Matthew 6:17,18

Matthew 6:17,18 But thou, when thou fastest, anoint thine head, and wash thy face; That thou appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret: and thy Father, which seeth in secret, shall reward thee openly. Fasting means to do without food because you want God to see that you are serious about what you are praying for. And you can see from our verses that fasting usually goes with prayer. Most Christians don’t talk very much about fasting because most Christians don’t fast. Many people think of fasting as a works thing that other religions do in order to gain God’s favor. But here it is in Scripture. So fasting must be a Bible thing. And it is. When you fast, you skip eating in order to concentrate on praying. So when you are hungry, you are reminded to pray. It lets God know that the thing that you are praying for is serious to you. You would rather pray for this need than to eat. That is how serious you are. In Jesus’ time, the Pharisees fasted once a week. From daylight until sunset, they would not eat. They would only eat after the sun had gone down. I don’t think that modern-day Christians pray enough. And we certainly don’t fast very much either. But both are taught in the Bible. We should pray and we should fast.