Fasting: What’s the Point?

Fasting is a common theme in the Bible when it comes to prayer. Traditionally, fasting is to go without food, for a period of time, to show sacrifice and to rely only on God for sustenance. In the modern world I have seen people fast specific things, such as soda, coffee, social media, and tv shows–things they feel hold precedence in their lives. However, fasting was intended for so much more than that. There is some scientific evidence to back this up. Now buckle up y’all! We are about to prove how great God is with a little help from science!

Autophagy (ah-TAH-fah-gee) fasting. Autophagy, broken down in the Greek, gives us auto, meaning self and phagomai, meaning to eat. Simply put, this is the consumption of the body’s own tissue (cells) as a metabolic process. Autophagy fasting allows your body to break down and reuse old cell parts so your cells can operate more efficiently. So, your cells turn inward, they look around and find what is not of use or what could be harming the organism and it is attacked and killed. The cell rebuilds itself better and stronger. This happens right around the 17-hour mark without food. After 24-48 hours your body will be in a full fast and your cells will be working overtime to heal themselves from the inside out. This also helps protects them from bacteria and viruses in that pathogens are less likely to penetrate the cell.

I find it so fascinating that God has given us all we need to help ourselves. Matthew 17: 20-21 tells us: So Jesus said to them… “I say to you, if you have faith as a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible for you. However, this kind does not go out except by prayer and fasting” (NKJV).

Much like our cells, we need healing from the world, from the outside sources that infect us, from sin. We must turn inward toward Jesus to begin our healing process. Not only are we becoming new physically, but spiritually as well. When filled with the goodness of the Holy Spirit He looks around and says, “Wow, there is a lot of sin in here; let’s get cleaned up and put on our Armor of God to keep our ‘house’ clean and protected.” Put on the whole armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil (Ephesians 6:11).

Because with your full armor on, No weapon formed against you shall prosper (Isaiah 54:17). Or multiply, for that matter. The Holy Spirit convicts us so that we turn inward, toward Jesus, with fasting and prayer, to abolish the iniquity of sin within us. The less sin, the closer to God we become, the better our relationship with Him is, and the greater our ability to hear Him. So maybe the next time you fast you will be more inclined to withdraw from food and socials to heal your mind, body and soul.