FASTING......NIL BY MOUTH OR NOT

[Graybeard]

There is another thread at present about fasting and one comment stirred an old thought I had been wrestling with for some time:

In most mainstream churches today it is taught that there are many ways of fasting, for instants one can abstain from coffee or TV.

My understanding (which no one has taught me) is that fasting is to abstain from food....period. I believe this because throughout Scripture when fasting is spoken about it appears to me to ALWAYS refer to food.

Am I missing something?, are there Scriptures that state otherwise?
Where do the teachings come from that one can fast in many different ways besides abstaining from food?

If I was to go on a coffee fast...and I just LOVE coffee!!.....I would probably substitute it with coke or some other beverage and that to me is defeating the object....food is different as you cannot substitute it with anything...or can you?

 

[kenisyes]

The root word for fasting in both Hebrew and Greek means to refrain from food. Fasting is voluntary in the NT; Jesus assumes you will do it, but does not ever specify how much or when. Anything you give up to make your body less dependent on its own idea of what it needs, will help your body be more ready to trust and respond to God when He calls you to do something, and that is the point.

There is no requirement to fast, but there is a need for all of us to get closer to God. Because of that, Scripture backs whatever you choose to give up. That's why some churches use the word "fast" in the broader sense.

The technical term is "the pastoral application".

 

[Jon4TheCross]

I suppose if we're looking for verses showing a "fast" from more than food (fasting is not just food, and more importantly, why no eating or drinking?), here's a couple of the best examples.

Exo_34:28 And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

Mat 4:1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.
Mat 4:2 And when he had fasted forty days and forty nights, he was afterward an hungred.
Mat 4:3 And when the tempter came to him, he said, If thou be the Son of God, command that these stones be made bread.
Mat 4:4 But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.
Mat 4:5 Then the devil taketh him up into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the temple,
Mat 4:6 And saith unto him, If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down: for it is written, He shall give his angels charge concerning thee: and in their hands they shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot against a stone.
Mat 4:7 Jesus said unto him, It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.
Mat 4:8 Again, the devil taketh him up into an exceeding high mountain, and sheweth him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them;
Mat 4:9 And saith unto him, All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship me.
Mat 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.
Mat 4:11 Then the devil leaveth him, and, behold, angels came and ministered unto him.


Jesus was in solitude, as was Moses. Jesus did this right after He was baptized (He knew the cost).

When I fast from food, drink, everything, it's because it's a natural bi-product of completely focused and undistracted time with God. I'm not saying that self-discipline fasting is bad, just saying that when I fast, it's because it happens naturally, as a bi-product.