Whether in the 1st or 21st century, the act of fasting or abstaining from food in order to honor God is an intriguing and often misunderstood concept. Most of the world’s major religions practice fasting in one form or another. Muslims, for example, fast from sunup to sunset for one month during Ramadan every year. Such dedication to religious beliefs seems rare in predominantly Christian America, yet Christianity also has a rich, though often overlooked, tradition of fasting.
The gospels tell of God’s Spirit leading Jesus into the desert and Jesus’ 40-day fast. When Satan tempted Him with food, Jesus countered with Scripture, quoting Deuteronomy 8:3: “For man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”
It is this pre-ministry trial Christ endured that inspired the present context of fasting for the modern Christian: being led to fast by the Holy Spirit in order to more fully depend on God’s Word. Whereas Muslims fast as part of commanded ritual and other Eastern religions for ritual spiritual cleansing, fasting for a Christian is a voluntary act of love and devotion to God, reflecting a true desire to know Him more.
Cecil Taylor, dean of the school of religion at the University of Mobile, calls fasting a “spiritual discipline to keep the appetites of the flesh under control and as an act of concentration, leaving off food in order to focus on and devote oneself to spiritual concerns.”
But Taylor said this is a renewed trend among Baptists. He agrees with the general pastoral consensus that fasting has been somewhat neglected by the modern Church.
“It has been neglected, not only in this century but in many centuries prior to the modern era. Because it is not talked about much and hardly anybody asks Christians to fast these days, probably many Christians would think it irrelevant to the 21st century,” said Taylor.
The thought of fasting being passe in today’s world of fast food and fad diets is easily understandable. There is also a propensity to discourage the practice, especially among teenagers, because of the alarming rise of eating disorders such as anorexia. However, in recent years, proper and healthy Christian fasting has had a revival of sorts, in part due to the horrific events of Sept. 11.
Shades Mountain Baptist Church in Vestavia Hills is one Alabama Baptist church that held a congregation-wide fast in recent months (see story, this page). “It really challenged our church,” said Pastor Danny Wood. “We just went into it with pure motives and we knew that to seek His heart, we had to surrender something. It’s been life changing!”
Esther 4:16 tells of believers fasting and praying for protection from danger, and many Baptist congregations across the state have sponsored churchwide fasts that have brought new meaning since September, if not in direct response to the terrorist attacks. Also, Christian bookstores now have entire shelves dedicated to the subject, offering the modern Christian a variety of methods and reasons to revive the practice of this biblical yet often ignored spiritual discipline.
For unbelievers, the idea that Jesus fasted for 40 days is a bit hard to swallow. But for 1,460 members of Shades Mountain Baptist Church, Vestavia Hills, it is historical fact and an essential lesson on how to deepen spiritual intimacy with God.
For 40 days last fall Shades Mountain church members collectively fasted from a variety of seeming necessities of life in order to “Seek His Heart and Surrender My Own,” the theme of the event.
“Fasting is a choice to forgo something that is good and right so that the spiritual appetite may be good and whetted,” said Pastor Danny Wood. When asked for the inspiration behind the churchwide fast, Wood explained, “It’s something that God laid on my heart.”
Though planned before the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, those events added special meaning to the congregation’s sacrifice, Wood noted. “I had already shared the idea with the staff and deacons in August but it seemed even more appropriate after Sept. 11.”
The church collected 1,460 commitment cards signed by adults and children alike, pledging to abstain from everything from lunch to surfing the Internet.
“Some people might give up Cokes while a lot of the kids fasted from Nintendo,” Wood explained.
Shades Mountain member Carolyn Clark, who partook of the fast, said the experience was humbling. “I felt fragile and weak. I came to realize how dependent we are upon God,” she added.
Wood stepped up to his own challenge in a serious way. Though few people knew until the final sermon of the nearly six-week series, Wood went 40 days without solid food of any kind, drinking broth and juiced fruits and vegetables as his only physical sustenance. Within a few days, he said the hunger went away.
“I’d been off caffeine for 40 days already so I really didn’t have any side effects. After about three days, I just wasn’t hungry any more. It was the social aspect of eating I missed more than my body missing food,” Wood said.
He noted that he lost nearly 40 pounds during the fast, though he’s careful to point out that unlike the “hypocrites” Jesus mentions in Matt. 6:16–18, Wood’s motives were pure. [When I told the congregation] “I didn’t want to come across like, ‘Hey, look at me!’ but just to share that this is what I had done, this is what God showed me. Anybody can give up food for 40 days but we really focused on replacing the time we would have spent eating with time spent with the Lord.”
Clark expressed a renewed admiration for her pastor. “When we found out he had fasted for the entire 40 days it really showed how much he cared for God and for our church.”
The church responded well and they prayed that God would respond by doing something only explainable by God’s strength. Meanwhile, Wood secretly expressed doubts that the church would reach its annual budget of $1 million.
With a slowing economy both in Birmingham and nationwide resulting from the September attacks, best estimates were at $850,000. But by the end of the year, not only had the operating budget been surpassed by a quarter of a million dollars, but also the Shades Mountain Baptist missions goal, by a full 10 percent.
Shades Mountain’s 40 days of prayer and fasting was an event not soon forgotten by the members or their pastor. “It really challenged our church,” Wood said. “We just went into it with pure motives and we knew that to seek His heart, we had to surrender something. It’s been life changing.”
To call LeNorris Crabb an average teenager is like calling Michael Jordan just an average basketball player.
While others his age are spending hours debating the merits of MTV’s latest reality show in an Internet chatroom, the 17-year-old from Auburn manages to actively involve himself in eight major extracurricular activities, including being Auburn High School’s “Aubie” mascot. In addition, Crabb works a part-time job.
An active member of Auburn’s Lakeview Baptist Church, Crabb participated in the church’s fast near the end of 2001.
Lakeview, like a growing number of churches across Alabama (see story, this page), fasted for 30 days in order to deepen individual relationships with God and strengthen a sense of community.
Crabb was a willing and eager participant. “Fasting made me so happy. After coming to the church early in the morning, we prayed and fasted until sunset,” said Crabb, who described his personal experience with fasting as a time of “sanctification, remembrance and deliverance.” (TAB)
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