Hungry For More

Mo’ Please

The other day, I was having a busy and fun day with my son Jeremiah. We lost track of time, and before I knew it, it was past lunchtime!

"What do you want to eat?" I asked him.

"Noodles!" he replied. Udon noodles are his favorite.

I started feeding him, and he devoured the food! He finished his first bowl, and so he goes, “mo’ please”.  Wow!  My noodle boy is hungry!

Then again “mo' please."
And again…"mo' please." 

I bring that story up because my prayer for you is that your appetite for God would increase. My hope is that we would go to a place where we don’t get satisfied with just the bare minimum in our relationship with Him, but rather go to God and say, “mo' please”. 

God, we want more of you. 

What is fasting? 

One definition of fasting is, “the practice of abstaining from certain things, primarily food and drink, for spiritual reasons.”

During the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus speaks on fasting and it says:

16 “And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. 17 But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, 18 that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” (Matthew 6:16-18, ESV)

When Jesus spoke here, he did not say “if you fast”.  He said “when”.

And remember that Jesus led by example as he fasted for 40 days in the wilderness and said, “man shall not live on bread alone but every word that comes from God.” 

Fasting will not get us to heaven, but when we receive the gift of grace in Christ, He teaches us that fasting is a foundational pillar in our spiritual walk.  

There’s this story called, “The story of two woodcutters”. 

There were two lumberjacks who would cut down trees and decided to have a contest against each other on who could cut down the most trees in one day.

The young guy was so confident.  He looked at the older gentlemen and thought, "my muscles and my youth will definitely beat him."  

The challenge begins and they go to opposite sides of the area.  The young man takes off and just starts hacking at the trees! 

As they were on opposite sides, they could see and hear each other from afar but couldn’t see the progress of the other. 

From the younger lumberjack’s perspective he saw the older gentlemen take a break every hour for 15 minutes.  In response, he said happily, "there’s no way he’s going to win!” At the end of the day, the younger lumberjack is shocked!  He saw all of the older man's trees cut down.  The older lumberjack won by cutting down 1/3 more than the younger lumberjack!  

The younger lumberjack said, “How could you do that?” The experienced lumberjack laughed. “You thought those were breaks? I was actually sharpening my ax.”

This is similar to what fasting can do in our lives: it sharpens us. 

See, some of us have been going nonstop in our daily walk with God and trying to just go through the motions, but in a more intense way.  Some of us have been battling addictions or are fighting unforgiveness or are struggling with being obedient to God. We get confused why other people that we see are growing spiritually at a steady pace and we’re over here feeling like nothing is happening. 

Maybe your spiritual ax got dull and it’s time to sharpen it again. 

Starve your flesh so that your spirit may be full.

There are many reasons people fast.  Here are a few:

• To discern God’s leading in an important decision

• To prepare us for a new stage in our life and faith

• To renew our faith

• To bring God glory

Ultimately, the most important reason to fast is to glorify and honor Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior.  If you’ve made it this far in reading this, my challenge to you is to schedule a fast, keep it private, and watch your relationship grow with God in a renewed way. 

Starve the flesh so that your spirit may be full.

Stay blessed,

Jeff Abiera