Fasting has been called the forgotten spiritual discipline. Although it is found throughout Scripture, it is often neglected by modern Christians. Is there power in fasting? Does it really make a difference? How does fasting relate to prayer? In this study, Ashlee Alley considers the biblical basis for fasting and explores ways modern Christians can make this ancient discipline part of their faith walk.
Converge Bible Studies is a series of topical Bible studies based on the Common English Bible. Each title in the series consists of four studies on a common topic or theme. Converge can be used by small groups, classes, or individuals. Primary Scripture passages are included for ease of study, as are questions designed to encourage both personal reflection and group conversation. The topics and Scriptures in Converge come together to transform readers’ relationships with others, themselves, and God.
Fasting has been called the forgotten spiritual discipline. Although it is found throughout Scripture, it is often neglected by modern Christians. Is there power in fasting? Does it really make a difference? How does fasting relate to prayer? In this study, Ashlee Alley considers the biblical basis for fasting and explores ways modern Christians can make this ancient discipline part of their faith walk.
Converge Bible Studies is a series of topical Bible studies based on the Common English Bible. Each title in the series consists of four studies on a common topic or theme. Converge can be used by small groups, classes, or individuals. Primary Scripture passages are included for ease of study, as are questions designed to encourage both personal reflection and group conversation. The topics and Scriptures in Converge come together to transform readers’ relationships with others, themselves, and God.
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Overview
Fasting has been called the forgotten spiritual discipline. Although it is found throughout Scripture, it is often neglected by modern Christians. Is there power in fasting? Does it really make a difference? How does fasting relate to prayer? In this study, Ashlee Alley considers the biblical basis for fasting and explores ways modern Christians can make this ancient discipline part of their faith walk.
Converge Bible Studies is a series of topical Bible studies based on the Common English Bible. Each title in the series consists of four studies on a common topic or theme. Converge can be used by small groups, classes, or individuals. Primary Scripture passages are included for ease of study, as are questions designed to encourage both personal reflection and group conversation. The topics and Scriptures in Converge come together to transform readers’ relationships with others, themselves, and God.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9781426795619 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | Abingdon Press |
| Publication date: | 08/19/2014 |
| Series: | Converge Bible Studies |
| Sold by: | Barnes & Noble |
| Format: | eBook |
| Pages: | 64 |
| File size: | 1 MB |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
Converge Bible Studies Fasting
By Ashlee Alley
Abingdon Press
Copyright © 2014 Abingdon PressAll rights reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4267-9561-9
CHAPTER 1
AVOIDING SHOWY RELIGION A HEART FOCUSED ON THE THINGS OF GOD
SCRIPTURE MATTHEW 6:1-18
1 "Be careful that you don't practice your religion in front of people to draw their attention. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father who is in heaven.
2 "Whenever you give to the poor, don't blow your trumpet as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets so that they may get praise from people. I assure you, that's the only reward they'll get. 3 But when you give to the poor, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing 4 so that you may give to the poor in secret. Your Father who sees what you do in secret will reward you.
5 "When you pray, don't be like hypocrites. They love to pray standing in the synagogues and on the street corners so that people will see them. I assure you, that's the only reward they'll get. 6 But when you pray, go to your room, shut the door, and pray to your Father who is present in that secret place. Your Father who sees what you do in secret will reward you.
7 "When you pray, don't pour out a flood of empty words, as the Gentiles do. They think that by saying many words they'll be heard. 8 Don't be like them, because your Father knows what you need before you ask. 9 Pray like this:
Our Father who is in heaven, uphold the holiness of your name. 10 Bring in your kingdom so that your will is done on earth as it's done in heaven. 11 Give us the bread we need for today. 12 Forgive us for the ways we have wronged you, just as we also forgive those who have wronged us. 13 And don't lead us into temptation, but rescue us from the evil one.
14 "If you forgive others their sins, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. 15 But if you don't forgive others, neither will your Father forgive your sins.
16 "And when you fast, don't put on a sad face like the hypocrites. They distort their faces so people will know they are fasting. I assure you that they have their reward. 17 When you fast, brush your hair and wash your face. 18 Then you won't look like you are fasting to people, but only to your Father who is present in that secret place. Your Father who sees in secret will reward you.
INSIGHT AND IDEAS
I saw a meme come across Facebook the other day that made me laugh and cringe at the same time. "Thank goodness for Facebook! Otherwise, I'd have to call all of my friends in order to tell them that I went running today!" You see, I've been a runner off and on (mostly off) for more than a decade until the last two years. Now I've been fairly committed to running three to four times a week. So I know both sides of the story. When you've had a really great, long run (which may sound like an impossibility to some people), you want to share your experience with others. And yes, there's something about knowing that you just ran (3, 4, 5, 13) miles that is so empowering. You may call it bragging; I call it the effect of endorphins.
And yet it does get annoying to read updates from people who don't quite make my Christmas card list, telling me how many miles they just ran and how it "hurts so good." It can start to feel like they're bragging, shaming others, and looking for pats on the back. And "we" just don't like it. I've learned from being a fairly committed runner that some things are better left unsaid.
SHOWING OFF
Jesus pointed this out to us, too, though not about running. He understood the tendency we have to announce our accomplishments when it comes to our religious behavior and gave some instruction in Matthew 6 about showy religion. Jesus used three different examples, and each one makes the same point: Don't practice your faith as a way to show off, impress people, or impress God. Jesus talked about giving financially to the poor, praying, and fasting. These are three important behaviors that draw us closer to God but aren't effective in that goal when they are merely rote actions.
Let's take helping the poor, for example. Giving financially gives me an opportunity to support God's work in the world around me. I can even be an answer to someone else's prayer when I notice a need or simply feel compelled to give someone some money. When I tithe, I'm challenged to prioritize my spending so that the work of my local church—and even the church around the world through my church's giving—can continue. Giving regularly increases my dependence on God, sometimes for my financial needs to be met and sometimes to find my satisfaction in God rather in the "stuff" that I would buy if I didn't give to God. All of these are really important by-products of giving. But what if I were to give to the poor and then announce it on Facebook? According to this teaching by Jesus in Matthew 6, I would be getting my reward through "likes" and not from God.
If God doesn't want us to let others know about our giving, does that mean that we need to remove all of those little plaques from our pianos, pulpits, and pews in our churches? Well, maybe. I'll leave that for you to decide; but it does mean that we need to consider what motivates us to do the things we do, especially as it relates to sacrificial living in the Christian life. Jesus' specific advice is this: "But when you give to the poor, don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing so that you may give to the poor in secret. Your Father who sees what you do in secret will reward you" (Matthew 6:3-4).
PAYING ATTENTION
I'm not the most coordinated person in the world, but the only way that I can imagine not letting my left hand know what my right hand is doing is for my action of giving to the poor to become so natural that I don't even have to think about it. I just do it. The same thing goes for praying and, maybe more difficultly, for fasting. Is it possible that our spiritual behaviors can become something that is so natural that it's almost reflexive?
I said earlier that these are three important behaviors that draw us closer to God, but they aren't effective in that goal when they are merely rote actions. It's a natural temptation to turn something into a mindless, rote activity. Running, driving, and even flying planes. OK, for most of us, flying planes isn't a rote, mindless activity; but the concept of going on autopilot is something that we say all the time. In flying airplanes, there are computers that monitor the important information such as airspeed, altitude, equipment, and weather. These computers actually increase the safety of the flight over a human pilot because they indicate when changes need to be made or they just make the changes automatically. When we hear the rare stories of pilots of commercial jets who have fallen asleep or who are playing games on their phones, we're grateful for autopilot even if we're outraged at the lack of paying attention. You see, paying attention is what Jesus wants us to do in these spiritual practices. We may not be taking others' lives into our hands (the way a pilot does) when we give to the poor, pray, or fast; but the intentionality of how we engage these practices is what allows us to connect with God, and that's where we'll get our reward.
Rather than allowing ourselves to go on autopilot, however, can we truly get to a point where our spiritual behaviors are reflexive? If so, then continued practice of these spiritual disciplines will reshape our hearts and minds so that we can guard against practicing a rote activity and exhibit a natural activity, where our engagement simply happens again because we've engaged with it so many times in the past.
WHEN YOU FAST ...
Jesus says another thing in this passage that is worth drawing attention to. When he's teaching, he doesn't sound like it's even an option whether to give to the poor, pray, or fast. In fact, in Matthew 6:16, he said "When you fast," not if you fast. Oops!
As we turn our attention to the importance of fasting, I'm not about to heap extra guilt or false expectations on us. But here's what I hope to do. I hope to crack open the ancient practice/mystery of fasting that can shape us as Christians into people who more closely resemble Christ. All that because of restricting food, you say? Surely, you overpromise!
TIMES FOR FASTING
Well, I'll let you be the judge; but for now, consider how the very first listeners, Jesus' Jewish audience, would have heard this instruction about fasting. They knew all about fasting. As a community, they all celebrated one very special day each year when the entire community was fasting, the Day of Atonement (Leviticus 23:26-29). This was the day that, even if you weren't an especially devout follower, you still observed a fast and worshipped. It's not likely that Jesus was speaking to the Jews about this day, because there would have been no need to announce that you were fasting, because everyone was fasting. Rather, Jesus was likely speaking to the number of faithful Jews who observed the other minor holy days or even practiced fasting as a way of showing their own righteousness. Perhaps Jesus was speaking to the tendency that we have to compare, compete, and try to prove ourselves to God and others.
There were other reasons Jews would have fasted at times other than the appointed fast days. They would have fasted for repentance (Deuteronomy 9:15-18; Jonah 3:4-10; 1 Kings 21:17-29), in making war (Judges 20:26), when interceding for someone (2 Samuel 12:16-23), and in preparation for something significant (Esther 4:16). With the exception of making war, these are all practices that bring a person in deeper faithfulness as he or she walks with God but would also be greatly respected and admired. Were the people of Jesus' days patting themselves on their backs just a little too hard?
PARTIAL FASTS
When we think of fasting, we tend to think of giving up all food during a set-aside time. Certainly this "complete fast" is specified in various references to fasting in Scripture; but at other times, the fast is a partial fast.
Daniel and his friends' eating the diet of vegetables and water rather than enjoying the wine and extravagant diet of the king's table is an example of a partial fast (Daniel 1). This kind of fast may be something you've experienced if you've given something up for Lent. A partial fast gives a taste of what you might experience on a complete fast; and it also serves an important purpose in teaching discipline, especially as it relates to one particular area.
REASONS FOR FASTING
While the actions of fasting—overruling our physical desires to connect more deeply with God—are important, what Jesus is speaking to is the state of our hearts. It seems that some in Jesus' audience had missed the point of the fasting. Fasting is not about drawing attention to yourself and looking more religious; it's about becoming naturally in tune with God so that the "left hand [doesn't] know what [the] right hand is doing."
My own motivation for fasting in my Christian life has been varied: seeking wisdom, obedience, a deeper intimacy with God, and even repentance. But while all of these are good reasons for fasting, they can't be primary. All other motivation must be subject to this one: to glorify God. John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, incorporated fasting in his life on a regular basis. He believed that it was an essential practice of faith development in the lives of those who want to grow deeper in their faith. He underscored the primary motivation of fasting like this:
Let our intention herein be this, and this alone, to glorify our Father which is in heaven; to express our sorrow and shame for our manifold transgressions of his holy law; to wait for an increase of purifying grace, drawing our affections to things above; to add seriousness and earnestness to our prayers; to avert the wrath of God, and to obtain all the great and precious promises which he hath made to us in Jesus Christ.
Fasting is an avenue for living a life of holiness. It's not the act of denying one's food that does the sanctifying. Rather, there is something powerful about denying a part of one's desires that makes us able to take up the desires of God.
From running long distances I have learned that when I am training regularly, I am better able to do difficult, solo work. Running and doing hard work don't seem related. However, training myself to stay focused and keep moving one foot after another one has cultivated in me the ability to stay engaged in the project I'm working on, work a bit longer, send a few more e-mails. Don't get me wrong. It hasn't trained me to become a workaholic; it has trained me to stay focused in a way that it actually takes less time to do the work that is most important.
By submitting to a regular, challenging, spiritually-focused activity, we're able to be shaped by God, to be transformed into the people that God is calling us to be (Romans 12:1-2). While discipline may feel restrictive, it really is about a sense of freedom on the other side of that discipline. The freedom I've experienced is that after the discipline of running four days a week, I can go run a fun 5K with friends without training. Likewise, there's a spiritual parallel. By practicing a spiritual discipline, one develops the endurance to meet the challenges of life more attuned to God's voice, respond with God's character, and see the challenges from God's perspective.
The practice of fasting is a way to glorify God. But just like announcing our exercises on Facebook turns people off, so does announcing our spiritual accomplishments. And when the primary goal of fasting is to glorify God, we may have reached our goal yet completely missed the point.
QUESTIONS
1. What does Matthew 6:1 say about practicing one's religion in front of people? When is this a bad thing?
2. What is the reward Jesus mentions in Matthew 6:1?
3. How do you do something without letting the left hand know what the right hand is doing (Matthew 6:3)?
4. How does one balance giving in secret with instructing other believers on giving by our example (Matthew 6:4)?
5. What implications does Matthew 6:5-6 have for public prayer? How do we pray publicly without praying like the hypocrites that Jesus mentions? Are private prayers more effective than public ones? Why, or why not?
6. What role does language pray in prayer? How important are the words we say? What might Jesus be saying about how long believers should pray (Matthew 6:7-8)?
7. What role should the Lord's Prayer play in the prayer life of a Christian (Matthew 6:913)?
8. What does the Lord's Prayer tell us about God's kingdom and God's will? How do these connect with our prayers?
9. How is forgiving others tied to receiving forgiveness from God (Matthew 6:12, 14)?
10. Is it possible for God to lead us into temptation (Matthew 6:13)? What might this verse reveal about prayer and its effect on malevolent spiritual forces?
11. When would it be appropriate to tell others that you're fasting? When would it be inappropriate (Matthew 6:6-18)?
CHAPTER 2FASTING AND PRAYING PREPARATION FOR THE WORK AHEAD
SCRIPTURE ACTS 13:1-5; 14:21-28
ACTS 13:1-5
1 The church at Antioch included prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon (nicknamed Niger), Lucius from Cyrene, Manaen (a childhood friend of Herod the ruler), and Saul. 2 As they were worshipping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Appoint Barnabas and Saul to the work I have called them to undertake." 3 After they fasted and prayed, they laid their hands on these two and sent them off.
4 After the Holy Spirit sent them on their way, they went down to Seleucia. From there they sailed to Cyprus. 5In Salamis they proclaimed God's word in the Jewish synagogues. John was with them as their assistant.
ACTS 14:21-28
21 Paul and Barnabas proclaimed the good news to the people in Derbe and made many disciples. Then they returned to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch, where 22 they strengthened the disciples and urged them to remain firm in the faith. They told them, "If we are to enter God's kingdom, we must pass through many troubles." 23 They appointed elders for each church. With prayer and fasting, they committed these elders to the Lord, in whom they had placed their trust.
24 After Paul and Barnabas traveled through Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia. 25 They proclaimed the word in Perga, then went down to Attalia. 26 From there they sailed to Antioch, where they had been entrusted by God's grace to the work they had now completed. 27 On their arrival, they gathered the church together and reported everything that God had accomplished through their activity, and how God had opened a door of faith for the Gentiles. 28 They stayed with the disciples a long time.
(Continues...)
Excerpted from Converge Bible Studies Fasting by Ashlee Alley. Copyright © 2014 Abingdon Press. Excerpted by permission of Abingdon Press.
All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
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Table of Contents
Contents
About the Series,Introduction,
1: Avoiding Showy Religion,
2: Fasting and Praying,
3: Fasting from Injustice,
4: The Practice of Fasting,