Being & Becoming: Fasting
Written by Dylan Wells
Over the past couple of years, I have been exploring the spiritual practice of fasting. This exploration started for health reasons as I was interested in intermittent fasting for weight loss, but this has brought me to experience the more important spiritual significance of the practice as well. Prior to this I had very little exposure to fasting, only doing it on a few occasions as part of Cru in college. There have been two ways I have found fasting beneficial. Fasting as a weekly rhythm and fasting for specific prayer needs.
Last year I participated in a four-week study on fasting with a group from Waypoint which explored the biblical and historical background for fasting through Practicing the Way. Weekly fasting is designed to offer ourselves to God and to remind ourselves of the sacrifice of Christ. The early Church established their fasting on Wednesdays (the day Jesus was betrayed) and Friday (the day he was crucified). Fasting on these days has integrated my body into a weekly rhythm that provides a constant reminder of the Gospel. This weekly rhythm includes feasting on sabbath to celebrate the resurrection of Christ. I have found fasting twice weekly until sundown a helpful way to examine my spiritual health. When I am unable to complete the fast (I currently have about a 50% success rate), I reflect on the stressors in my life that are causing me to seek satisfaction in food over God. As I continue to grow in this practice, I seek to adopt a weekly rhythm of modest eating during the week with fasting on Wednesday and Fridays and feasting on Sunday. Throughout my life I have sought the satisfaction of food when I face trials and discomfort, rather than seeking God. I continue to pursue this weekly practice as a resistance to this temptation.
In addition to the weekly rhythm of fasting, I have also adopted a practice to fast for multiple days a few times a year as a way to amplify my prayers to God. There are several instances in the Bible where in times of desperation and seeking the will of God, the people of God fast. In early 2023, I did my first extended fast seeking God for specific direction we needed as a family. We are foster parents and felt God leading us to take a foster placement again, but we also felt God leading us to move overseas for missions. Foster care is unpredictable, and it can take years and years to resolve a case, so the two the callings seemed to contradict each other. I felt confident God was calling us to both, but I wanted to be faithful to God’s calling and timing for each one. We have been blown away by how directly and clearly God has answered this prayer. When we received our foster son Kyheem in August of 2023, he had some medical risks that could have limited his ability to live overseas. In the year and a half that we have had him, he has flourished both medically and developmentally. His case plan has also moved to adoption quickly and we filed his adoption paperwork in January (which will take six to nine months to finalize).
While it is impossible to say how much fasting changed the outcome of our situation, personally I am convinced that fasting amplified my prayers to God and He graciously gave us clarity for this difficult situation. I have greatly benefited from exploring and implementing the spiritual practices as I seek to become more like Jesus and less like this world. Fasting has shifted me bodily, mentally, and spiritually to be more dependent on Jesus and less dependent on the fleshly satisfactions of this world.
Written by Dylan Wells