The Gift of Fasting - Guide to Practical Applications

The Gift of Fasting

Matthew 9:14-17 - Study Guide

Fasting is cultivating a hunger for God by every now and then removing good distractions. Fasting forms us that we might “let go of an appetite in order to seek God on matters of deep concern for [the] other, myself, and the world."

Reflection/Discussion Questions

1. What's your experience with fasting as a Christian? How does this experience influence how you might approach this discipline in the present?

2. Look again at Matthew 6 and Matthew 9:14-17 on fasting. In your own words, summarize Jesus's teaching on fasting. How is Jesus calling you to obey him in this area in this season of life? Why is this obedience a gift of grace?

3. What is gained through fasting? In other words, how is fasting formative? How is fasting different from simply not eating?

4. What would be most appropriate and formative for you: trying a narrow fast (from food) or a broad fast (from something beside food)? In what ways will could you use a fast to "feast" on God and draw near to him?

5. How does the gospel influence how we practice this discipline?

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Formational Practice: Fasting

Scripture: Then the disciples of John came to him, saying, “Why do we and the Pharisees fast, but your disciples do not fast?” And Jesus said to them, “Can the wedding guests mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them? The days will come when the bridegroom is taken away from them, and then they will fast. No one puts a piece of unshrunk cloth on an old garment, for the patch tears away from the garment, and a worse tear is made. Neither is new wine put into old wineskins. If it is, the skins burst and the wine is spilled and the skins are destroyed. But new wine is put into fresh wineskins, and so both are preserved.” Matthew 9:14-17

Overview: Plan a broad fast (any good thing) or narrow fast (food specifically). Use your fast as a way to draw near to God. This can be done individually or with others.

Practice: Pick a day & time

1. Pick what you are fasting from

2. Pick what you are feasting with

   1. Prayer

   2. Scripture Memory

   3. Journal