What is fasting and why are we fasting?

The Tent, Table and Temple are three essential spaces we believe healthy disciples of Jesus are called to occupy. Life Church Bath is a people made up of lots of Tents, who meet regularly at the Table and once a week at the Temple.

The Tent symbolizes our individual relationship with the Godhead. Moses had a tent in the desert where anyone could meet face to face with God (Exodus 33). Now, that tent space is available to every believer at all times. It’s where we encounter God regularly for ourselves; the place our body and soul comes into closer communion with God. It’s where we become intimate with the infinite. Where God continues to reveal himself to us and form us into Christ's likeness. In this essential space, there are tools, or you could call them disciplines, we can use to help the tent flourish. One of those Disciplines is fasting. 

Fasting is mentioned throughout the scripture. It’s where we starve our physical bodies to renew our appetite for the things of God. Andrew Murray said “prayer is reaching out after the unseen; fasting is letting go of all that is seen and temporal”. Fasting is costly and uncomfortable yet powerful in sharpening our prayer life, deepening our awareness of our spiritual authority and receiving personal and corporate breakthroughs. In Mathew 6 Jesus says "when you fast..." an important reminder of the criticalness of this spiritual practice to Jesus.

You can hear more in a recent message on fasting, as well as dates we are fasting together as a church family below.