Knowing what fasting is - a step on the journey

NORSK
Three weeks back I mentioned ‘fasting’ and wrote that I would return to the subject later in the Lent period. Today, there is a little glimpse of fasting because it is part of Jesus' explanation why the disciples were powerless.

“However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting.”
Matt 17:21

Fasting is normally associated with abstinence from food, but the concept of fasting can be extended to a conscious determination to give up a benefit in order to say that I am in charge in my "own house" and therefore free to hand over the control to the Holy Spirit. Fasting involves a cost, and therefore it remains a strong signal that what I want to achieve, is important to me.

For me, the act of fasting is not a target in itself. If the act becomes the sole aim, it is the kind of fasting that God does not want. The goal of fasting must be that it makes me better able to be led by the Holy Spirit to do God’s will, and in that way give him the kind of fasting in which he delights (1).

Blogging has also become a kind of fasting for me. I renounce the time I could have used for other purposes with the goal to try go deeper into the mystery of the spiritual reality that Jesus once opened the door to.

Fasting is therefore closely linked to the journey of discovery (the ‘seek-aspect’ of prayer), which I mentioned yesterday. It helps me to discover new aspects of myself and opens the senses for the spiritual so that I can find treasures otherwise hidden:

I will give you hidden treasures,
riches stored in secret places,
so that you may know that I am the Lord,
the God of Israel, who summons you by name.
Isaiah 45:3

Today 'manna':

Fasting means that I am serious about God’s mission

--------------------------------------
(1) Isa 58:6-12