What does Tribe teach about fasting benefits?
Drawn from the message 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 straightforward claim: this is not a practice reserved for elite or unusually devoted Christians. Joy brought a full message on fasting as the church prepared for twenty-one days of prayer for Israel, and she traced how fasting has quietly disappeared from the Western church even while Jesus assumed it would be a regular rhythm for his followers. She drew the line clearly between fasting and other forms of self-denial. Giving up social media, cutting sugar, or following a restricted diet have real value, but they are not fasting. The Greek word simply means not eating, and what Joy described and what Jesus modeled in Matthew 4 is no food and water only.
She gave five reasons to fast. The first is that following Jesus means doing life the way he did. In Matthew 6 he does not say 'if you fast' but 'when you fast,' putting it alongside prayer and giving as something expected, not exceptional. The second reason is that fasting is an act of offering. Romans 12:1 calls believers to present their bodies as a living sacrifice, and Joy argued that fasting is one of the most direct ways to do that because you physically feel the sacrifice. As she put it, 'Our motive in fasting is always to offer ourselves to God. It is an act of worship.' A third reason she developed at length is the connection between a full stomach and pride. She worked through Deuteronomy 8, where Moses warns Israel that prosperity and a satisfied appetite tend to make people forget God. Joy put it plainly: 'Pride and a full stomach are bedfellows.'
The broader point Joy made is that fasting makes room. For Tribe's twenty-one days of prayer, the goal was to make room in their hearts for Israel by denying themselves something, and fasting is one of the primary ways to do that. She described the teaching as handing her congregation a real tool, saying, 'I am taking one of the best weapons God has given us, and I'm about to hand it off to you guys.' The church treats fasting not as a burden but as a gift that has been largely forgotten and is worth recovering.
Taught from Matthew 6:16-18 · Matthew 4:1-11 · Romans 12:1 · Deuteronomy 8:2-3 · Isaiah 58
“Pride and a full stomach are bedfellows.”
From When You Fast
The passage taught · 1 Corinthians 6:19
19 Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own,
World English Bible
Messages that go deeper
- 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.