Our culture conditions us to long for, and even expect a comfortable life. But in the words of one elderly monk, "God sits at the summit of hunger, thirst, and suffering; the devil sits at the summit of the comfortable life." Jesus himself said, “Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.” Deep down we know that self-denial is the way we grow in every sphere of life — making uncomfortable choices in the short term that lead to long term transformation — but there is a battle raging within us between the part of us that wants to do the will of God and the part that wants to indulge our own selfish desires. Fasting is a powerful and practical weapon in this fight to grow in holiness.

Fasting

Fasting is one of the most essential and powerful of all the practices of Jesus and, arguably, the single most neglected one in the modern, Western church. Fasting is a way that we can integrate our whole body into life with God.