Page 6 - Online Fasting Journal 2020

Today you may be asking yourself, “does it take all of this? Why I am doing this? Sure-
ly, God is not requiring this of me.”
These are reasonable questions to ask yourself as you are coming to the end of your
first day of the 21-Day Fast. The answer to your questions is, “no.” Fasting is not re-
quired for salvation. The finished work of Jesus has more than adequately covered our
sins. It is by grace alone, through faith and not works that we are saved.
So, why then do we fast?
Fasting is one of several spiritual disciplines (meditation, prayer, study, worship, service,
etc.) that we engage in as believers for the purpose of spiritual development. In other
words, as seen in scripture, we are challenged to grow in Christ. As we develop
physically and as we age from infant into a full-grown man or woman, likewise, we also
develop spiritually as we grow and are strengthened in our Christian walk. We have
no greater example of the importance of fasting than in the life of Christ himself (see
Matthew 4:2).
Jesus fasted before He began his public ministry (see Luke 4:1-2). How can we do
less when we are called to be the light of the world and salt of the earth? Surely, we too
need the benefits of fasting to carry out our God-given purpose.
Jesus also made clear the importance of fasting to disciples once He, the bridegroom,
was gone (see Mark 2: 19-20). As long as Christ was present with the disciples, He did
not require them to fast, but like those disciples of John the Baptist, they were expected
to fast once he was no longer with them in the flesh.

THE IMPORTANCE
of fasting

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