"A Hunger for God" {Matt6:16-18}
* Intro: why we worship as important as when/how
* Meaning of fasting
- "Christian's voluntary abstinence from something for spiritual purposes"
- Fasting assumed -- "when you fast"
- Fasting on same level as giving and prayer -- mentioned 30X in NT
* Reasons for fasting
- Never to earn His favor; cannot earn His love
- To strengthen prayer {Ezra8:23, Dan9:3}: "doesn't change God's hearing; changes our prayer"
- To seek His guidance {Judges20:28, Acts 14:23}
- To express grief {Neh1:4, 2Sam1:12}
- To seek protection {2Chron20:3, Esth4:16}
- To express repentance {1Sam7:6, Joel2:12}
- To humble oneself {1King21:27-29, Ps35:13}
- To express love for Lord {Luke2:36-37}: "one of love languages Lord enjoys"
* Fasting honors God -- privilege not obligation
* "If you 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 you have nibbled so long at the table of the world. Your soul is stuffed with small things, and there is no room for the great. God did not create you for this. 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.'" -- John Piper
* Motive for fasting: issue not public fasting but fasting for public
* Reward of fasting is God's pleasure
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