New wine in a new wine sack…Making fasting work for you

I must confess that I believe in fasting as a doctrine of our Christian walk, but I am not hooked unto it as proof of any special spiritual standing in the Lord over and above other spiritual exercises or obedience to other commandments in the Scripture. The total Christian does not specialize in any doctrine but is equipped in all doctrines to bring him to fullness in Christ. I have found fasting both highly useful and abused in the Body of Christ.

Why should a man subject himself to the ordeal of abstaining from the provisions of basic necessities of life if he is not hoping to achieve anything worthwhile for the Kingdom of God? Fasting is only meaningful if God is our pursuit. If we have other motives for this sacrifice or abstinence, then it may not suffice as a sacrifice to God but only as an instrument of manipulation. It is good to see fasting as a good foundation for advancing the will of God in our hearts lest we engage in a frustrating venture from a deceitful or ignorant heart. The fasting that is effective must be focused on the needs of God even though our needs are entwined in it.