Expert: Phillip Senn - 6/12/2006

Question
If a person is wanting to repent and be set free of a sin such as overspending or overeating, does fasting combined with prayer, repentance, & time alone reading the Word make sense?  What is the purpose of fasting?  How do you avoid being legalistic about it?

Answer
Fastin' Baptist,

I apologize for the delay in responding, as I was on vacation this week and failed to notify the allexperts.com website.

There are many reasons for fasting. There is no mention that I know of that it is for helping the one that is fasting have ability to escape the temptations of life nor to provide a special power to resist those temptations.

Fasting is primarily a practice of withholding food from ones self. It should always be done with secrecy and with humility.  It is a tool to help the individual to be in concert with God, rather than their individual needs. In other words, it places them in a very vulnerable position before the Lord, and it allows them to openly declare to the Lord, and to noone else, their needs.

Fasting, repentence, personal time and prayer, all go hand in hand. All of them are actually used of the Lord to empower us.

I sometimes say to those that I am praying for, "I have no confidence in my prayers, but I have great confidence in the ONE I am praying to." Whatever the reason for the fasting, a person MUST understand that the Lord knows the need beforehand, and simply wants us to be willing to ask of Him.

The Lord may direct someone to fast for a specific reason that is not related to a "sin". He may just want that person to draw closer to the Lord. In any case, the fasting, prayer, Scripture reading and repentence ALWAYS makes sense, no matter the purpose behind it. Unless of course, it is to be seen of men.

I hope this has helped, and again, I apologize for the delay.

With Love In Christ,
Phillip Senn