(One Prayer Fast Day 2)
There are big differences between communal and personal fasting. With One Prayer, our community at Fellowship Church has united together in a communal fast. Below are some of my personal thoughts on communal fasting and my experiences thus far (as well as in the past).
- When we fast together we find the strength, accountability, encouragement and power that God has built in to our Christian community. This requires a certain level of openness, but without a doubt, the people who journey through the fast with us are people who are surrounded by the support of the community God has placed them in.
- Leaders need to share openly about their struggles in a communal fast. The first time Fellowship Church fasted, I will never forget watching a video blog Ed did. He shared his struggles and I thought - he’s struggling too? There was vulnerability for him to share this and it encouraged me that I wasn’t’ the only one stretched by fasting.
- When we fast together, and allow certain foods and disallow other foods, it builds discipline. The Bible teaches us there are essentially two options in life, good and evil. These two options are not all that far apart and it takes spiritual discipline on the part of the Christian to live in a dark world, but not of it. Fasting from certain foods builds discipline. It focuses the mind, trains the heart and helps us grow spiritually to prepare for the battles ahead.
Something I stuggle with when fasting is the Matthew 6: 17-18 scripture asking us to “not make it obvious we are fasting.” Does that mean we are not supposed to twitter it, blog it, talk about it, so that it stays between me and God?
I want to talk about it to others because of the accountability and encouragement. Also I think we can give a great testimony of how God works in our lives during a fast. I want to believe God wants us to do that but the scripture above throws me off.
Thoughts?
hi steven…thanks for stopping by. I agree that fasting can be quite powerful…I’m going to think about this more!
blessings,
Lacy
John, this is a great question. I would love to hear from some others on this before I post my thoughts.
Lacy - my pleasure, thanks!
seems there are plenty of Biblical examples of communal fasting, and w/o doing a study, seems like the ‘fasters’ were usually all of one mind for one specific purpose.
that said, communal fasting seems like a great idea for the reasons listed above, PLUS a great time for mature Christ followers to lead the way and teach others.
However one comes to start a fast, it just comes down to being motivated for the right reasons. Just need to not spend all of our time thinking and talking about what it is we are fasting from. For example, it would be silly to take a fast from blogging then spend a huge amount of time talking about how you’re not blogging, right? :O)
John -That section of Scripture is called the sermon on the Mount. In it Jesus takes holy living to a “hole notha level.” Exp: He says killing someone is bad, but so is doing it in your mind.
In fasting Jesus is saying to watch “who” your doing it for: God or men. He is not giving a new rule to follow, just the opposite. Jesus is asking you to examine yourself and your motives.
The letter of the law would say that the Matt 6 reference is only for individual fasting. But if you read for the Spirit of the Law I think it means to not lose sight of God in our religiousness.
In the Matthew 6: 17-18 passage, Jesus was making yet another contrasting teaching to the example set by the Pharisees.
Basically He is saying that we are not to do any of the following things publicly in such a way as to draw attention to ourselves and for the purpose of impressing people (which is what the Pharisees did):
1. Serve.(v.1)
2. Give. (v.2)
3. Pray. (v.5)
4. Fast. (v.16)
For example, if someone gives publicly in such a way as to draw attention to themselves and show people how “spiritual” they are because of their “great sacrifice of generosity,” it would be obvious to us that their heart is not right. They are hypocrites who only want attention. Serving, praying, and fasting done in this way reveal the same thing.
For another example, if someone gets up to pray in your church, and does so in an obnoxious manner, drawing attention to themselves and their great “spirituality,” it would be wrong of them to do so. But that doesn’t mean we don’t pray together publicly.
He is not saying that we should not serve, give, pray and fast in a public way. He is saying that it is not necessary to always do so publicly. But when we do, it should not be done to draw attention to ourselves in a self righteous way.
My wife grew up in a church where it was communicated that if you told someone you were fasting, it disqualified it. Like you had broken a spell, or something.
That kind of thinking misses Jesus’ point, and wanders into legalism (another major problem of the Pharisees).
Feel free to talk about your fast. Just don’t do so in such a way as to impress people with how much you’ve given up or how spiritual you are. Talk about what God is teaching you, the discipline that is forming in your life, and the lessons learned.
In other words, talk about it in the same way you would after returning from a mission trip, participating in a giving campaign, or following a powerful prayer meeting.
Sorry for the long comment, Steven! It’s just a great question that’s hard to respond to in a sentence or two…
Mark and James - great point. I think we need to watch what the object of our focus is (fasting or not!).
Johnny - don’t you have your own blog? haha - just kidding. Really, thanks for the comment, I think you hit the nail on the head. As always, Jesus was more concerned with the heart behind the action than the action itself.
well said Leckie! And you’re right it’s such an important topic, simply b/c it isn’t just about fasting, it goes well beyond into the other areas you mentioned.
As much as possible, it would be well to be moved (and move others - 1Tim 4:16) to fast, serve, etc., so our understanding and love (i.e. long term spiritual growth) is humble and sincerely committed to God’s purposes.
And God knows. He’s good like that.
Thanks everyone… good discussion. Now I know where to go for future theological questions: Dilla’s blog.
Happy fasting!