This past Sunday completed 21 days of prayer and fasting at our church. (I heard one of our young pastors remind us that fasting without prayer is called a diet.) Fasting physically is a prominent Biblical principle. Jesus prayed and fasted before he was tempted. When his disciples could not heal a boy possessed by an evil spirit, Jesus told them, “This kind can only be cast out by prayer and fasting.” (Mark 9:29) Because I take medication twice a day that must be taken with food, I skipped lunch each day, fasting for ten to twelve hours a day between breakfast and dinner. I found even that limited fast increased the intensity and focus of my prayers. Prayers are still being answered throughout our congregation as a result of the fast.
Physical fasting benefits our body and also benefits our prayer and spiritual life more than I had realized. There is, however, another kind of fasting many of us do that has a detrimental effect on every aspect of our life and we may not even realize we are doing it. It is a form of spiritual fasting. We feast spiritually each Sunday on God’s word, worship, prayer and fellowship; then fast spiritually as we go back into a wilderness without God; a world that provides fewer and fewer spiritual oases and more distractions to keep us from hungering and thirsting after righteousness. By the time Sunday rolls around again we are famished and eager for another spiritual feast.
That cycle of feast and famine is not what God wants for us and it certainly is not what we need. How can we produce the fruit of the spirit when we are spiritually malnourished most of the time? The sad truth is, we can’t! So what can we do? It isn’t practical or even possible to attend church every day. That is why God has provided us with a kind of spiritual feeding tube to keep us spiritually nourished all week long – every week. Jesus describes it this way, “Remain in me, and I will remain in you. For a branch cannot produce fruit if it is severed from the vine, and you cannot be fruitful unless you remain in me.” (John 15:4) Jesus is our constant source of spiritual nutrition as long as we stay connected to Him through His Holy Spirit within us, prayer and God’s word.
Even when we are connected to the Vine for a constant supply of spiritual food, we still hunger and thirst for more. Sunday worship or meeting with a life group during the week will no longer be a desperate effort to gorge on life-giving spiritual nutrients to get us through the rest of the week. it will be more like a delicious dessert at the end of a satisfying meal. It will be the icing on our cake and the cherry on top of our sundae. As the old hymn about spiritual nutrician, based on Psalms 1:3 describes, “Like a tree that’s planted by the water, we shall not be moved!” We will remain strong and fruitful. God is good – all the time; not just on Sunday or when we are with other Christians.