Effective Fasting is Beyond Food

JUNE 6TH: EFFECTIVE FASTING IS BEYOND FOOD

ECHOES OF TRUTH 2026

THEME: GETTING SET FOR THE SHOWERS

 

“The reason we fail in our fasts is because we only fast our stomachs, but we feed our eyes with entertainment, our minds with vanity, and our tongues with gossip. A true fast is the total shutdown of the flesh so the spirit can dominate.”– The BUD Family Africa

 

Fasting is such a spiritual exercise that many of us have simply made it into a ritual and not necessarily something we do for the spiritual benefit of it.

 

Infact some take it like a honour badge, a thing of pride to count and proudly mention to others like it deserves an award. 

 

We hear things like, ‘I have been fasting for forty days now; Oh, today, I decided to break my fast after twenty-four hours; I must honestly mention by the way that every month, I fast for nothing less than fourteen days…’

 

For what purpose? To what end? To achieve what?

 

Let’s be honest, such an attitude amounts to nothing before God other than that we have practiced how to stay away from food.

 

When we begin to take pride in our spiritual activities, we have simply become performers and God has no business with such persons.

 

We have only made self have something to satify its ego instead of having it subdued! That type of hunger did nothing to it. 

 

Jesus in Matthew 6:16-18 said:

 

“And when you fast, don’t make it obvious, as the hypocrites do… so people will admire them for their fasting. I tell you the truth, that is the only reward they will ever get. But when you fast…Then no one will notice that you are fasting, except your Father, who knows what you do in private. And your Father, who sees everything, will reward you. 

 

Jesus clearly highlights that there is a reward for fasting and it is the Father who rewards for fasting.

 

When we engage in fasting, and it is not as unto a ritual or a performance of theatre before God, God takes note and He rewards accordingly. 

 

Jesus also highlights that fasting is to be a private matter between you and God. It is not meant for public discourse, nor for another party to know the terms of the fasting you have committed to before God. 

 

But there is something else in that passage: The Father knows what you do in private! This tells us that there is a part of fasting that cannot be seen nor known by other people. It is the unseen, the hidden part of fasting. It is the state of our heart, and our motive for engaging in fasting. God sees all of that privacy!!

 

When we talk about fasting, what readily comes to mind is abstinence from food for a time stipulation. We say no to food to bring our stomach into alignment with our spirit man so that we may be more alert to the things of the Spirit. It is taking power from the body and handing it over to the spirit man to exercise control in order to gain faster spiritual ascension. 

 

Also read THE POWER OF THE NIGHTLY FAST

 

So when we do away with physical food for spiritual purposes, it is required that we are given to feeding spiritually instead. This is what makes it a spiritual exercise and not just a means to burn excess body fat.

 

Why then is it that we only keep off physical food but still do not feed on a correct spiritual diet that will energise the spirit man for spiritual acceleration? 

 

Why do we say we are fasting but we are finding other means to soothe the appetite of the flesh?

 

Why will we call it a spiritual fast when the flesh is being comforted with other things it lusts after apart from food?

 

We are still updated on the latest gossip. 

 

We are still faithfully following-up on the tele-series we had been watching before the fast. 

 

We are still laying on our bed to sleep waiting for the countdown time to break our fast. 

 

We are still consumed with many other activities that have not slowed us down to remember that we are currently supposed to be fasting for spiritual purposes. 

 

And after the fast, we sit with a huge bowl of meal and drinks, sip it down with a movie, enjoy the social media, restore all the pleasures to the flesh that it had missed since morning  and then retire to bed to continue the fast the next day. 

That is not an effective fasting, sis!

 

At the end of July, it would have been a waste of time! 

 

We have simply done every other thing other than engage the spirit man we chose to energise by keeping food out of sight.

 

Who exactly is being deceived? God?

 

Absolutely not! For He sees everything happening in private and He rewards accordingly.

 

We often say that our fasting is not what moves God to answer our prayers. But who told us that? Was the fasting of Nineveh not a factor that brought mercy upon the land? I mean, the whole humans and animals fasted!

 

How about Esther and all the Jews in Susa who went on to fast for three days. Would we be judging their case wrongly saying that the favour they received had no input from their humble submission before God with a fast?

 

We certainly will be extremely clueless to think that when we fast, we are not getting any rewards from it.

 

Fasting draws us to the right posture of humility and brings us to quicker submission to God’s soverignty and our dependency on Him.

 

Will keeping off food alone thus bring us to this humble submission?

 

Will food abstinence alone be able to break the hold of worldly lust in our hearts?

 

Esther certainly would not have kept away from food alone. 

 

She and her maids would have denied themselves of every comfort that would have hindered them from prayers and having a reflective heart that was open to receive heaven’s wisdom for the issue tabled before them- saving their lives! 

 

This we must learn from Esther. This we must learn from Jesus, our Lord, who forsook all and went to the wilderness. He was by Himself with the Holy Spirit. He would not bother Himself with allowing the flesh to receive any comfort and in this path, He walked for forty days without food. 

 

For Juicy July 2026, we must re-examine the model of our fasting. We must be ready to disengage from anything and everything that will not allow us to starve the flesh. We must be willing to strip the flesh of any form of undue, unnecessary comfort that we might truly be ready for the outpouring from heaven.

 

Let Us Pray

Dear Father, I do not want to merely prepare for the showers; I want to be ready when they come. Search my heart and reveal every distraction, every comfort, every attachment that competes with Your voice in my life. Help me to willingly lay aside anything that weakens my hunger for You.

Lord, teach me the true meaning of fasting. Help me not only to deny my body food, but to deny my flesh the pleasures, distractions, and indulgences that keep my spirit weak. May my eyes be fixed on Your Word, my ears attentive to Your voice, and my heart wholly surrendered to Your will.

As the showers of Your Spirit draw near, make me a vessel that is clean, empty, available, and ready. Let there be no room in me for pride, self-glory, gossip, vanity, or worldly distractions. Prepare me for all that You desire to pour out in this season.

May my fasting be acceptable before You. May my prayers ascend as sweet incense. May my heart remain tender and responsive to Your leading. And when the showers begin to fall, may I be found waiting, watching, and ready. In the name of Jesus, Amen.

 

You may listen to this short sermon on The Heart of Fasting by John Piper