Make Room
Do you still have your list of priorities you made last devotional ? Okay, good. When you look at that list, you probably find yourself thinking, “My life is pretty full. I have so many things that I need to do and so many things that I want to do. How am I supposed to make room for God?”
Great question! That’s where fasting comes in. Fasting is the act of giving something up so that we can make room for God.
Unfortunately, fasting is a spiritual discipline that a lot of people don’t fully understand, so it can be hard to appreciate how valuable it really is.
Let’s take a quick sidebar and talk about spiritual disciplines. Spiritual disciplines are the things we do that help us stay in tune with the things of God.
As Christians, we know that we are accepted by Jesus because of His grace and not because of our good works. At the same time, we know that being a Christian isn’t just praying one prayer.
Being a Christian is choosing to follow Jesus every day. A common word used to describe a follower of Jesus is the word disciple.
An interesting thing about the word disciple, which is another word for follower, is that it shares the same root as the word discipline.
The takeaway: Spiritual disciplines help us become better disciples. Spiritual disciplines will not make God love you more. There’s nothing you can do that will make
God love you any more or any less. Spiritual disciplines will help you love God more and help you better live the life He has created you to live.
Even Jesus practiced spiritual disciplines! Yes, that Jesus, God in human form, the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
He prayed, He studied Scripture, He spent time with Christians, He served people, and He fasted.
Fasting is a spiritual discipline that involves giving something up so that we can make room for more of God.
Fasting helps us make room for God to work in us and through us. We live in a world today where people are busier than ever.
That’s why fasting is more important than ever. At a time in history when people’s lives are more full of things than ever, fasting helps us make room to create space for what is most important.
Challenge: Choose one thing to fast from—to give up—for the next two weeks.
Ask yourself this question: What is one thing I can give up that will help me make room for more of God?
If you’re not sure what to fast from, here are some suggestions: social media, YouTube, sweets, fast food, complaining, swearing, secular music.
“Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.””
Matthew 4:1-3 NIV “Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.””
Matthew 4:1-3 NIV must read as well
