How Do You Spiritually Prepare to Fast?
Fasting can reveal to us just how dependent we are on God’s provision to live. Jesus said, “So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them” (Matthew 6:32-33).
Fasting can be a necessary reminder that every time we feel a hunger pang, it should be one more cue to us that we are finite, dependent, and in desperate need of our Heavenly Father. Jesus also teaches us (in quoting from Deuteronomy 8:3), “Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God” (Matthew 4:4). Fasting can help us articulate our belief that this is true. One author put it this way: “Fasting expresses, rather than creates, hunger for God.”
You can find a downloadable guide to prayer and fasting on thechapel.com/fastandpray. The recommended Scripture readings and prayer prompts in that guide are intended to help guide you through the 24-hour fast. They are called meditations because we want to chew on the Scripture even when we’re not chewing on solid food; we want to fill up our hearts and minds with God’s Word even when our stomachs feel empty. That’s what we mean by meditations (as modeled in Psalm 1:2).
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Read each passage slowly, thoughtfully, and out loud (if at all possible)
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Read that passage again a few times this way, contemplating each word that has been authored by the Holy Spirit
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Follow the prayer prompts as a springboard for you to talk with your heavenly Father
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Each time you experience another hunger pang, drink a big glass of water and return to the Scripture again
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Recite the words of these Scripture passages (either in your heart or out loud), as many as you can remember, in between each meditation