Thoughts on Fasting

We are four days into our fasting and we love it. Fasting and praying together is such a blessing. I am so thankful for a husband who loves God and who is willing to pay any price just to come close to Him. 

I have read a few quotes on fasting that have really spoken to my heart, so I decided to share them with you.

The true fasting which should be recommended to all, is abstinence from every stimulating kind of food, and the proper use of wholesome, simple food, which God has provided in abundance. Men need to think less about what they shall eat and drink, of temporal food, and much more in regard to the food from heaven, that will give tone and vitality to the whole religious experience. — CD 90

Now and onward till the close of time the people of God should be more earnest, more wide-awake, not trusting in their own wisdom, but in the wisdom of their Leader. They should set aside days for fasting and prayer. Entire abstinence from food may not be required, but they should eat sparingly of the most simple food.—CD 188

Many who profess godliness do not inquire into the reason of Christ’s long period of fasting and suffering in the wilderness. His anguish was not so much from enduring the pangs of hunger as from His sense of the fearful result of the indulgence of appetite and passion upon the race. He knew that appetite would be man’s idol, and would lead him to forget God, and would stand directly in the way of his salvation. 1SM 284

The spirit of true fasting and prayer is the spirit which yields mind, heart, and will to God. 4BC 1148

For certain things fasting and prayer are recommended and appropriate. In the hand of God they are a means of cleansing the heart and promoting a receptive frame of mind. We obtain answers to our prayers because we humble our souls before God. MM 283

Humility... how much we need it. And this is the whole purpose of fasting. We do not soften God's heart to answer our prayers through fasting. Humbling our hearts should be the reason for fasting. When we humble our hearts before God, He knows that He can trust us to give us more because we would not take the glory to ourselves, but will give all the glory to Him.

Read this sobering quote about pride:

There is nothing so offensive to God or so dangerous to the human soul as pride and self-sufficiency. Of all sins it is the most hopeless, the most incurable. COL 154

As we fast at the beginning of this year, one of my heart's prayers is: Lord, teach me how to humble myself before You!