Perhaps the most neglected spiritual discipline of all is fasting. It is a spiritual atomic bomb regarding what it can accomplish, yet it has been placed in a closet and mostly forgotten by many sincere Christians. One of the most telling verses in the Bible that reveals God’s desire for His people to fast is Matthew 6:16, “Moreover when ye fast, be not, as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto men to fast. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward.” The Lord did not say, “IF ye fast,” as if He were giving us the option, but rather He said, “WHEN ye fast,” for it was His expectation that we would fast.

Why is fasting such a valuable spiritual tool? It reveals the power of the flesh as nothing else. To deny our bodies food is to create immediate fleshly rebellion! To successfully complete a fast is to dominate our flesh and thereby to strengthen our inner man as nothing else. To fast is to feed our new nature as well as to fulfil the Lord’s desire for us to fast.