Forbidden Fasting

But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.'” (Matthew 4:4 )

Fasting and prayer are important aspects of a perpetual victorious Christian life. However, there is a type of fasting that God actually forbids.

The statement above was made by Jesus after a 40 day fast when Satan began to tempt Him. He basically said man requires both physical bread and the Word of God to stay alive on this earth. None of us will doubt the truth that we need to eat to stay alive on the earth. You may fast for forty days like the Lord did but if you still want to continue living on earth in your physical body, you will have to eat.

However, many believers still do not grasp the second aspect of Jesus’s statement that we need every word that proceeds from God’s mouth. The Word of God is the Bread from heaven to feed the spirit of man. God has commanded us to fast from physical food( indicated by bread) as His Spirit will lead us to. But He actually forbids fasting from the Bread of heaven. Many Christians are unaware that not feeding on God’s Word regularly is actually fasting their spirits from the Bread of heaven. Some go for weeks, and even months without the Bread from heaven and wonder why they are spiritually feeble and dry, crumble at any temptation, seemingly helpless in front of challenges, lead powerless lives, etc.

Fast from bread as His Spirit leads, but never fast from the Bread of heaven which is the Word of God.

MEDITATE

Think for a moment what God says- that you need the word of God to stay alive. Allow your mind to roll over the words of the verse above. There is power in having God’s Word as the only focus of your mind. Remove “man” from the verse above and replace it with yourself. That is God’s word for you today!

PRAY

Hopefully, this prayer suggestion will no longer be strange to you, but pray that God will give you the wisdom not to fast, from His word! Wisdom, indeed, is the key issue. We fast from it not primarily because we cannot feed on His Word but because we often lack the wisdom to know what is right.

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