Fasting and Praying Safely

 In this Sunday's reading from Matthew 4:1-11, Jesus fasted for forty days and nights. Details as to his exact method are not revealed, but it must have been pretty severe because in the end angels had to care for him.

Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. He fasted for forty days and forty nights, and afterwards he was famished. The tempter came and said to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, command these stones to become loaves of bread.’ But he answered, ‘It is written,

“One does not live by bread alone,

   but by every word that comes from the mouth of God.” ’

 Then the devil took him to the holy city and placed him on the pinnacle of the temple, 6saying to him, ‘If you are the Son of God, throw yourself down; for it is written,

“He will command his angels concerning you”,

   and “On their hands they will bear you up,

so that you will not dash your foot against a stone.” ’

Jesus said to him, ‘Again it is written, “Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” ’

 Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor; and he said to him, ‘All these I will give you, if you will fall down and worship me.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Away with you, Satan! for it is written,

“Worship the Lord your God,

   and serve only him.” ’

Then the devil left him, and suddenly angels came and waited on him. 

Today, we know that normal humans must have water in order to fast for long times. Witness the pastor in Mozambique who died recently after 25 days without food and water when he tried to duplicate Jesus' fast. 

Intermittent fasting is one current trend in weight loss schemes. A good article on it can be found at the John's Hopkins site. There are many variations of this type of fasting, I read about combining exercise with fasting, but one never reads of combining prayer with intermittent fasting. 

My personal method that I have used for the past twenty years is to skip lunch. Breakfast is a small bowl of cereal with added dried fruit. On Sundays, I can break my fast by indulging in one of those "coffee hours" that we discussed in an earlier post. 

I do combine this with an hour and a half of vigorous exercise three days a week.

None of this works unless I combine my method of fasting with prayer, and prayers come naturally and usually around lunchtime sounding something like this,

"Lord help me stick with this!"

The other day heard this response,

"Better get on your bicycle and ride, and don't peek in the refrigerator on your way out!"