The majority of us think of fasting as a spiritual duty to God, denying ourselves of food and drink for a duration of time in order to demonstrate our love for Him. While long-suffering is a part of being human and absolutely a part of being Christian, fasting should not be involved when we think about “suffering for Christ.”. Our team at Expertain brainstormed and picked out 5 main spiritual benefits of Fasting.
On contrast, fasting is less about what we’re giving up and much more about what we’re making room for. When we fast, we change what we need to survive for what we need to live—more of God.
Here are five spiritual benefits to fasting:
- A soul cleansing
- A new desire for God
- Deeper praise
- Sensitivity to God’s voice
- A brand new satisfaction
A soul cleansing
How oftentimes we forget that our bodies are the temple of the Lord—primarily when deciding what to eat! Fasting is a great time to master the spiritual connection we have to our physical bodies. Without the toxins we put in our bodies, we not only give our bodies a lapse from the digestive process, but we also provide our spirits to be detoxed.
Fasting is a faith-move, an expectation we have that God will fill us with His Holy Spirit, just as He assured. But as Christ told His disciples, “[N]o one pours new wine into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine and the wineskins will be ruined. No, they pour new wine into new wineskins.” By fasting, we consider purifies the soul and make it new so we can obtain the Holy Spirit and become empowered to live for Christ in a new way.
A soul cleansing is definitely of the main spiritual benefits of Fasting.
A new desire for God
When we recognize through fasting that we need God to live, and to live more generously, we can begin to desire God in a new way. When we realize we need God more than we need food, we can start to experience what the Psalmist meant when he wrote, “Like the deer that pants after water, my soul longs for You.” God, the sustainer of all life, wants nothing more than a closer relationship with us, and through fasting, we can satisfy that new passion for more of Him in our lives.
Deeper praise
Because the body does not have to do the work of metabolism, it has more energy to concentrate on other things. In the same mood, since we are not used by what we are going to eat next and when we have more energy to dedicate to God. While we’re encountering a new desire for Him through fasting, we should also emit a deeper praise as we think about everything God is to us and all He has done.
Once we get hooked up in our desire for God and our praise for His mighty acts, we won’t have time to be starving or count down the hours until our fast is over. We’ll be honoring the whole time!
12 Benefits of a fasting lifestyle
Sensitivity to God’s voice
The New Testament prophetess Anna is praised in the book of Luke for being a faithful servant to God and His temple. Because she constantly fasted and prayed, she was able to hear the voice of God speak distinctly to her the day that Baby Jesus was carried into her temple to be dedicated. She knew He was the Christ and told everyone who would listen about His arrival.
When we detox the spirit and become overwhelmed with desire and praise for God, we become sympathetic to His voice. Like Anna, when God speaks to us in the center of chaos, we’ll still be able to pick out His voice and know what He wants us to do because we have exercised our ear to hear Him through fasting, prayer, study, and praise.
A brand new satisfaction
When you complete your fast, rejuvenated, full of energy, detoxed, with a new desire, new praise, and a sensation to God’s voice, you’ll find that the need for food was small in contrast to what you gained. When Christ’s believers noticed that He hadn’t eaten all day and tried to get Him to slow down to eat, Christ said, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about….My food is to do the will of Him who sent me and to finish His work.”
Physical food never fully provides; in a few hours, you’ll need to eat again. But when you are served from doing the work of the Lord, you will find a new satisfaction as you’ve never experienced.
