Fasting

Experience the Power of Fasting and Prayer Do you need a breakthrough answer to prayer? Would you like to have a sharper mental ability? How about a stronger healthier body? These are just some of the amazing benefits of fasting and prayer. Jesus said that His disciples would fast and pray, but very few believers do it. Our body and soul simply do not want to be deprived. Many believers don't even want to think about a fast! But the wonderful results that come from fasting and prayer can give you the breakthrough you need. It's no wonder that the enemy does not want us to practice this powerful and beneficial habit. His attacks cannot withstand the power that is released in our lives when we have dedicated our bodies to a fast and our hearts to prayer.

There is an appetite for God. And it can be awakened. I invite you to turn from the dulling effects of food and the dangers of idolatry, and to say with some simple fast: "This much, O God, I want you." Our appetites dictate the direction of our lives—whether it be the cravings of our stomachs, the passionate desire for possessions or power, or the longings of our spirits for God. But for the Christian, the hunger for anything besides God can be an arch-enemy. While our hunger for God—and Him alone—is the only thing that will bring victory. Do you have that hunger for Him? As John Piper puts it: "If we don't feel strong desires for the manifestation of the glory of God, it is not because you have drunk deeply and are satisfied. It is because we have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Our soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great." If we are full of what the world offers, then perhaps a fast might express, or even increase, our soul's appetite for God. Between the dangers of self-denial and self-indulgence is this path of pleasant pain called fasting. It is the path John Piper invites you to travel in this book. For when God is the supreme hunger of your heart, He will be supreme in everything. And when you are most satisfied in Him, He will be most glorified in you.