Fasting Devotional
Scripture references are linked so you can read the scripture
😂A title to catch grab your attention😂
A Biblical Guide on Ancient Pagan Revivals, How to Judge the Revelation Churches, Practice Hypocrisy like the Pharisees, and How the Body and Blood of Christ Could Kill You This Easter
(Just kidding. It’s devotional on fasting, but that other stuff is in there too.)
With the Easter season upon us, life seems to slow, and our priorities momentarily return to what is most important. It’s not about the Easter meal but the people you share it with. It’s not about the songs sung at a sunrise service but Who you are singing them to. It’s not about your Easter best, but what is only seen by God in the heart. That is why we’re calling on you to slow down, even momentarily, and consider what is most important during this holy season.
Jesus’ message to the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2:1-7 (ESV) was evident. They were commended for their many good works and perseverance for the Lord, but He states in this passage that they have abandoned their love they had at first. The Spirit was beckoning the church to return to something very important that had gotten lost in the details of life and ministry and was threatening the church itself (see Revelation 1:20, Revelation 2:5).
This is a sobering message: even the most diligent church can do good works, persevere for Jesus, reject false teachings, and yet still drift away from our whole-hearted passion, intimacy, and devotion to Christ.
Let’s look closely at Revelation 2:4-5. The Spirit immediately provides the solution to this heart problem. What do you think are some of the “works you did at first” referenced in verse 5?
A similar example in the Old Testament foreshadows the coming Revelation church. Jonah gives a snapshot into the biblical narrative of Nineveh, one of the most ruthlessly violent and wicked gentile cities and the capital of the ancient Assyrian Empire in modern-day Mosul, Iraq (also see Nahum 3). There was a good reason why Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh, and when he arrived at his destination by way of the sea, the scripture records his message in one plain sentence, “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:4, ESV). There were no signs. No great wonders. Only one short and simple warning. Read Nineveh’s reaction to God’s warning in Jonah 3:4-10.
Like the Spirit’s warning to the church of Ephesus, Nineveh coupled repentance with an action. The entire city (the only entirely gentile city to experience revival in the Old Testament), from its king to the commoners to the animals, fasted based on a simple message. God’s response was then to spare the city from judgment completely. Read Matthew 12:41.
Think of a time that you have fasted, attempted a fast, or even when others have fasted around you. How did your expectations differ from your experience? If you have never fasted, what expectations would you have for one? The disciples of John the Baptist had similar questions for Jesus. Read Matthew 9:14-15.
There are many reasons to fast, but Jesus outlines its purpose here as mourning. When the Messiah walked the earth, breathed our air, ate our food, and laughed among us, we had no reason to fast, but now that He is not present with His Church in body, we have a reason to mourn.
Modern society does not uphold lamentations, grief, and mourning of the soul as a sacred human state like ancient peoples. While lamentations (קִינָה, qinah) were a public expression of sorrow for a national disaster or tragedy, Jesus’ reference to mourning (אבלות, avelut) was for the grieving process after loss, with structured, time-constrained rituals. Even though there were widely accepted practices surrounding mourning at the time, such as the mekonenot (professional mourners), it was personal, intense, and filled with symbolic cultural rituals. Matthew 11:21 also records the Jewish custom of fasting and placing ashes or dust on one’s head as a sign of grief.
Jesus’ admonition to fast privately and even reject the outward appearance of mourning was rooted in the Jewish religious practices of the time. While personal fasting was for mourning, repentance, or seeking God’s favor, public fasting occurred on set holy days or in times of crisis. According to Luke, the Pharisees fasted twice per week, likely on Mondays and Thursdays.
Read Matthew 6:16-18. Can you think of ways our modern society uses social media similarly to how the Pharisees used fasting?
Jesus criticizes those individuals who use fasting as a platform to draw attention to themselves and gain public admiration rather than focus on spiritual discipline. Hosea 6:6 (ESV) says, “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” Fasting was always meant to be transformative, not performative or socially validating - Jesus’ teaching on fasting centers on developing intimacy with God as a personal expression of devotion. Read Isaiah 58:3-7.
So, as we approach this Easter season, we encourage you, as an essential part of this church body at The Way, to consider a personal, private fast to prepare your heart to receive the blessings of this season. After you pray and consider what a fast would look like in your life (such as abstaining from social media, sweets, or all sustenance for a set time), we want you to remember the true heart of a fast. While we celebrate our Savior’s finished work on the cross, we also fully recognize that we, as a church, await His return with reverence, great expectation, mourning, and fasting.
At the Easter Sunrise Service this year, we will also share in Communion, for which Paul calls believers to examine themselves before partaking. Read 1 Corinthians 11:27-30. As fellow believers, we urge you to consider this time of fasting and prayer as a time of moral and spiritual reflection so that we can all approach the Communion table together with reverence and sincerity.
Lastly, we all feel so blessed to do life together in a church that has been a vibrant and growing portion of the Body of Christ for the past two years. Of course, we should expect that there will be growing pains, spiritual attacks, sickness, and bad days, but those (no matter how big) are still distractions from the common thread that connects us. Let’s lift the name of Jesus together in this season. John the Baptist, with great humility, recognized that Jesus’ ministry was now the focus, saying, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30, ESV). Likewise, as we prepare our hearts, we pray that all of us will take the same heart posture in those intimate times of devotion to God:
Lord, help me to decrease so that You may increase in me.
With the Easter season upon us, life seems to slow, and our priorities momentarily return to what is most important. It’s not about the Easter meal but the people you share it with. It’s not about the songs sung at a sunrise service but Who you are singing them to. It’s not about your Easter best, but what is only seen by God in the heart. That is why we’re calling on you to slow down, even momentarily, and consider what is most important during this holy season.
Jesus’ message to the church of Ephesus in Revelation 2:1-7 (ESV) was evident. They were commended for their many good works and perseverance for the Lord, but He states in this passage that they have abandoned their love they had at first. The Spirit was beckoning the church to return to something very important that had gotten lost in the details of life and ministry and was threatening the church itself (see Revelation 1:20, Revelation 2:5).
This is a sobering message: even the most diligent church can do good works, persevere for Jesus, reject false teachings, and yet still drift away from our whole-hearted passion, intimacy, and devotion to Christ.
Let’s look closely at Revelation 2:4-5. The Spirit immediately provides the solution to this heart problem. What do you think are some of the “works you did at first” referenced in verse 5?
A similar example in the Old Testament foreshadows the coming Revelation church. Jonah gives a snapshot into the biblical narrative of Nineveh, one of the most ruthlessly violent and wicked gentile cities and the capital of the ancient Assyrian Empire in modern-day Mosul, Iraq (also see Nahum 3). There was a good reason why Jonah did not want to go to Nineveh, and when he arrived at his destination by way of the sea, the scripture records his message in one plain sentence, “Yet forty days and Nineveh shall be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:4, ESV). There were no signs. No great wonders. Only one short and simple warning. Read Nineveh’s reaction to God’s warning in Jonah 3:4-10.
Like the Spirit’s warning to the church of Ephesus, Nineveh coupled repentance with an action. The entire city (the only entirely gentile city to experience revival in the Old Testament), from its king to the commoners to the animals, fasted based on a simple message. God’s response was then to spare the city from judgment completely. Read Matthew 12:41.
Think of a time that you have fasted, attempted a fast, or even when others have fasted around you. How did your expectations differ from your experience? If you have never fasted, what expectations would you have for one? The disciples of John the Baptist had similar questions for Jesus. Read Matthew 9:14-15.
There are many reasons to fast, but Jesus outlines its purpose here as mourning. When the Messiah walked the earth, breathed our air, ate our food, and laughed among us, we had no reason to fast, but now that He is not present with His Church in body, we have a reason to mourn.
Modern society does not uphold lamentations, grief, and mourning of the soul as a sacred human state like ancient peoples. While lamentations (קִינָה, qinah) were a public expression of sorrow for a national disaster or tragedy, Jesus’ reference to mourning (אבלות, avelut) was for the grieving process after loss, with structured, time-constrained rituals. Even though there were widely accepted practices surrounding mourning at the time, such as the mekonenot (professional mourners), it was personal, intense, and filled with symbolic cultural rituals. Matthew 11:21 also records the Jewish custom of fasting and placing ashes or dust on one’s head as a sign of grief.
Jesus’ admonition to fast privately and even reject the outward appearance of mourning was rooted in the Jewish religious practices of the time. While personal fasting was for mourning, repentance, or seeking God’s favor, public fasting occurred on set holy days or in times of crisis. According to Luke, the Pharisees fasted twice per week, likely on Mondays and Thursdays.
Read Matthew 6:16-18. Can you think of ways our modern society uses social media similarly to how the Pharisees used fasting?
Jesus criticizes those individuals who use fasting as a platform to draw attention to themselves and gain public admiration rather than focus on spiritual discipline. Hosea 6:6 (ESV) says, “For I desire steadfast love and not sacrifice, the knowledge of God rather than burnt offerings.” Fasting was always meant to be transformative, not performative or socially validating - Jesus’ teaching on fasting centers on developing intimacy with God as a personal expression of devotion. Read Isaiah 58:3-7.
So, as we approach this Easter season, we encourage you, as an essential part of this church body at The Way, to consider a personal, private fast to prepare your heart to receive the blessings of this season. After you pray and consider what a fast would look like in your life (such as abstaining from social media, sweets, or all sustenance for a set time), we want you to remember the true heart of a fast. While we celebrate our Savior’s finished work on the cross, we also fully recognize that we, as a church, await His return with reverence, great expectation, mourning, and fasting.
At the Easter Sunrise Service this year, we will also share in Communion, for which Paul calls believers to examine themselves before partaking. Read 1 Corinthians 11:27-30. As fellow believers, we urge you to consider this time of fasting and prayer as a time of moral and spiritual reflection so that we can all approach the Communion table together with reverence and sincerity.
Lastly, we all feel so blessed to do life together in a church that has been a vibrant and growing portion of the Body of Christ for the past two years. Of course, we should expect that there will be growing pains, spiritual attacks, sickness, and bad days, but those (no matter how big) are still distractions from the common thread that connects us. Let’s lift the name of Jesus together in this season. John the Baptist, with great humility, recognized that Jesus’ ministry was now the focus, saying, "He must increase, but I must decrease" (John 3:30, ESV). Likewise, as we prepare our hearts, we pray that all of us will take the same heart posture in those intimate times of devotion to God:
Lord, help me to decrease so that You may increase in me.