Fasting isn’t About Food

When I hear people say they want to be like John Wesley, Smith Wigglesworth, John G. Lake, Aimee Semple McPherson, Heidi Baker, or even Jesus, I encourage them to follow in the same footsteps as these spiritual giants and embrace the lifestyle they modeled.

All of these welcomed the grace offered to us for deeper intimacy with Jesus found in the spiritual disciplines. They all lived with their lamps full of oil and regularly positioned themselves to step into all that God had by integrating these spiritual rhythms into their daily lives.

All of these also practiced a lifestyle of intentionally building their relationship with Christ through fasting. They were willing to pay a price to walk in holiness. If we want to walk in the same authority, dominion, power, love, and intimacy as these, a good place to start is to tap into the spiritual pathways where they found life.

Before we dive into fasting, let’s first set the stage in understanding why the spiritual disciplines are essential to a burning lifestyle. I know many hear the word “discipline” today and cringe. Because of previous experiences or being misguided by religious rules, that word can carry negative connotations. But rather than something that is forced upon us, I want to reframe this language for our purposes. I would like to take it out of the religious box and place it into a relational context.

It is important to understand that ultimately, spiritual disciplines are for the purpose of knowing God. They are spiritual pathways to deeper intimacy with God. We practice these ways of life by choice, not because we fear punishment or to check off religious boxes. When we are so undone by the love of Jesus, it is easy to receive the invitation to walk on the highway of holiness. The spiritual disciplines help us hold our focus on the face of Jesus through all storms. These are not practiced out of duty but for the sake of feasting upon God in a greater way.

God wants to raise up His bride to embrace all that He has in this new season. He wants to equip us to bring a resurgence of what has been overlooked, forgotten, abused, broken, misunderstood, or misappropriated in the past. God is raising up an army of lovers who will go anywhere and do anything for Him.

Spiritual Pathways to Intimacy

Spiritual disciplines, also known as graces or pathways to intimacy, include prayer, meditation, fasting, feasting, reading the Word, worship, keeping the Sabbath, silence, giving, community, and more. These practices help us to align our lives with heaven and position ourselves to go deeper in our relationship with God. These pathways are an invitation to explore the hidden crevices of the Father’s heart.

The world is crying out for a deep people who can live from a place of interwovenness with the Creator. These graces of the spiritual life help us become deep people, sourced in the One who is the Living Water of Life. There is so much more of the Father’s heart to explore. These pathways simply help take us on that journey.

We tap into the spiritual disciplines so that we can live deep within the heart of God. In his book Celebration of Discipline, Richard Foster says, “The desperate need today is not for a greater number of intelligent people, or gifted people, but for deep people.” He goes on to say:

The purpose of the Disciplines is liberation from the stifling slavery to self-interest and fear. When the inner spirit is liberated from all that weighs it down, it can hardly be described as dull drudgery. Singing, dancing, even shouting characterize the Disciplines of the spiritual life!

Everyone connects with God differently according to their personality and how they are wired. Some people connect with God in nature or in silence, while others connect with Him during activity or through music or dance. Practicing the disciplines helps everyone, regardless of how they are wired, tap into a greater measure of the heart of God.

I regularly get out in nature to spend time waiting on God, reading His Word, or simply being present with Him. I long to be with Him alone. No one else and nothing else can ever satisfy. Choosing to adopt these spiritual pathways will help position us to be with the One we love. Dedicating time with the living God for the sole purpose of communing with Him is one of the most valuable investments we can make in this life.

Embracing the Spiritual Disciplines

• Positions us to hear God’s voice

• Deepens our connection with God

• Invites us to feast upon God

• Increases our hunger for more of God

• Aligns us to receive God’s blessings

• Prepares us to steward the calling of God on our lives

• Helps us keep our lamps full of the oil of the Holy Spirit

The spiritual disciplines are intended to bring freedom and liberation. Our motivation in integrating these should always be a longing to know God more (see Psalm 42:1–2). Embracing these pathways to intimacy will bring focus, self-control, and pave the way to walk on the highway of holiness. These graces can also act as a purifying fire. It is the pure in heart who see God (Matthew 5:8). While there is always the danger of spiritual disciplines degenerating into law and empty ritualistic practice, fear of this happening should not be greater than the drive to take hold of the King of kings by positioning ourselves in front of His throne. The disciplines help us do just that.

Some people confuse the disciplines with striving or trying to manipulate or control God when in reality that could not be further from the truth. While only God can grow us spiritually, there are things we can do to prepare and cultivate our lives to invite this. One helpful way to understand spiritual disciplines is likening them to farming. A farmer can cultivate the ground, plant seeds, water the crops, and create an environment that invites this growth, but he cannot make the seeds grow. However, when the sun shines and the rains come, saturating what has been cultivated, life springs forth (Galatians 5:22–25).

The same is true for us. We all have seeds of destiny God has planted within our hearts. As we tend to the soil of our hearts by practicing the disciplines, we are essentially positioning ourselves under the waterfall of God’s grace. The floods of His Holy Spirit saturate our lives, causing the seeds He has planted to spring forth in due time (Isaiah 61:11).

Spiritual disciplines can also be likened to training for sports. Athletes do not win gold medals by sitting at home and watching television. They train their bodies for the big race whether they feel like it or not. Similarly, spiritual disciplines can act as spiritual training for us to be ready to advance the kingdom of God and partner with heaven in season and out. When we have been building our spiritual muscles in this way, we will be ready to set the oppressed free, tear down demonic strongholds, release healing, stop for the one, and love the broken when the time arises (see Jeremiah 1:10). When we have been regularly filling our lamps with oil, we will be ready to join the Bridegroom at the appointed time for the feast He has set before us.

Freedom to Soar in His Presence

If you have been under an oppressive system of law rather than love or have shied away from the spiritual disciplines because you have been wounded by an inappropriate or legalistic implementation of them, on behalf of those who hurt you, I want to say I am so sorry. You shouldn’t have been treated that way. I want to ask forgiveness on behalf of any leader who wounded you or misrepresented the joy of the spiritual disciplines.

And I have good news for you. Today is a new day. It is a day of freedom. I am here to introduce a better way. I invite you to be led by the Holy Spirit rather than react to a spirit of fear or false expectation that was put upon you.

God wants time with you. It takes discipline to set aside and guard time for Him alone. You will have to fight a million battles to protect your time with God. The spiritual disciplines will help you win those battles. The disciplines are not intended to imprison you but instead to bind you to Christ Himself. Remember, in their truest form, they are simply pathways to greater intimacy with God.

May God use these grace portals to free you to fully explore and dive deeper into His heart. May accessing these currents of intimacy help position you for greater union with God. Motivated by your love relationship with Jesus and by following the leading of the Spirit, I release you from fear in Jesus’ name to embrace these spiritual strengths. I release grace to forgive those who have hurt you through legalism. I impart courage to you to dive into a new world of forsaking all other lovers to embrace Him. Today, I compel you to set everything aside for the sole purpose of beholding Jesus.

Here’s the one thing I crave from God, the one thing I seek above all else:

I want the privilege of living with him every moment in his house,

finding the sweet loveliness of his face,

filled with awe, delighting in his glory and grace.

I want to live my life so close to him

that he takes pleasure in my every prayer.

(Psalm 27:4 TPT)