus, is just self-righteousness by the backdoor. And don’t be ostentatiously surreptitious either; drawing attention to the fact that you’re not drawing attention. That’s just another way of making a big deal of your works. If someone asks you directly, don’t lie. “Yes, I’m fasting, but I’d rather you didn’t mention it to anyone,” will do just fine so long as you avoid sounding conspiratorial because that can sound like gossip which some just love to gab. And don’t be pharisaically secretive, either. I tell my wife when I’m fasting because she cooks our meals. What am I going to do, scrape my dinner into the bin when she isn’t looking? Just be real and don’t make a fuss. Because when you make a fuss, the fast becomes all about you.

So, if we’re not fasting to impress other people, does that mean we’re fasting to impress God? Emphatically not! Jesus didn’t say that God would be impressed but that he would reward us: But why?

I’ve heard two common theories of how fasting works: Firstly, it moves God. Secondly, it mortifies the flesh. So which is it?

Does fasting really ‘move God’? You tell me, what does ‘move God’ mean? I’ve already said he isn’t impressed, and if you think fasting is going to excite God’s sympathy or twist his arm, like a child holding her breath until she gets her own way, then I’m afraid fasting is going to disappoint.

No, God is not moved because God doesn’t have to move. He’s already done all he ever need do to bless us when Jesus died on the Cross to pay for our sins, redeem us from the curse of the law and to restore our broken relationship with our heavenly Father. Every blessing and all favour are already the rightful inheritance of everyone who believes in Jesus as their Lord and Saviour.

‘But Christ rescued us from the Law's curse, when he became a curse in our place. This is because the Scriptures say that anyone who is nailed to a tree is under a curse.’ (Galatians 3:13)

‘Because if you confess the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.’ (Romans 10:9)

‘For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.’ (Galatians 3:26)

‘But when the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to His mercy He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour, that being justified by His grace, we should become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.’ (Titus 3:4-7)

Fasting is like every other Christian discipline such as tithing, or prayer, or Bible study. These are all efficacious inasmuch as they benefit us and improve our live but are nevertheless no means of obtaining God’s grace because grace is undeserved favour and therefore unearnable. So Paul confirms in Galatians 2:21, ‘I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness were through the law, then Christ died for no purpose.’

So, if fasting ‘doesn’t move God’, maybe it changes us?

Well, let’s consider Ephesians 1:16-23 and 2:4-9.

‘I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come. And he put all things under his feet and gave him as head over all things to the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all…But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ – by grace you have been saved – and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast.’

If you don’t think this is one of the most profound expositions of the entire Gospel, then you’ve missed the point. But let me tell you, there’s one person who certainly didn’t. He was a mighty angelic being called Heylel Ben Shachar (Morning Star, Son of the Dawn), although most people simply know him by the contracted Latin form of his name – Lucifer: Better still, he is known by the name he acquired after his fall from grace – Satan. Notice what the prophet Isaiah says about him in Isaiah 14:12-15: ‘How you are fallen from heaven, O Day Star, son of Dawn! How you are cut down to the ground, you who laid the nations low! You said in your heart, “I will ascend to heaven; above the stars of God I will set my throne on high; I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north; I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; I will make myself like the Most High.” But you are brought down to Sheol, to the far reaches of the pit.’

If you’ll please notice, Lucifer made five infamous claims in verses 13 and 14:

1) I will ascend to heaven;

2) above the stars of God I will set my throne on high;

3) I will sit on the mount of assembly in the far reaches of the north;

4) I will ascend above the heights of the clouds;

5) I will make myself like the Most High.

Now, compare these outrageous declarations with God’s promises to Jesus in Ephesians 1:20-22.

1) He raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places,

2) Far above all rule and authority and power and dominion,

3) And above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.

4) And he put all things under his feet

5) And gave him as head over all things to the church.

Sound familiar? It should do because Jesus’ inheritance and Lucifer’s claims are identical. But there’s a further twist in Ephesians 2:4-7.

‘But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ…and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…’

This is in the present tense because Jesus’ crucifixion is now past: It’s a done deal. We are ‘raised up…and seated…in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus…’ In other words, where Jesus is, we are right now! What Jesus has, we have right now! Or, as the apostle puts it in 1 John 4:17: ‘Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.’

Contrary to what you may have been told; Lucifer didn’t covet God’s position – but ours, because Lucifer understood God’s ultimate destiny for mankind, which was always that we should sit at his right hand.

If you think that’s stretching it a bit, consider the following scriptures:

‘He said to them, "You will drink my cup, but to sit at my right hand and at my left is not mine to grant, but it is for those for whom it has been prepared by my Father."’ (Matthew 20:23)

‘Being therefore exalted at the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, he has poured out this that you yourselves are seeing and hearing.’ (Acts 2:33)

‘So then the Lord Jesus, after he had spoken to them, was taken up into heaven and sat down at the right hand of God.’ (Mark 16:19)

‘But from now on the Son of Man shall be seated at the right hand of the power of God.’ (Luke 22:69)

‘If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.’ (Colossians 3:1)

Among Jesus’ many titles in 1 Timothy 6:15 and Revelation 17:14 & 19:16, is ‘King of kings and Lord of lords’. In case you never realised before, the kings the King of kings is king of, are believers – us! If you doubt it, you doubt God’s own word in 1 Peter 2:9: ‘But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light.’

And in Revelation 1:5: ‘May kindness and peace be yours from Jesus Christ, the faithful witness. Jesus was the first to conquer death, and he is the ruler of all earthly kings. Christ loves us, and by his blood he set us free from our sins.’

And again, in Revelation 5:9-10: ‘Then they sang a new song, "You are worthy to receive the scroll and open its seals, because you were killed. And with your own blood you bought for God people from every tribe, language, nation, and race.

You let them become kings and serve God as priests, and they will rule on earth."’

Not because we have done anything in the least to deserve it but simply by the grace of our loving Father.

Our family knows something of royalty. The McGregor family’s ancient motto is ‘S Rioghail Mo Dhream, Gaelic for ‘Royal is My Race’, while our son Robert serves Her Majesty in the oldest regiment in the British Army, the Scots Guards, founded in 1642.

Currently awaiting posting to Afghanistan, Robert has previously been stationed at BuckinghamPalace, WindsorCastle and Balmoral and even met the Queen on a number of occasions as a member of her Household Division, of whom she is Colonel-in-Chief. Apparently, she is a very pleasant lady and very down to earth, with a quick wit; not the least bit snobbish, or as posh as she is often publicly portrayed. Nevertheless, even a royal guard is still a servant at the end of the day, not a member of the Queen’s family. But Robert is also our son and nothing he can ever do will make him any less or any more our son than he is, and that’s how it is between God and every believer. He is our Father and we are his sons, and there’s nothing we can do to make ourselves any more or any less so. It’s about who we are, not what we do.

You’ll notice I haven’t mentioned daughters. That’s because son in this context is a position and not a gender. Britain’s Prime Minister also holds the much older title of First Lord of the Treasury, including, during her own tenure, by the Right Honourable Margaret Thatcher, MP. Similarly, the highest Crown prosecutor in Scotland is the Lord Advocate; an office currently held by Mrs Eilish Angiolini. So, ladies are just as much kings in God’s kingdom as men.

So, there we are: kings and priests seated in heavenly places in Christ at the right hand of the Father – which hand signifies his power and grace. And that’s why fasting makes no difference whatsoever to my position before God. Which leaves the question, if fasting doesn’t move God, or change who I am, or alter my position before him, what possible difference can it make?

This was a conundrum that puzzled me for many years, and to which I found no answer in any of the books I read on the subject. So, I did what most Christians eventually do when they’ve tried everything and looked everywhere else for an answer – I turned to God and asked him. How I wish I’d asked him in the first place because what he said is so glaringly simple.

“It changes your attitude,” he replied.

“Is that it?” I thought. Then it began to dawn on me what he meant. Attitude is not just an opinion or some considered metaphorical stance, but can refer to our physical posture and it can refer to the angle of tilt of a vessel like a ship, plane or spacecraft. What the Lord showed me was how, as I stand before him, I adopt an attitude. This can be expressed geometrically and may vary anywhere between zero and 180-degrees relative to him, where zero-degrees is to be positioned ‘face-to-face’, while 180 is to be turned completely away.

That’s why the term backslidden cannot be applied to Christians. It only occurs in the Old Testament because it is not a New Covenant expression. Citing Deuteronomy, Hebrews 13:5 reminds us that God has promised: "I will never leave you nor forsake you." That’s why King David’s famous plea in Psalm 51:11 (‘Cast me not away from your presence, and take not your Holy Spirit from me’) is irrelevant to a Christian, because it is asking God not to do something he has already promised he will never do. Because I am saved by grace and not by virtue of my own performance, there is nothing I can do to distance myself from God, nor will he withdraw from me. But I can turn my back on him, or simply turn away from him ‘by degrees’. And the more we do that, the more easily distracted we can become by peripheral issues.

But when our gaze is fixed wholly and solely on the face of God, inclined neither to the right nor to the left, we cannot be distracted. All we see is his glory and his goodness and his love. And those things which previously distracted us fade from view. That is what fasting achieves.

In Matthew 16:23 and Mark 8:33, Jesus famously rebukes Simon Peter saying, ‘Get behind me Satan’. Jesus’ attitude to Satan was always to keep him at 180-degrees behind him. Out of sight out of mind. Or, as he put it in John 14:30, ‘…the ruler of this world…has nothing in me.’ And that is where fasting places us.

Human beings are triune in nature: we are ‘spirit, soul and body’ (1 Thessalonians 5:23) and the born-again spirit of a believer is incorruptible. However, our soul and physical body is still susceptible to corruptible influences and can feel sick, discouraged and condemned. And it is through our physical senses and emotions that Satan attempts to make inroads. He knows only too well, which buttons to push and which bells to ring to offend us: anger, lust, greed, or whatever. Fasting doesn't change God, it changes us.

What fasting does is establish the supremacy of the spirit over body and soul, placing them under submission to it by denying their power to rule. I’ll be honest, I like my food, and I’ll get crabby pretty quickly if I miss so much as a meal. But when I resolve to fast, I can abstain for days on end with hardly a pang. I simply raise my hand and say, No! My flesh must submit; it has no choice. And Satan can rant and rave till he is blue in the face, because I choose to ignore him.

In years gone by a Grand Jury would sit to consider indictments brought before it, and some it would simply reject, by returning it with the endorsement: Ignoramus – ‘We ignore it’. And that is what fasting is: our rejection of Satan’s condemnation as we turn our back on him completely to focus only on our Father’s face. So the next time someone calls you a Christian ignoramus, take it as a compliment.