“Fasting is going without food for a set amount of time to awaken our body and soul to our deep hunger and need for God. It’s one of the most powerful — and neglected — of all of Jesus’ practices.” (Practicing the Way)

At the start of Jesus’ ministry, he began with a 40-day fast. And the early followers of Jesus practiced fasting weekly. But in modern Western Christianity, we’ve lost this practice for a variety of reasons. As we enter into our 21 Days of Prayer and Fasting, we invite you to rediscover fasting as a spiritual practice.

St. Augustine of Hippo, when asked, “Why fast?” said, “Because it is sometimes necessary to check the delight of the flesh in respect to licit pleasures in order to keep it from yielding to illicit joys.”

Because fasting from food is a practice that takes on a very bodily form, “Fasting is one of the best ways we have to integrate our entire person, including our body, around God….The ultimate aim of fasting is to get in touch with our hunger for God. Hunger is the state of wanting or needing something you do not have. When we fast, we awaken our body and soul to its deep yearning for life with the Father. We become able to say with Jesus, “I have food to eat that you know nothing about.” (John 4v32)” – Practicing the Way

01 To offer ourselves to Jesus

02 To grow in holiness

03 To amplify our prayers

04 To stand with the poor

This might be a very new practice for you, we encourage you to come to it with curiosity and start with baby steps that allow you to feel stretched but not overwhelmed.

This companion guide includes notes from the teaching and exercises for you to begin integrating generosity into your daily life.

Download the Fasting Companion Guide >

We’ll be using the teaching videos and other resources from Practicing the Way for this four-week series.

Growth Groups are meeting through Zoom and in-person.

Please contact Liling > [email protected] for Zoom meeting details.