Danny Pate

Biblical Context for Fasting Danny Pate

I grew up around fasting. I knew it was something that adults did occasionally. Once I grew up, it was something I never even considered, much less wanted to do. Once the Lord ravished my heart, fasting began to be a reality on my radar. As I have had some experience with fasting, I never understood the biblical context for fasting aside from believing it's what you did when you needed something from God. I have heard preachers I admire teach how fasting is not about twisting God's arm into doing something. I've shared that sentiment and even believed that when Jesus when asked by religious leaders, why His disciples do not fast like John's disciples or the pharisees' in Luke 5:33-35. So, for some time this verse has been the sole basis for my concept of why we fast. Presence. I still hold to this reality as a piece of the answer, but I wanted to investigate this question further because my understanding was very one-dimensional and I wanted to seek clarity and find out what the Bible shows me. Please keep in mind that fasting is not merely the only answer to each example. Fasting is a part of a response to God. Fasting is not a recipe, it is a posture albeit a tangible one that we experience. The temptation for many will be to duplicate fasting to produce these contextual answers. At all costs avoid trying to replicate. Moses got punished for doing that same thing when striking the rock, the second time. Use and apply these concepts into your journey of life with our Father God. Use these points to expand your window of context for fasting and remember it would be futile to try to tease out just one reason to be the cause of the result produced in each example. Here are fourteen biblical contexts for fasting.