Prayer and Fasting

Should Christians fast?  And if so, how often should they fast?  We hear about fasting in Church.  We read about it in the Bible.  Occasionally we may even hear some teaching on it.  And we all know that Jesus fasted for forty days in the wilderness.  Yet for a topic that appears throughout the Bible, very few Christians know much about it, and even fewer have actually practiced it.  Thus, what can we learn from the Bible about fasting?  Should we fast?  Why should we fast?  When should we fast?  How should we fast?  In answering these questions, one obvious place to begin is where Jesus provides some direct teaching on the subject in Matthew 6.  There he says to his Jewish audience, “And when you fast,…” (v.16).  Thus, the first point to pick up on from what Jesus says it that God’s people should fast.  We are expected to fast.  Notice Jesus does not say ‘if you fast’, but “when you fast”.  He assumes fasting is something believers will practice.  Then why do Christians not fast more often?  Very likely most Christians have not been discipled or taught on the matter.  

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