What does Tribe teach about fasting?
Drawn from the messages where it was actually addressed: the words said from the front, the passages taught, and where to hear the whole thing.
At Tribe, the teaching on fasting starts with a simple observation: Jesus did not say 'if you fast' but 'when you fast,' placing it alongside prayer and giving as an expected rhythm for his followers, not an exceptional one. Joy, who brought a full teaching on the practice as the church prepared for twenty-one days of prayer for Israel, made clear that what she was describing is not social media detoxes or sugar fasts, which have real value but are forms of abstinence, not fasting. The Greek root simply means 'not eating.' Joy put it plainly: 'Our motive in fasting is always to offer ourselves to God. It is an act of worship.'
The teaching drew heavily on Deuteronomy 8, where Moses tells Israel that God let them hunger in the wilderness and then fed them with manna to teach them that man does not live on bread alone. Fasting is understood at Tribe as a way of training the body to remember that lesson. Joy also pointed to Ezekiel 16:49 and the connection between a full stomach and pride, and she quoted her own summary of that link: 'Pride and a full stomach are bedfellows.' Romans 12:1, with its call to present our bodies as a living sacrifice, was read as a direct warrant for fasting, because you physically feel the sacrifice in a way that purely spiritual disciplines do not demand.
The larger frame the church puts around fasting is that it creates hunger and, with it, room. Pastor Brian, in the week that followed Joy's teaching, drew on Proverbs 27:7, that a person who is full refuses honey while bitter food tastes sweet to the hungry, to press the point that if there is no hunger there is no room for what God wants to put in. Fasting and self-denial are not ends in themselves at Tribe but a way of clearing space in the heart for what God is inviting his people into.
Taught from Matthew 6:16-18 · Deuteronomy 8:2-3 · Romans 12:1 · Isaiah 58 · Proverbs 27:7
“Jesus is always reliable, but he is always unpredictable.”
From Make Room in Your Heart
The passage taught · 1 Samuel 16:7-12
7 But Yahweh said to Samuel, “Don’t look on his face, or on the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for I don’t see as man sees. For man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart.”
8 Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, “Yahweh has not chosen this one, either.”
9 Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. He said, “Yahweh has not chosen this one, either.”
10 Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. Samuel said to Jesse, “Yahweh has not chosen these.”
World English Bible
The messages that teach on it
- September 4, 2023 Make Room in Your Heart Brian Hunter walks Tribe Church through John 8 and Matthew 6 as he launches a 21-day fast for Israel, asking the congregation to make room in their hearts for what God cares about.
- August 28, 2023 When You Fast Joy Hunter teaches Tribe fam why fasting matters, what it does to body and soul, and how it connects to 21 days of prayer for Israel.
Mentioned along the way
- August 18, 2024 Jesus In The Wilderness Amanda Lack walks through Jesus in the wilderness, looking at his three temptations and what they teach us about identity, trust, and how to endure hard seasons.
- June 3, 2024 A Step by Step Guide to Walking in the Spirit Brian Hunter walks through four practical steps to walking in the Spirit, covering Scripture, obedience in small things, disciplining the flesh, and praying in the Spirit.
- October 2, 2023 The World's First Selfie Brian Hunter walks Tribe through the biblical feast of Sukkot, exploring why God invites his people to remember, recalibrate, and rehearse his faithfulness seven times a year.
- September 25, 2023 Making Room for Israel Brian Hunter walks Tribe through Romans 11, exploring God's heart for Israel during a 21-day fast and what it means for believers grafted into that story.
- September 18, 2023 A Measure of Hope for Israel Brian Hunter walks Tribe through Daniel 11 and what Scripture calls Jacob's trouble, asking who will stand with Israel when that time comes.
- September 11, 2023 Contending for Apostolic Foundations A guest speaker shares his journey from communist college student to plumber and back to faith, exploring what Scripture calls the apostolic foundations of the church.
- August 21, 2023 Pack Your Bags Brian Hunter opens a three-week journey into God's heart for Israel, reading Genesis, Ezekiel, Hosea, and Romans 11 together as a congregation in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.
- June 5, 2023 The Power Accessible in Recalibration Joy Obot teaches Tribe on how practicing rest and spiritual disciplines now prepares you to trust God when life's darkest days arrive.