2 Corinthians 11:27; In Fastings Often

2 Corinthians 11:27 In weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger and thirst, in fastings often, in cold and nakedness.

Fasting brings the soul to an undistracted frame for worship and prayer. The Apostle Paul was in fastings often, putting aside the task of having to prepare and eat a meal so as to free the time and the body to a continual period of prayer and devotion to God. In the work of the gospel, fasting renders the soul to a higher consciousness of mental alertness and focus.

Daniel fasted that he may obtain wisdom to understanding God’s will for His people – Daniel 9:3 And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:

 Our Lord taught us in the Sermon on the Mount in Matthew 6:17-18 that the secret of true fasting is to fast secretly. It is not the act of fasting but the true spirit of fasting that Jesus was addressing – 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.

Jesus is teaching that fasting in secret is pleasing to the Father and He has promised to bestow blessings for such consecration. Fasting in secret and not in ostentation will speed us along the path of true devotion. This is the life lived by faith and not by sight. We do not need the approval of men to authenticate our spiritual vitality. True spiritual vitality comes not from men but from God. Therefore, the healthy Christian life involves keeping, watching and guarding our hearts with all diligence to keep trusting God in all that we think and do for out of it flow our woe or reward. Amen.