When You Fast

In one paragraph

Joy brought a teaching on fasting as Tribe prepares for twenty-one days of prayer for Israel beginning September 8. She drew on scripture, church history, and recent science to make the case that fasting is not a fringe practice for elite Christians but a regular rhythm Jesus assumed his followers would keep. The goal of the twenty-one days is to make room in our hearts for Israel by denying...

Read together

1. Matthew 6:16-18 Jesus's teaching on fasting in secret, contrasted with the hypocrites who fast to be seen by others
2. Isaiah 58 central passage on fasting referenced repeatedly, covering God's chosen fast and the rewards promised including healing, light breaking forth, and God answering when called
3. Romans 12:1 offering your body as a living and holy sacrifice as your spiritual service of worship
4. 1 Corinthians 6:19 your bodies are temples of the Holy Spirit, therefore honor God with your bodies
5. Romans 8:13 if by the spirit you put to death the misdeeds of the body you will live, used to explain how fasting starves the flesh so the spirit can rise
6. Deuteronomy 8:2-3 God humbled Israel by letting them go hungry in the wilderness, feeding them with manna to test their character
7. Deuteronomy 8:11-14 warning against forgetting God when full and prosperous, pride following a full stomach
8. Ezekiel 16:49 the sin of Sodom identified as arrogance, abundant food, and careless ease while not helping the poor
9. Matthew 4:1-11 Jesus fasting forty days and forty nights before beginning his ministry, cited as the model apprentices follow
10. Acts 13:1-3 disciples praying and fasting before the Spirit directed them on who to send out into ministry
11. John 8:37 making room in the heart, used as the basis for the twenty-one days for Israel initiative

What was said

• If you want to take part in the twenty-one days for Israel starting September 8, pray and ask God what he wants you to specifically deny yourself during that time, then write down whatever comes to mind.
• Try skipping one meal this week as a water-only fast, and when the hunger hits, use it as a prompt to pray rather than a reason to stop.
• Email joy@tribejh.com to get the PDF of fasting resources, podcasts, and book recommendations Joy put together for people who want to keep going deeper.
• If you already give through the Tribe website, look for the Wind River option in the designation dropdown and direct what you would have spent on a skipped meal toward the Wind River food pantry.
• Pick up a copy of Arthur Wallis's God's Chosen Fast or John Mark Comer's The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, both of which Joy drew on heavily in this message, and start reading before September 8.

Talk about it

1. Brian opened by saying he wants disruption of the normal pattern to crack open a door in your heart for an encounter with God. What does that kind of encounter look like for you, and what tends to get in the way of it?
2. Joy talked about Moses asking to see God's glory right after one of the hardest things he had ever been commanded to do, and God responding that he would cause his goodness to pass by. Has there been a time in your own life when you only saw God's goodness on the other side of something really hard?
3. Joy drew a line between fasting and abstinence, saying giving up your phone or cutting out sugar is worthwhile but is not the same thing as a fast. How do you react to that distinction, and does it change how you have thought about fasting in the past?
4. She said that pride and a full stomach are bedfellows, pointing to Deuteronomy 8 and Ezekiel 16:49, and that comfort may be one of the greatest enemies of Christians in the Western church today. Where do you see that playing out, either in your own life or in the broader culture around you?
5. Joy described the twenty-one days for Israel as making room in your heart, using the image of a life filled to the brim with no space left. What would it actually cost you to make that room, and what do you sense God might be asking you personally to do during that time?